Bryony would have bolted to her feet, but Mamaw gripped her arm with surprising strength.

“Sit. You need to listen to this, Bryony. Let him finish.”

Rafael held up his hands to quiet the angry murmurs of the crowd. Then his gaze found Bryony’s again. She slowly slid back into her seat, caught by the intensity in his stare.

“I’m not proud of what I did. But it was part and parcel of the kind of man I was. I left here, never intending to return until it was time for groundbreaking. But my plane crashed. It took weeks to recover and I lost all memory of the time I was here. I’m so grateful for that accident. It changed my life.”

The room went completely silent on the heels of his last statement. Everyone seemed to lean forward in anticipation of what he’d say next.

“I came back here with Bryony to try to regain my memory. What I did was fall in love with this island and with Bryony. For real this time. She’s told me on multiple occasions that I don’t have to always stay the person I was, that I can change and be whoever I want to be. She’s right. I don’t want to be the person I was any longer. I want to be someone I can be proud of, someone she can be proud of. I want to be the man Bryony Morgan loves.”

Tears crowded Bryony’s eyes and her fingers curled into tight little fists in her lap. Mamaw reached over to take one of her hands and rubbed it reassuringly.

“I’m giving Bryony back the land I bought from her. It’s hers to do as she likes. If she wishes, she can make it a gift and deed it to the town. Turn it into a park. Make it a private sanctuary. I don’t care. Because all I want is her. And our child.”

He stopped speaking and seemed to be battling to keep his composure. His fingers curled around the edges of the podium, but she could see that they still shook.

Then he walked around the podium, down the single step that elevated the stage. He came to a stop in front of her and then dropped to one knee. He reached for her hand and gently pried her fingers open and then he laced them with his, something he’d done a hundred times before.

“I love you, Bryony. Forgive me. Marry me. Say you’ll make me a better man than I was. I’ll spend the rest of my life being that man for you and our children.”

A sob exploded from her throat at the same moment she launched herself from her seat and threw her arms around him. She buried her face in his neck and sobbed huge, noisy sobs.