Once Upon an Island

I grin at him.

“Isla?”

“Yes, Declan.”

“I’d like very much if you’d agree to spend the rest of your life living a million little ordinary moments with me.”

My mouth quivers as I try to hold back both a smile and tears.

“I don’t know,” I say, “I was sort of looking forward to the extraordinary. A private island, or a yacht, or maybe—”

He reaches down and grabs my arms. I squeal as he spins me around. “Is that so? You want extraordinary?”

I tilt my head back and laugh as we spin around my front garden.

Finally, Declan drops to the ground and I fall on top of him. I fit him just like I remember.

“I love you,” he says.

It’s just three ordinary words. I and love and you. But together they’re extraordinary.

“I love you too,” I say.

When I do, Declan pulls in a sharp breath. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Then his eyes widen. “What is this?”

I look up at the sunset painted sky. Above us are thousands of delicate white butterflies flying over my wooded hill to find their beds for the night. Before they always looked like a snowstorm or a snow globe. But tonight they look like a thousand shooting stars for us to wish on.

“It’s magic,” I say.

Declan looks away from the butterflies and back to me. Finally he says, “That’s what I thought too.”

Then, he threads his hands through my hair and pulls me to him. When my mouth touches his, the butterflies disappear, the pink and orange sky disappears, everything disappears except the feel of him.

“Marry me,” he whispers against my mouth.

I keep kissing him, caught up in the moment.

“Marry me,” he demands.

I run my hands over his shoulders, down his chest, lower. He groans and grabs my wrists, stops my progress.

“Isla. Marry me.”

There’s the stern, commanding voice I love. I smile at the heat of his hands grasping me.

“Yes,” I say.

At that, he flips me over, pushes me into the grass, and does all the delicious things I’ve fantasized about. All of them and more.

When we’re done, I lie in his arms. The butterflies are gone and the moon has risen. Declan gently runs his hand over the edge of my breast.

“Do you think,” I ask, “that we could do that again on the beach at Rosa? And the little island too?”

I look up and catch a grin on Declan’s face.

“Oh, and also in a field in England. One of the grassy ones with sheep.”

At that, he starts to laugh. It’s rich and rumbly and sends a happy vibration through my whole body. I snuggle into him, catching his warmth.

“Does that mean yes?” I ask.

He kisses my temple. “That means I’ll buy you the island, and the beach, and the field.”

“Perfect,” I say, giving him a blinding smile.

“Wonderful,” he says.

And it is.