“Thank you, Lord,” he whispers.
He takes the ring from the box, and I hold out my left hand. He slides the ring onto my finger before pulling me back into his arms.
“I love you, Cherry. Thank you. Thank you so much for saying yes.”
“I love you, too, Nate. I can’t imagine a life without you now, either.”
He kisses me again, his lips lingering. My head is spinning again, but this time it’s with excitement and anticipation. When we finally break away from each other, I look down to get a closer look at the ring.
“It’s beautiful,” I say.
“You’re beautiful.” He grins and kisses me once more. “Now that this is all official, we should talk about our next steps.”
“Next steps?”
“Do you still want to learn the truth about your heritage?”
“There are a lot of unanswered questions. I don’t know why I was sent here to live with my aunt and not raised with the rest of the Ramsay family. I know what Janna told me, but I don’t think we know the truth about what happened to your brother, either.”
“I want to help you if you’ll let me. I agree that we still don’t know the whole story and there might be answers here.”
“What kind of answers?”
“How would you feel about a video call with the family? I know Nora is dying to talk to you, and Threes has been going through that file my brother had on you.”
“I guess that would be okay.”
We get set up on the couch in the living room, and Nate starts the call. It only takes a couple of minutes to gather everyone together. Nora is all smiles.
“Do I get to take credit for this?” she asks. “I mean, did I help?”
“You got me thinking,” I admit.
“I bet he’s been groveling,” Antony says with a laugh.
“Hey now,” Nate says, “my groveling is none of your business.”
“He groveled!” Threes lets out a big belly laugh.
“Hopefully, he stopped being an ass,” Nora says as she looks at her brother with narrowed eyes.
“Yes,” Nate says with a grin. He grabs my hand and holds it up for all of them to see. “You should all know that despite how idiotically I’ve behaved in the recent past, Cherry has agreed to become part of the family. We’re going to be married.”
Nora’s eyes widen as she stares at us. I nod at her, and she seems to relax a little.
“Well, that’s good news at least,” she says. “I hoped you would work it all out.” She holds her arms out toward the phone. “Virtual hug!”
“Congrats, you two!” Antony beams at us.
“It’s a good thing she is as sweet and naïve as she seems,” Threes says with a sly smile. Nate demands that he explain himself. “If she weren’t, she’d have smacked you silly for what you put her through.”
“I still might.” I narrow my eyes at Threes, and Antony laughs.
After a few more minutes of congratulatory words and Nora’s insistence that I hold the ring up so she can get a better look, the family gets down to business.
“Janna Ramsay paid Cherry a visit,” Nate tells them.
“Shit.” Antony glances at Threes. “You were right—she did leave town last week.”