“Wow,” Hailey breathes, and I take her hand in mine as we stare around the clearing.

“Do you like it?” I ask. I had planned for far more lights than this—by the time I brought her out here this summer, I wanted this place to look like it was filled with millions of tiny fireflies. But so far, I’ve only managed to hang lights in the trees immediately surrounding the clearing.

“It’s beautiful,” Hailey admires, and the tightness in my chest relaxes. “Did you do this?” she asks, and I start walking her toward the pond.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew you’d like it.”

I steal a kiss as we continue walking, and each step we take toward the steel platform in the middle of the meadow makes my heart pound harder, and harder, and harder.

The fireworks start going off just as our feet hit the dock, and I don’t know how Shawn timed it so perfectly. They explode in the sky north of the clearing: whites and blues, purples and greens, reds and oranges, and Hailey is so awe-struck that she doesn’t even notice when I slip my hand from hers. She walks all the way to the end, staring up at the spark-filled sky.

Hailey

One after another, fireworks light the night sky. A boom, a rain shower of colored light, and then the sound of sparks trickling down from the full moon. Vibrant purples and greens and blues and reds. It’s stunning, and when I turn around to find Mike, the sight of him down on one knee takes what’s left of my breath away.

He stares up at me with those beautiful brown eyes, a sparkling diamond ring held between his fingertips.

“Hailey,” he says as tears spring to my eyes and the last of the fireworks rain down behind me. My heart is pounding wildly, and my knees begin to tremble. “I feel like I’ve been waiting for you my whole life, and now that I’ve found you, I never want to spend a day without you. I want to go to bed with you at night. I want to wake up with you in the morning. I want to wrap you in my arms every time I find myself smiling for no reason.” Happy tears spill over my lashes, and Mike smiles warmly up at me. “I want to give you a lifetime of laughter and love. I want to give you sparks and my last name and a house we can grow old in.” I beg my knees to continue holding me up, to support me long enough to hear every perfect word coming from Mike’s perfect mouth, and I watch as he takes a small, nervous breath. “Hailey Harper, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I say without hesitating, and Mike’s whole face lights up with joy I feel in my own heart.

“Yes?” he asks, his voice a mix of awe and disbelief.

“Yes,” I repeat, memorizing the way he looks in this moment. In fifty years, when he and I are old and gray with children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I want to remember every detail. I want to remember the way the moonlight is hitting his hair, the way the winter chill is staining his cheeks, the way his fingers are trembling as he holds out his ring—my ring. And I want to remember the way my heart is hammering excitedly against the walls of my chest—because no Prince Charming, no fairy tale knight, could ever beat the sight of Mike Madden down on one knee.

With my body quivering just as much as his, I drop to my knees and wrap him tightly in my arms. This is the biggest decision of my life—and it is also, by far, the easiest. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

I kiss Mike with tears trickling down my cheeks, and when I pull away, his eyes are shining too. He slips the ring onto my finger, sneaking kisses as I admire it.

“Do you like it?” he asks, and I nod, at a complete loss for words. The ring is beautiful, a sparkling round diamond cradled inside an ornate, vintage setting. The off-silver band is petite on my finger, and the diamond shimmers like a reflection of the full moon I loved so much as a little girl, the same one hanging above us now.

“It was my grandmother’s,” Mike says, and I lift my gaze to his heart-melting smile. “But I think it was always meant for you.”

With the ring on my finger, I take his face in my hands. My fingertips slide into his hair, and he pulls me closer as I kiss him. I kiss him under the night sky, with our entire lives ahead of us, and later, as we lie on the dock staring up at the stars, Mike plays with my left hand.

“When Adam started dating Rowan a year and a half ago,” he says, “I was a little jealous.”

I glance over at him, watching him stare up at the sky.

“Not because I wanted her.” He looks over at me and smiles reassuringly. “She’s like my kid sister. But just because I wanted what he had with her, you know?”

I wait for him to continue, and he stares back up at the glinting stars.

“And when Joel got with Dee, I wanted what he had. And when Shawn got with Kit, I wanted what he had. But you know what I’ve realized?”

I continue staring at him, and he turns his head to meet my eyes.

“I don’t want what they have.”

“What do you want?” I ask, and the corners of Mike’s mouth tip up softly as he twirls the ring on my finger. He shifts onto his side, propping himself on his elbow and lifting my hand to his mouth.

“I want you,” he says, pressing a kiss against my finger, just above my engagement ring. “I would’ve waited my whole life for you, Hailey. It’s always been you.”

He brushes the hair away from my face, and I stare up into his breathtaking eyes, thinking of the war I fought to win him. I would’ve fought it a thousand times over for the way he’s looking at me now, for the way his ring feels on my finger.