Wyatt slowly woke from his stupor. Standing on the Ala Wai bridge, he cursed his inaction. Janie and Sam had gone off, and he wondered if Janie wasn’t at home that very moment, packing her bags.

The thought of never seeing her again gripped at him, making his chest tighten. Wyatt clenched his fists. He resolved to get her back no matter what the cost.

If he couldn’t catch her in time, he would grab the first plane out of Hawaii towards Washington DC. If she wouldn’t come back with him right away, he would stay there for as long as it would take to convince her that he was the man for her. Heaven knew that she was definitely the right woman for Wyatt.

Already with the threat of her leaving, Wyatt felt like he was no longer whole. He felt as if a limb was removed, His heart broken.

He walked quickly back towards his car. They had wandered at least a mile and a half away from where they parked. Wyatt took advantage of the distance to search for them as he walked. He hoped that they hadn’t made it home, yet, and he could find them quickly. The quicker he spoke to Janie, the quicker he could explain himself and try to make her his for once and for all.

But the search proved fruitless. Wyatt looked in every restaurant, store, and alley along the way without success. He arrived at his car, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He opened the car door but stopped when he saw something in the corner of his eye. It twinkled.

Janie splurged for a taxi. “Well, that was probably the worst movie I ever saw,” she commented. “Very satisfying though, don’t you think?”

Sam cuddled against Janie, holding her hand. “I really liked the part where the bad guy’s car blew up, throwing him up in the air.”

“Yeah, landing in the garbage truck full of cabbage was a nice touch.”

They giggled. “Next time we’ll go see that musical you suggested.”

The taxi drove the long route to Keiko’s Café. Janie felt a wonderful inner peace riding along with Sam - who loved her as a mother - and riding to Keiko’s where everyone was her friend and cared deeply for her. But more than anything, the certainty that she was loved by Wyatt, which stayed with her like a protective charm, made her feel invincible. As long as she had that love, she knew that her happiness could never be challenged.

Janie put her arm around Sam and gave her a little squeeze. “I hope Keiko gives me something with a lot of carbohydrates tonight.”

Keiko obliged, serving Janie a huge bowl of pasta. Janie had threatened not to share any of the evening’s happenings if Keiko made her eat tofu stir-fry.

Janie and Sam had arrived at Keiko’s with a bang. Sam had run in ahead of Janie and announced to the whole café that, “Dad loves Janie! Dad loves Janie! We’re going to be a family!”

At first, there was little reaction. The Café was populated only by Miles and three other members of his backgammon group and two of Keiko’s cousins that Janie had met briefly on one occasion. Keiko was busy in the kitchen.

Hoping for a bigger reaction, Sam nearly collided with Miles and practically shouted in his face. “Dad loves Janie!”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Miles said, unimpressed, rolling dice and moving a backgammon piece.

“You don’t understand. Dad loves Janie, and Janie loves Dad!”

“Sweetie, the whole island knows that,” mumbled Miles’s backgammon buddy.

“But Dad told Janie. He told her he loves her!”

“What’s this?” Keiko appeared next to the group. She glanced over at Janie for confirmation. Janie nodded.

Keiko let out an ear-splitting scream and drowned Janie in an enormous hug. “We’re going to have so much fun planning the wedding!” She spun around, studying the café. “I suppose we could have it here.”

“Now just a second,” Janie interjected.

Keiko pulled out her cell phone from the inner recesses of her muumuu. She made one call, announcing the news. It was then that Janie insisted on the pasta. A few moments later, Janie, Sam, and Keiko sat at a table ready for a marathon discussion.

“I hope you are not the kind of woman who needs to wait around to get married. You don’t care about ordering designer dresses or anything like that, do you?” Keiko searched Janie’s face for some signs of a flawed character that she might have missed earlier, which would make Janie a picky bride.

Janie scooped up some pasta sauce with a piece of bread and tossed it in her mouth. “No, I’m not, but…”

“Good! I think with some careful planning we could have this wedding up and running by next weekend.”

“Now, just a second…”

“Of course, Sam will be the flower girl. She will be so pretty.” Keiko squeezed Sam’s cheek. “Don’t you think she will be pretty?”

“Yes. No. I mean, I don’t know if she will be the flower girl.” Janie stumbled over her words, trapped by Keiko’s enthusiasm. “I mean, of course she will be flower girl if she wants to be the flower girl, but I don’t know if there will be a flower girl, because I don’t know if there will be a wedding. You see,” Janie gasped, catching her breath. “Wyatt never asked me to marry me.”

Keiko looked at Janie like she had three heads. “Oh, that,” said Keiko, as if a marriage proposal was completely unnecessary. “He’ll ask you, but we can’t wait around for that. Who knows when it will occur to him that he has to ask you.” Keiko tapped her chin with her finger. “Maybe on the beach. It would be a pretty wedding on the beach. Then, we don’t have to wear shoes. Much better.”

Janie didn’t have time to respond. Virgil entered loudly in full uniform. His massive chest pushed against the buttons of his shirt, and his hip carried a large belt replete with a gun, baton, and other lethal products. “Hey, good news little sister,” he shouted and lifted Janie up above his head.

She couldn’t help but laugh. Virgil spun her around and finally put her down after a couple of rotations.

“Don’t kill her before the wedding. It wouldn’t reflect well on the family.” James appeared, his usual casual self with his hands deep in the pockets of his shorts and wearing a shirt, which announced that leis were a buck each.

“I guess Keiko called you,” Janie guessed.

“Actually, she called her niece Mary, who is very adept at getting the word out. Let’s put some tables together. The crowd is going to get rather large.”

James and Virgil transformed the tables into a big U-shape, and they sat, enjoying iced tea and each other’s company.

“I knew he would finally get his butt in gear,” James declared.

Virgil shook his head. “I didn’t. I thought we were going to have to do what we did to Morgan that one time.”

“I wasn’t in on that one. That was you and Wyatt, and if I remember correctly, you almost got arrested.”

Virgil looked sheepish. “Yeah, but it worked. Morgan snapped to his senses.”

“What about Morgan snapping to his senses?” Morgan materialized and took a seat next to Virgil. “I love when I’m the main topic of conversation.”

“That time when Virgil and Wyatt did that thing to you.”

“They took me by surprise, that’s all.” Morgan turned to Janie. “I’m tougher than I look. I could have taken them, if they didn’t sneak up on me.”

“I don’t even want to know,” Janie commented. “I think it’s better if some things remain strictly between you guys.”

“Hey!” Virgil stood and looked at the door, where Doc had just walked in. “Last as usual, Doc. Born last and last in all things.”

“Well, you know, best for last and all that. Hey, sis!” He greeted Janie and took a seat across from her.

The café filled up with some people congratulating Janie and others arriving because they heard that a big party was brewing at Keiko’s.

The crowd was so large that it started to spill outside. Janie was in the center of it all, surrounded by friends who were deep in conversation about becoming her family.

“That’s silly. What good is being the head of a fantastic resort, if my brother can’t get married there?”

Morgan was trying to persuade Keiko to allow the wedding to take place at his resort. He kept throwing in perks such as a string quartet, videographer, gold centerpieces and steak dinners.

Nevertheless, Keiko couldn’t be dissuaded from her plans of a beach wedding on the spot where they had so many family luaus. She chastised him for wanting a fancy wedding where no one would feel comfortable. After a 10-minute tirade on Morgan’s fancy suits, cars, and too-skinny girlfriends, the steak dinner offer finally dawned on Keiko, and she turned red in the face, outrage pouring from every pore. “What do you mean steak dinners? You don’t want Keiko to cook? What’s the matter? You don’t like Keiko’s cooking? You’re too good for Keiko’s cooking?”

Keiko stood and stared at Morgan with definite purpose written all over her face. “Oh, man. You better run, Morgan,” Virgil suggested.

Morgan did just that. He ran around the café with Keiko close on his heels, yelling at him to stand still so she could box his ears.

“Morgan is always offering his resort. It really shows us up, you know,” said James.

“Don’t look at me. I’m golden. I fixed Sam’s head, remember.” Doc winked and ruffled Sam’s hair.

“Well, I for one can offer a police escort,” Virgil countered. “Oh, geez.” Virgil’s attention was diverted to the front of the café, where Keiko finally caught up with Morgan, because he had run into Wyatt’s chest.

Janie could see Wyatt through a tiny gap in the crowd, which had turned ominously quiet upon his entrance. Wyatt deliberately moved Morgan out of the way and took stock of the over-crowded room. He was haggard and overwrought. Janie longed to hold him and make him feel better, but she was frozen to her seat, paralyzed with fear, her mouth dry and useless for speech.

A sudden panic gripped her with the idea that maybe everyone was wrong about Wyatt. Perhaps even though Wyatt said he loved her, he didn’t want anything serious or permanent with Janie. Maybe their romance was short and sweet and over with her imminent departure. She crouched down in her seat, waiting for the inevitable.

Wyatt drew near to Keiko. He spoke in a voice that Janie never heard before. He was desperate. “Keiko, please help me. I can’t find Janie. I’ve looked everywhere, but she’s nowhere to be found. Please, I need to speak to her.”

The café was silent enough to hear a pin drop. Keiko put her hands on her hips and seemed to relish being the center of attention during such a dramatic moment. Slowly, she moved closer to Wyatt, swinging her hips as she walked.

“I don’t know if you deserve Janie. She’s a very good girl.”

“I know that.”

“She’s pretty and smart and she likes good cooking. She likes my cooking.”

“All very good attributes,” Wyatt agreed, trying to keep his temper. “Do you know where she is, Keiko?”

“Do you promise to be nice to her?”

Morgan snickered, and Wyatt shot him a look that could kill.

“She’s here,” Keiko said, softly.

The crowd parted like the Red Sea, creating a straight path between Wyatt and Janie. She stood, not enjoying having every eye on her as much as Keiko did. However, she was determined to keep her back straight and her eyes level.

Wyatt stood straight, as well. He wore khaki pants and a blue, long-sleeved shirt, which made his blue eyes stand out even more. His hair was disheveled as always, and he ran his hand through it, as was his habit when he was nervous, anxious, angry, or thoughtful. His five o’clock shadow looked thicker than usual, and Janie couldn’t help thinking how it felt on her face when they kissed. She sighed, involuntarily.

Wyatt approached her. When he got close, he asked her quietly if they could go outside to speak in private.

“Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of everyone here,” she said, surprising herself with her bravery.

“Very well,” he croaked. Tiny beads of sweat lined his forehead, and suddenly Janie felt very sorry for him.

Wyatt looked around. He seemed to notice his brothers for the first time. He swallowed, and for a moment, Janie thought he was going to pass out.

“This is going to be good,” Miles called out from the corner. He pushed his way to the center of the café in order to get a better look.

Wyatt cleared his throat. “Janie, I’ve been a jerk. I’m so sorry. I should never have assumed those things about you.”

“What things?” James whispered to Doc. Wyatt shot him a look, and he was silent.

Wyatt cleared his throat again. Slowly and purposefully, he got down on one knee. Janie gasped, and her hands flew to her mouth so that she wouldn’t cry out.

“Dr. Janie Simmons,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

Janie’s heart jumped. Her joy was boundless. She kneeled down in front of him. “Of course, I’ll marry you, Dr. Wyatt Templeton. We were just this minute planning the wedding. What took you so long?” He put his arms around her and pulled her close for a long kiss.

The crowd at Keiko’s Café erupted in applause. The quiet spectators turned into boisterous participants. Everyone pushed at each other to get to the happy couple in order to congratulate them.

Wyatt shielded Janie in his arms, while they were jostled on the floor. Despite the surge of people, she felt safer and more secure than she ever had. The rest of the world melted away, and it was only Janie and Wyatt in their own bubble.

Janie caressed his cheek. “Rough,” she said.

Wyatt lightly kissed her. “Beautiful,” he said. “God, so beautiful.”

He kissed her again, and for the first time during the evening, Janie wished they were alone.

Suddenly, Wyatt broke off the kiss. “I almost forgot.” He searched through his front pocket and came out with a little, light blue box tied with a small ribbon.

“Tiffany,” Janie declared, awestruck.

“My goodness big brother, you’ve gotten smarter,” Morgan declared.

Wyatt smiled at Janie, who was obviously very impressed. “It twinkled at me. I was desperate to find you, to tell you I love you and to ask you to be my wife, and there was this ring in the window practically ordering me to buy it. It’s not quite as beautiful as you, but it’s not bad. Please, open it.”

With shaking hands, Janie opened the box. It did twinkle. It was big and nearly glowed, and it was more than she ever dreamed of.

Wyatt took the box from her, removed the ring, and gently slipped it on her finger. It fit. “Of course, no wearing this while you’re swimming or working with me in the lagoon.” Wyatt looked in her eyes. “You will work with me, won’t you?”

Janie’s eyes glistened. “Of course, I will,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Wyatt, I don’t think I’ve told you, yet. I love you.”