Booth arranged for Jane and himself to have dinner in her cabin, away from prying eyes. He knew firsthand what it was like to be under public scrutiny. It wasn’t fun. There would have been lots of whispering and furtive glances, and he didn’t want her to have to suffer that. Plus, he was worried about the emotional backlash. That fucking asshole had said some heinous things to her.

Booth had never experienced fury like that. When he punched the guy, it had been a mighty struggle to stop after two punches. And no two punches had ever felt so good. Forcing Dylan to apologize had been almost as good. But all that was immaterial. He was worried about Jane.

They didn’t say much during the meal except to comment on the food, which was excellent, as it had been all week. Afterward, she kicked her shoes off and collapsed on the bed.

“What a day,” she said.

“Very eventful.”

“Is your hand okay?”

He looked at it. “It’s fine. I’m more concerned about you. Are you all right?”

She gave him a curious look. “He didn’t touch me.”

“No,” Booth said, shaking his head. “I’m talking about inside. Did you really care about that guy? Because if you did… Janie, some harsh shit came out of his mouth.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” She paused a moment and assessed. “I’m…I’m actually feeling okay.”

“Really?”

“Really. That’s not a bad thing, you know,” she said, looking thoughtful.

“No, I…I’m just…” He lay down next to her. “I just thought you’d be leveled. Because you’ve got to admit, what he said and did to you was way worse than what I said when we were kids.”

“You’re right,” she said. She turned to face him and he did the same.

“And you’re okay?” he asked, reaching out the brush her cheek with his knuckles. “You’re not going to…”

“Fall into a deep depression and subsequently reinvent my life?”

He gave her a small smile. “Well, now that you mention it.”

She scooted closer and kissed him softly. “No. I’m honestly fine. Just like you’re not that callous, self-conscious asshole anymore, I’m not that vulnerable little girl I used to be. Sure, what Dylan said to me hurt, but…” She sighed heavily. “I knew he was wrong for me all along, so in a way, I got what I deserved. When I look back at everything, it seems obvious that he didn’t really love me like he said he did. He was pushing to marry me only a month after we started dating. He would say one thing and then contradict himself with his actions. He never seemed to want to spend time with me even though he would say things like, ‘I miss you so much,’ or ‘I can’t wait to see you.’”

It made Booth’s blood boil when he heard the tremble in her voice. Maybe she wasn’t as unaffected as she said she was.

“Hey, look at me,” Booth said, cupping the back of her head. “I’ll tell you what you deserve. You deserve a man who says what he means and means what he says. A man who loves you for who you are, inside and out. You deserve someone who would do anything to be with you—not because he wants a promotion but because…because he doesn’t feel alive except for when you’re with him.”

“Booth…”

“I love you, Janie. I love you so much and it’s okay if you don’t feel that way for me right now. I fully realize it’s only been a few days, but I—”

She put her hand over his mouth. “Booth, stop. Just stop.”

Shit. He felt a moment of panic. Maybe she didn’t want someone who resorted to violence, turning into a raging lunatic like the Hulk when he was angry. He wanted to tell her that outside of hockey, he’d never done that before in his life—physically attacked another man. He also wanted to tell her they belonged together more than ever now. The past few days had taught him that what he had with Jane was strong enough to have lasted all this time and he was willing to walk through fire to keep her in his life. In fact, if someone told him he had to pick right now between playing hockey or loving Jane, he’d pick Jane, hands down. He’d call up Barracuda management and tell them he was retiring.

Because hockey didn’t laugh at his jokes or hold his hand. It didn’t gaze at him with drowsy, smiling eyes when he woke up in the morning. It didn’t keep him warm at night or welcome him after an absence of only a couple of hours with a joyful kiss, or even needle him about his fear of bears. It damn well couldn’t provide him with a family of his own, the kind of family he’d always longed for. Only Jane could do that.

So it all came down to this moment.

He waited, praying she wasn’t trying to figure out how to let him down easy.

“You’re absolutely right,” she said. “It has only been a few days, but you know what?” she said with a soft kiss on his lips. “Sometimes that’s all you need.”

He froze. Hope rose up inside him in a sudden wave. His throat felt thick with emotion. “I…does that mean what I think it means?” He put a hand on the small of her back and pulled her to him. “Because if it does, I need you to say it. God, Jane, I need you to say the words.”

Smiling, she cupped his face with her hands. “I love you too, Booth. I loved you then and I love you now. I never would have believed that we had a chance, not after what happened back in high school, but you changed. I changed. We grew up, Bootie Call,” she said and he laughed at the nickname he’d forgotten about until now.

“We did,” he said. “And we’re going to grow old too—together, hopefully.” He touched his forehead to hers. “You did catch that I was going to propose, didn’t you?”

“I did. I actually thought it was you backstage, not Dylan.” She wrapped her arms around him. “I wanted it to be you, hoped it was you.”

Suddenly confident, he grinned. “Does that mean your answer is yes?”

She cocked her head. “I can’t answer a question that hasn’t been asked.”

He gave himself a mental slap in the head. Duh.

Feeling surprisingly calm, he pulled out the thin silver ring he’d bought in Briarsted and knelt. When he looked up into her face, he saw her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

“Janie, I can’t promise you I won’t make mistakes or say stupid things. Despite what I said at yoga the other day, I’m not perfect. As you can see, I don’t even have a real engagement ring.”

Laughing, she sniffled. “Booth, the ring doesn’t matter.”

“But I can promise you I’ll do my best to make you smile and laugh every day, to make you proud to be at my side, to be the best husband I can possibly be. All I need is your permission to try. I love you so much, Janie. Please, please say you’ll marry me.”

Her tears spilled over then as she said yes about eight hundred times, pulling him to his feet and wrapping her arms around his neck. He’d never felt such incredible joy. It was like a fireworks spectacular going on in his heart because, against all odds, Janie, the girl he’d been in love with since he was a senior in high school, had said yes.