Page 92 of Head Over Heels

"You'll see." She leads me up a flight of stairs in the back room. We emerge onto a small rooftop garden. Lights twinkle around the edges, and a pair of chairs sit facing the lake.

"How long have you been planning this?" I ask, taking in the romantic setup.

"Since the day you walked out on me at dinner," she says sheepishly. She guides me to sit down. "I knew that if I ever got you back, I was never letting you go again."

"But I wasn't really yours," I point out. "It was just a contract."

"Josie." She kneels in front of my chair, taking both my hands in hers. "It was never just a contract. Not for me. From that first night when you saw right through me, I was yours. I just didn't know how to admit it."

"Florence," I murmur, my heart racing.

"The thing is," she continues, "I've been thinking about what Nonna said. About how love doesn't die, it just transforms—changes. Makes us better." She reaches into her pocket. "She gave me something the other day. Said it was time for it to transform again."

She opens her hand, revealing a delicate gold ring. Nonna's ring. The one we returned to her.

"Florence," I breathe, "is that—"

"Vittorio's blessing," she says softly, "and Nonna's, for when I'm ready to make my own promises of forever." Her hands shake as she holds up the ring. "I know neither of us expected things to turn out this way… but maybe that's the point. The most beautiful things can come from the most unexpected places."

Tears blur my vision as she squeezes my hands to her heart.

"I love how brilliant you are, how compassionate. I love that you see through my walls, but respect why I built them. I love that you make me want to open my heart. To really live." She takes a shaky breath. "I love—"

"Yes." I slide out of my chair to kneel with her. "Yes!"

She blinks in surprise. "I haven't asked yet. You don't know what I'm going to ask."

"Ask me, then." I cup her face in my hands, my thumb caressing her cheek. "I want to hear you ask me."

"Marry me?" She holds up the ring. "For real this time. No contract, no pretense. Just us, me and you, for the rest of our lives?"

"Yes." I pull her into a kiss. "A thousand times, yes."

Her hands tremble as she slides the ring onto my finger. "It fits."

"Of course it does." I laugh through my tears. "Donna probably gave you my ring size months ago."

Florence brushes her lips against mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too. I can't believe Nonna gave you her ring," I whisper, watching it catch the light.

"She said some love is meant to live on." Florence helps me back into my chair before settling beside me. "That Vittorio would want his ring to be part of a new love story."

I lean my head against her shoulder, our fingers intertwined. "Tell me when you knew. When this stopped being pretend for you."

"That first night at the Book Nook." She presses a kiss to my temple. "When you called me out on being an ice queen and made it sound like understanding instead of criticism. You saw me—really saw me—and instead of running away, you wanted to know more." She chuckles softly. "Though I didn't admit it to myself until you walked out on me for being rude to Marin."

"Really?" I lift my head to look at her. "That's what did it?"

"That's when I knew I was in trouble," she corrects. "Because instead of being angry, all I could think about was how right you were. How much I wanted to be worthy of someone who would stand up for others like that." Her fingers play with mine. "When did you know?"

"I think I started falling for you the first time I saw you, at the gala five years ago." I smile at her surprise. "But I didn't know it then. I just knew you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and watching you command that room with such grace made my heart stop."

"Five years…" She shakes her head in wonder. "That's a long time."

"Worth the wait." I kiss her softly. "I didn't really admit my feelings to myself until that night at dinner when you shared this place with me—showed me this private part of yourself that no one else got to see."

"And now you get to see all of me." She pulls me closer. "No more walls. No more pretending."

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