He flipped open a small index card that had handwriting on it, making her gasp and press her hand to her chest when she realized what it was.
“You found it?”
“It was never lost.” He put the card in her hand. “Gramma Finnie had it for twenty years.”
“So she really was our matchmaker.” She sighed softly, reading the words that she remembered so well.
DECLAN’S PROMISE
“Oh.” A shiver ran over her entire body. “Declan.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “I know I said I’d wait twenty years, which I think technically gives me until our next birthday, so…”
“How did Gramma get it?”
“She picked it up from the grass that morning. It fell out of my backpack. She kept it, and the grannies planted it in your piano. For you to find, actually, but I beat you to it.”
“Why…oh wait. That’s what Yiayia was doing that day in the museum room. She called it subterfuge. I call it…” She lifted the card to her lips. “Magic.”
“I finally finished writing out my last promise,” he said. “Go ahead and read.”
She skimmed the words, the promises, all the roles Declan wanted to have in her life.
“Friend, lover, husband, confidant, partner,” she read in a whisper.
“Chef, traveling partner, fellow camper, handyman,” he added. “See how I’m already working on some of these?”
She laughed and read the last line. “And father to our…” One more word was written, in a different-colored ink. “Children.”
“That’s what I wanted to say, but you made me sign it, and I never wrote the word.”
“Children? I’d be happy with one.”
“Who knows, E? We can adopt or foster and have as many as you want.”
“You know, Dec.” She folded the card. “Somewhere deep in my heart, I always knew you’d keep these promises. I knew that morning that you made them that I would marry you. I just didn’t know it would take all these years.”
“And speaking of that…” For a long moment, he just looked at her, then he took one step back and then lowered himself to one knee.
“Oh, Dec.”
“Oh, E.”
She laughed, her eyes filling as he reached into his pocket, and…there it was. The little black box. “Really? Now? You don’t want to wait for…”
“I don’t want to wait another minute. I don’t want to wait until Christmas. I’d marry you this afternoon, but let me ask first.” He took a deep breath and reached for her hand. “Evangeline May Hewitt, my best friend, my sweet lover, and my favorite person on earth. Will you marry me?” He opened the box, letting the sun glint on a gorgeous solitaire.
But she really only had eyes for the man on one knee in front of her, the love in his eyes taking her breath away more than any diamond ring. “Yes,” she managed to say, spreading her fingers so he could slide it on. “I will marry you and love you and cherish you and never, ever leave you for the rest of my life.”
As her voice rose with the pronouncement, Judah came closer, got right between them, and howled as they kissed.
“What’s he trying to tell us?” Declan asked.
“This mutt be love?”
He laughed. “Yep. He’s our dog fur sure.”
Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
When Evie reached the top of the Gloriana House stairs wearing her great-great-grandmother’s wedding gown, carrying red roses that matched the holiday decorations around the house, and stood with her arm linked with her father’s, Declan decided that he couldn’t get any happier.
But then he remembered yesterday’s news, and yeah, he got happier. They’d kept it a secret, even from her parents, who’d arrived last night for the rehearsal dinner. But knowing what he knew and looking at the woman he was about to spend the rest of his life with…wow. He couldn’t get much happier.
“I hope someone just got a picture of that,” Connor muttered from right next to him.
“Of Evie?” he whispered.
“Of your face.” Connor put a hand on Declan’s shoulder. “Man, this is the stuff, huh?”
“You have no idea, Connor.”
His brother just laughed. “Uh, yeah, I do. You beat me to the altar, but not to love.”
Declan relaxed into another grin. “Thanks.” Then he caught Braden’s eye, his youngest brother standing next to Connor.
He never dreamed the day would come that he’d stand next to his two brothers…as the groom. He sure never dreamed it would happen in Gloriana House. And then he looked at the little old man on his other side. He’d also never dreamed he’d have a ninety-two-year-old best man.
Max winked. “She’s a beauty, eh? Just like my Penny.”
“She is a beauty, Max,” he agreed. “And I hope we’re as happy as you and your wife.”
“Oh, you will be,” he proclaimed.
The musicians played the first few notes of a familiar song, not a wedding march but…Beethoven. The Ninth Symphony. Ode to Joy.
The song he’d heard Evie play on an antique piano for a childhood recital, and a lifetime of love, came rushing over him. From that glitter-frosted cake to the spelling bee to the camping trips…to this moment, right now. When his best friend would become his wife.
He took a deep breath as MJ Hewitt, Evie’s father, glided his daughter to the bottom of the grand staircase, where Declan stood in front of the small gathering of family and friends who’d come to Gloriana House for its first official wedding.
“Declan,” MJ said. “Take good care of her.”
Declan gave him a hug and assured him that he would.
And then she was by his side, her eyes glinting with love, her color high. She gave a nervous touch to the gold locket that hung around her neck, the family heirloom of Amelia Bushrod’s that she’d chosen as her something old.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered.
She gave a shaky smile, and then he could see that the color in her cheeks was makeup, and she was shockingly pale underneath it. He reached for her hand and gave her a reassuring
