He pulled out an elegantly framed photograph, but not just any photograph.
Mine.
The first one published on the cover of TIME Magazine.
My eyes watered as I looked from the frame to Theo and back again.
“I told you, didn’t I? That day you found me sitting by the sun deck pool. I told you you’d be published in TIME, and that I’d have it framed when you did. And what was it that you’d said back to me?”
“That even if I ever did, you wouldn’t remember who I was.”
“And how did that theory turn out?”
I shoved him playfully just as his eyes snapped to the screen. “Oh! Okay, watch. This is the best part.”
The same drone video that I’d seen time and time again showed us the wide shot of the yacht then, and the way the navy blue water glistened around the fresh teak was just as magical as the first time I’d seen it. But then, the camera cut to a view from the starboard side, and I saw what Theo was so excited about.
Written in elegant white script with gold embellishments was the name of the boat.
Dawn’s Light.
I smiled, glancing up at where Theo was watching me rather than the screen. “Dawn’s Light?”
He nodded. “Do you remember that night in San Marco, when I told you how you have this light about you?”
It clicked together then, and I hid my blushing face in his chest. “Theo…”
He lifted my chin until my eyes met his. “I told you people either want to bathe in it or dim it so it doesn’t outshine their own.” He smiled. “But what I didn’t say was that it was your light that saved me, that woke me up from merely existing day in and day out. I am living now. Truly living. And it’s all because of you.”
I shook my head, peppering him with kisses before I held his gaze, my eyes flicking back and forth between his. In that moment, all that we’d been through, all that we’d accomplished together, and all that we’d shared flooded me like a warm ray of sunshine. The feeling was sweeping, so much so that I felt compelled to pull Theo into me even more and say two words.
“Marry me.”
Theo laughed, kissing my nose. “Hey, don’t steal my line.”
“I mean it. Marry me. Today.”
“Today?”
“Today. On our new boat,” I said, glancing at the screen. “I know we’ll have a big ceremony — I mean, my family would kill me otherwise, and I know your parents would, too. But… let’s get married today, just me and you. No one needs to know. It can be our little secret.”
Theo smirked. “I like the sound of that, but there is one little problem…”
“And that is?”
“Well, we won’t exactly be alone.”
I frowned, not understanding. Sure, I knew the architect team would be there, and maybe the interior designer, but wouldn’t it be relatively easy to ask them to leave for a while?
Before I could press further, we pulled up to the marina, and Theo took my hand in his, helping me out of the car and guiding me down the dock.
We passed sailboat after sailboat, yacht after yacht, each one of them grandiose in their own unique ways. But nothing compared to the sight at the end of the dock where Dawn’s Light rested in all her three-hundred-forty-eight-feet glory, shining in the mid-afternoon sun.
And when we made it onboard, I understood what Theo meant when he said we wouldn’t be alone.
I saw Emma first, standing on the main deck with the same warm smile she’d offered me when I met her last year. My jaw dropped at the sight of her, and then I tore off in a sprint and crashed into her with a fierce hug I didn’t want to release.
“Nice to see you, too,” she said with a laugh.
“Emma! What in the world?” I pulled back, holding her in my hands as I looked her up and down. “What are you doing here?!”
“Getting Dawn’s Light ready to cruise, of course,” she said with a wink. “And I have some pretty good help, too.”
Her eyes flicked behind me then, and Wayland was there, shaking Theo’s hand before offering him a cold glass of champagne.
I gasped, flying across the deck and into his arms — which opened just in time to catch me. He laughed and gave us a little spin before he set me back down on the dock.
“Ah, I see he did manage to keep the surprise, eh?”
“The best surprise!” I said, squeezing him again before I looked at Theo. “I don’t understand, I thought we weren’t going to be able to take the boat out yet?”
Theo shrugged. “So I told a few little white lies… Captain Chuck is here, too. He’ll join us later.”
“What else do you have hiding up your sleeve?”
He tucked his hands into his pockets, looking around with an innocent whistle, but then his eyes locked somewhere behind me.
When I turned, I nearly burst into tears.
Both of our families were sitting in the main salon — his parents talking to mine, and of course, Juniper lounging back behind them on one of the sun decks.
“Go put your swimsuit on, loser!” she yelled, sipping the fruity drink in her glass before she added. “You’re missing all the great sunshine!”
I laughed as tears filled my eyes, and then Mom was up out of her chair and hugging me while Dad shook Theo’s hand. Theo hugged his father next and kissed his mother’s cheek while my dad wiped a tear from the corner of my eye before it could fall.
“I think you’ve got a pretty special one here, Aspen,” he said, glancing at Theo.
As if I didn’t already know.
And as Wayland turned up the music and Emma refilled drinks, the rest of the crew who I’d yet to meet yet worked together to get Dawn’s Light out onto the water for her maiden voyage. Juniper danced in her swimsuit, my parents swapped stories with Theo’s, and
