“Me, too.” Adrian sighed. “And I love our world.” She glanced over to where Sadie and Jasper lay snuggled together snoozing. “Every bit of it.”

Lina stepped out, a glass of ice in her hand. She came to the table, poured from the pitcher. “I’ve been evicted from the kitchen,” she said as she sat. “Deemed woefully inept and inadequate. Mariah’s accepted, and helping make cookies shaped like hearts. I’m rejected.”

“Good thing you don’t like to cook.”

Lina nodded at Adrian. “Good thing. Your Monroe’s also accepted and, after some serious discussion, is in charge of deviled eggs.”

“He makes the best deviled eggs in the history of deviled eggs.”

“He and Jan and Mimi debated the various ways to boil them to ensure easy peeling.” Now Lina laughed. “I’m so glad they kicked me out.”

Maya and Teesha exchanged a look.

“Better check on the babies,” Maya said as they rose together, and Teesha picked up the baby monitor.

Lina looked after them as they went inside. “They’re good friends. I know what it’s like to have good friends. I’ve had Mimi most of my life. Harry and Marshall, too, but Mimi? Lifetime girlfriend.”

She looked at Adrian then, touched a hand to her bruised cheek. “I’m not going to bring it all up again. I know you’ve had to go over and over it—like we did after Georgetown. I need to say I’m so grateful for your strength, your courage, your smarts.”

“A lot came from you.”

“You made your own. That day in Georgetown, I thought: This isn’t going to define her. Or me. But not her—I won’t allow it. It didn’t, but it never really went away. I hope it can now.”

“Can and will.”

“All those women, Adrian, all those others, and nearly you. I’ve asked myself again and again, what could I have done differently to stop any of it from happening?”

“Nothing. Mom.” She laid a hand over Lina’s. “Nothing. He doesn’t just look like his father. He has that same lack, that same twist inside him. I saw it, in both of them. It was the fact I existed that enraged them. He said something to me, JJ. He said he didn’t see any of his father in me. Neither do I. I’m Rizzo, through and through.”

“Yes, you are.”

Sadie’s head came up, and Jasper’s an instant later.

“That’s Raylan’s car. He said he had a couple of things to do. I guess he’s done them.”

When the car crested the hill, Lina rose, walked out across the lawn. She went to Raylan, put her arms around him. She kissed both his cheeks, then walked away.

Raylan stood a moment, touched and bemused, before he continued up to the porch.

“She’s not a hugger, so that was a moment,” Adrian told him.

“It felt like one.” Gently, he took her chin in his hand, studied her face.

“Cobalt Flame, you took a hit.”

“You, too, Midway Man.”

“But we kicked the bad guy’s ass. With a little help from our friends. So this is for them.” He sat and took two dog collars out of the bag he carried, one bold red, one bold blue. He handed them to Adrian.

She read the engraving. “Ms. Sadie Wells. Mr. Jasper Rizzo.”

“I thought we’d make it official, a sharing of the last names.”

“I think it’s the sweetest thing ever. Here you go, Sadie, let’s put on your new bling.”

“Now you and me,” Raylan continued as Adrian started switching collars. “I think we need to make it official.”

“What?” She glanced up with a smile, then blinked when he just looked in her eyes. “What?” she repeated.

“I planned to give you more time. Plenty of it. But, can’t. Moments matter, and moments change things. I don’t want to waste any more of them. I love you. I love everything about you. I want everything about you. I need everything about you. So marry me. Let me marry you. Let’s be a family.”

“Oh, Raylan, we’re just getting used to …”

“You never get used to being in love. Not really. I’m a family man, Adrian. I’m good at being married.”

“You are, yes, you are. Were. Are. I don’t know if I’d be.”

“You’re a quick learner. I know I come as a package, just like I know the package is crazy about you. We can add to the package, if that’s something you want.”

“More children?”

“If it’s something you want. We’re both good with kids, but you have to want them.”

“I just need to …” She rose, walked to the rail, looked out.

A houseful, she thought. A house built for family, for children, given to her. Her legacy.

“I’ve always wanted children,” she murmured.

“Share mine. Have more with me. Be Ms. Adrian Wells, and I’ll be Mr. Raylan Rizzo.”

“Trust you to make me laugh at such a moment.” She closed her eyes. “When Sadie couldn’t get to me, she knew where to go. To you and Jasper. She needed help, and knew where to get it. I know where to go when I need.”

She turned to him. “It’s always going to be you.”

Rising, he stepped to her, took her hands. “We can get married tomorrow or a year from tomorrow. You can plan whatever kind of wedding you want.”

He reached in his pocket, took out a box, flipped it open. And took out a ring.

Not flashy, she thought. He knew she wouldn’t want flashy. A simple channel-set diamond in a white-gold band.

“But I’m really hoping for a yes now. The rest is details. We’re both good at those, too.”

“You have to go and pick out the perfect ring for someone like me. Someone who does what I do, who is what I am.”

“I know who you are. I love who you are. Say yes.”

“I love who you are, too.” She looked at those wonderful green eyes, laid a hand on his cheek, bruised like hers. “You told me you hadn’t believed you could feel this way again. I didn’t believe I could ever feel this way.”

“Is that a yes?”

“I have a question first.”

“Ask it.”

“How soon can you and the kids and Jasper move in?”

Smiling, he framed her face. “How about tomorrow?”

“You need to ask them first.”

“I already did, while you were working out this morning.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, pressed them to her hands. “They love you. I love you. Say yes, Adrian. Just yes.”

So simple really, she realized. So right.

Because it would always be him. Maybe it always had been him.

“I love them. I love you. Yes, Raylan. Just yes.”

When he kissed her, slow and strong, when he put the ring on her finger, she felt her life click into place.

When she wrapped around him, she thought again:

This is the most beautiful spot in the world.

And now it’s ours.