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Taylor tried to look innocent while Belle barked again.

“Yeah, you tell me girl. You were in on it too, weren’t you?” Sam gave the dog a scratch behind the ears, then turned to look at her friends. “What about you both?”

They held up their hands.

“Guilty as charged,” Alex said, Will nodding along, both not looking the least bit remorseful.

“Well, you got me good. All of you.” She looked around. “I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Come here, fiancée.” She smiled, pulling Taylor in for one more kiss as the gathered crowd erupted into whoops, whistles and hollers around them.

Later that night, they all sat around at a local restaurant to celebrate. It stood out over the water, where they watched passing boats heading out for twilight sails. It already had Sam itching to be back on Manny.

She looked around the table and felt so full—so full of love and life, sitting here with the people who meant the most to her.

She thought back to those conversations she’d been fretting over, again and again and again… now months in the past. How, at the time, each one had seemed so insurmountable. Yet she got through them—one talk at a time.

Now, she had those hard moments to thank for getting her where she was today: achieving her dreams living on Manny, falling in love with the best, most beautiful woman she could ask for and truly feeling free.

She said she was lucky, but she’d made this luck. She’d faced her fears, had the hard conversations and finally laid that second arrow to bed. Taylor was right. She wasn’t hurting herself anymore.

She caught Taylor’s eye as she sat next to her. Taylor gave her the small side smile she knew drove Sam crazy and all she could think was how happy she was to be able to call Taylor hers… and wish they were back in the privacy of their cabin…

A hot chip whizzed past between them.

“Get a room you two,” said Alex, gearing up to throw another before Will covered her hand, trying to stop her.

“No food fights,” Will chided. “We’re in arefinedestablishment.”

They looked down at their sandy legs and thongs and all cracked up. A seagull snapped up the errant chip before Sam could pick it up.

“Uh-oh. Look what you’ve done,” she said as a flock of seagulls, who looked to be on a hungry warpath, landed behind their table on the railing, squawking loudly for more food.

Amusement played on her dad’s face as he watched everything unfold. He looked so relaxed, still dishevelled as always, but there were a few less worry lines on his face and a relaxed set to his shoulders.

Knowing he was sailing on Carol felt right, like he was finally taking the trip he was always meant to, the trip her mum always wanted to. She knew even though her mum wasn’t there physically, she was with him at heart, guiding him through the seas.

Guiding both of them.

She looked up to the sky above, where one extra-bright twinkle stood out amongst the rest, and she smiled.