Page 69 of Christmas Harbor Secrets

She reached for another length of popcorn when the line went taut. A small silver ring slid down it, bumping against her wrist and spinning once before stopping in her palm.

Her breath caught. Echo lifted his head, ears pricked, as if sensing the moment.

Rone’s hand steadied hers as he knelt on the cabin floor, one knee pressing into the wood. His eyes met hers—steady, unguarded, full of that quiet kind of love that never needed words to make sense.

“It’ll have to be just us and a minister,” he said, voice rough with emotion. “But I don’t want to wait another day, Isobel. Not after everything. Doesn’t matter if we stay at this lake house forever, or if the world keeps spinning out there without us. I don’t need anyone but you.”

Tears blurred her vision before she could blink them away. “You really are terrible at surprises.”

He smiled, and it was all warmth and hope. “So you’ll say yes?”

She nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat. “You didn’t even have to ask.”

He slipped the ring onto her finger, his thumb brushing over it once, tender and sure. Echo whined softly, tail thumping once in approval.

Outside, snow fell—soft flakes drifting across the lake. Inside, the fire crackled and the tree leaned just a little to the left, imperfect and beautiful, like the two of them, still standing after everything.

When Rone kissed her, the world went quiet again. Just pine and smoke, love and breath. Just Christmas. Just them.

And Echo, curled by the fire, keeping watch.

The End