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Emery Quinn stole his thunder, suggesting the Ferris wheel and racing to the carnival, passing the ticket booth because he’d purchased tickets while she finished her column.

Families, teens, and senior citizens mobbed the thoroughfare while Christmas lights joined the neon colors of the carnival rides.

They passed the Serendiporama and twice Caleb lost hold of her. Looming on the horizon was the enormous Ferris wheel—bigger than last year, he was sure of it.

He wasn’t much of a romantic, but even he could see the carnival’s swift return to town was sort of a divine opportunity. Nodding to Bill, the romantically and financially inclined ride jockey whom Caleb visited an hour ago, he drew Emery to the front of the line.

“Caleb, we can’t cut.” She tugged him backward.

“It’s okay,” Bill said. “We’ve, um, been saving, yeah, saving a seat for you.” He stuck out his arm to make room at the front.

“Why would you save a seat for—”

“Thank you, Bill.” Caleb stepped into the bucket. “Just lock us in.”

As the wheel lifted them from the ground, Caleb tried not to grip the safety bar, but old habits die hard. Emery gently tucked her hand under his.

“You stepped onto this ride without a fight. What’s going on, Ransom?”

“Nothing. Well, something.” Why did he think this was a good idea? He shifted in the seat to face her. “Emery Quinn?”

“Yes, Caleb Ransom.” She peered at him, waiting.

“I walked the thoroughfare earlier. Visited the old Serendiporama, dropped in a few coins.” He produced two white cards.

“ You didn’t.” Emery eyed the cards, then Caleb. “That crazy-eyed turban guy looks more lifeless now than he did sixteen years ago.”

“Do you remember what our cards said?”

“Yeah, the town motto. Immanuel, God with us.”

Caleb handed over the first card. “Maybe he’s not so far off.”

Emery read the card. “Immanuel, God with us.” When she looked at him, her eyes were glistening. “Can I keep this?”

“That’s my card, but yeah, you can keep it.”

“What do you mean it’s your card? What does the second one say? Obviously not that I’ll be a millionaire?” She grinned.

“No, but I think it says something better.”

Emery took the card, read it, then shot a glance at Caleb. The wheel had just completed its first rotation and was heading back to the top.

“Will you marry me?” she said, soft and low. “This came from the Serendiporama?”

“No. But what do you say?” Caleb released his last grip on the safety bar to pull Emery into his arms. “You make me a better man, and I don’t want to spend another day without you.

” He retrieved the ring box from his pocket.

“Will you ride the Ferris wheel of life with me? Wow, that sounded way better in my head.” He opened the box.

“Marry me? Do you mind if I don’t get down on one knee? ”

“No, I don’t mind.” Emery breathed in, smiling, eyes glistening all the more. “Of course I’ll ride the Ferris wheel of life with you. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

As their bucket circled to the top, Bill stopped the ride and Caleb slipped the ring on her finger. The entire town, maybe even the whole world, spread beneath them, a river of glowing, vibrant Sea Blue Beach lights.

“I love you, Caleb,” she whispered.

“ I know you do.” He laced his arm around her back and holding her close, kissed her again and again. Then the wheel kicked into motion.

“Engagement selfie.” Caleb raised his phone while she held up her ringed hand and snapped the photo, riding free on the wheel with Emery.

As they approached the ground, she pointed to a tight clan gathered just beyond Bill’s station.

“Your parents are here with Cassidy and Bentley. And wait, is that Ava and Jamie?” She turned back to him.

“What’d you do?” He smiled with a shrug.

“There’s Dad and Mom. Elianna and Blakely.

” She waved wildly. “Everyone, I’m engaged! ”

The whole Ransom-Quinn clan rang in the new year at the Sands’ courtyard with the guitar pull in full swing, taking any and all requests.

Delilah poured champagne and set out what could only be classified as the world’s largest charcuterie board. Friends and strangers wandered in off the beach to congratulate the couple and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

By one in the morning, Caleb was back in the Adirondack with the only girl he’d ever really loved curled in his lap, her head on his shoulder.

Mom and Dad had gone, taking Cassidy and beaming Bentley with them. “I told you to marry her , ” he’d said.

The Quinns disappeared inside their cottages, and Delilah approached with a blanket.

“Happy New Year, you two.” She added a more logs to the fire before disappearing into Cottage 1.

Emery’s soft breathing turned to sounds of sleep, and Caleb gazed toward the firepit and beyond to the darkened beach.

“Rosie,” Emery said so soft he wondered if she was dreaming. “When we have a girl, I want to name her Rosie.”

“ Rosie Quinn Ransom.”

“Rosie Force Ransom,” she said.

“Rosie Pearl Ransom.”

“Okay,” she said with a sleepy pat of his chest. “We’ll figure it out.”

He relished the feel of her against him as she drifted back to sleep.

It was in that moment Caleb saw a flicker at the end of the courtyard, by the stand of palm trees. Angling forward, he narrowed his gaze to see what, or who, was out there.

The man from the Starlight wall, from the mural, looked on, his vibrant eyes overcoming the surrounding darkness and warming Caleb with a pure, clean sensation.

Immanuel. God with us.

After a moment, He nodded and walked on, vanishing between the light and shadows of the beach.

“I’ll be seeing you, Immanuel,” Caleb whispered, then settled deeper into the chair, closed his eyes, and drifted away to the song of the waves rolling along the white sands of Sea Blue Beach.