Page 86 of Vampire United

Maddy glances at him, chewing her lip, but then picks up the triple choc chip morsel. A faint scraping sound has her looking down. Gasping.

Then stilling.

There, under the red paper muffin case, sits a ring.

“Oh, Caleb,” she breathes, reaching down to pick it up, the muffin forgotten.

It’s a simple promise ring, a small diamond nestled in the heart of a gold rose. Maddy picks it up, her hand trembling just a little, then slips it onto her finger. She looks up at him, her eyes moist and soft. “It’s beautiful.”

Caleb reaches over and takes her hands in both of his, rubbing his thumb over the vow the gold band represents. “This is what I want, Maddy. You. Me. Together.” He presses a kiss to the knuckle above the ring. “Not running, not fighting, not defeating the latest supernatural threat. Just us, actually able to enjoy it.”

“That’s what I want, too,” she whispers, her hands tightening around his.

Caleb stands, bringing her with him, then wraps his arms around her. He smiles. “If things had been different, I would’ve asked you out the day you crashed into me.”

Maddy’s eyes soften as her lips dance upward. “Unless I asked you out first.”

Caleb chuckles. “I would’ve said yes.”

“I wouldn’t have taken no for an answer,” she shoots back, now grinning.

He sobers, emotion clogging his throat and making his voice thick. “Don’t you see? In either scenario, in any dimension, realm, or universe, we would’ve ended up at this point, Maddy. Together. Me asking you to make it forever.”

“And me saying yes,” she says, her voice husky. “I love you, Caleb.”

“I love you, Maddy.”

They sink into a kiss full of tenderness and emotion. A kiss that honors the trial by fire that brought them here, to this moment. A kiss that captures the tenderness and adoration and passion that defines every beat of their heart.

A kiss brimming with everything to come.

A round of applause bursts around them as the patrons of Busy Bean hoot and holler. Caleb and Maddy pull apart, resting their foreheads together as they smile, grin, then laugh, the sound of their joy weaving through the congratulations and celebration.

It’s normal.

It’s beautiful.

It’s everything.