“Just shedding a little light on the situation,” he smiled again. Always the comedian.
“Where’s everyone else?”
“I told them to go back to the cottage.” He grinned and gestured behind me, as his voice continued much louder, “…so of course they’re hiding behind one of the sand dunes spying on us.”
I spun around and saw Phoebe stand up and wave, quickly yanked back down by Carmen and Willow. “This was all…planned?”
“By yours truly.” He bowed with a proud smirk and set the candle down in the sand. My mind instantly rewound in an attempt to understand.
“There wasn’t really an address?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “So whose house is that?
You put those roses everywhere? You didn’t really have to go somewhere with your dad?” My immediate answer was a wider smile that gave me chills. He stepped toward me, cupped my face in his hands, and shushed me by kissing me softly. It worked.
“It was all a conspiracy to get you here,” he explained. I surveyed the hundreds of flames lighting up the night, and then remembered what I was holding.
“This is…” I held up the piece of paper.
“Your prophecy,” he nodded. “It’s only one page, though. Mom is holding on to the rest.”
“Have you had it all this time?”
He shook his head, “I just returned from the Fortunate Isle. Your parents had hidden it there.
Your father gave me instructions on where to find it.”
“You talked to my father about it?”
“I talked to him about a lot of things after we left the cottage.” He took my hands in his, “Which is why we’re here.”
“And…why is that?” I whispered. The swirl of emotions within his eyes matched the ones fluttering around in my heart, as we stood facing each other in the middle of a burning beach.
Something passed over his features as his eyes dropped to our feet, but then quickly flitted back up to mine. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what it was. Something I had only seen once before: Fear. My throat suddenly went dry as I put it all together.
“When I was young, my mom used to tell me a story,” he began. “The story was about a girl named Susan and a boy named William. After meeting under the silver light of a full moon in a field of wildflowers, William asked Susan to marry him. Instead of a ring, he gave her a bouquet of those same wildflowers. Only a day before they were to be married, he was taken prisoner on a vessel bound for sea. Through torture, storms, and neglect he survived because of her memory. Because of her love. After being released a year later, he was told that she’d run away to escape an arranged marriage. After searching for months and months he decided to return to the field where they had met. There, he found his Susan. She was waiting for him, clutching a dried bouquet of wildflowers.”
My voice dried up and I’m pretty sure I’d stopped breathing, as I listened to him tell a love story I’d heard once before. A long time ago. I forced myself to take a breath as he swallowed and continued.
“Those wildflowers were named after her - Black Eyed Susans. And the flower that can always be found nearby are called Sweet Williams.” His voice dropped and took on an ominous tone, “They say that Sweet William will always find his Black Eyed Susan.” Seemingly from nowhere, he produced a bouquet of bright yellow flowers that I recognized from childhood. “I offer you these wildflowers with the promise that I will always find you. I will always protect you. And I will always love you.”
“They’re amazing,” I whispered as he handed me the flowers; the dryness in my throat blocking any semblance of a voice. Unfortunately, I almost hyperventilated as he dropped down on one knee and pulled a small silver box out of his pocket. Oh. My. God. He lifted the lid of the box and held it up to me. I was unable to wrench my eyes away from his to see what it held within. His voice wavered ever so slightly as he spoke.
“I offer you this ring with the commitment to love you and honor you; to not only share my heart and mind, but to bind my soul to yours…for eternity. Anastasia Nemertes Theophanides, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I whispered and his face lit up. A jolt of excitement shot through me and I cried out louder. “Yes!”
With eyes glistening with tears, he stood and embraced me tightly. The world became a blur of light, as tears of happiness ran down my cheeks and he kissed me with a fierceness that left me drunk with euphoria. I kissed him back as his warm darkness wrapped around us, shielding me from the cool breeze blowing off the ocean. As he broke our kiss with a wide smile, I noticed the waves for the first time. Once calm and gentle, they now crashed onto the shore at least ten feet high; blinking out the flames that had once floated serenely on the surface. Then I noticed the sand. An earthquake would have done less damage! Many of the lanterns had tipped over and were now snuffed out, greatly lessening the warm glow that had once surrounded us.
“Oops,” I muttered. Finn glanced around and laughed.
“I like the dark better anyway,” he assured me. He took the wildflowers still clutched in my hand and set them down in the sand, before holding up the tiny box once more and lifting its contents out. I held out a shaking hand as he slipped a ring on my finger that would put a super nova star to shame. A stunning, antique cut aquamarine surrounded by sparkling diamonds now dwarfed my left hand as I held it up in the moonlight.
“I’ve never seen anything this beautiful,” I breathed. He took my hands and gazed into my eyes.
“I have,” he inferred with a wink, leaned in, and kissed me again; this time with a gentleness that left my knees week and my heart swollen with love. He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against mine with his eyes closed. As I opened mine, I realized I’d successfully smothered the rest of the candles that littered the beach, leaving only the paleness of the moon to glint off of the impressive stone now weighing down my finger.
Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned to see who had joined us. Carmen, Phoebe, and Willow smothered us in a celebratory huddle. Our two escorts joined us and congratulated Finn with handshakes and respectful head nods.
“Damn!” Carmen shouted when she snatched my hand, and then muttered. “Ricker needs to take notes…”
“Ricker needs to take out a loan,” Phoebe giggled.
“It’s amazing!” Willow cooed. “It’s classy and powerful…just like its new owner.”
“You guys are awesome.” I hugged them again before shaking a finger at them. “But don’t ever do that to me again! I didn’t know what had happened to you! You could’ve been dead! Or abducted!”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Phoebe smiled happily. “I thought I was going to melt when he dropped down on one knee.” She fluttered a hand over her heart and I saw tears well up in her eyes.
“You’re such a sap,” Carmen rolled her eyes.
“And you two have a mess to help me clean up.” Willow put her hands on her hips, “Stasia needs to get back.”
“We’ll meet you at the cottage in a little while,” Carmen promised me with a kiss on the cheek before they walked away to clean up the mess I made.
“Up for a walk on the beach?” Finn’s voice rumbled in my ear.
“Always,” I leaned my head back on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“With a really long lighter.”
“No, really!” I swatted at Finn, “I want to know how you lit that many lanterns all at once!”
“They were already lit,” he said simply. “I just…showed them to you.”
“So, wait,” I stopped and faced him. “You can cloak anything and everything you want?”
“Pretty much. It has its advantages. Especially when I want to steal Ian’s fudge rounds. He just assumes he’s out, but he doesn’t know they’re really there…” he winked at me.