Toe the Line(89)

“I know you will.” Archie lifted my hand and kissed it. “Thank you.”

We had decided to put fertility treatments on hold for a while, though a baby was still something we very much wanted. If it happened in the meantime, great. But if not, we wouldn’t stress. My top priority right now was getting to know Clancy and acclimating to being back in California.

Clancy rejoined us, and Archie asked, “Did you finish your project?”

She had a sneaky smile on her face as she nodded.

“You want to show Noelle?”

Clancy reached behind her back and presented me with a large plastic Easter egg that immediately brought me back to Whaite’s Island.

“Oh my.” I felt like I was blushing—thankfully she had no idea why this made my cheeks heat. “I haven’t seen one of those in years.”

Archie winked at me.

“Open it!” Clancy said.

What had Archie put her up to?

She handed it to me, and after I twisted it open, I saw a note inside. Written on it in crayon were two simple words: Say Yes.

When I looked over at Archie again, he was already down on one knee as Clancy hopped in excitement.

“I know this might seem soon,” he said. “But let’s face it, it’s really long overdue. I wasn’t ready for you then, Noelle, for the magnitude of a first love. Is anyone ever really ready for their first true love? I was especially unprepared. But you…you’re the bookends of my life: my first love and my last love. And I would be honored—no, scratch that, I need you to be my wife.” He opened a ring box and held it out to me. “Please say yes.”

My mouth was ajar as I looked over at a smiling Clancy. Then I finally looked down at a beautiful oval diamond, sparkling under the lights. Holy shit!

“Say yes!” Clancy whispered.

I smiled at her. “Well, if you say so.” I jumped up and shouted, “Yes!” before leaping into Archie’s arms.

He lifted me into the air. “I love you so much, baby. Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world.”

“I’m so happy, Archie.”

Clancy interrupted our embrace. “It would’ve been funny if she said no.”

“To you, maybe.” Archie put me down to tickle his daughter’s side.

I bent to hug her.

“What would you have done if she said no, Daddy?”

“I would’ve cried. Because I love her that much.” He winked. “But I knew she wouldn’t.”

Clancy tilted her head. “How?”

“Because when you love someone and they love you back, you just know. One day when you’re older, I’ll tell you the whole story about how Noelle and I fell in love.”

“Is it beautiful?”

“Sometimes. Other times, messy. But love is like that. You’ll see someday.”

“Thank you for accepting me, precious girl,” I said. “If you didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to marry your daddy.”

“You’re welcome, Miss New York.” Clancy ran to her room and returned with a wrapped box. “I have something else for you,” she squeaked.

“You do?” I took it from her. “Thank you.”

After carefully ripping off the paper, I opened the box and took out a pair of socks—perfectly mismatched, one with stripes and the other with polka dots.

“You said you liked mine.” She flashed her little teeth. “So I got you some.”

If my heart wasn’t already bursting tonight… “These are so cool. And it means so much that you remembered.” I kicked my shoes off. The material felt buttery soft as I slipped the socks on and pulled them toward my knees.

Mismatched socks reminded me a lot of my relationship with Archie Remington. Our path certainly wasn’t orderly or sensical, but somehow in the end, when the two of us finally came together, it was perfect.





EPILOGUE


ARCHIE


THREE YEARS LATER

Whaite’s Island



I WIPED SOME grass off my pants. “Where’s Clancy?”

“She’s popping popcorn. She’ll be right out,” Noelle said as she spread a blanket on the lawn.

The sun had just set, and the ocean air was cold tonight, prompting us to pull out our sweaters for the outdoor movie.

I’d just set up a screen I’d purchased in the backyard of the house on Whaite’s Island. We’d managed to rent our old house for a week, but we’d had to book it a year in advance.

My eyes moved to Roz, who was sucking face with her boyfriend as she sat on his lap. “I think you two need to get a room,” I teased.

Arthur ran a woodworking YouTube channel, and they’d met at an influencer’s convention about a year ago. Arthur had moved into my mother’s old house with Roz, and both were now paying me minimal rent. The place would likely not be sold anytime soon, but I was perfectly okay with that.

Noelle’s mother brought out a tray of iced tea while her dad perused the movie selections on my laptop. Noelle’s parents had flown in from Florida to be here with us. Despite my earlier doubts about whether they’d accept me for their daughter, it turned out they’d been happily surprised when Noelle and I told them we were together and getting married. Kind of ridiculous that they were apprised of both of those facts at the same time, but that’s how Noelle and I rolled.