epilogue- callahan
The ring sat in my pocket like a secret that had grown too large to hide.
Every step I took across the garden felt heavier because of it.
I paused at the edge of the stone path and looked around, checking everything for the tenth time.
Lanterns glowed softly along the walkway, their warm light reflecting off the polished fountain at the center of the garden.
White roses climbed along the trellis arches that Theo insisted we install earlier that afternoon.
He had called it “romantically excessive.”
I called it unnecessary.
But now that everything was set, I had to admit it looked… perfect.
Which made the pressure in my chest tighten.
“Relax.” Theo's voice came from behind the hedge to my left.
I closed my eyes. “You’re supposed to be hiding.”
“I am hiding,” he whispered loudly.
“You’re terrible at it.”
“Not the point.”
Leaves rustled, and his head briefly popped out from behind the hedge, his grin already wide. “You look like you’re about to negotiate a hostile takeover.”
“That’s because I feel like I’m about to negotiate a hostile takeover.”
He chuckled. “It’s a proposal, not a board meeting.”
“Same stakes.”
He shrugged. “Not really. If the board says no, you lose the company. If she says no, you lose your wife.”
I glared at him. “Thank you for the reassurance.”
“Anytime.”
Before I could say anything else, my sister hissed from somewhere deeper in the hedge. “Theo, get down!”
He ducked back out of sight. “See?” he muttered. “Stealth.”
I rubbed my temples. This had been his idea—having the families there. At first, I resisted. A proposal should be private. But he’d made a compelling argument.
“You already married her in secret,” he’d said. “You can't hide the proposal.”
Which is how both families ended up crouched behind my hedges like very wealthy garden gnomes. I checked my watch. She’d be here any minute. My hand slipped into my pocket, brushing against the velvet ring box.
She reluctantly gave me her rings just hours prior so I could 'get it cleaned' and while I did, that wasn't the reason for taking them.
Footsteps sounded from the house. My spine straightened immediately. The garden doors slid open. “Callahan?”
Her voice carried across the quiet evening air. I turned just in time to find Vani standing at the top of the garden steps, looking slightly confused. Her hair fell loosely over her shoulders, catching the glow from the lanterns. The soft cream dress she wore moved gently in the breeze.
For a moment, I completely forgot the speech I’d spent the entire afternoon rehearsing.
“Maria said you were looking for me. What is it?” she asked, stepping outside.
Her eyes slowly moved across the garden.
The lanterns.
The flowers.
The glowing fountain.
Her brows pulled together. “This looks suspicious.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that slipped out. “Why is it I'm always doing something suspicious in your eyes?”
“Because you are.” She descended the steps, folding her arms. “You'd never randomly decorate the garden.”
“That’s not true.”
“It absolutely is.”
She stopped a few feet away from me, narrowing her eyes.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s exactly what someone who did something would say.”
I laughed quietly. “You’re very difficult to surprise.”
“I read a lot of mystery novels.”
“That explains a lot.”
She tilted her head slightly, studying me. Then something in her expression shifted.
“You’re nervous.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“You’re definitely nervous.”
Her lips curved up into a smirk. “You have that look.”
“What look?”
“The one you get before making a major decision.”
I sighed. “Are you finished analyzing me?”
“Not even close.”
“Humor me.”
She crossed her arms but nodded.
“Fine. Continue with whatever suspicious thing you’re planning.”
I gestured toward the lantern-lit path. “Walk with me.”
Her eyes flicked toward the path. “Is this where I get kidnapped?”
“Yes.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Great, it is a part of my second-favorite trope.”
We began walking slowly along the garden path. Gravel crunched softly beneath our shoes. She glanced around again, clearly trying to figure out what was happening.
“You’re being weirdly quiet,” she said.
“I’m thinking.”
“That’s never good.”
“I think it’s usually good.”
“For business deals.”
“And this isn’t a business deal?”
She snorted.
“If this is another contract discussion, I’m leaving.”
I stopped walking.
She took two more steps before noticing and turned back toward me. "What?”
The fountain glowed softly behind her.
Lantern light danced across her face. God. She had no idea what she did to me.
“Firefly,” I said quietly.
Her expression softened. “Yes?”
I reached into my pocket. She immediately noticed. Her eyes dropped to my hand. “My love…”
I pulled out the velvet box and dropped to one knee in front of her. Her mouth fell open. “You’re kidding.”
“No.”
The way she stared at the box made me think it might explode.
“But… we’re already married.”
“I’m aware, but I never asked.”
That stopped her.
The humor faded from her face. She looked at me carefully now. “What do you mean?”
I opened the box. The diamond instantly caught the lantern light. Her breath caught.
“When we got married,” I said, “it was an arrangement. A deal that benefited both of us.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“But somewhere along the way,” I continued, “it stopped feeling like a deal. I stopped thinking of you as the woman I married for convenience,” I said quietly. "And started thinking of you as the woman I can’t imagine living without.”
Her hand slowly covered her mouth.
“I know our marriage started in an unusual way,” I said. “But nothing about how I feel about you is unusual anymore. We chose to enter this agreement, and not without any pretense, I'm hoping you'll choose me again. Will you marry me?”
For a moment, she didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Then her eyes filled with tears.
“You absolute idiot,” she whispered.
My stomach dropped. “That doesn’t sound promising.”
She laughed through the tears. “You think after everything we’ve been through, I was going to say no?”
Relief hit me like a tidal wave. “So that’s a yes?”
She grabbed my collar and pulled me down into a kiss. “Yes.”
Her voice was breathless when she pulled back. “I'll marry you.”
I slid the ring onto her finger. She stared at it for a second before laughing softly. “I should have known what you were up to when you asked to borrow my ring.”
A loud cheer exploded from behind the hedges.
Vani jumped. “What was that?”
Suddenly, leaves rustled everywhere. Theo stepped out first, clapping. “Finally! I've been in that bush for an hour.” Vani's mother followed him, wiping her eyes. Both families began emerging from the hedges like witnesses to a very expensive wildlife documentary.
Vani stared at them in disbelief.
“You were hiding in bushes?”
Emily grinned. “For an hour.”
Her jaw dropped. “An hour?”
“Had to make sure you said yes,” Serena added, shrugging.
Vani turned slowly toward me. “You planned this?”
“In my defense, that part was Theo's idea.”
She looked back at the crowd. Her mother immediately wrapped her in a hug. “We’re so happy for you.”
“You were already happy for us,” Vani laughed.
“Now we’re happier.”
Vani shook her head in disbelief. “You’re all insane.”
Theo leaned toward me. “You’re welcome.”
I ignored him. Instead, I reached for Vani’s hand. She slipped her fingers into mine easily.
“You know,” she said softly, “this might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever done.”
“That’s good.”
“Because if you’d tried to negotiate this like a business contract, I would have said no.”
I smirked.
“Noted.”
She squeezed my hand.
And as our families surrounded us with laughter and congratulations, I realized something I hadn’t expected.
For the first time since this entire crazy arrangement began—
Nothing about our marriage had felt temporary.
But now it felt how it should have from the start.
Real, not only on paper.