27. Neesha #2
“Are you sure about that?” he whispers against my ear. “Because there’s one more surprise that might be totally worth it.” He drops one last kiss on my cheek.
I turn to face him, studying the man whose blue eyes still make my heart skip a beat, who looks at me like I’m the most wanted woman in the world .
“Another surprise?” I ask. “You know you don’t have to give me anything else, Lucian.”
“I want to give you everything, Neesha Gilmore.” He takes my hand and pulls me toward the door.
“Where are we going?”
“I can’t tell you just yet,” he says with that smile that makes me melt. “But I promise you it will be worth it.”
The drive to Maple Lake takes only ten minutes, but my curiosity builds the closer we get.
When we pull up to the familiar dirt road that leads to our dock, I’m filled with gratitude for this place that’s seen so much of our story—memories of Mom, our first real kiss, the night everything changed between us.
“Lucian, what are we doing here on Thanksgiving?” I ask as he parks and comes around to open my door.
“There are so many memories I’m grateful for, but I thought it was time we made a new memory here,” he says, taking my hand and leading me down the familiar path to the dock, where we stand at the edge.
The late-afternoon air is crisp, carrying the scent of woodsmoke and the earthy smell of fallen leaves.
The small lake stretches out before us, mirror-smooth except for the occasional ripple.
This is the place where Mom and I made our best memories, where Lucian and I fell in love, where I’ve always found a sense of calm.
He hands me a box he must have hidden in his truck.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“Open it.”
Inside, nestled on a bed of soft fabric, is a wooden figurine—the most detailed one yet. It’s a maple leaf, intricately carved with our initials.
“Another piece for your collection,” Lucian says.
“Like your tattoo.” I glance at his rolled-up flannel sleeve where I know the maple leaf is hidden.
“Carved it after we had our first kiss, but it felt too soon to give it to you then.”
“And now?”
“Now feels right.” He takes my hand, the one holding the leaf. “Now feels like the beginning of something new.”
He pulls up his sleeve and that’s when I see it clearly. His maple leaf tattoo has changed—our initials are now carved into the design. “You added our initials?”
“Yeah. I wanted your name on me—permanently.”
I slide my arms around his waist, pulling myself closer, feeling like there’s nowhere else I could go to find this much happiness. “I love it. And I love you.”
The words come easily now, like I’ve been saying them all my life.
“I love you too.” He takes my palm and kisses the inside of it, his lips soft and warm against my skin.
“You know what would make this day even more perfect?” I say, remembering something from this morning. I’d been planning on making my announcement at dinner, but that was before Alexander showed up.
“What’s that?”
“Well, remember that grant I applied for?”
“You mean the grant I helped you turn in on time?” he says, his lips curving into a knowing smile.
“Thanks to you, the mayor’s office called me to tell me…” I pause. “I got the grant!”
“What?” His face lights up as he sweeps me off my feet, spinning us in a dizzying circle on the dock as I shriek with laughter. “Neesha, this is incredible! I’m so proud of you! ”
When he finally sets me down, he immediately cups my face and kisses me deeply, sending fire racing through my body.
“I can’t believe it,” he says against my lips, his forehead pressed to mine. “You did it. You’re really going to have your own business.”
“We did it,” I correct him. “I never would have made the deadline without you. Now I just need a bigger kitchen.”
Lucian’s hands slide to my waist. “Speaking of kitchens, your apartment is way too small for your baking experiments. Henry can barely turn around without knocking something over.”
“It works for right now. And I can’t afford anything bigger.”
“What if we found you something with a larger kitchen and more room for Henry to run around?”
“Where would that be?”
“Right here,” he says, “at Maple Lake.”
“Here?” I say with a laugh. “You do know I’m a baker who’s nearly broke, right? I don’t have the money to buy Maple Lake even with this grant.”
“But I do.” He doesn’t move or laugh. “Thanks to my grandfather’s money and being a hockey player.”
For a second, I think he’s joking, waiting for his smile to break through. But his expression remains serious, his blue eyes holding mine.
“Wait.” My smile fades. “You’re not kidding.”
“I’m not kidding.”
I take a step back as I realize the magnitude of what he’s suggesting. “Lucian, you can’t be serious. This is Maple Lake. This entire property. Do you have any idea how much this must cost?”
“I know exactly how much it costs,” he says. “I already made an offer.”
My mouth falls open. “But why?”
“I never want you to worry about losing this place again. It should be yours, completely.”
I shake my head. “No, it’s too much. ”
“Neesha, my dad is giving me the money my grandfather should have received from his investment. And I want to put it toward something meaningful, something my grandfather would be proud of—two people who want to put down roots together.” He reaches for me, drawing me against him until I can feel his heartbeat.
“Sometimes you just know when something’s right, Neesha.
So I’m asking if you want to build a life with me. Here. At Maple Lake.”
I blink rapidly, because I can’t find any words. “You bought Maple Lake. For me.”
“For us,” he corrects. “I want to build a house here, Neesha. With a kitchen big enough for all your baking dreams, and windows that look out over the water, and room for Henry to run around like the spoiled dog he is, chasing a bunch of children—if that’s what you want too.
” He pauses, searching my face. “I want to make an entire lifetime of memories with you here. I want to go to Maple Fest with you every fall, and meet you at the bookshop for coffee, and jump into the lake with our clothes on, even if it’s freezing.
I want to make thousands of memories with you here so that in a hundred years, when people are searching the town’s history, they’ll find our story: neighbors who fell in love and put down roots that went so deep, nothing could ever pull them apart—because they are intertwined for centuries.
So…would you build a life here with me?”
Tears blur my vision because this is too much, too good, too everything I never dared to dream about. “Lucian, I don’t know what to say?—”
“And,” he continues, “I want to marry you.”
The words hang in the air between us, and the only sounds are the gentle lap of water against the dock and the rustle of almost-bare branches overhead.
He drops to one knee on the weathered boards of the dock, pulling out a ring box. “I know it’s fast, and you probably think I’m crazy…”
“I definitely think you’re crazy,” I interrupt, laughing through my tears. “Who buys a lake and a ring for someone they’ve only been dating for a few months? That’s like something you’d find in a romance book.”
He grins. “Is it working?”
Like he doesn’t already know he has my heart.
I look down at this man who fixes everything broken—including my heart, who bought me a lake because he knows it’s where I feel closest to my mom, who patiently waited for me to feel safe, who gave me his quiet, tender love.
“Yeah,” I whisper through my tears. “It’s working.”
“Neesha Gilmore,” he says, holding out the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen, “will you marry me? Will you build a life with me right here—the same place you were brave enough to open your heart to me?”
That’s when I completely lose it, sobbing ugly happy tears because he gets it.
He understands that this isn’t just about the lake—it’s about letting someone hold your heart gently after it’s been handled carelessly, and believing someone can still love you even after seeing all your messy parts.
It’s about risking something that might tear you apart, or make your life more beautiful, and you still say yes anyway—to all of it.
“Yes,” I manage between sobs. “Of course I’ll marry you.”
He stands and slides the ring onto my finger, and it’s perfect—a vintage setting with a stone that sparkles in the late-autumn sunshine.
Then I kiss him like I want to memorize this moment forever, so grateful and full of love I think I might burst from it. This moment is more than I ever dreamed of—it’s a promise, a celebration, a complete surrender to the life we’re choosing together.
As his hands slide up to cup my face, he devours my lips like he’s been waiting his entire life for this moment.
When we finally break apart, he brushes his knuckles along my cheekbone, featherlight.
“I can’t believe this is real,” I whisper against his lips .
“Believe it,” he murmurs, tracing my jaw. “This is our forever starting right now.”
“Your grandfather was right, you know,” I say. “Sometimes you just know. But getting to spend forever with you on Maple Lake? That’s just the icing on the cake.”
“Wait,” he says, pulling back to look at me. “Are you using the escape clause?”
I laugh, standing on my tiptoes to kiss him again. “There is no escape clause anymore, Lucian Lowe. This place, this lake, this moment—it’s exactly where our forever was meant to begin.”