She felt her hurt start to fade. Whatever he wanted to say, she would listen.
“I had to get back to Marietta before it was too late.”
“Too late for what?” Vanessa shivered a little.
“To stop a certain sale.” He searched her eyes. It looked like he wanted to take her in his arms, but he was still trying to make her understand what happened.
“At your store?” Vanessa blinked the snowflakes from her eyelashes. Inside the hall the music began to play.
“Yes.” He was working hard to explain himself. “When I went back home, before our date, my dad showed me the piece he was about to sell. The one I told you about.”
“Twenty-five thousand dollars? That one?”
“Yes. Only it wasn’t just a special antique. It was a ring. And at first, I thought nothing of it. I never dreamed it might be yours.”
Vanessa felt her pulse quicken.
Ben took a step closer. “But then at dinner you said it was engraved.Maison. And that word was on the ring my dad was going to sell the next morning. I saw it myself.” He paused. “In that moment I knew it was your ring, and all I could think was that I had to get home. Had to stop the sale before it was too late.”
“But... my ring was costume jewelry. The appraiser told my mom...”
“No. The appraiser was wrong.” Ben shook his head. He pulled a green velvet box from his pocket and handed it to Vanessa. “Open it.”
Her hands were shaking now, but not from the cold night air. Not from the snow. She took the box and opened the lid and there... after all this time, since that day at Breckenridge... there was her Christmas ring. The one her great-grandfather had found on D-Day... the one that would someday belong to Sadie.
Tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks. “I... I can’t believe it. How in the world? How could it...?” She slipped it onto her finger and looked at Ben. “Is this a dream?”
Ben moved closer. He took her into his arms. “I’m in love with you, Vanessa Mayfield.”
She couldn’t get over any of this. The ring sparkled on her finger. “How did your dad...?”
“It’s a long story.” He pulled her closer still, the snow lightly falling on their cheeks.
Something hit her, the words he’d just spoken. “Wait... What did you say?”
He framed her face with his hands. “I said... I’m in love with you.”
And in that moment, Vanessa knew she’d stay with Ben Miller all the days of her life. The past day and all her uncertainty fell away. “So...” Her tone was playful now, the miracle of the moment more than she could take in. “Sorting through antique rings, were you? Interesting.”
Ben must have known just what she was alluding to, because he grinned and played along. “That’s what you do. When you’re thinking about getting married.”
Their eyes held and with the big band Christmas music coming from inside, Ben eased his fingers into her hair andkissed her, their lips warm against the cold of the snowy evening. The kiss took her breath, the way she had always known it would.
If they ever got to this point.
And now, here they were. “I’m not dreaming, right?” She lifted her face to the falling snow and then looked at him again.
“You tell me.” And with that, he kissed her again. Longer this time.
Vanessa looked at her Christmas ring and then back at Ben. “God answered my prayers.”
Ben didn’t blink, didn’t look away. “He answered mine, too.” He slipped his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders. “It’s freezing. Let’s get you back inside.”
The moment after they entered the building, Vanessa saw Sadie look their way. Their eyes held for a long beat, and then Vanessa watched her daughter excuse herself from Hudson and the friends she was standing with.
Beside her, Ben had hold of her hand. He didn’t have to ask. He could obviously tell this was Sadie heading their way.
“She knows?” he whispered.
