“The best,” he says simply.
I can feel the heat crawl up my neck and straight to my cheeks. I want to hide under a blanket. Instead, I clear my throat and stand. “Mom needs rest. We should let her sleep.”
Mom rolls her eyes. “Sure, kick me out of my own conversation.”
I kiss her cheek. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
She squeezes my hand gently. “Don’t overthink things,” she says quietly. “You deserve to be loved like that.”
I swallow hard and nod.
Riccardo guides me into the hallway, his hand resting on my back. The corridor is dim, the lights soft. It’s quieter here, far enough from the bustle that it feels like its own world.
“Thank you,” I say, turning toward him. “For everything. You saved her life. You saved me. I don’t know how to even?—”
He shakes his head. “You don’t thank me for that.”
“I have to,” I insist. “I never thought someone could care for me like this. Or for her. You didn’t have to do any of it. You didn’t even know us.”
“I know you,” he says, voice steady. “And that was enough.”
Something shifts in his expression—something intense and certain. He reaches into his coat pocket, and for a second my heart flips because I have no idea what he’s doing.
Then he gets down on one knee.
I freeze.
“Savannah,” he says quietly, holding a small velvet box in his hand, “I’m not waiting.”
My breath leaves my lungs in one soft rush.
“You’re it,” he continues. “You’ve been it since the first night I saw you. I’m not interested in wasting time. I want a life with you. I want your joys and your fears and your stubbornness and your fire. I want all of it. I want you.”
He opens the box.
The ring is simple and elegant, a perfect oval diamond framed in a gold band.
I keep staring at it and at the man kneeling before me. It feels like a dream. Months ago, I’d not have dared to dream this.
“Marry me,” he says. “Start your life with me. I’ll spend the rest of mine taking care of you.”
A tear slips out before I can stop it. Then another. I don’t even try to wipe them away.
For a second I can’t speak. I can’t even breathe. It feels like every piece of my life—every fear, every long shift, every night I cried over bills, every minute I spent thinking I wasn’t enough—all gather in my chest at once and rise to the surface. I stand there with my heart shaking inside me, wondering how any of this is real. A week ago I thought I might lose my mother. A month ago I was trying to survive one day at a time. I never imagined a future like this. I couldn’t have imagined that I’d, one day, have someone who chooses me this boldly, this certainly, this without hesitation.
I stare down at him, kneeling in the hallway of a hospital as if nothing else matters. As if I matter. His eyes don’t waver. He doesn’t look nervous or unsure. He looks like a man who made a decision long before he ever said it out loud. Like he’s been waiting for me to catch up.
My legs feel weak, but not from fear. It’s something else. Something warm and terrifying in the best way. I didn’t grow up believing I’d ever be someone’s first choice. I didn’t think my life would ever make room for something like this—stability, devotion, someone promising to stay. Someone wanting me enough to ask for forever.
Another sob catches in my throat, but it’s soft and full of relief. He reaches up with one hand, thumb brushing my cheek, and the gentle way he touches me undoes whatever was holding me together. I realize I’m shaking, not from panic this time, but from the weight of happiness settling into places that have been empty for years.
I don’t have to wonder if I’m too much. I don’t have to worry about being a burden. He already saw all my mess, all my fear, all the parts of me I tried to hide—and he’s still here, on one knee, waiting.
“Yes,” I say, voice cracking. “Riccardo—yes. Of course it’s yes.”
He stands, cups my face, and kisses me like he’s waited years for the moment. I hold onto his coat, shaking from relief and happiness and fear and love all tangled together.
When he pulls back, he rests his forehead on mine.
