“Yes?” I whisper. “You mean it? You’ll marry me before I have even asked properly? I want to say the words: will you marry me? You’re about to make me the happiest man alive, Hazel, so you better not be screwing me around.”
“Yes! Now put that ring on my finger so I can kiss you!”
I slide the ring on and clamber to my feet, wrapping my arms around Hazel and lifting her off the ground. I’m spinning her around and around, both of us lost in our own little world, and then she finds my lips. Or maybe I find hers. I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter.
She tastes like the past. She tastes like the future. She tastes like home.
“I love you so much,” she gasps. “I can’t believe I’m going to be Mrs. De Maggio. Y’know …” She turns to Alda with a wink. “The Mrs. De Maggio.”
Mother laughs. Emily laughs
