Hazel's POV
"Say yes before Grace wakes up and steals the moment entirely," Julian whispered, laughter and tears mixing in his voice as he knelt before me in the quiet, spotlit theater.
"Yes," I said, my voice breaking on the single word, pulling him up into an embrace so tight I felt his heartbeat pounding steady against mine. "Yes, a thousand times yes, Julian."
He slipped the ring onto my finger, simple and elegant, so different from the gold watches that once marked five hollow anniversaries, and kissed me slowly beneath the warm stage lights that had witnessed so much of our healing already.
"I want to tell Grace this story someday," I whispered against his shoulder, still catching my breath. "Not the version where everything was easy. The whole version. The debt, the ice, the yea
