Finally she glanced down at her hand and held it out, inspecting the ring in awe as she stared and stared some more. "Oh my God, Isaac. It's huge! I've never seen a ring so beautiful in my life!"
"You like it?" he asked gruffly.
She threw her arms around him, squeezing until he laughingly begged for mercy.
"I love it," she vowed. "I'll never take it off."
"Damn straight you won't. Now that we've got the romantic proposal and the ring all taken care of, I'm taking you shopping for the wedding dress of your dreams, because honey, I don't know what you know about marriage and engagements, but all you need to know is that I don't do long engagements. In fact, I don't do engagements at all. What that means is that the minute we find the dress you want to be married in, we're calling every person at DSS-our family-and telling them to get their asses down to the church so they can see the most beautiful bride who ever existed and watch us get married."
Jenna laughed joyfully, and then her expression became somber as she gazed deeply into Isaac's eyes. "I love you and I never want to be without you. I know in my heart that God sent me to you, that you are who he intended for me, and I'll be eternally grateful to him for that."
His expression turned even more grave than hers. "You're wrong about that, my angel. God gave you to me and you saved me, and for that I will always be grateful. Not a single day will go by that I won't be thankful for the most precious gift-the only gift-I've ever been given in my life. I was lost until you walked into my life and I've never been more grateful for someone trying to steal my vehicle, because if not for that, I'd still be lost in a world so bleak and hopeless that nothing would have ever been able to break through the darkness and fill my heart and soul with sunshine. Except you, angel girl.
"Only you brought the most beautiful, hope-filled light to permanently erase the dark stains I thought had become permanent scars in places I never allowed anyone to see. You made me whole again, and because of you, I can look back on my past with a sense of peace and forgiveness instead of the overwhelming pain and sorrow that had dug so deeply into my memories that I didn't think they'd ever let go or that I'd ever be free of them."
He gathered her tightly in his arms, holding her left hand up so the ring caught the light in a blinding myriad of sparkles.
"You truly are an angel. My angel. And there's not a single shadow or shameful and painful memory, or constant torment forced on me by guilt, that could ever survive the shining, golden, pure light that radiates from an angel only as beautiful as you."
EPILOGUE
JENNA watched in amusement as Isaac gingerly held their three-month-old in his huge hands, which even at her size and weight now completely dwarfed her, and rocked her in the oversized rocker they'd had to specially order to accommodate him. Even as he cooed utter nonsense, it didn't escape Jenna's notice how careful he was in his every movement. He was forever terrified that he'd hurt little Evangeline by simply crushing her with his "clumsy, giant hands," as he referred to them. Jenna merely rolled her eyes and shook her head, which always instantly garnered a wounded, "What?" from her husband.
The man treated his firstborn like she was spun from the most fragile, delicate glass ever manufactured, but his grip was always sure and steady. It was then Jenna reminded him, as she always did, that she was more likely to drop their daughter than he ever was. Of course, in Isaac's eyes, his wife was perfect, and he took immediate exception to her even thinking such a thing about herself.
He didn't just keep his opinions regarding his wife and daughter to himself either. He proudly proclaimed that Jenna was the most perfect mother a husband could ever ask for and that Evangeline, or little Evie, as she'd been dubbed by Jenna, though she was often trumped by Isaac, who'd insisted that she should be called Angel, since she'd certainly descended from one, was the most beautiful baby girl who ever lived.
Thankfully, Ari and Beau had been blessed with a little boy, because if not, the arguments between the two proud fathers would have gotten ugly and physical. Now they could both claim to have the cleverest, most intelligent, most beautiful baby of their respective sexes. As for Ari and Jenna, they merely tolerated their husbands' nonsense by shaking their heads and leaving the room so the men could indulge in all the baby-talk nonsense they liked while the two women could actually have an adult conversation.
Usually Jenna was content to watch her husband dote on Evangeline for hours, but today was their one-year anniversary, and she had plans for her husband that didn't include him spending the entire afternoon speaking the language of "goo" and "gah." True to Isaac's word, he had knocked her up as fast as humanly possible, which was why they were celebrating their first year together with a three-month-old child.