Page 162 of The Ashes of Summer

"Yes." She's crying hard now. "Yes. Yes, a million times yes."

The relief crashes through me so hard I nearly laugh out loud. Instead my eyes sting. Jesus Christ. I'm actually crying.

I take the ring out of the box and slide it onto her finger, and it fits perfectly.

Summer lifts her hand slowly into the sunlight and the diamond throws light across both of us. Then she notices the center stone properly.

"Jacob." Her voice shakes. "It's beautiful."

I get back to my feet.

"The stone is so…" She turns her hand, studying it. "Different."

I rub at the back of my neck, and the nerves hit me properly for the first time all day. Because this part is either the most meaningful thing I've ever done or completely fucking insane, and I genuinely don't know which until she tells me.

"Yeah. About that."

She looks up, confused.

"After your mother was cremated," I say slowly, "I asked for some of the ashes." I cringe a little. “Well, actually they weren’t going to give me them until I brought up some old files and—” I stop myself.

Summer goes completely still.

"They're inside the ring."

Silence.

Fuck.

I’m pretty sure my stomach just fell out of my ass.

"I just figured—" I swallow. "She could still be with us. For this. For the wedding. For the rest of our lives."

She stares at me for one long second.

Then her legs go out from under her and she sits down hard on the gravel, sobbing.

"Baby—" Panic hits me and I'm down beside her before I've thought about it. "Fuck, if I overstepped, I'm sor⁠—"

"How?"

I blink. Suddenly feeling like I’ve been slapped. "What?"

"How did I get this lucky?" she says through the tears.

The relief nearly takes the breath out of my lungs.

She laughs shakily, staring at the ring again. Then she lifts her hand and presses it gently to her lips.

"I love you, Mama," she whispers, broken. "And I know you'd be happy for me right now."

Damn, that nearly destroys me where I sit.

I brush the tears off her cheeks carefully with my thumb. "She knew," I murmur.

Summer looks up at me.

"She knew I'd take care of you." Emotion sits heavy in my throat. "I don't know how she knew. But she did."