Chapter 8 - The Second ProposalWinter arrived quietly.
On the anniversary of the night everything fell apart, Sophie asked Ethan to meet her at the Bennett estate.
He almost refused.
The house still carried uncomfortable memories.
But when he arrived, something was different.
No valet.
No formal dinner.
No staff waiting in rows.
The enormous dining room was empty.
Sophie stood on the terrace wearing jeans, boots, and a dark blue sweater.
“What’s going on?” Ethan asked.
She smiled nervously.
“Come with me.”
They walked across the lawn toward the place where Richard’s helicopter had landed one year earlier.
A small wooden table stood there.
On it sat the black velvet ring box.
Ethan stopped.
“Sophie.”
“Don’t panic.”
“I’m not panicking.”
“You’re absolutely panicking.”
He laughed.
She picked up the box.
“Last year, this ring became a symbol of everything that went wrong.”
Ethan looked at her.
“My mother’s pride. My silence. Your anger. Your father’s test. My father’s secrets.”
“That’s a lot for one ring.”
“I know.”
She opened the box.
The diamond caught the winter sunlight.
“So I thought maybe we should decide what it means now.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
Sophie took his hand.
“I don’t want to marry you because your father is Richard Cole.”
“I would hope not.”
“I don’t want to marry you because my family company survived.”
“Also encouraging.”
She smiled.
“I want to marry you because when everything fell apart, you forced me to become honest about who I was.”
Her voice trembled.
“And because I loved you before the helicopter, during the worst night of my life, and every day after.”
Ethan swallowed.
Sophie took a breath.
“Ethan Cole, will you marry me?”
He stared at her.
Then laughed through tears.
“You stole my ring.”
“I borrowed it.”
“For a year?”
“Details.”
He pulled her into his arms.
“Yes.”
She laughed against his shoulder.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
From the terrace, applause suddenly erupted.
Sophie pulled away.
Ethan looked back.
Richard stood there beside Charles and Victoria.
“You knew?” Ethan shouted.
Richard raised both hands.
“I was threatened.”
Victoria called back, “I asked politely.”
Everyone laughed.
This time, the Bennett estate felt different.
Not smaller.
Just less important.
They had dinner that evening, but not in the formal dining room.
Charles grilled steaks outside despite the cold.
Richard criticized his technique.
Victoria drank wine from an ordinary glass.
At one point she looked across the table at Richard.
“You know, I still think that jacket is terrible.”
Everyone froze.
Then Richard smiled.
“I paid thirty dollars for it twenty years ago.”
Victoria nodded.
“That explains everything.”
Sophie groaned.
“Mom.”
Victoria laughed.
“I’m kidding.”
Richard lifted his glass.
“Progress.”
Later, Victoria asked Sophie privately whether she wanted a large wedding.
Sophie smiled.
“About sixty people.”
Victoria almost fainted.
“Sixty?”
“Maybe fifty.”
“Don’t punish me.”
May you like
Sophie laughed and hugged her.
For once, Victoria let the future belong to her daughter.
