AN: This story is winding down, sorry to say. I had conceived it as more of a novella than a full-blown novel, and I have about 5,000 more words before it gets too long, so I'm beginning to wrap things up, okay? Most of the OMG moments come at the end of the story.

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The next few days marked some of the happiest and most peaceful Reed had ever known. To go to bed and wake up next to Duncan was an amazing thing, to reach for him or have him reach for her, to know what was coming, was simply a dizzying state of affairs. Only the nagging knowledge of Sam, waiting for her back in Ryedale, cast a pall on her, and she resolutely tried to simply put him out of her head. If she thought about him, patiently waiting to marry her, the guilt became overwhelming.

Duncan for his part was sticking to his word of not bothering her about anything, though Reed could tell he wanted to ask her many, many questions.

Nancy, for all of her threatening, had left them blessedly alone, and the days marched out like perfect glass beads on a thread, one beautiful day after the other. Reed had taken to reading on the deck in the afternoon to enjoy the ocean. Most days she'd end up with the book in her lap, just looking out at the waves and the people on the beach, while she thought about everything.

"Reed?" Duncan called from the door. "You want company, or are you enjoying your solitary time of reflection?"

"Oh, please, reflection is too grandiose a term for what I was doing, which is basically zoning out," Reed assured him, drawing the chair next to her a little closer and inviting him to sit. She gestured to the bottle of wine and extra glass, asking if he wanted some.

He nodded and poured himself a glass, sipping as he regarded her.

"You look lovely today, in case I hadn't said it before," Duncan said as he sat. "You take a tan very nicely, don't you?"

Today Reed was wearing shorts and a tank top, and she reflected that she would never worn anything like this back in Ryedale.

"So listen," Duncan began hesitantly, and Reed knew what was coming. She hoped she was wrong, and listened to him attentively, setting her book on the table.

"I don't know if this will change anything, but I'm hoping it does," he continued, scooting the chair even closer. He took her hand. "I love you, I really do, and I think—I hope that you love me too? That you've been happy here with me?"

Reed nodded. "I do, and I have, very, you know that."

"So then would you consider making it permanent? Would you consider staying if we—if we got married? Reed, would you marry me?"

Oh my god.

Duncan pulled a ring box out of his pocket, opened it, and set it on the table facing Reed.

"Oh, Duncan, that's just stunning," Reed cried, unable to help herself.

He'd somehow turned the little pink shell he'd found on the beach that day into a ring, surrounded by diamonds. It was a tiny pink masterpiece.

"So? Will you wear it and agree to become my wife? To put whatever's in your past well and truly behind you and just stay with me forever?" Duncan swallowed and looked at Reed hopefully, his face so beautiful it hurt to look at it.

Reed took a deep breath.

"Duncan, think about what you're asking," she began gently.

"Not an auspicious beginning," Duncan said, the corners of his mouth beginning to turn down. "All I'm asking is for the woman I love to stay with me forever."

"But life just doesn't work that way—"

"What are you talking about? Of course it does! People meet, they fall in love, they get married."

"Just like that?" Reed looked at Duncan, eyes huge.

"Yes, just like that. That's what life's all about, isn't it?"

"Duncan." And now Reed's voice held a touch of reproach. "What we've been living here isn't 'real life,' don't you know that?" She put a hand on his arm. "We've been on vacation, basically, while we both took a break from our real lives. I mean, what's going to happen to our relationship when you're on the road for months, sometimes years at a time? When women are throwing themselves at you nonstop, literally?"

"You could just come with me when I tour?" Now Duncan sounded confused.

"Like a groupie," Reed responded, and it wasn't framed as a question.

"But you'd be my wife—"

"Don't you see? I want something for myself, I need something for myself, before I can give anything to anyone else. I have nothing, I'm no one."

"Are you talking about money?" And Reed felt bad, because she could tell Duncan was trying desperately to understand and just couldn't.

"No, I"m not talking about money, I'm talking about having something to offer, about being enough to be in a relationship with another person and having something to give."

"But you give yourself, you're enough. You're enough, Reed." Duncan leaned forward and kissed her.

"I might be enough for you, but not for me," Reed tried again. "You're enough, but I'm not, I'm not, don't you see?"

"No. No I don't," Duncan said stubbornly. "I don't understand at all. If I'm saying you're enough, then why?"

"It's not about you, what you feel is enough, it's about me!" Reed, frustrated, was keeping her voice down with effort. "I need to feel equal, like I have as much value as you."

"I haven't done that for you?" Duncan's voice was soft. "I haven't been able to show how valuable you are?" 

Reed sighed again.

"Would it matter if you were to finish your book first? Then would you feel you'd accomplished enough?" Duncan sounded forlorn rather than angry, which made Reed's heart twist. Anger she could deal with, but how could she respond and hurt someone who didn't understand what she was saying?

It was like Sam all over again.

Reed shook her head. "I guess I shouldn't be trying to be a writer," she said with an attempt at a smile. "I'm not communicating very well."

Duncan sat back. "No. I understand what you're saying."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. You're saying no. Simply put, for whatever nebulous reasons, you're saying no." Duncan closed the box and put it back in his pocket.

Reed took a deep breath and tried to keep him from rising.

"No, please don't go, not like this."

Duncan put his hand under her chin and lifted her face so she could meet his eyes. "What else is there to talk about? I think we've said it all."

Reed began to cry, she couldn't help it. "No, Duncan, no, please, don't leave."

He smiled sadly at her. "I'm not leaving, darling, just going into the house for another drink, that's all."

Reed wiped her streaming eyes and looked out at the ocean, at the water which washed gently on the sand, at the larger swells farther out. She thought about the beautiful ring, and how lovely it was that he'd had it made.

But she knew she was right. Taking this year off, trying to write, leaving Sam, all of it would be for nothing if she simply said yes to Duncan.

She rose and entered the house, where she found Duncan in the kitchen holding a glass of something dark and potent.

"Thought I could use a drink myself," she confessed.

He poured her a glass, just as the buzzer sounded at the gate. He went to answer, leaving Reed alone in the kitchen. He returned moments later, looking quizzical.

"Someone to see you," he told her. "Sam? Who's that, then?"