The smile fades from her lips and she stares at him, stunned. She watches as he pulls a small black box out of his pocket and opens it slowly, showing it to her. A beautiful diamond ring is nestled inside. The stone sparkles in the lantern light, reflecting the freshly fallen snow on the ground.      His face is serious as he watches her reaction. “Melinda, I know this may seem rather sudden. And maybe not well-thought out. We haven’t known each other that long, but I believe we’ve known each other long enough to know – well at least I have – I mean,” he stumbles and pauses, his face colouring in the dim light.      He takes a deep breath and begins again. “ I know you’re the one for me. I can’t see myself spending my life with anyone else. So, I’d like to know if you would do me this honour… Melinda, will you become my wife? Will you marry me?”      Melinda feels her breath catch, and she reaches up and places her hand by her throat, as if she must coax herself to speak. For an instant, she can see her future: A beautiful wedding, building a home together, both of them excelling at their careers, children… And for a brief moment, a face passes before her eyes. The face of a man she still has not forgotten, though she has willed herself to every night before she falls asleep, and every morning when she wakes up. As quickly as she sees him, she pushes him out of her mind, ashamed to be thinking of him in front of the man she loved and would love for the rest of her life.      “Of course I’ll marry you, Greg,” she says, rushing into his arms. “Of course.”      He holds her to him, squeezing her tight, one hand tangled in her hair. “I love you, Melinda. Always,” he whispers in her ear, his voice fierce.      She pulls back and looks in his eyes. “I love you, Greg.”      He kisses her then. Tenderly and then more passionately, until they are both breathless. He slips the ring onto her finger and they gaze at it, both of them looking as if they are amazed that it is actually there.