Emily's eyes were already filling. "And then your crazy father dropped some boards on the side of the road," Marcus said. "And you argued with me about a level, and you showed up at every hard moment of my life since. And somewhere along the way, you taught me that the story wasn't over. That I hadn't already read the last page."
"That there were whole chapters I hadn't even gotten to yet." His voice thickened. "You're the chapter I didn't know I still had, Emily. You and this whole family we somehow built out here in a dead woman's garden. And I don't want to read the rest of it without you."
He opened the little box. "Marry me," he said. "Be Ava's—be whatever Ava wants to call you. Be my partner. Let's stand up together every morning for the rest of it."
"Marry me." Emily was crying too hard to speak for a moment. She just nodded fast, and then she managed to get it out. "Yes. God. Yes."
"Of course. Yes." And Marcus slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her. And from the main house came a sudden eruption of noise because Harold and Ava had absolutely been watching through the window the entire time and could contain themselves no longer. They came pouring out into the yard.
Ava first, running full speed, shrieking with joy, and she crashed into both of them at once, and they scooped her up between them. "Is she going to be my mom?" Ava demanded, looking back and forth between them. "Is that what this means? Is Emily going to be my mom?" Marcus and Emily looked at each other over their daughter's head.
"That's—that's up to you, baby," Marcus said carefully. "Emily is not going to replace your mom. Nobody could ever do that. Your mom will always be your mom. But if you wanted, Emily could be—"
"You could be my Emily," Ava decided, throwing her arms around Emily's neck. "You don't have to be my mom. You can just be my Emily. That's a whole different job, and you're already really good at it." Emily made a sound that was half laugh and half sobb and held the little girl tight.
"I would be honored," she said into Ava's hair, "to be your Emily. That's the best job anybody ever offered me. Better than Chicago." Harold reached them last, slower than the rest. His heart healed, but still an old man's careful pace.
He stood there looking at the three of them, Marcus, Emily, Ava, tangled together in the garden his wife had dreamed of, and for a moment he couldn't speak at all. "Harold," Marcus said. "You okay?" "I'm—" Harold's voice broke completely. "I'm better than okay. I'm—"