Chapter 17 - THE PROMISE ON THE CLIFF
Two months later. Late August.
Gabriel brought Harper and Noah to his private summer estate in Bar Harbor, Maine. The property sat high atop a granite cliff overlooking the endless blue expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by pine forests and crashing waves.
The sunset painted the horizon in brilliant shades of gold, rose, and amber.
Noah was down on the private beach below, laughing as he ran along the shoreline with Marco, trying to catch seagulls. His laughter echoed up the cliffside, bright and untroubled.
Harper stood by the wooden railing at the edge of the lawn, wrapped in a white knit cardigan, watching her brother play.
Gabriel walked up behind her, sliding his arms around her waist and pulling her back against his chest. He kissed her shoulder softly.
"He looks happy," Gabriel remarked, watching Noah attempt to build a sandcastle.
"He calls you his big brother now," Harper smiled, leaning her head back against Gabriel's chest. "He told his summer camp counselor that his big brother owns a mansion and fights bad guys."
Gabriel chuckled softly, a warm sound that vibrated against her back. "I’ll have to make sure he doesn't tell his teachers that."
Slowly, Gabriel turned her around to face him. His expression grew unusually serious, his amber eyes shining with a nervous tension she had never seen in him before.
"Gabriel?" Harper asked, resting her hand on his waist. "What's wrong?"
Gabriel didn't answer right away. He took a deep breath, reached into his coat pocket, and stepped back.
He dropped down to one knee on the green grass.
Harper’s breath hitched in her throat, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes widened.
Gabriel pulled out a velvet box and opened it. Inside sat a breathtaking ring—a flawless, emerald-cut yellow diamond set in an intricate band of platinum, glowing like sunlight in the dusk.
"Harper Vance," Gabriel spoke, his voice trembling slightly with a vulnerability he only ever revealed to her. "When you walked into my home, you were bleeding, bruised, and broken by a world that didn't deserve your light. I offered you a job to keep you safe. But you gave me something I never thought I deserved... a soul."
Tears began to spill down Harper’s cheeks, shining like diamonds in the sunset.
"I don't offer you a life free of shadows," Gabriel continued, looking up into her eyes with absolute devotion. "But I offer you my protection, my fortune, my loyalty, and every beat of my heart for as long as I live. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
Down on the beach, Noah had stopped running and was jumping up and down, waving his arms hysterically. "SAY YES, HARPER! SAY YES!"
Harper let out a wet, breathless laugh. She sank to her knees right in front of Gabriel, framing his rugged face with both of her hands.
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"Yes," she whispered, her voice overflowing with love. "Yes, Gabriel! A thousand times yes!"
Gabriel slipped the ring onto her finger, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her as the sun dipped beneath the ocean horizon, sealing their promise in the quiet beauty of the Maine coast.
