I stood there, frozen on the shoreline, watching my husband laugh with the woman who’d just proposed to him. Every insecurity I’d ever buried roared to the surface. The nightmare from that morning, the distance from his late nights at work, the fear that I wasn’t enough — it all crashed over me like a wave. When he finally turned toward me, saw my tears, the playfulness vanished from his face. His voice shook with regret as he explained: Julia, an old college friend, a ridiculous revenge prank for a joke he’d made years ago. The woman smiled, apologetic now, as the truth settled in my chest like a calming tide.

Relief made my knees weak, but something stronger rose in its place: certainty. I reached into my pocket and pressed the tiny box into his hand. When he opened it and understood, his eyes filled with tears that washed away any lingering doubt. On that beach, between a cruel joke and a perfect sunset, we chose each other again — this time not just as husband and wife, but as parents-to-be, ready to face every storm and every sunrise together.