*~~Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-One~~*

{~~Avery Sterling~~}

Going to the hospital the next day felt different for Logan and me. There was a weight in the air, but it wasn't the kind of heaviness that pressed down with worry or fear; it was something more intimate, a subtle shift between us that had begun the moment I agreed to remove my ring. He’d asked me to take it off, not because he didn’t want the world to see it, but because he wanted the moment when he would propose again to be truly unforgettable. He told me he wanted to catch me off guard, to surprise me when I least expected it, and although that was his intention, a part of me still felt the lingering symbolism of slipping the ring off my finger. It was bittersweet. But it was also nice to think about — that moment, in the future, when he would propose again, with all the weight of the past behind us, and we could start fresh. It gave me something to hold onto, a promise of new beginnings, and I carried that hope with me as I walked through the hospital doors.

H