The Millionaire's Convenient Arrangement

I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way

"So I'm going to start now. I was wrong not to mention anything to you about the Arts and Business Council deal. I put you in a position where that scumbag Thornton could make you feel cheap. And I'm sorry for that."

"Ritchie – "

He held up his hand. "I've been wrong about a few other things, too. I was wrong to treat every gang member I prosecuted like they were all the same, not to take the time to consider whether, for a few of them, there was a better solution than locking them up for the maximum sentence. I was wrong about your brother Tito."

She gave a short laugh. "No, I was wrong. I love my brother, but I've been blind for years to the fact that Tito made choices that led to prison. I went to see him yesterday, and he told me he's taken responsibility for his mistakes. And he has nobody to blame but himself."

"Well, I went to see him this morning, and I think he deserves another chance."

"You went to see Tito? Why?"

"I didn't give him the chance eight years ago that I'd want someone to give my own brother, my own son, if he ended up on the wrong path." He lowered his voice, looked her in the eye. "I didn't give Tito the chance I'd want someone to give Joey."

Ritchie paused. "But I'm giving him that chance now."

"What do you mean?"

"He's eligible for a work release program if he has a job right here in Miami. Tito's willing to give it a shot, and I've offered him a job at my firm, working on client intake. It's not much, but it gives him a chance to stay here in Miami, maybe even go back to school, get a degree."

"You did that for me?"

"I thought I was doing it for you, for us, so we could be together. But I realized a few moments ago that I'm doing it because it's what's right. And it would be the right thing to do even if I'd never met you.

"Now, before you start yelling at me for jumping into this without talking it over with you first, I just want to say – "

Maria flew across the room and into his arms, laughing and crying at the same time. "I don't know how I can stay mad at you Ritchie Perez when everything you go about doing in the wrong way turns out to be exactly right."

"Well, there's one thing I want to do in the right way, starting now." He got down on one knee in front of her and pulled a jeweler's box out of his pocket. "I had this with me Saturday night, but things didn't turn out the way I expected."

"Ritchie, I – "

"Don't say anything yet. Maria, I'm hardheaded, opinionated, and stubborn. When I see something that needs fixed, I don't spend time talking about it, I just do it. I see a lot of things in black and white that maybe I should take a closer look at. I have a lot of faults, and nobody could point them out better than you.

"But in my whole life, I have never met a woman that mattered the way you do. I've never met another person I loved so much that being apart from them was like not breathing. When you said you couldn't be with someone who controlled things without discussing it first, I decided I'd have to change the way I do things."

"And your idea of changing the way you do things was to go see Tito and –"

"Okay, so change isn't easy, but I promise I'll try harder. And I need you to help me see that life isn't always black and white. That people can change. I need you because I love you, and I can't imagine my life without you and Joey in it. You are my pearl of great value, the love of my life. Maria, please, marry me."

He opened the small box, lifted out the sparkling ring, a vintage pearl ring surrounded by diamonds, in a setting that had withstood the test of time.