Robert has no idea when it happened, but by the time the deep snow begins to melt and the water rushes through the little creek nearby turning it into a brook, he knows. No, he's known longer than that but he's willing to admit it to himself. He loves her.

He's in love with the way she smiles, how she pulls her own weight, and the way she looks when they're playing chess, and he can't stop staring at her. Laying there in the dark, listening to the soft sound of her breathing, and finding himself more and more in love with her with every breath he heard.

Now every day things change, and it gets closer to spring when he can check in the town and make sure that no one had come looking for her, and then when it was safe, she would go.

So he's stunned when he comes to the table, seeing the ring laying there before where he sits. He had known the day was coming, but he hadn't been ready for it to be now.

"I believe this is yours," he says, picking it up and holding it out to her.