However spur of the moment the proposal might have seemed, Gideon had been thinking about it for quite a while. It didn't matter that their relationship was less than a year old. The circumstances of the village lent everything to a quick-moving relationship. For Merlin's sake, they were living together in the first weeks of dating and had been around each other every single day since then. How could be anything but sure about whether or not he wanted to continue in that vein? The hardest part was committing to asking and picking a moment. The second the attacks started, Gideon knew it had to wait. And when she was recovered after being abducted, he wanted to make sure things were going better before he raised the subject.
The beach was the perfect excuse. Amelia had been smiling again lately, and even sleeping rather decently, so it was all pointing to being a good time to ask her. Judging by her reaction, he was correct. However hard Amelia was trying to keep from smiling, Gideon could tell it was just itching to burst across her face and his own lips spread into a grin. He hadn't been worried at all about being turned down. He was too confident in her feelings for him, just as she should be in his for her.
"Yeah, really," he said, but then remained quiet so he could hear her answer. He wanted to hear Mel say it, after all. And then she did. Gideon leaned closer to Amelia, hands gently on either side of her face as they kissed. Now all he needed was a ring to make it proper, but that could wait until the beach was gone. Unless Mel really wanted one before that, anyway. He was open to doing it either way, and he thought everything was settled until she broke away from him and questioned his intentions. "Of course I'm sure. I fucking love you, you know. That's not going to change."