“Hey, it worked for me.”

Theo chuckled and stroked her back some more. “I was in a slump, remember?”

Lucy fiddled with his earring. “What if I gain twenty pounds? Will you still love me? Are you going to be following me around the house to make sure I don’t eat any more than a half cup of cottage cheese and that it’s the one-percent milk fat kind at that?”

Theo shrugged. “You’ll probably gain more than twenty pounds when you get pregnant, Lucy.”

“Oh, so you’ll wait until I blow up all pregnant and then you’ll leave me?”

“I’m trying to make a point here.”

“Then do it before I start to panic.”

“Luce, I just love you. You have to trust me on this. I mean, hey, how would it sound if I told you I was worried that you’d leave me if I started going bald? Or when hair started to grow out of my ears like with Uncle Martin?”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lucy said. Then she frowned. “That ear hair thing isn’t going to happen right away, is it?”

Theo laughed. “Look, Lucy. I’ve made my living as a personal trainer for the last few years, but that’s not why I love you-it just happens to be how I met you.”

Lucy’s eyes were beginning to sparkle again. Her hands were in his hair.

“I want to spend my life with you, Lucy, and that means we’ll both change physically, but we can still keep our hearts happy and full of love. We can always stay young inside.”

“I want to believe you love me for who I am. I want that more than anything in the world.”

“Then do.”

“I’m trying.”

“Would it help if I had proof?”

“Proof?” She laughed. “You mean like hard evidence?”

“Exactly. Wait here just a minute, baby.”

“I’m a little chilly, Theo.”

“No problem. I’ll bring you something to put on.”

Theo came back to the deck a few moments later with all the tools he needed for the job at hand-the registered letter, the surprise inside, the baby pink crotchless underwear and bra. “Here you go, Luce.”

Lucy held the slippery little pieces of satin and lace in her hand and laughed. “Too hilarious,” she said. “Now I know why Mary Fran was so hot for me to go to the bathroom back at the airport.”

“Yeah. She told me it was a close call. She snagged them out of the hamper on your way out of the apartment.”

Lucy slipped the panties up her thighs and snapped the bra in place, adjusting the rather skimpy cups.

“And this is supposed to be proof that you’d love me even if I wasn’t a size eight?”

“No.” Theo held out the letter. “This is.”

“What’s this?”

He returned to the chair and brought her back down onto his lap. “Why don’t you open it and find out.”

Lucy sat on his lap and crossed her shapely legs, working her finger into the adhesive of the light green postal seal. “Am I being subpoenaed?”

“Nope. You’re being proposed to.”

Lucy’s lips fell apart and she stared at him for a moment, then frantically tore open the envelope.

“Careful-”

First she pulled out the folded photo paper and opened it. She giggled. “Oh my.” Lucy stared at the picture for a while, then turned to Theo. “You really did love me that night.”

“Way before then, actually. But that night was such a nightmare-”

“No kidding.”

“I just figured I’d better start documenting things. You can never be too prepared.”

“Thank you for doing that.”

“No problem. What else did you find in there?”

Lucy pulled apart the envelope and peered inside. She removed a small jade green silk pouch no larger than a playing card, the name of an exclusive Miami jeweler on the outside. Theo watched a little frown pucker her brow.

“What in the world-?”

She unsnapped the pouch and pulled out the note-card, which Theo remembered writing that morning after the party. He’d gone in search of a ring but couldn’t seem to choose. The only thing he knew for sure that morning was that he loved this woman and had to have her. He’d written:

Would you mind designing your own engagement ring? I want it to be as unique and beautiful as the woman who wears it.

I love you, Lucy.

– Theo

She was going to cry, but that was all right with him, because she’d just buried her lips against his neck and whispered, “I thought you’d never ask.”

One Year Later

One year later on the Miami Herald society page…

Miami-Makeover celebrity Lucy Cunningham married her personal trainer in a private ceremony Sunday at the Star Island estate of supermodel Gia Altamonte.

Cunningham, 31, and University of Miami medical student Theodore Redmond, 33, exchanged vows before family and friends after a yearlong engagement, according to the couple’s friend WakeUp Miami cohost Tyson Williams. The morning show will air footage of the nuptials Monday, Williams said.

Cunningham is owner of the trendy Miami firm Slump Buster Advertising. She lost 91 pounds in a made-for-TV makeover mission led by Redmond, then a personal trainer for the Palm Club of Miami Beach.

Throughout the yearlong publicity stunt, the couple denied rumors of romantic involvement, but they got engaged immediately after Cunningham’s success with Redmond’s diet and exercise regimen. Since then, they’ve shared a Miami Springs home but have closely guarded their privacy.

The couple’s debut health and fitness book, Put Your Money on the Fat Chick, has already caused a buzz in the publishing world, several months before its planned April release. Williams said the couple would promote the book after they returned from their honeymoon at an undisclosed location.

“They’re real happy,” said Williams, a former Palm Club trainer who briefly worked with Cunningham. “But I should have been the one in the tux today. Redmond stole her from me.”

In a strange twist, Cunningham’s former employer, Stephan Sherrod, 54, was indicted last month on tax evasion charges. Authorities found the owner of the defunct Miami advertising agency Sherrod amp; Thorns hiding in the Cayman Islands, where he’d been living with girlfriend Lola DiPaolo. DiPaolo, 27, was not charged. Federal prosecutors claim Thorns owes nearly $700,000 in corporate and personal back taxes.

According to Williams, the bride wore an ivory satin wedding gown designed by Isaac Olorio, who was one of about 100 guests in attendance. The wedding cake was a four-tiered light pound cake with butter cream frosting, dotted with Milk Duds.

Contacted by telephone late Sunday night, the bride’s father, Bill Cunningham, said, “Lucy was the most beautiful bride there ever was, and the groom didn’t look too shabby, either.”