Page 35 of Sweet Courage

“Definitely.” He leaned back against the fence. “Did you know the Sweets are making changes to the operations? Updating, expanding some things, cutting back on others?”

She shook her head. Even though she’d been friendly with the Sweets most of her life, she had no idea of anything other than what might have been discussed at the dinner table or after church.

“They’re planning on repurposing this land.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He stopped and looked over her shoulder a minute. “It’s not much, but Alice agreed to sell me ten acres.”

“Excuse me, what?” Surely she misheard him.

His chuckle was light and tinged with a hint of nerves. “My therapist is pleased with how well my adaptive techniques are working for me. So am I, actually. She even thinks there’s a chance that some parts of my brain might learn new tricks to offset the damage to other parts, but not enough to return to the military. That part of my life is over.”

Her heart did a little stutter. “I’m sorry. That has to be hard to deal with.”

“Not as hard as I would have thought.”

Now she was totally confused.

“I’m going to build a house right dead smack in the middle of the ten acres. This way if the Sweets lose their mind and sell to developers some day, there will be plenty of land around me to buffer the noise.”

“Build?” Her mind scrambled to make some sense of what was going on.

“The Sweets can always use more hands. The ride to work would be an easy commute, and Alice says I can stay at the ranch until construction is done.”

“You’re serious.” Her mind was spinning now.

“As a heart attack.”

“Oh, after what happened to Clint, don’t even tease about that.” Besides, she’d come as close to a heart attack as she ever wanted to when she watched Hanson climbing around the edges of the Ferris wheel like a spider on a web.

He clasped both her hands in his. “You probably deserve something more romantic, but…” he dropped to one knee. “Would you be my wife and help me build our dream home?”

She wanted to scream yes, throw a fist pump, kiss him all over, but her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth. His face was beginning to crumble, the hope in his eyes fading, and her mouth still wouldn’t form words. Instead, she did the only thing she could—she threw her arms squarely around his neck and pressed her lips against his in a kiss like no other.

It took a few moments for them to come up for air. His arms now wrapped tightly around her, he leaned back and smiled. “Is that a yes?”

Her mouth finally loosening, she grinned back at him. “That’s a hell yes.”

Chapter Sixteen – Epilogue

“Looks like we’re all set.” Jess stood beside her sisters-in-law at the kitchen sink.

“Mom has a way of pulling off things that no one else could and making it look easy.” Jillian gathered the squeezed lemon and lime rinds into a pile and heaved them into the trash. “It’s going to be a great party.”

From where Gideon Baker sat in the den tinkering with a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, everything in this household seemed so normal and at the same time totally extraordinary. For days, his sergeant had been flittering around his wife like a moth to a flame. Only from what Gideon could see, the attraction was not only mutual but intense. He wasn’t completely convinced he hadn’t fallen down a rabbit hole and all of this was just one crazy dream. So many of his buddies all injured in the same blast that seared his lungs, all of them head over boots in love and glowing like fireflies in the dark of night.

“How’s it coming along?” Josh patted his buddy on the back and picked up a piece while glancing at the expanse of the puzzle.

“The blue sky is going to be a bitch.”

“Hmm.”

“You as surprised as me that the Sarge is celebrating his first anniversary by renewing his vows?” he asked.

“I’m still surprised that any of us are happily married.” At that, Josh lifted his gaze to search out his own bride, smiled and then went back to the puzzle.

The Sweet Ranch was decked out for the big celebration tomorrow. He’d arrived a few days ago after trying every excuse under the sun to stay home. When his sergeant told him that all of his buddies he hadn’t seen since the blast would be coming, it made it really hard to say no. In the end, he decided a week in ranch country wouldn’t kill him.