I walked to her. Took her hand. Her fingers were shaking in mine and my fingers were shaking in hers and we were both a mess and I didn't care.
"I had a whole speech," I said. "Maisie helped me write it. But I'm looking at you, and I can't remember a single word, so I'm just going to say the true thing."
She nodded. Tears running down her face. Not wiping them.
"You are the bravest woman I've ever met. You walked away from everything to give your daughter a better life, and you built one. You're in law school. You're raising the most extraordinary kid I've ever known." My voice broke. I let it break. "And every single day I have spent with you has been the best day of my life."
I sank to one knee. Opened the box. Her hand flew to her mouth again and the sob that came out of her shook her whole body.
"I'm done waiting, Callie. I want to be yours. I want to be Maisie's. I want to build the rest of my life right here, with you. Marry me."
Maisie could not contain herself one second longer.
“Say yes, Mommy!"
Callie was crying. She was laughing. She was nodding before the word came out.
"Yes."
I slid the ring on her finger, and my hands were shaking so badly it took two tries, and she laughed through her tears and steadied my hand with hers, and we got it on together. She pulled me up by the front of my shirt and kissed me. I tasted salt and wine and joy and the rest of my life.
Maisie dropped the sign and launched herself at both of us, and we went down. All three of us, on the flat rock overlooking the valley in the golden light, laughing, tangled, the lanterns swaying above us and the ranch spread out below like a promise kept.
Maisie was wedged between us, one arm around my neck and one arm around Callie's, and she was saying "We did it, we did it, we did it" and Callie was laughing so hard she couldn't breatheand I was holding them both and the ring was catching the light and the sky was enormous and gold and I thought:This. This is who I was always going to be.
We drove back to the main house with Maisie bouncing in the back seat so hard the truck shook. She was out of the door before I'd pulled the keys from the ignition, boots hitting the gravel, up the porch steps two at a time, and through the front door like a small blonde tornado.
“Clay is going to marry Mommy!" Her voice carried through the entire house and probably half the county. “She said yes and Clay is going to be my daddy!"
By the time Callie and I walked through the door, the kitchen had erupted. Momma was already crying — she'd been ready to cry all afternoon, and Maisie had just given her permission. Dad was on his feet. Wyatt reached me first. He didn't say a word — just pulled me into a hug that nearly cracked my ribs and held on for three seconds longer than Wyatt had ever held anything in his life. When he let go his eyes were bright and he gripped the back of my neck and squeezed once and walked away before either of us had to deal with what had just happened.
Liam was next. He'd driven in that afternoon — "Had a feeling," he said, which meant Momma had called him — and he grabbed me with both arms and lifted me off the ground, which was unnecessary and completely Liam. "About damn time, brother." Stephanie was crying beside him, her hand over her mouth, nodding like she'd been waiting for this.
Maggie and Sophia and Ivy found Callie and the four of them dissolved into a huddle of tears and laughter and talking over each other and gripping each other's hands and looking at the ring and crying harder. Jack stood behind Maggie with his hand on her back and caught my eye across the room and nodded. The Jack nod. Steady. Sure.
Then Dad.
He crossed the kitchen and he didn't shake my hand. He pulled me in. Both arms. His hand came to the back of my head — and he held me against his shoulder and I could feel his chest shaking.
"I have never been more proud of you, son," he whispered. So quiet only I could hear. His voice broke onson,and his hand tightened on the back of my head. I closed my eyes and held my father and let the words land somewhere deep and permanent.
He pulled back. His eyes were red. He squeezed the back of my neck — the same gesture, the same warm hand, the same shorthand he'd been using since I was a kid. And that was it. That was everything.
Hunter was leaning against the porch railing when I walked outside. Arms crossed. Clean shirt. He looked at me for a long moment and then gripped my shoulder — hard, brief — and that was everything. That was Hunter saying every word he'd never say out loud.
Inside, Maisie had climbed onto Dad's lap and was holding court at the kitchen table. Momma was pouring wine and Maggie was passing plates and the whole room was warm and loud and full in the way it only got when something worth celebrating had happened.
"Everybody," Maisie said. She stood up on Dad's chair, and Dad steadied her with one hand. she addressed the room with the authority of a woman giving a press conference. "I have an announcement."
The table went quiet. Maisie looked at me. Then at Callie. Then back at the table.
"Clay is my real daddy now," she said. "My real one. And we're going to be Blackwoods." She paused. Let that land. Then: "And also I need a sister."
Callie choked on her wine.
"My friend Sophie has lots of sisters, and she says it's the best thing ever. I think I would be a really good big sister because I'm very responsible, and I already know how to hold a baby because Grammy Lou showed me with a pillow."
Momma's hand went to her chest. Dad was looking at the ceiling. Maggie had her face in her hands. Callie was crimson and laughing and shaking her head, and I was standing in the doorway of the main house watching my daughter tell an entire room full of Blackwoods that she needed a sibling, and my heart was so full I thought it might crack the bones around it.
