She half-giggled, half-sobbed, as she fisted my t-shirt.
“So…” I slipped the ring out of the box before propping my weight up on an elbow, my head in my head. I was looking down at her. The most beautiful woman in the world. My future. “Will you do me the honour of being mine… forever?”
“Yes.” She brought my face down to meet hers, as she stifled my laughter with her excited kisses.
“Then let’s make it official.” I slid the ring on her finger and she held it up, letting the sun catch it and cast a blinding rainbow. “Damn, that looks good on your finger.”
“I never want to take it off,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around me.
“See that you don’t.” I brushed her wild hair off her face before my eyes locked with hers. I was kissing my fiancé for the very first time. Damn. That knowledge made my heart beat just a little faster as my tongue tangled with hers.
She moaned into my mouth and started pushing my jacket over my shoulders. I knew if I didn’t give her the second part of my surprise now, it would have to wait until much later, so I tore my lips from hers and whispered, “Grab that piece of paper out of my pocket, angel. I’ve got a little engagement gift for you. For your whole family actually.”
She snagged the paper and opened it, gasping when she read the first few lines. She pushed me out of the way in her haste to sit up. “Knox, you didn’t!”
“I did.”
“No.” She shook her head as her eyes drifted up to the house. “You bought the house, this land back, for us? For my family?”
I’d put all of their names on the deed, because I knew that’s how it always should have been. This house, this land, was a part of their history. And when I explained that to the old farmer, Mr. Joseph, he’d been happy to sell it to me. He told me he’d had plenty of offers from developers over the years, but didn’t want to see an ‘ugly’ condo building or row houses where wild open fields belonged.
“I can’t believe you did this.” She closed her eyes as the tears continued to flow. “You are the best.” She sniffled. “Funny, I said those very same words to my daddy right before his surgery. I meant them then and I mean them now.” She reached for my hand. “I never thought I’d meet someone who’d love me the way you love me. Who’d do this…” She swept her arm out. “Just to make me happy.”
“I’d do anything to make you happy, angel. Don’t you know that by now?”
“I can’t.” She sniffled as she clutched the paper in her hand and pressed it to her chest. “There are no words…”
“We don’t need words, sweetheart.” The look in her eyes said it all. I’d righted an old wrong, because I could, and that was the only thing that mattered to me. “I just need you to smile like that for me, every day, for the next forty or fifty years, that’s all.”
“Done.” She pushed me back, straddling me. “I’m not gonna ask if you’ve ever done it outside, because I don’t think I wanna know if you have. Let’s just pretend it’s the first time.”
I chuckled as my hands bracketed her waist. “Uh before we get to that, I have one more question?”
She quirked an eyebrow as she planted her hands on my chest. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“You like those rustic outdoor wedding that are so trendy right now?” I glanced down the hill. “Maybe even a barn wedding? If so, I happen to know the perfect spot.”
She shrieked, slapping my chest. “Ohmigod, that’s perfect! We could have the wedding right here!”
I laughed as I tightened my arms around her, pulling her down on top of me. “Just like always beautiful, we’re on the same page.”
Epilogue
Cece
Being in my grandparents’ old bedroom as I prepared for my walk down the aisle, made me feel closer to them, like they were right there with us, watching me marry the man of my dreams. It had been six months since Knox slipped that ring on my finger, and he’d been outdoing himself to make all my dreams come true ever since.
We were living in his house, which had been redecorated, to ‘feminize’ as he called it. He’d even bought me a horse for my birthday. A freakin’ horse! And acted like it was nothing when I cried myself stupid because I was so happy.
My sister tapped on the door before she poked her head in. “Hey, can I come in?”
“Of course.” I glanced at her in the full-length mirror before turning to face her. “So? What do you think?”
“You look gorgeous,” she whispered, clasping my hands. “Just like I knew you would.”
“Having Daddy here to walk me down the aisle means everything.” I swore I wouldn’t cry, but just thinking about how far he’d come in his recovery made me so grateful that he’d been given a second chance.
“I know.” Charli swept the veil over my shoulders. “And they love Nashville! It’s like moving there gave them a new lease on life.”
