“But could you look at him all night too?”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
She’s silent.
“Fly down. You’ll see that he’s good to me. And you’ll get to meet Monster.”
“I love you so much, Honeycake.”
“I love you.”
When I’m done talking to Cat, I curl up on the porch swing and take a nap, Monster at my feet. When I wake up, groggy but happy, I find John in the kitchen, making chili.
“Do you have a notebook?” I ask him.
He kisses me on the head. “Somewhere around here. Why?”
“I want to make plans for our house.”
He stares at me.
“I only have a few months, and I want this little guy to have a nursery set up before he’s born. And if we’re going to do this together, that’s a lot of planning—fixing up a house and arranging a marriage, in such a short period of time.”
“Did you break the fourth rule?” he asks, his eyes solemn.
“Yes.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re asking me to marry you, right?”
“Not officially. I might want to dress up a little and maybe buy a ring for you first.”
I lean into him, and he wraps his arms around me. “Do you thinkyou’restarting to break the fourth rule?” I whisper into his chest.
“I started breaking it when I saw your legs that first day.”
I pull away from him and swat him on the arm.
“You know that saying—you don’t know a good thing until it’s wrenched away from you?” He takes my hand and presses my palm against his chest, right over his heart. “I knew I was falling for you, but when I was rushing you to the hospital—that’s when I knew I wanted to keep falling for you forever.” He lets go of my hand and eyes me solemnly. “I’ll be right back.” He runs to one of the kitchen drawers and returns with a notebook and pencil, hands them to me then wraps his arms around me and kisses me until I’m weak in the knees.
He smiles down at me. “Let’s do this. First on the list: we sit out on the front porch swing and kiss some more. Second thing on the list: fixing up a nursery.”
26
HONEY, TWO MONTHS LATER
I flitteraround the half-finished kitchen, checking the trays of food that dot the island. “At least the electrician finished, and we can plug the slow cooker in. Do you think I made enough soup?” I pull the lid off the slow cooker and frown down at the contents.
“You weren’t supposed to cook anything.” John mock-frowns at me. “Everybody else is bringing food. Danni, Emma, and Skye told me to make sure you just sat around and looked pretty.”
I purse my lips. “I don’t think they said those exact words.” I scoot some of the trays over to make room for more dishes. “I needed to do something. I’m nesting big time now. I’m in cooking, cleaning, organizing, beautifying overdrive. In a month, I promise to sit around and look pretty, but until then, I’m going to be super busy.”
“Tiny, this alone is more than I cook when I’m trying to feed a whole passel of ranch hands.” John tugs at the collar of his polo and runs a hand through his hair.
“I’m glad your curls are growing back. You look cute.”
“Take that back.”
“What exactly is a passel?” I smile up at him, then stand on my tiptoes and kiss him.
