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“Baby, the kind of riding I want to do wouldn’t be appropriate for where we are.”
She laughed and tried to hit me, missing me by a mile.
I guided her to the barn and my knees almost buckled. Lights were strung up across the barn and a small round table sat in the middle, flanked by two hay bales.
Lori walked out from one of the rooms and gave me thumb up.
“Did you do all of this?” I mouthed to her.
She nodded and made a heart shape with her hands as her mother appeared at her side.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to them. They walked quietly past us as I led Harley farther into the barn.
Harley did a little jump as I brought her to a stop. “I hear horses.”
“You ready?” I asked.
“Yes! Take it off already!”
I removed the blindfold. She stood there with her eyes squeezed shut.
Leaning in, I placed my mouth to the side of her ear. “Open your eyes, Lee.”
I took a step back to see her reaction. It didn’t take her any time to realize where we were.
“The Durham’s barn!” she exclaimed as she spun around in a circle.
While she was taking everything in, I dropped to one knee and held the ring box out.
“Harley,” I said, trying to keep my voice strong and steady. When she turned to me, she gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
“I’ve waited so long for this moment. Dreamt about it almost every night.”
Her body started to shake with sobs.
“You’ve always held my heart, since the first day I looked into your beautiful emerald eyes. You were always the one. I’m so sorry I was blind all those years, but if you’ll do me the honor, I swear to you I’ll make every single day the best day of our life.”
Harley dropped to her knees. Tears streamed down her face as she nodded.
“I love you,” she choked out before throwing her body against mine. She wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly while she shook from crying.
“I love you too, baby. More than you’ll ever know.”
When we finally drew back, I took her left hand and kissed the back of it. “This ring has waited for ten years to be on your finger. Let’s put it on, shall we?”
My hand shook as I slid the ring on her finger. The princess cut diamond was surrounded by ten smaller princess-shaped diamonds. The band was engraved while gold and was breathtaking.
“Tripp, this ring is stunning. I don’t…I don’t even know what to say.”
Cupping her face with my hands, I replied, “Say you’ll marry me, in this barn, with our family and friends watching.”
Her eyes widened. “In this barn?” Her tears came again, and I saw the happiness dancing in her beautiful eyes.
“Yes! Whenever you want, I’ve already talked to Lori about it.”
Harley shook her head, unable to form any words.
“Are we going too fast? Just tell me if we are.”
“No, this is all so…beautiful. Amazing. Wonderful. You’re making all of my dreams come true, Tripp, and I…I want to stand on the tallest mountain and scream how happy I am.”
I chuckled as I stood and brought her with me. I pointed to the table that had been set up. There was a chilled bottle of champagne and a fruit and cheese plate. She gazed up at the strings of lights with tears in her eyes.
“Did you do this?” Harley asked, taking a seat.
“I’d love to take credit for it, but Lori and her mom did it.”
“Oh my God, it’s just so perfect. What a thoughtful thing for them to do.”
I poured us each a glass and took a seat. “What do we toast to?” I asked with a wink.
She looked up as if in deep thought, before her eyes swung back to mine.
“Let’s toast to our future.”
“Our somewhat unplanned, go with the flow, future?”
A wide, beautiful smile appeared on her face as she lifted her glass to mine. “Yes! To that future!”
“Tonight is family dinner at my folks’ place. Should we have a date in mind when we drop the news to them?” I asked.
Harley set her glass down and popped a grape in her mouth. “Let’s see, it’s early May. Corina is due July 19. We could do it after the baby is born? But then we risk it being really hot.”
I agreed. “A wedding in July or August in a barn in Texas is going to be hot.”
We both let out a breath of air. “How fast can we throw this thing together?” I asked with a wiggle of my brows.
Harley pulled out her phone and started texting someone.
“Who are you texting?”
She looked up and winked. “Paxton. I can trust that she won’t say anything to anyone.”
After Harley typed out a long text message, we sat there and waited for her response.
