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“Do you want to see the upstairs before you decide?” He steps away and grasps my hand. “The nursery’s all set as is the master bedroom. Of course, you’ll need to bring life to the place. Put your own stamp on it.”
I tug on his hand before he can drag me upstairs. “What’s going on, Cole? You left last week to interview for a job in New York City and now you’ve bought a house?”
He cups my cheeks. “I never left Winter Falls.”
“Impossible. I would have known if you were in town.”
“I had help.” He nods toward the patio doors where the gossip gals are plastered to the glass trying to eavesdrop.
“But you went silent. No messages. No calls. Nothing.”
“You didn’t reach out to me either.”
I frown. It’s true. I didn’t. “I thought you were done with me.”
He kisses my nose. “I’ll never be done with you, Ellie girl. I want to spend my life with you and our baby girl.”
“Little Freedom.”
He rolls his eyes before continuing. “After your reaction to the letter, I knew I needed to do something to convince you I wasn’t leaving. It didn’t take me long to figure out what. Unfortunately, I did need some time to get the mortgage approved and the sale processed.”
“You bought this house for me?”
“No,” he says, and I wonder if I got it all wrong. “I bought this house for us. For our family.” He leans his forehead against mine and whispers, “I love you, Ellery Promise West.”
For the first time, I believe him. Really believe him. He’s not letting me go. He will fight to keep our family together.
“I love you, too.” He sips from my lips, but I draw back. I’ve got more to say. “I’m sorry I acted like a bitch about the letter. All my old insecurities reared their ugly heads and I lost it.”
“It’s my fault. I should have handled the situation with more care. I knew you’d consider the letter a threat, but I wasn’t prepared.”
“It’s over now.” It’s true. It’s over. I won’t let my insecurities ruin my life with Cole.
“You believe I’ll stay? I won’t run away?”
I roll my eyes. “You bought us a house – the house – in my hometown. Of course, I believe you’ll stay. I also promise to not push you away in the future.”
“Good.” He kisses my nose before dropping to his knee.
My eyes widen. “What are you doing?”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Sage slaps her hand against the glass door. “Cole Hawkins! You promised to ask her outside in front of the town.”
“How big of trouble am I in if I ask you now instead of outside?”
“Ask me what?” I wink.
He opens his palm to show me a diamond ring. “Be my forever?”
I tap my chin and pretend to contemplate the question.
“Go on. Say yes. You know you want to.”
“Fine,” I pretend to huff. “I guess I’ll marry you. Since I’m having your baby and all.”
“Nope. I’m not marrying you because you’re carrying my child. I’m marrying you because I want to wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life, although I do plan to work on getting you to stop helping with the breakfast service since a five a.m. wake-up call is ridiculous.”
I am not discussing my workaholic tendencies with him while he’s on his knee proposing. Especially since he’s kind of right. I won’t be admitting I’m wrong any time soon, though.
