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“Yes,” she whispered.
He nodded, his pulse still thundering through his veins. “Mads.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you want kids?”
Her face lit up, and Kyle had the answer. Just as quickly, her expression dimmed. “Yeah,” she said. “Why do you think today was so hard? I miss the kids.”
“You have the art classes here.”
“Yeah.” She stepped out of his arms, and Kyle let her move back over to the flowers. He watched her sink into herself a little bit, but he didn’t mind. Sometimes he needed to go quiet and think things through too. He could give her that—hewantedto give her that time and space.
“I asked Holly how many kids were registered at the ranch in September.” She adjusted a rose without really doing anything. “She said there were seven.” She looked up then. “In the whole month.”
“So you’ll do couples’ classes,” he said. “The stargazing tours. Help me with the concerts. Or just keep me company while I work on a new song.”
She nodded, her pretty hair falling between us as she moved around the counter to the other side of the vase. “Kyle?”
“Yep.”
“Do you want kids?” She peeked at him over the top of the flowers.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Maybe not eight, like my family, but a few would be nice.”
She smiled. “A few would be nice.”
“It they have your gorgeous golden eyes,” he said.
She rolled those eyes, and he hurried over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t be sad, Mads,” he whispered. “I hate it when you’re sad.”
“I’m not sad,” she said. “It’s just…change is hard, you know?”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. His whole life in the past eight months had been one constant change. Up one moment, down in the next. Going here, coming back, doing this, doing that. Through it all, Maddy had been his constant, his shining light in the darkness.
“Change is hard,” he said, acknowledging her. “We don’t have to do it alone. You have me, and I have you.”
She smiled and stroked his collar flat. “That’s right.” Maddy looked up at him. “Do you want to get married?”
Kyle sucked in a breath, shock coursing through him. He reined it in quickly and put a teasing grin on his face. “Was that a proposal, Miss Maddy?”
“No,” she said. Her face started to color, turning a quick shade of red in a matter of moments.
Kyle laughed, hoping that would alleviate her embarrassment. “Good,” he said. He looked straight into her eyes. “Because I’m going to askyouto marryme. Not the other way around.”
“Is that so?” she teased.
“That’s so.”
“When might this proposal be happening?” she asked.
Kyle shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. When do you want it to happen?”
“Well, if someone wanted to get married in the best month of the year in Texas—which is March, by the way—someone would need to be engaged pretty quickly.”
Kyle chuckled again, this time at her comment about March being the best month of the year in Texas. “That’s only six months from now.”
“I’m aware,” she said. “Which is why my handsome boyfriend better put a ring on it soon.” She placed her hand flat against his chest and gave him a little push away from her. “Should I go get dinner out of your truck? Or are you going to do it?”
