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After we finish with our chores, she has this far off look on her face as she walks down the hall and stops in front of her dad's office.I follow her in, and she just stands there and looks around.
"Anytime I needed to talk to my dad, this is the first place I would look.If he wasn't out on the ranch or spending time with me, he was in here making sure everything was working the way it should.Thankfully, the ranch manager took on the paperwork for the ranch and the books.But it's going to take a lot to get this place back on track."
"You know, this is your office now."
"I guess it is.It doesn't feel like mine.It feels like my dad's letting me use it for now.Though I don't think I want to change anything, except maybe framing the photo of him and me standing in front of my dorm the day that he dropped me off at college."
"I'll make it happen, Sleeping Beauty."
"I know you will," she says with a small smile on her face as she walks over to the desk and looks back at me.
"You know what?I feel like maybe we should christen the office.New beginnings and all," she smirks at me, and I have to say I love the way my girl thinks.
"I agree.”
Then I leap forward, and grip her waist before lifting her and setting her on the desk.
"In fact, I think we should christen every room in this house.You know to really make it ours."
"I like the way you think," she says, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, pulling me into her with a huge smile on her face.
Yes, this is definitely where I was meant to be.
Epilogue
Rose
A few months later
While Miles is at work each day, I spend all my time getting the ranch back up and going.Megan's family seemed to take us right under their wing, and with the help of Mike, his brother-in-law Ford, and Megan's brother, Colt, I've had more help than I could imagine.
The three of them came over and spent a weekend with me, going over everything from the books to how things were running, and even helped me fix the fence that my father never got around to.There was a lot my father never got around to teaching me, but with the three of them all I ever have to do is ask.Anything I need to know, they’ll be right here to teach me.
They're the ones that helped me discover that the guy who I thought was the ranch manager had never officially been promoted.He had just stepped up and done the work because he had been around since before my mother died.
That was one of the first things I fixed.I promoted him and made sure that he had his own cottage and gave him the pay raise that went with it.Then I urged him to immediately take two weeks’ paid vacation for all the hard work he's done.He argued with me about the paid vacation and asked if he could postpone it until Christmas time because he wanted to be here to help get the ranch back on its feet, and he would rather go home and visit his mom around Christmas instead of in the middle of the summer.Of course, I couldn't deny him that.
The best part is Miles; we haven't spent a night apart.He is still a state trooper because he's only a few years away from being able to retire, and we decided that it would be best for him to finish out his time.But on the weekends, he's learning everything he can about the ranch, and he's right there to help the ranch hands with anything that they need.
They're more than happy to have him around because he's all too happy to help muck out stalls.He says he wants to learn from the ground up just like they did, and I think that earned a lot of respect from them.
No matter how busy our lives are, we end the day over dinner.We talk about our day, our plans for the ranch, ideas, or just talk in general.After dinner, we take our promise to christen every room in the house very seriously.
I decided to finish my degree online because I didn't want to go back and leave the ranch for months at a time.Miles is very supportive.Though I think more so because he didn't want to be away from me either, not that I told him that part of my decision was because I didn't want to be away from him.But I think he knew.
Today, Miles insisted we take the morning and go see some of the property.I've been showing him the property slowly on horseback, and I share my memories.It's become our weekly Saturday morning date.Today I'm riding my dad's horse.I've been riding him more and more because it seems my horse prefers Miles, not that I can blame her.
We're also out riding by the spot where Miles first found me laying on the ground.Even though we fixed the fence, we decided to leave the rusted roll of fence wire right where my dad left it as more of a tribute to him.I like the idea of bringing a picnic up here, and even bringing our kids and telling them all about their grandfather.
I'm so far in my head that it takes me a moment to realize that Miles has stopped by the fence line.
"This is the first place I saw you.I feel like this is where our story started, and there should be a statue erected or something more telling of this location," he says with a smile on his face as he overlooks the area.It’s obvious to me that he's reliving that day.
As he gets off his horse and walks over to me, he wraps his hands around my waist and lifts me down from my horse.
"This is always going to be our spot," he says, and I nod in agreement, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss.It's a quick kiss before he pulls back and puts some space between us, which is completely unlike him.Normally he’s trying to pull me closer, not push me further away.
Before I can ask him what's wrong, he drops down to one knee in front of me.I gasp because while I knew that this would be coming because it's just a given that we will be spending the rest of our lives together.If it wasn't, I wouldn't have asked him to move in here at the ranch.But I guess I just wasn't expecting it here and now.
"I know you haven't finished school.And I know that we have all these plans for the ranch and my career, but I don't want to wait to start our lives together.I don't want to wait to be able to call you my wife.But there is no universe where are you saying no, so as much as the caveman in me wants to just tell you that you're going to marry me, I'm giving you one chance to back out.Will you be my wife?"
He barely finishes asking the question before I launch myself at him because he's right, there is no universe in which my answer would be no.
"Of course I will,” I laugh.Then he slips the ring on my finger and pulls me into his arms.I couldn't wipe the smile off my face if I tried because he's right–this is our spot, this is where our story begins, and where the next chapter in our life will take place.
