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"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." I give him the straight answer he deserves. "While we have a minute, man to man."
Jackson pulls the youth backpack I got him for our paddling trip out of the pile and hoists it onto his shoulders with an ease he didn't have just a few weeks ago.
Moving aside, out of the fray, I kneel down so I'm eye to eye with Jackson while he gives me a stoic look.
"Would it be okay with you if Iwasinto your mom?" I watch his reaction closely, looking for any sign that he's playing it cool when it isn't.
Instead, his face breaks into a big grin that reveals a new missing tooth. His fist pumps the air and I get an enthusiastic "Heck yeah!"
That has me laughing and feeling a whole lot better about my next question.
"Good, because here's the deal," I say seriously, "I want to ask your mom to marry me. But I wanted to clear that with you first."
His head tilts thoughtfully.
"So, you'd be my dad?"
"Pretty much looks that way," I say.
"Are you guys going to have more kids?"
Before I can answer, Jackson rushes into a demand for "lots" of brothers and sisters, even though they'll be babies and cry a lot but he doesn't care because he's always wanted brothers and sisters and he thinks I'll be a great dad.
By the time we've hashed things out as men, and I've sworn Jackson to secrecy about our private conversation, Sage has the car pulled around and is waiting on us to get our butts in gear-- we promised Jax we'd take him out for burgers and shakes at the tavern in town.
That's when Sage is going to break the big news, but I already gave Jax the heads up and told him to play it cool.
Naturally, he does not.
He talks our ears off for the short ride to the tavern, telling us all about gold camp and his new friends and tells me my grandmother said to say hi.
Once we're situated in a booth and have burgers and shakes ordered along with a side order of the house specialty chili cheese fries with all the extras, Jackson pulls out a small vial from his pocket and proudly shows us the gold nugget he found while panning.
It's so tiny, I’d hardly called it a “nugget,” but it's still an impressive haul.
"Jackson," Sage says when the milkshakes have been delivered and Jax has settled in one place, "Rapid and I want to talk to you about something important."
"Yeah," he says, "Rapid already asked if he can marry you. I said yes."
"Way to keep it on the down-low there, bud." I can't help but laugh. He sounds so serious.
Sage turns toward me in the booth and smiles.
We've talked about our plans for the future, she knows my intentions.
"You asked Jax for his blessing?"
"Well, I had planned on this going differently," I admit as I reach into my pocket, "but since Jackson did, indeed, give me his blessing--"
I can't believe I'm doing this here, in Cedar McAllister's tavern of all places, on a busy Saturday afternoon in front of half of fucking Moonshine Ridge but...
Slipping back out of the booth I do the whole one knee thing and pop the velvet box open.
"Sage, will you do me the honor of--"
I don't get any further. Sage has her arms wrapped around my neck and her sweet lips pressed to mine so firmly I'm pretty sure I'm about to get eighty-sixed from the tavern for the second time in a year.
Pretty embarrassing after I had to grovel to Cedar to let me back in after Hayle skipped town.
