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“That rabbit,” Lee said under his breath. “I’m not so sure about him, Rose.” He strode away from her, barking questions at his son about the gate in the front door and where the kids had last seen Thumper.
Rosalie stayed in the hallway, smiling to herself, because while Lee acted grumpy about the rabbit, she knew he wouldn’t get rid of him. The USS Thumper had been a gift to Autumn from her father, and Lee wouldn’t take that from her, even if James lived in California and he hardly ever saw his daughter.
“Found ‘im!” Ford called a few seconds later, and Rosalie went down the hall to gaze upon the three people she couldn’t wait to live with.
* * *
Another week passedwhere Rosalie’s left ring finger sat diamondless. Lee’s sister was only a few days away from her due date, and she pulled up to the little white cottage-style cabin out at Sweet Water Falls Farm. Chrissy Cooper was throwing a baby shower today, and Rosalie had brought a large gift from her, Nat, and her mother.
“Ready?” she asked her sister, who rode in the passenger seat.
“Can I carry the present?” Nat wore glee on her face, and Rosalie couldn’t tell her no.
“Sure,” she said. “Let me know if it’s too heavy for you.” They’d gotten Rissa a set of bumper pads and bedding for the crib, though Rosalie had already been to this house and seen the nursery. It had been set up for a month, but she knew from personal experience that every new mother needed an extra set of everything. Sometimes two extra sets.
“I’ve got my gift,” her mom said from the backseat. They all got out, and Nat collected the big box from the trunk while Rosalie and their mother waited. They started toward the cabin together, sounds of laughter and chatter coming through the open windows. The fields out here had been harvested and replanted with winter crops, and Rosalie couldn’t even imagine all of the scheduling and work that went into a farm of this size.
She’d been in Lee’s office dozens of times now, as she came out to the farm almost every day after work to see him. He made the trip to town on the weekends to see her, and she’d really enjoyed the accelerated relationship over the past couple of months.
At the door, she simply went in without bothering to knock. It seemed like everyone else had already arrived, even Cherry, who’d made the drive from San Antonio that morning. Lee’s older sister spotted Rosalie, and a smile brightened her face.
“Hey, you,” Cherry said, coming toward her and embracing Rosalie. “Who’s got Autumn today?”
“Lee,” Rosalie said, having dropped off her daughter with her boyfriend several minutes ago. “He’s taking the kids to the corn maze at the Forresters.”
Something crossed Cherry’s face, but Rosalie held her tongue. Lee had speculated that Cherry and Jed Forrester had something going on between them, but when he’d asked, his sister had denied it. Watching her now, with her eyes flicking left and right, Rosalie was inclined to believe Lee.
“Is it good?” she asked.
“What?” Cherry blinked rapidly. “Is what good?”
“The corn maze at the farm next door.” She shrugged as if she didn’t really care, because she really didn’t. “I’ve never been to it. Some are good and some aren’t.”
“I have no idea,” Cherry said, plastering her smile back on her face. “I haven’t been to a corn maze in years.” She turned away from Rosalie, but not before Rosalie saw the hint of a lie in those deep, dark eyes. “Come get something to drink, Rosalie. Hey, Natasha.”
Rosalie loved Cherry, because she didn’t treat Nat any different than anyone else. Some people did, and Rosalie didn’t like that. But not Cherry. Nat fell into step beside her, already talking about something Cherry probably didn’t care about. But the other woman laughed, and Rosalie stopped worrying about her sister fitting in with the Coopers.
Her mother had gone straight to Chrissy’s side, and the two of them sat on the couch already gossiping about something. As Rosalie gazed around at the women gathered for the shower, and the soft blue balloons that wafted lazily above the dining room chairs, she felt like she belonged here.
Even if she didn’t have a diamond ring yet. Even if her last name still didn’t match anyone’s here.
She still belonged here.
A couple of hours later, Rosalie walked along the side of the dirt road on the farm, headed toward Lee’s. He’d texted during the shower to say he and the kids were back from the movies and he’d love to make her dinner that evening. He’d invited her sister and mom too, but they were taking Rosalie’s car back to town to meet her father for dinner.
Though November had arrived, the weather wasn’t terribly cold yet, and Rosalie enjoyed the yellows and browns around the ranch. Everything had been so green in the spring when she’d come for Travis’s wedding, but the farm in autumn held its own kind of beauty.
As she approached the final curve toward Lee’s, the low strains of guitar music reached her ears. Joy moved quietly through her, because she adored Lee’s ability on the guitar. She went around the corner and found him sitting on his front steps, obviously waiting for her as he had his head up and his eyes trained on the road.
He smiled but didn’t get up, and Rosalie told herself not to run toward him. She walked, and as she got nearer and nearer, his chords started to turn into an actual song
In her head, she recognized it, though she didn’t have all the words memorized. Her heartbeat picked up its pace, and she slowed her feet.
“Forever can never be long enough for me,” he sang, and Lee Cooper had a gorgeous, clear, lower-register voice. It was nothing like the lead singer of Train, who usually sang this song.
Rosalie had a hard time breathing in, and she pressed both hands to her still-pounding pulse.
He looked down at his fingers to get the notes just right, and then he raised his gaze to hers again. She saw the little black box sitting on the step beside him, and Rosalie realized he’d staged this proposal in the most Lee-Cooper of ways.
