Page 36 of Playing with Fire

The apples hung heavy on the branches, the bright red, green, and yellow fruit just about ready to harvest as they walked further into the orchard. Willa’s eyes bounced around the areaas Beckett walked them a little ways past the house and out to the clearing filled with wildflowers that his tattoo was based on. Normally the trees had some of the prettiest flowers in the spring, light pink or white petals that would rain down and look almost like snow. As it was late summer, there were no blossoms in sight except those of the varying flowers that sprouted up all throughout the tiny meadow.

It was beautiful, the sun hitting each petal just right and creating a rainbow of colors all around them, and it was the perfect place to ask the woman he loved to marry him. Beckett hoped Willa saw it that way too. He could have planned something big and grand, but he wanted to keep it simple with just the two of them in a place that meant a lot to him. Hopefully, now it would mean a lot to her too.

Spinning her toward him, Beckett smiled and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for coming today,” he told her. The family lunch was the first Willa had been to and with everyone present, he knew it might be a lot to take in.

“Of course,” she replied happily. “I love your family, especially your mom.” Beckett knew that Willa’s relationship with her own mom was a little fraught, so he was glad that his mom could act like a surrogate parent of sorts for her.

Beckett chuckled. “That’s good because after living with nothing but men for so long I don’t think she’ll let you go far.” Willa beamed up at him, her smile as dazzling as ever, and Beckett decided it was now or never. “Speaking of not letting you get far…” Wrestling the velvet box from his jeans, Beckett bent down to one knee and presented it to her. Her eyes shined with what Beckett hoped was happiness as he spoke. “Willa, I could go on and on about how amazing you are and how much I love you. You’re wild and free, but also strong and steady. I always dreamed of having someone like you in my life, and now that you’re here, you’re even better than I expected. Everything isbetter with you.” Beckett plucked the simple turquoise ring from the box and held it out to her. “You asked me to not hold back any longer, so I won’t. I love you, Willa, and I want us to care for one another for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

Willa laughed and joined him on the ground, cupping his face with her warm hands. “Of course I’ll marry you.” She kissed him long and hard, the two of them falling back into the dirt. Willa stared down at Beckett, love and happiness swirling in her eyes. “Thanks for not holding back. With my past and everything, I know I wasn’t necessarily a sure bet.”

“Of course you were.” Beckett lifted up his shirt and pulled back the medical adhesive that covered the tattoo he’d gotten the night before while Willa was out with Lottie. “Wouldn’t have gotten this if I wasn’t certain of that.”

Willa was awed at the sight of her name tattooed inside of a bright red rose that had been inked right over Beckett’s heart. Kissing the spot right next to the healing mark, she gazed back up at him in wonder. “I love you, Beck.”

Beckett smiled, amazed that he would get to hear those same words from Willa for the rest of his life. “Love you too, Wild Woman.”

They kissed and rolled around in the brush until wildflowers decorated their hair and they were both covered in dirt, laughing at how caught up they’d gotten. Eventually, the ring made its way onto her finger and they made it back to the house for a whole family celebration, but if Beckett and Willa had spent a little extra time out in the orchard beforehand, that was kept just between the two of them.

The End