Page 38 of Bronco
My heart is swelling in my chest. She still hasn’t said she loves me too. It shouldn’t drive me so crazy, wanting to hear those words from her lips. But I’m a desperate man in the middle of a sandstorm craving water. “What are you saying?”
“What I’m saying is I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make excuses here. You don’t deserve that. What I’m trying to say and probably all wrong is that my whole life, I was just a responsibility other people got stuck with. Then my aunt showed me she chose me. I’m not someone she just got stuck with, and it changed my perspective on everything. I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain. I was just really scared.” Her chin wobbles on the last word.
I cross the kitchen in two strides and pull her into my arms. I thumb away a tear, my heart breaking at her pain. “Sweetheart, it’s okay to be scared. Love lays us bare in the most terrifying ways. But when you’re scared, I need you to come to me. I need you to let me hold you through those fears and be there for you.”
“I know that now,” she sniffs.
“Come here, I want to show you something,” I say, and press a gentle kiss to her forehead.
We walk hand-in-hand across the farm, the feeling of her skin against mine so right. This is how I want the rest of our lives to be—just like this, with the sun setting and painting the sky in golden hues as the wind whispers through the trees and the breeze ruffles her hair.
I take Lauren down to the special spot, the same one where Ridge first told me that he might have found Vale.
Lauren’s smile is soft and radiant. “I didn’t realize you have a grove of magnolia trees.”
Emotion clogs my throat, and I have to swallow it down to be able to speak clearly. “They didn’t come with the land. I planted these.”
Her eyes go wide. “All of them?”
“I planted every single one of them,” I explain. Even when I couldn’t tell her how much I loved her, I was preparing this place. Making it a refuge and home that she could fall in love with.
I tug her toward the end of the grove. She spots the bench and gasps. “This is just like the one that the fire destroyed.”
“I can’t promise you that in our life there won’t be fires and tragedy. But I can promise you I’m the man that’s going to help you rebuild every single time.”
“Bronco.” She calls my name in a watery voice, eyes filled with tears.
I gesture for her to sit on the bench.
She does and lets out the happiest little sigh and sniffs. “You’re so good to me. Thank you for believing in me even when my ideas were crazy. It means the world that you care so much.”
I drop to one knee and pull the ring that I’ve been carrying for months out of my pocket. I open it to reveal a beautiful square-cut emerald. It was a vintage find in an antique store, and the day I saw it I knew that it was perfect for Lauren. I thought that if a cowboy were ever lucky enough to propose to her, he should have a ring as unique and as beautiful as she is.
Looking into her eyes, I tell her, “I wasn’t lying with the website. I’m not just bidding on your heart. I want forever with you. I’ve always wanted you since the moment I got that first care package from you. You touched my cold heart and made me feel alive. Would you do me the honor of being my wife, Lauren Ackerman?”
She smiles up at me. “Yes, yes, yes.”
I slide the ring on her finger then I’m kissing her, and everything is right in the world. My body lights up as she presses against me, eager to get as close as possible.
I only stop kissing her when the sound of applause gets too loud. When I sent Cord and Flint away, they gathered all of our friends and family. They’ve been on standby for two days, waiting for the moment when I could propose to Lauren.
Everyone is here. Elaine, Vale, residents from the retirement community, and the cowboys from the farm. They’re all here to witness this special moment between us.
Lauren chuckles when she sees them. “I like that our family was here for this moment.”
I give her a soft grin, thinking of a boy who finally found his family and his home, right here beside this beautiful woman.
Chapter 14
Lauren
“Hey, I didn’t think you’d make it on time,” I say to Vale when he slips into Aunt Elaine’s apartment in Wildflower Retirement Community where I’m getting ready for my wedding to the hottest cowboy on earth.
“Told you I would be back for this.” He grins, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. Sometimes, it feels like he’s trying to slot back into his old life, but he’s forgotten how. I tried to talk with him about it once. He didn’t want to discuss it though, and I let it go. I’m happy to have my brother back even if he’ll never be the person he was. I just wish he could see that.
Bronco and I have been engaged for a month, and it’s been a whirlwind. I can’t believe I get to marry him today. He’s the love of my life, and pretty soon, I’ll call him husband.
“Where were you?” Menace rushes up to give him an excited bark and a lick of affection that Vale accepts and returns with plenty of ear scratches.
