Page 127 of Promised to the Cowboy
“She absolutely is not.”
“We’ll discuss it.”
A tear slips down her cheek, but she smiles through it. “I want all of it, Gabriel. The ordinary days. The frightening ones. Every year we can get.”
My throat closes.
She draws in a shaky breath. “So marry me.”
For a second, I can only stare at her.
“You’re proposing to me.”
“Yes.”
“While I’m wearing a hospital gown.”
“You were taking too long.”
A laugh breaks out of me and immediately turns into a wince.
Evie leans closer, worry flashing across her face. “Does it hurt?”
“Only when I laugh.”
She laces her fingers through mine. “I can’t promise nothing bad will ever happen. I can’t promise I won’t get scared or want space sometimes.”
“I don’t need perfect.”
“I know.” Her thumb moves over my knuckles. “You taught me that.”
She glances down at our joined hands before meeting my eyes again. “But I can promise I’ll keep choosing you. Every time.”
My eyes burn. “Darlin’.”
“Is that a yes?”
“That’s a hell yes.”
Her face crumples.
I pull her carefully against me. It hurts, but I don’t care.
She buries her face against my neck, laughing and crying at the same time.
“No goat,” she whispers.
“No goat.”
“And Ethan supervises the power tools.”
“Now you’re pushing it.”
Evie laughs. The sound is watery and exhausted and perfect.
I look at her.
The woman who ran toward me. Who ordered my heart to keep beating. Who carries our daughter beneath the hand resting on my chest.
