Page 141 of Promised to the Cowboy

Gabriel looks down at me. “You’re beautiful. Still wanna marry me?”

I shrug. “Might as well make an honest man of you.”

The officiant clears her throat, and we turn toward her.

I hear very little of the opening. Something about family. Land. Promises made before witnesses.

Gabriel’s thumb moves steadily over my knuckles.

The officiant asks who stands with us.

“Everyone,” Maggie says from the front row, earning a murmur of agreement from everyone else.

The officiant smiles. “Then we’ll proceed on that basis.”

Jacob reaches into his pocket when the officiant asks for the rings. His fingers shake slightly when he places mine in Gabriel’s palm.

Gabriel notices, and their eyes meet.

Jacob closes Gabriel’s fingers around the ring. “Your mom would be proud of you.”

Gabriel’s face changes. The old hurt is still there. It probably always will be, but it’s joined by understanding and acceptance now.

“I wish she was here,” Gabriel says.

Jacob looks toward the empty chair nearest Maggie. “So do I.”

No one tries to fill the silence that follows because it belongs to them.

Then Jacob steps back.

The officiant asks whether we have written vows.

“We have,” I say.

Gabriel looks surprised. “You did?”

“You didn’t?”

“Shit,” he mutters.

Laughter spills out of me at his hunted expression. “It’s okay, cowboy. I know words aren’t your thing. Just say ‘I do’ in the right place, and we’ll call it a success.”

“Evie,” the officiant prompts, “would you like to go first?”

I take a deep breath and hold Gabriel’s gaze. “I spent a long time believing leaving first was the only way to stay safe. Then I met a man who kept showing up.”

His fingers tighten around mine.

“You showed up when I ran. When I was frightened. When I tried to make decisions for both of us because trusting you felt harder than losing you.”

My voice wavers.

Gabriel’s eyes never leave mine.

“You gave me a frightened horse because you understood that healing is work. You gave me a home. You chose me. You chose our daughter before you knew anything about her except that she was ours.

Our girl chooses this moment to move beneath my ribs.