Page 142 of Promised to the Cowboy
I smile through the tears. “So I promise to keep choosing you. I promise to ask instead of running. To tell you when I’m afraid. To come to you when I get lost inside my own head.”
His thumb catches a tear on my cheek.
“I promise to love the heart you have. This one.” I place my hand gently over his chest, feeling the steady thud beneath my palm. “This stubborn, imperfect, extraordinary heart that found me.”
Gabriel closes his eyes for one second. When he opens them, he’s crying, and he’s not hiding it.
The officiant looks at him. “Gabriel?”
He clears his throat. “I should have written something.”
I squeeze his hand. “You’ve got this.”
He nods and inhales a shaky breath. “I thought my heart was the worst thing about me. Then you came into a bar and asked me for one night.”
Mom makes a small sound.
I refuse to look at her.
Gabriel’s mouth curves.
“You left before morning.”
“I was busy.”
“Terrified.”
“That too.”
“And I looked for you because one night wasn’t enough.” His hand moves to my stomach. “It turns out forever might not be either.”
My tears spill over.
“I can’t promise you a perfect heart,” he says. “I can’t promise nothing bad will happen. I can’t promise I’ll never scare you again. But I promise to love you through the good and the bad. I promise our daughter will always know how much her father wanted her.”
His mismatched eyes hold mine. “And I promise that whenever you look for me, I’ll be there.”
The officiant gives us a moment.
Then she nods to Gabriel.
He slides the ring onto my finger. The stone inside touches my skin, carrying not just the vows we’re making today but Ruth and Caroline’s legacies. Women who came before me and made impossible things happen with stubbornness, secrets, and apparently, mail-order brides.
I take Gabriel’s ring from Jacob, my hands shaking as I guide it over his knuckle.
“There,” I whisper. “Mine.”
The officiant pronounces us husband and wife.
Gabriel looks at her. “Can I kiss her now?”
She grins. “You may.”
He cups the back of my neck and kisses me in front of everyone. A promise. A beginning.
Max yells, “Again!”
The guests erupt into laughter.
