Page 82 of The Banker and the Blue Collar Man

That had been ages ago, but as Dalton and I walked along the path, moving in and out of what little shade there was, it being midday, I felt like I was walking right into the same kind of conversation.

I wanted to pull my hand out of his hand. Wanted to make him stop, to turn and face me and get it over with. Fast punishment, rather than something looming and slow.

In short order we reached the glade and the cool shadows of those spreading branches. The sound of Snow Creek on the gravel a low murmur. The smell of cottonwood leaves, and from upstream the spicy scent of river willows.

I was out of breath by the time we stopped, simply because my heart wouldn’t slow down. He was going to break up with me, and then it would be like he’d never been here at all.

Which was why, when we stopped just near the point where we’d made love, and he turned around and got down on one knee, I simply gawped at him. Confused, like I’d landed insidea one-act play already in progress and had no idea what was supposed to happen next.

From his pocket, he pulled out a small, plain cardboard box. And as he looked up at me, holding that box out with both hands, his eyes were the deepest summer blue, and his sweet pink mouth was curved in a smile.

“Jake Colter,” he said, his nails digging into the box to reveal the contents, “would you do me the honor of marrying me?”

Like some dumb lunkhead, my first thought was that he should never be on his knees in the dirt. My second thought, swift and painful, was that I was not worthy. Not of his offer. Not of his love. Not of that ring.

“Is that a ring?” I asked, more shocked than I cared to admit.

“It’s old,” he said. “An antique. I bought it at Bancroft Antiques in town. I could have gotten something brand-new in Fort Collins, but I didn’t want to wait before making you mine.”

“But what about—?” I wasn’t usually at a loss for words, not that I ever had much to say to the world at large. “Don’t you want someone more like you? In the city? So you can have your job? A career?”

I didn’t reach for the ring, could barely look at it. Instead, I flicked glances at it out of the corner of my eye, as I might an unexpected snake. Which was hardly a kind way to consider the matter, but I was shaken to my core.

“I hated that job, Jake,” he said. “And I’m happier with you than I ever have been in my whole life, so I want to stay with you.”

“You wouldn’t miss the city?” I asked. “What about Nebraska?”

“I haven’t figured out the rest of my life, but I know how I feel about you.”

Then, with a sigh, as though I’d been tormenting him for hours with foolish questions, he stood up. Came over to me andtook my hand. Placed the box in it. Cupped my other hand on top. Then he cupped both my hands in his.

“I could never take you away from your foxes and mountain lions and coyotes. Nor your stars or your cottonwoods. There’s no way I’d do that to you. So maybe we live in your bunkhouse for a while. Maybe later we figure something else out, like buying land nearby. Besides.” He smiled at me, as though all my thrashing about wasn’t totally ruining his plans for a romantic moment. “Lucas says the water rights for that plot in Nebraska could be worth a lot.”

“Jesse says the same.” My lips were numb. I could barely feel anything apart from his touch.

“Are you going to say yes?” Then, even lower, he asked, “Are you going to put it on?”

“Are you going to put it on me?” I asked, like some coquette.

With a nod, he did exactly that, sliding it home on the ring finger of my left hand. The golden ring was heavy and thick, with a silver band on each edge. On the main part of the band, tiny carved foxes raced among acorns and oak leaves.

“They didn’t have two of this design, or I would have gotten both.” Dalton gave a slight shrug, as though he thought I was actually going to say no to him.

“Yes,” I said, my mouth dry.

“It’s too fussy,” Dalton said, as we both looked at the silver-and-gold ring on my finger. “I can get you a different one. We can go into Fort Collins and get a matched set.”

“Oh, no.” I pressed my left hand to my heart and covered it with my right. “This is mine. Mine forever.” I swallowed hard so that I could make myself perfectly clear. “I said yes. You heard me, right?”

A beautiful stillness came over him. Those eyes, clear blue and dancing.

A soft wind stirred his fair hair as I shoved the now-empty ring box in my pocket and pulled him to me, tucked him inside the curve of my body and memorized the moment. Burned it into my heart.

Nobody had ever asked me to marry them before. And now nobody else ever would, because surely they would see that I was already married, and my response, if they asked me to marry them, would be to shoutNo!very loudly right in their faces.

The sense of power that surged through me in that moment almost knocked me off my feet. But I had Dalton in my arms and needed to remain sure-footed. Forever.

“I love you, Dalton Gayle,” I said as I looked at the curls and whirls of the cottonwood leaves on the water. The ring felt heavy on my finger, the coolness of the metal turning to warmth. “And I always will.”