Page 124 of Once Smitten, Twice Shy

He bolts upright, sweeps me fiercely into his arms, and whoops so loudly, his chickens beside the house startle with a noisysquawkand rustling feathers as they dash away. Hector barks and takes off in a run of tight, happy circles around us as I throw my arms around Will’s neck and kiss him with every ounce of love I have.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for ten months,” he mutters as he peers down at me.

My eyes widen as he gently eases me back to the ground. “Ten months?”

His eyes glow in the sun as he nods, his gaze holding mine as he says simply, “Yes. I haven’t been waiting to know when I wanted to marry you. I’ve been waiting to ask. I wanted it to be the perfect moment. The perfect words…”

I stroke my hand softly up his arm, shaking my head.

“It was perfect,” I tell him. “This moment, those words.” With my other arm still wrapped around his neck, I draw him down for a long, loving kiss and whisper, “Because this moment is ours, and those words were yours, straight from your heart. Nothing could be more perfect.”

He smiles softly, then leans in, kissing me again. “You said yes.”

“Of course I did, you goofball. Have you seen yourself? You’re a tangerine vision of tall, towering virility. How could I say no?”

He glares playfully down at me. “Oh, real funny.”

“I love that you wore it,” I whisper, holding his eyes. “I love everything about this. I love how happy I am with you, Will. I know we won’t always be happy, that hard seasons and hurts will come, but…I’m so glad I’ll face them with you. And when life softens and warms and blooms again, we’ll have made it through, right where we belong. Together.”

He presses his forehead to mine and holds me, and for a moment it’s nothing but warm summer wind rushing through the grass and the sweet perfume of a canopy of flowers, the thud of Hector’s pounding feet in the dirt, and our soft, steady breaths.

But then a roar of applause, hoots, and whistles erupts behind Will, startling us.

We both turn and glance over Will’s shoulder. A laugh leaves me like a burst of champagne, at long last fizzy and free.

All across his parents’ back porch stand Will’s siblings, his niece and nephew and Rowan leaning on the railing, hands like binoculars around their eyes. My parents stand shoulder to shoulder with his, our mothers clutching each other and clearly crying. There’s Kate and Christopher, Sula and Margo, Toni and Hamza, Nick and Bianca, and for some inexplicable reason, Jamie and Bea.

I gape at them all. After the wedding last night, only my parents were staying at Will’s parents’ for the night. Everyone else got rooms at the bed-and-breakfast in town that Will’s sister Imogen and her husband opened up earlier this year. “What on earth are they all doing there?” I ask. “Did you tell them?”

“No. But I have been standing out here for two hours, throwing sticks with Hector while you slept, so they were bound to notice and figure it out.” Will sighs. “The perils of small-town living. Word travelsfast.”

I smile, resting my head against his chest as I wave at them all. They all wave back, my sisters jumping up and down, Jamie whistling with two fingers set at his mouth, Christopher applauding over his head so loud it sounds like thunder clapping across the field.

“I love it.” I peer up at him. “I love you.”

Our eyes hold each other’s. Will smiles and tenderly cups my face. “I’m real glad, baby. I love you. So damn much.”

“We’re going to getmarried,” I tell him.

He grins down at me. “Yeah we are.” He steals one more kiss, then says, “Not that they haven’t already figured it out, but what do you say we go tell them anyway?”

I beam a smile up at him so bright, it puts the sun to shame. And then I slip my arm inside his. “I’d say that sounds perfect.”