“Will?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you kiss me again?”
“I’d love to.”
“Do it, then.”
“Not yet. I gotta say something first.”
She smirked at him. “Now who’s filling up the house with chatter?”
He laughed. “Well, you got me there, but this is important. I know this is kind of sudden, Maggie, but I like you an awful lot.”
“I like you, too, Will. An awful lot. I always have. But now more than ever. Way more.”
He took her face in his hands again and stared into her shimmering green eyes. “Maggie, what I’m trying to say is… I mean, what I want to ask…”
She blinked up at him expectantly, her smile growing wider.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
“Oh Will!” she cried. “Yes, I would love to marry you!”
CHAPTER 18
Will unloaded everything while Maggie swept and dusted the kitchen.
It took them a while, because, having both kissed for the first time, they kept stopping to try it again. And again. And again.
Finally, when the supplies were put away and the kitchen was tidied, they rode next door to share the good news.
The whole ride over, Maggie leaned against Will, that same, happy, half-stunned look on her face.
When they pulled up to the bunkhouse, she asked him to kiss her again.
She didn’t have to ask twice.
Then she said, “You’re serious, right? You really want to marry me?”
“Maggie, how long have you known me?”
“My whole life.”
“So do you think I’d ask you to marry me if I didn’t mean it?”
“No,” she said, and smiled. “I shouldn’t even have asked. It’s just… I’m so happy, I can’t believe it. After my family died, I thought I’d never be happy again. But now… oh, Will, I’m so very happy.”
“So am I, Maggie. I didn’t know I could be this happy.”
They kissed again then composed themselves and went inside.
As soon as Rose saw Maggie’s face, she shot up from the chair where she’d been sewing and said, “He asked you, didn’t he?”
At the far end of the table, Mama smiled, her eyes twinkling.
Maggie, who had apparently already discussed the possibility of marriage, nodded.
