I'm going to do this. Right now.
We sit close together on the bench, and Piper immediately tucks herself against my side.
"I'm so excited for tomorrow," she says. "Seeing everyone at Kade and Nia's new house. Even Jayce with Tanya—I can't wait to meet her. And see your parents!" She grins. "I still can't believe Kade transferred to Deepwood Mountain."
I smile at that. Kade moving to Deepwood, as a deputy with the Sheriff's Office—none of us saw that coming. But Nia changed everything for him, the same way Piper changed everything for me.
"Piper."
She stops, looking up at me. "Yeah?"
My heart is thundering so hard I'm surprised she can't hear it…or even see it beating through my clothes. "A year ago, we were sitting upstairs in that room. Neither of us knowing what the hell we were doing."
She blinks up at me.
“You rearranged my world.” The words come easier now. "Every morning I wake up grateful that you chose this life. Wyoming, me…us." I have to pause, swallow past the tightness in my throat. "You fit into my life like you were always meant to be there. Like you were the missing piece."
I pull the ring box from my pocket, and her eyes go wide. "I want every Christmas morning for the rest of my life to be like this. With you." I open the box, revealing the ring I spent way too many months picking out—a simple platinum band with a small emerald flanked by two topaz gems. It reminds me of the forest, the mountains, of her. "Piper, will you marry me?"
She's crying now, one hand over her mouth. "Yes!" The word comes out in a half-laugh, half-sob. "Yes, of course, yes?—"
I barely get the ring on her finger before she's kissing me, tears and laughter and joy all mixing together.
"I love you so much," she whispers. "I love waking up in Wyoming with you, how you encourage me to build my own path every day." She has to stop, overcome with emotion.
I kiss her forehead and her cheeks, tasting like salt. “I love you, baby girl."
She looks at the ring, then at me, then at the snowy town around us. "I can't believe this.”
I pull her close. "You're stuck with me forever now."
Her laugh is watery, but bright. "Best thing that ever happened to me."
We stay on that porch despite the cold, unwilling to go inside just yet. Piper keeps looking at the ring, grinning like she can't help it.
She snuggles closer. "Tomorrow's going to be amazing. Our first Christmas as an engaged couple."
She tilts her face up, and I kiss her properly—deeply and slowly and full of everything I have to give her.
"Merry Christmas, Harlon," Piper whispers, once we break apart.
"Merry Christmas, Piper. The first of many."
