So we were busy working on that in the background. The apartments were finished. Ryan and Teddy were settled here at the compound with us. Things were beginning to settle. Which meant it was just about time for shit to kick off again. That was how it seemed to work.
Before that happened, I had plans. I pulled Rue off to the side, over near the expanse of grass that Ruck had put in. He claimed it was for future kids but I seriously wondered if it was for Norman to roll around on. The Rottie loved to wiggle on his back in it every chance he got.
Rue didn’t even have time to ask what was going on. I dropped down to a knee and pulled the little box out of the inner pocket of my cut. “Rue-”
Her eyes widened as she stared down at me. But she didn’t interrupt.
“I love you. I want to marry you. Have kids with you. Will you be my old lady?” Fancy words weren’t really my thing. In fact, not all that long ago I would’ve thought I was making a mistake doing this. But then I’d met my match. A woman who was as giving and kind as my mother with a spine of steel and a heart a mile wide. If this was a mistake, then I’d accept it and call it the best folly I’d ever made.
“Yes,” she said, sinking down onto her knees in front of me.
I considered it a plus that she wasn’t sprinting hard for the fence right now. I slid the ring I’d gotten her onto her finger. “You’re sure you want to be stuck with me long-term?” I joked.
She laughed. “Believe it or not? Yeah.”
“Hey.”
“You brought it up,” she pointed out. Then she leaned forward and kissed me. “I never thought I’d have any of this,” she told me when our lips parted.
“Any of what?”
“A family.” Her smile turned sad. “Ryan was pulling away from me, then he left just like… Well, you know.”
“I wasn’t completely sure you wouldn’t bolt when I asked,” I admitted.
“I’m so far beyond that,” she said with a happy sigh. “I want this. You belong to me.” Her grin was wide as she teased me.
“No, you belong to me,” I told her, dropping my voice lower in the way that made her laugh and blush.
“We belong to each other,” she compromised. “And I really like all of this. Thanks to your brothers and Mercy, I have built in friends. And family. And I’ve got the boys. And Norman.” Her eyes were sparkling in the sunlight, like glass left out in the light. “I’ve gotten everything I never knew I wanted. That I needed.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” I told her. “Never thought I’d be the settling down type. Now I can’t imagine any other life than one with you.”
Wrapping her up in my arms, I enjoyed holding her close. “Damn,” I said as something occurred to me.
“What?”
“Guess I’d better introduce you to my mother.” She stiffened in my arms. “Don’t worry,” I told her, “she’ll love you far more than she loves me.”
That made her laugh and relax. “If you say so.”
“I do. She’s going to be thrilled because she didn’t think I was ever going to get married either. You’ll be like a miracle for her.”
“That’s a lot to live up to,” she teased.
We got up off our knees and I tucked her under my arm as we walked. I liked keeping her close. “Let’s just keep going.”
“I’m sorry?”
“We don’t have to tell them,” I explained, looking over at where my brothers were all watching us. Mercy was clearly scolding Flir, but he wasn’t paying attention to her anymore. They were all too focused on us.
“They’re your family,” she reminded me.
“They’re assholes,” I told her. “Guaranteed there’s a bet going.”
“A bet?” she asked, sounding startled.
“I have no doubts.”
