“I hope that one’s not lame. I know these other two are real generic.”
“They’re great,” Lark said. “I’ve never had a hat with a plastic lining in it to make it waterproof.” She reached up and touched it, a bit of a crinkle coming from it. “I love it.” She picked up the third bag, which bore gold and silver stripes and a gold piece of tissue paper sticking out the top.
“For the record, that bag came with the item,” he said.
“Yes, I know these bags.” Lark looked at him. “This isjewelry, Cash.”
“Yeah,” he said.
Lark hesitated, which caused Cash to frown. “I’m not down on both knees. Just open it.”
“Is that what you’re going to do?” she said. “Both knees, not just one?”
He blinked at her. “Well, yeah. I mean, I’ve never proposed to anybody, but I imagine when I do, I’ll be down on both knees.”
Lark nodded, and he tracked the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Then she pulled the gold paper out and the snowy white ring box that followed.
It actually wasn’t a ring box, but a few inches bigger. She opened it and pulled in a breath at the sight of the diamond tennis bracelet. “Cash.” His name came out in a whoosh of air. “This is incredible.”
She lifted the bracelet off the white velvet, and Cash said, “If you look against the white, you’ll be able to see they come in fancy colors. Since your birthday is in April, and your birthstone is actually a diamond, I picked out different colors. There’s yellow, blue, pink, white, and even a couple black ones.”
Lark held up the diamond tennis bracelet, her expression shocked and her eyes sparkling as bright as stars. “Cash, this is too nice.”
“Is it?” he asked. “I thought it would look real nice on your wrist when I’m holding your hand at church.”
“I won’t have any other opportunity to wear it,” she said.
“Sure, you will.” He took the bracelet from her. “Which hand? Left or right?”
“Left,” she said, which made sense, as she was right-handed. She held out her hand, and Cash lovingly placed the bracelet around her wrist.
“Yeah, this looks nice.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss against her wrist bone and then the back of her hand. “Maybe we’ll go to Jackson Hole to an art gallery or a play,” he whispered, turning her hand over and placing a kiss on the inside of her wrist and then her palm.
“Or I’ll take you to New York City to see the symphony, or we’ll have a real fancy ribbon cutting ceremony when Boston and I finally open Cousins Creek Ranch.”
He looked at her, his vulnerability streaming through him, and it had to be blatantly obvious to her.
“I love this,” she said. “And I love all those things you just said.”
She ducked her head. “My gifts are going to be really lame now.” She scooted down a few inches and bent to pick up the blue-and-white wrapped gifts. The background was almost an electric blue with white snowmen on one and stripes on another.
She handed them to him almost roughly and said, “Remember, I don’t have as much money as you.”
“It’s not about the money,” he said.
She just gave him a stern look, and Cash decided not to argue with her about this. He ripped half the paper off the first gift, his anticipation building.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, when the picture on the box came into view. “I wanted this knife.” He grinned over to Lark and then tore into the box. “This is the best pocketknife you can buy. It has, like, seventeen tools that can do anything.”
“I thought you might want it around the ranch,” Lark said.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be great. Thank you so much.” He put his arm around her and squeezed her tight.
He moved to the next gift. The weight of it in his lap made his mind spin through what the paper might be hiding. He lifted it and shook it in a show which Lark did not seem to appreciate. She rolled her eyes, which only made him laugh, as he didn’t like being in the spotlight unwrapping these gifts. He’d much rather be the one giving them.
Still, he pulled off the paper and found tissue-wrapped chocolate bars. “What are these, hm?”
They all seemed to be the same size and shape, and he pulled off the white paper on the top one. “Dubai chocolate. Yes!” He lifted the brick of four and shook it in triumph. “I’m gonna have the best movie-watching nights with these.”
