“Never kidding about this. About you. About us.” He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto my finger.
“You forgot to ask,” I pointed out.
“Asking gives the impression that this is a choice,” he pointed out. “And this is most certainly not a choice.”
And for some reason, I was totally and completely okay with that.
“The answer is yes, anyway.” I pulled my hand away to examine the ring closer. “I love you, Justin.”
His eyes went soft as he bent over the console and placed a wet kiss onto my lips. “I love you, too, Purdy Birdee.”
I licked his face from chin to nose, and he pulled back with a chuckle.
“Let’s get inside. I’m starving…and not just for food.”
“The door won’t open itself, Creed.”
He got out and rounded the hood of his truck, opened my door, then tossed me over his shoulder as he carried me into the house…and straight to the bedroom.
Epilogue
Today, I don’t feel like doing anything. Except my wife. I’d do her.
—Creed’s secret thoughts
Creed
Four years later
“What’s that one?” my two—almost three—year-old son asked.
“That’s a mule deer,” I said. “They’re all mule deer.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yes.” I tickled him. “Every last one of them is a mule deer.”
“That one is a moose!”
I looked at the even larger mule deer. “That’s still a mule deer.”
“What about that one?” my wife asked as she pointed to a spot on the horizon.
“That one is an elk.” I moved the spotting scope so that our son could see. “Look at those tall horns.”
“Ohhhh,” Tyr cried. “Moose!”
I just shook my head and stood up, letting our son get his animal fix.
I’d never ever thought I’d like Montana as much as I do now. But seeing Montana through my son’s fresh eyes, made me fall in love with this place even more.
Like today, we were on a hike on a trail that led off the back of our place, up a mountain to the most beautiful view in the area. And my son saw something new that I’d never seen, despite being on this trail hundreds of time. Both with work and on my own or with Birdee.
“What about that one?” Tyr asked.
I looked where he was pointing and said, “That’s a rock.”
“No way!”
