“So did I.” Cash smiled, kissed her, and wrapped her in his arms. Holding her he asked, “How about I come up with a ring and you come up with a wedding date?”
Tears trickled down Tracy’s cheeks, and her voice shook with happiness. “Yes.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“In case of emergency, you’ll have a gun at your fingertips. Just make a fist and jam your right hand through the thin paper directly across from the chain up here,” Cash said on Triple C-East, with Tracy on his left and Dude on his right as they stood at the back door of the house. “There’s a Glock on a shelf inside this wall.”
“Got it,” Tracy said, making a fist with her right hand. “Just punch through the paper.”
“Right,” Cash said. “Derek showed Chase and me this trick a few years ago. They both have guns concealed at their front and back doors too. The kids don’t know about it, but even so, the placement is high enough off the floor they can’t get to the gun,” he explained, “Like Derek said, no bad guy who shows up at a house expects the homeowner to pull a gun out of the wall.”
“No, I wouldn’t think so,” Tracy said.
Two weeks earlier, they had filled pillowcases with hundred-dollar bills in currency denomination bands of ten thousand. Tammy Dalton’s sprained ankle had been properly treated and she’d been released from the hospital. Cash and Tracy had picked her up and settled her into his house. A home health nurse was seeing to her as well. Tammy had since transferred her checking account to the same bankCash and Tracy both used. But she would have no part of the money from the wall. Cash recommended his financial adviser and Tracy had invested two and a half million dollars into the stock market. Another fifty grand went into her checking account.
A week ago, Sheriff Hunt had called Cash to tell him that so far Donna Smith had only been charged with setting fire to the shed which indeed was painted with an accelerant. They suspected she shot Winston Smith and had found the unregistered gun used to kill him in the Wild Horse woods, but it was wiped clean of prints. They were building a murder case against her, but in the meantime, a lawyer had convinced a judge to let the arsonist out on bail. She was not to leave the state.
“C’mon, I want to show you where the gun is hidden at the front door,” Cash said. “With the stables, store, café, and cabins out back, the front door is actually more isolated than the rear door of the house.” With Tracy’s dainty hand in his, Cash walked her through the house. Dude wagging his tail, knew the wordsfront doorand led the way. “Donna Smith is an angry, vengeful person. Like Sheriff Hunt said, we have to watch our backs.”
“Yes,” Tracy agreed.
“Here,” Cash said in the foyer at the front door, lightly tapping the hollow spot where the gun was hidden in the wall. “I don’t expect we’d have to reload, but I think there’s a box of bullets in the drawer of that table. You know—the table where you left your car keys the day you refused to take your Rav4?”
Tracy smothered a grin at his teasing and said, “I love my Rav4.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Cash knew she did. “Just check the drawer for bullets, spitfire.”
“Okay, okay.” With a smile, Tracy pulled open the drawer and beside the bullets was a jeweler’s box. “Cash.” She glanced up at him. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Open it and find out,” he said and noticed her handsshake slightly. He loved her so much, he hoped he’d chosen well at the jewelry store. Tracy slowly opened the box, stared for a moment, and fainted against him. “Tracy,” Cash said in surprise as he caught her.
With a huge smile and her sexy giggle, Tracy opened her eyes. “I love it!”
Cash chuckled and grabbed the box from her. As he knelt on one knee, Dude sat next to him. They both looked up at Tracy, and Cash asked, “Will you marry me, Tracy Dalton?”
“Yes,” Tracy whispered. Dude barked, and Cash grinned. Cash removed the ring from the box. Tracy kneeled on both knees in front of him, and he slipped the ring onto her finger. Placing her hands to his face, she said, “I’d love to marry you, Cash Cooper.”
Cash kissed her, stood, and pulled her into his arms. “The jeweler said this is a two-carat princess cut. Not only fit for the princess of the cinnamon kiss,” he began as they both stared at the ring on her finger, “but with the shape being square, it reminds me of Colorado, where I found you and will always love and protect you.”
Tracy’s turquoise eyes shimmered with tears as she looked from her ring to him and said, “I will always love and protect you, too, north, south, east, and west.”
“All four corners. Sounds good to me,” Cash said and kissed her.
Familiar voices were heard as footsteps sounded on the porch. Cash opened the door to Coop and Tammy. It had been love at first sight. Coop liked to say Tammy was the only girl he cared to take to a barn dance and Tammy would reply Coop was the only man on her dance card. With them were Rachel and Martyman as the foursome had gone gallivanting and then to lunch. Cash hadn’t seen his grandfather so happy in years. Thanks to Tracy, Cash knew such happiness.
“Look!” With excitement, Tracy held up her left hand and wiggled her fingers.
Cash told them, “You’re all just in time to help us celebrate.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“Ithink we’ve selected the perfect photos to go with the different parts of our story,” Tracy said.
“I think so too,” Jacob agreed with a nod.
It was late Friday afternoon, and they were sitting on the sofa in Cash’s living room. On the coffee table before them Jacob had placed his new laptop with an extra large screen. Dude lay snoozing near Tracy’s feet. Since the trouble in Wild Horse whenever he and Tracy were separated, Cash had made a point to leave the German shepherd with her in his stead.
“I’m particularly fond of this photo of Cash in mid-air jumping from Captain Jack to the ground after lassoing one of the cows,” Tracy said and pointed to it.
