Instead of taking me down to the base of the waterfall this time, Zane points me up a different path, and we climb up to a ledge overlooking it.
The perfect private picnic spot.
He spreads out a blanket he’d tucked into the top of his small picnic basket.
Once we’re sitting, he shows me everything he brought with him. Bottled sparkling water, very fancy. Sandwiches. Fruit. A tiny cheese board. And a box of chocolates for dessert.
“This is all incredible.” I crawl over to him on my knees. “Thank you.”
And then we’re making out, giggling together about the picnic needing our attention, but we need to kiss a little more. Just a little more. Until I’m fully flushed and Zane thinks that’s a great excuse to unbutton my shirt, revealing my thin tank top under it.
“My beautiful girl,” he says when he slides it off me. “Here, hang this up on that tree so it doesn’t get wrinkled.”
It doesn’t really matter, but I get up anyway and hang my shirt over a branch.
When I turn around, Zane’s on one knee, a ring box in his hand.
“There was one other thing I put in the picnic basket that I need to show you before we eat,” he says, his voice catching.
Slowly, he opens the velvet box and reveals an ornate vintage-looking ring. Not a wear-every-daykind of ring, but one so fancy that when you put it on, it would make your hand feel heavy.
The kind of ring that isn’t easy to find, especially from a ranch in the Foothills.
“You make me so happy, Hope. I didn’t know what I was missing in my life until I saw your car pulled over on the side of the road. And I didn’t know what this feeling in my chest was. I felt it right away, and couldn’t name it. But it didn’t take me long to figure out that it was a unique kind of recognition. I took one look at you and knew you were mine. I think I knew, from the very first second, that you were meant to be my wife. I wanted to say it so many times before now, but I also never want to rush you, sweetheart. Do you know how hard it is to look at you a hundred times a day and think,marry me, butnotsay that out loud?”
“Yes.”
“It’s so hard.”
“No, I meanyes.”
“I haven’t asked you yet.”
“Okay.”
He grins. “Marry me, Hope. Marry me next week. Marry me next month, or this Christmas right after our baby arrives. Let me claim this baby as ours, in every way. Marry me, and let me raise Bellamy as a ranch kid who can do anything she sets her mind to. Marry me, and if you want to go back to school in the city, I’ll support that dream with everything that I have. Everything that is mine is yours, and I want all that is yours to be mine, as soon as possible.”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes to all of that. Yes to everything. Yes to you, my cowboy.” I lean over, laughing and crying now, and I kiss him, cupping his freshlyshaved jaw. “Does your mother know? Was the art project a big ruse?”
“The biggest ruse, yes. She knows. She knows about the baby, and she knows how much I love you. And she’s happy for us.”
He slides the ring on my finger. Like the boots, it’s a perfect fit.
I’m still processing it all. I start laughing as it sparkles as brightly as the waterfall below us. “You want to raise Bellamy to be a ranch kid?”
“One of these days she’s gonna pick up a chicken and teach it who’s boss, and it’s going to be the best day of her life.”
“Oh Zane… That was the day we stopped at the top of the road, and you pulled over behind us.”
“That was just the beginning, gorgeous. That was just the beginning.”
Chapter 39
Zane
