Life Should Be Beautiful (Summer Lake Silver #12)

Chapter Twenty-Five

One Month Later

Adam grasped Davin’s shoulder as they walked out of Clay’s guest house at the end of the day.

“Tonight’s the night, then?”

He nodded happily. “It is. I don’t know if we’ll come to The Boathouse later to see everyone. We might but …”

Adam grinned. “We’ll be there – and we’ll be happy to see you if you show up and understand if you don’t. This isn’t about anyone but the two of you.”

Davin smiled. “And Booker and Shayna, too. They’re excited.”

“I really didn’t know how that whole thing was going to work out for you in the beginning. Booker could have turned out to be trouble, and Shayna’s … I dunno. I didn’t see you stepping into a ready-made family the way you have. It’s like you have two adult kids, without ever having had little kids, but I love it for you.”

“It is and I love it. I told Alexis when I first met her that I envied the way Cal had stepped into a ready-made family. I did envy him, but I never dreamed …”

Adam nodded. “It suits you. You’re just what Booker needs – and Shayna, too. Whenever I see her these days, she’s like a whole new person; she was always upbeat but now she’s more relaxed and … happy.”

“We all are.” Davin checked his watch. “I need to run. The kids want to be there when I ask, but they’re both at work later so it has to be soon.”

Adam grinned. “If we don’t see you later, call me over the weekend. If you don’t, you can bet that Evie will insist that we just stop by.”

He laughed. “I’ll call and maybe we should get together and grill up some burgers and hang out.”

“I’d love that and it’s not as if we have far to go.”

The new house was just the other side of Clay’s place from Adam and Evie – it only took a few minutes to walk over to see each other.

“We’ll figure something out.”

Adam pulled him into a hug. “Love you, brother. I told you when we first came here that Summer Lake might turn out to be good for us.”

“You did, but I never would have believed that it’d turn out to be this good.”

When he arrived at the house, he cut the engine and stared out at the lake for a moment. He loved this life that he and Alexis had put together. She was enjoying working for Dan with the rest of the guys. She’d only worked a couple jobs so far, but they’d gone well, and Lucky had made a point to pull Davin aside after the first one and tell him how impressed he was by her.

Shayna had settled into the apartment, and Adam was right, she was like a ray of sunshine, coming and going to all her jobs and studying whenever she could. She had dinner with them whenever she could, and they’d managed to keep up their Sunday afternoon hang outs. Rather than sitting in Teresa’s back yard, they now sat out on the dock. He and Alexis were going to look at boats next weekend and then Sunday afternoons would no doubt be spent on the water.

Booker was finding his feet. He’d gotten his driver’s license and was loving driving the truck. He didn’t care how old it was, he wasn’t interested in getting something newer. He loved it for what it was – and Davin suspected that in part, he loved it so much because Gramps was the one who’d let him use it. Everyone loved Gramps and Booker was no exception.

He turned when he caught a glimpse of movement through the kitchen window. It was time to go in and do what he’d been wanting to do for weeks. He touched the box in his pocket. He and Adam had gone over to Laura Hamilton’s jewelry store a couple of weeks ago, and he’d found the perfect ring. It was a no-nonsense square cut solitaire diamond – Laura said it was called a princess cut, but it looked like a square to him. It was set in a platinum band. It was classic, bold, perfect for his Alexis.

As he jumped out of the truck, he hoped that she hadn’t seen him sitting there.

When he entered the kitchen, she came to him and greeted him with a kiss. He closed his arms around her and turned what she’d intended to be a peck into something much deeper. He slid his hand down over her ass, and she pressed closer.

When he lifted his head, she smiled. “I take it that we won’t be going out later?”

He chuckled. “That’s up to you. When the kids have gone, I’ll take you straight upstairs or take you out – and then upstairs when we get home.”

“I think I prefer straight upstairs, but we’ll see – maybe upstairs and then out. But you said the kids – plural. Is Shayna around tonight?”

Davin looked down when his phone beeped with a text.

Shayna: I saw that you’re home. Should I come now?

Don’t you dare ask her before I get there!

He chuckled as he typed out a reply. “This is her, she’s on her way.”

Davin: Come on over!

Booker came thundering down the stairs and skidded to a halt in the doorway.

“You’re home!”

Alexis laughed. “It’s like the warrior has returned and the whole clan wants to welcome you.”

He trailed his fingers down her cheek. “They want to see us, not just me.”

She gave him a puzzled smile. “Okay.” She glanced at Booker and asked, “Is it me, or is he being weird?”

Booker laughed. “I’m not saying anything. I’m just going to wait and watch.”

“Hello?”

“Come on in, Shayna. I’ll keep telling you until you believe me; you don’t need to check first,” Alexis called.

Shayna grinned at them when she reached the kitchen. “Hey!” She looked down at the plastic bag she was carrying, and her eyes grew wide as she clutched it to her chest as if she could hide it.

Alexis laughed. “Now you’re being weird, too! Is something going on?”

Davin held his hand out to her and waggled his fingers. “As a matter of fact, something is going on. Come on outside.”

She still looked puzzled, but she took his hand without hesitation. He led her out to the chairs that they’d set up around the firepit on the lawn. They’d already spent many happy evenings out there, relaxing, watching the sunset and talking about everything and nothing.

“We should have brought drinks if we’re going to sit out here. I can …”

Alexis turned to go back, but he tugged on her hand, drawing her closer until she stood toe to toe with him, and he smiled down at her.

“We can get them in a minute; there’s something I want to ask you first.”

~ ~ ~

He was acting very strangely, but Alexis just shrugged. Perhaps he had a surprise planned. She looked at Booker and Shayna – they were grinning like idiots; it made her laugh.

“Okay, there’s obviously some big secret; who’s going to tell me what’s going on?”

The kids grinned, and she loved the way Shayna slung her arm around Booker’s shoulders, and he nodded eagerly.

“I’ll tell you,” said Davin. “I wanted to find the perfect moment to say it, and this is it. I love you.”

She squeezed his hand. “I love you, too, but that’s not exactly news.”

He rolled his eyes at her. “All right then, how about this?”

She finally understood what was going on when he got down on one knee and took hold of her hand.

He winked. “If you’d let me finish, I was about to say that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my days with you. The first night we met, you told me that life should be beautiful and since then, you’ve gone on to make my life beautiful …”

“And mine …” said Shayna.

“Me too,” added Booker.

Her hand came up to cover her heart. “It’s not me,” she told them. “It’s all of us – we’ve done it for each other.”

Davin nodded as he tugged on her hand to get her attention back. “Maybe so, but what I’m telling you is that you’ve made my life beautiful, and I want to spend the rest of it with you. I want to build a life with you, and with these guys. It won’t always be beautiful, but together I know we can make it a life that we love. Will you marry me?”

“Yes! I want to marry you. I want to take your name, and be your wife and …” She let out a short laugh. “I don’t know that I’ll be very good at the wife thing … I’ve never done it before.”

“You’re doing great at the mom thing, and you’d never done that before, either,” said Booker.

She looked at him and Shayna, and then back at Davin and her eyes filled with tears. Her hand came up to cover her mouth when a little sob escaped.

Davin got to his feet, his face full of concern. “Are you all right?”

She let out a half laugh, half sob. “I’m wonderful! This is the happiest moment of my life, and … I’ve finally found the people who can make me cry!”

He hooked his hand around the back of her neck and drew her in for a kiss. The kids were still standing there, but the whole world faded away as she got lost in that kiss.

When Davin lifted his head, he held her gaze as he slid a ring onto her finger. “Gotcha,” he said with a laugh. “You’re officially mine now.”

She nodded happily. She’d never been keen on the way men did that – told women that they were theirs – she was no one’s property – but when it came to Davin she not only understood, she loved it.

Booker and Shayna crowded in, hugging them both.

“Congratulations!” Shayna said as she stepped back.

Booker nodded. “I’m happy for you both. You two should be married, you’re right together.” He grinned. “I’m happy for us, too.”

Shayna nodded beside him. “Oh! And we wanted to be the first to give you a gift.” She held out the plastic bag. “We did this between us. It’s from both of us. And this is just one of them, we’re going to do a big one that you can put up in the house – if you want to – but we didn’t know which one you’d like best so …”

Booker elbowed her with a smile. “Just hand it over.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” She gave it to Alexis.

“Thank you.” Alexis opened the bag and took out a gift-wrapped package that she’d guess was a book.

She looked up at Davin, and he nodded. When she tore the paper open, she discovered not a book but a picture frame. When she turned it over, her heart leaped into her mouth.

The frame held a copy of one of the photos Mary had taken of them all at the barn that day. She and Davin had their hands on Booker and Shayna’s shoulders as they knelt in front of them. Mac had his head over the fence between them, and even Beau stood close, looking over her shoulder straight at the camera. They all looked so happy; they looked like they belonged together – not like a group of people who had never even met before just a few short months ago.

The word etched into the frame brought tears to her eyes again as Davin ran his finger over it and nodded: Family.

She held her arms out and clung tight to all three of them – the little family that she’d never known she wanted, and now loved with all her heart.

~ ~ ~

As they lay in bed later that night, Davin twisted the ring around on her finger as he looked into her eyes.

“You happy?” he asked.

“Never been happier. You?”

He nodded. “I know you said that you didn’t need a proposal but …”

She pecked his lips. “I was wrong. I didn’t think I needed a proposal, I didn’t think I wanted a family, I didn’t know I needed you in my life, but I was wrong about it – all of it, thank you, Davin.”

He kissed her softly. “You’re welcome and thank you right back. I love you; I can’t wait to marry you and make you Mrs. Johnson.”

She met his gaze. “I’m pretty sure that I’m right when I say I certainly don’t need a big wedding.”

He chuckled. “I’ll trust your judgment on that one.”

She blew out a sigh. “I thought that when I retired from the agency my life was ending, but this is a whole new beginning.”

“It is – a whole new chapter.”

She looked deep into his eyes. “Not just a chapter, it’s a whole new life, Davin.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re right. And we’re going to do all we can to make it beautiful.”

“Every day.”

He chuckled as he turned her onto her back. “And every night.”

As he hovered above the woman he loved, about to make love to her, it hit him that his life had never been as beautiful as it was in that moment.

He trailed his fingers down her cheek as he looked into her eyes and took it all in. She was right, this was the beginning of their new life, and he wanted to imprint every detail into his memory.

She chuckled. “What’s the delay? Are you going to make love to your new fiancée any time soon?”

He laughed with her. “I am – and it’s going to be beautiful.”

;

I hope you enjoyed Davin and Alexis’s story.

You probably noticed that, as always, there are a whole bunch of characters who are angling to have their stories told.

The next book to release will be a visit back to MacFarland Ranch, Tyler is up next, and Montana might not seem so far away when I tell you that Shayna is his lady. Their story will be MacFarland Ranch, Book Seven, The Cowboy’s Intriguing Love. They’re my first couple who meet online, and you might not be surprised to hear that their first in-person meet-up takes place in Salt Lake City.