Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
C olton left the coffeepot on and slipped out of Melanie’s house. He needed a shave but didn’t have time. In fact, if this was going to work, he had to get a move on.
Hawk hadn’t wanted to talk during the night, and Colton didn’t feel like pushing him, so they’d played poker. As of five in the morning, Hawk owed Colton two horses and a head of cattle.
Colton grinned. Sure, Hawk would probably win them back the next time they played. Maybe.
They’d spent the night reminiscing and planning. Planning big. But today’s plan would work. For so long, Colton had lived according to plans, and look where it had gotten him. Sometimes a guy just had to take a chance.
When it mattered.
Hawk had fallen asleep around six, and after Colton checked in on a sleeping Melanie, he made coffee and headed outside. He loved her. Not in the happy, singing, making-out-in-daisies way, but in a his-heart-would-be-ripped-out-with-sharp-claws-if-she-left-him way.
He was about to take the biggest risk of his life, and he couldn’t be happier.
Well, or more nauseated. What if this backfired?
With a shrug, he propelled himself full-bore ahead, as he always had. If he went down in flames, a hell of a fire would rage.
He pressed speed dial on his phone. “Jake? I need to talk to Leila. Yes. Now.” He waited until his niece came on the phone, and then he asked for the help he needed.
With a happy squeal, Leila agreed to help.
He hung up and frowned. They’d need more than the two of them to make this happen. Well, one of the benefits of belonging to a big family was…lots of hands. So he lowered his head and started to make phone calls.
Melanie stomped her freezing feet on the hard pavement just as the wind picked up its chill factor for the day. “I told you it would be cold today. Now can we go?” she asked her too-silent companion.
“No.” Hawk reached over and yanked her coat zipper up with his healthy hand. “It’s almost spring. You love the St. Paddy’s Day Parade.”
“Do not—and spring can’t show up soon enough.” She hadn’t gotten enough sleep, her head hurt, and her heart kind of ached. Colton had left without waking her up and finishing their talk. That meant he didn’t want to talk, and that pretty much said it all.
Hawk hunched his shoulders against the breeze. “I gave you two cups of coffee and cooked you scrambled eggs with extra cheese. Stop complaining.”
Melanie squinted up at her slightly cranky friend. “You’ll make some woman a fine wife someday.”
He grinned as the little Bluebird troop of five-year-olds sashayed down Main Street. “Thanks.”
Melanie glanced behind herself at the warmth vibrating from Kurt’s Koffees. The aroma of freshly baked orange rolls wafted out when a customer exited the coffee shop. “I think I’ll go inside for a bit.”
“Stay with me. I’m dizzy.” Hawk sounded more amused than dizzy.
She shook her head. “You are not.” Then she peered closer at his calm face. She should’ve made him stay in bed, but he was so stubborn and had insisted that they both needed fresh air, and the parade would be perfect. “Are you dizzy?”
He sighed. “No. But just stay here for a minute, will you? Trust me.”
“Fine.” She blew on her mitten-covered hands and smiled as the mayor drove by in his vintage 1920 Model T. The Lady Elks danced by next, then the Boy Scout troops, then the high school cheerleaders, and the high school band played their fight song.
Candy flew from many hands, and she happily caught a couple of toffees. She unrolled an orange one. “Are you all right? I mean, with the nightmare and everything?”
“I’m fine. My head is better, and I’m sure the nightmares will go away.” He craned his neck to look down the parade route.
In other words, no more talking about it. Melanie sighed. “You’re a pain, Hawk.”
“I know.” He nudged her closer to the curb.
She shoved a toffee into her mouth and protested. Then loud music and flashing lights from down the way caught her attention.
A murmuring settled throughout the crowd lining the streets.
Melanie stood up on her tiptoes to get a better look. A couple of floats, one featuring vampires and the other the Flintstones, moved along the route, blocking her view of the noisemaker.
The wind blew her hair into her face, and she flicked it away, chewing thoughtfully.
She swallowed the candy. The music blared loud enough for her to feel the beat beneath her boots. She tapped along, starting to hum.
She grinned. “Hey. It’s ‘You’re the One That I Want.’” She laughed, glancing around. “Where’s Colton? He should be here so I can bug him singing.” Humming, she tried to lean forward to see the float.
All of a sudden, fireworks exploded into the air. The float came into view with an electric heart and two huge four-leaf clovers spinning above it, and words strung along the outside but not lit up. She squinted to read the words as Colton stepped up in full 1950s greaser leather jacket and jeans…with a microphone.
She stepped back.
Then, microphone in hand, he started to bellow out the song.
Horribly. Truly horribly.
Neon flashed, and the lights along the side lit up with a Marry Me, Melanie . She shook her head, reality disappearing. Marry Me ?
Colton jumped down, walking toward her, singing. Kind of.
Leila, Loni, and Dawn hustled behind him, their choruses kind of saving the song.
Melanie’s entire body flushed hot.
“Good Lord, his voice is horrible.” Hawk coughed out laughter.
“Ah.” Melanie’s heart jumped hard. Even so, she searched for an escape. People beamed at her from all around.
Colton reached her and stopped singing. “I’m making a declaration.”
The crowed whooped around them. Melanie, her mind spinning, wondered idly who’d won the bet.
She shook her head. “Colton?—”
“I love you, Mel.” He brushed a kiss on her nose. “I don’t care about my life plan, I don’t care about a schedule…I only care about you. Here and now.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes. God, she wanted him. “I can’t have kids.” Even so, she dug her fingers into the lapels of the jacket. “I know you want kids.”
“I knew that was the holdup with you dropping to a knee and proposing.” He shook his head.
“Dropping to a knee?” she asked. Was he kidding?
His gaze ran over her face in a warm caress. “I would adore a spunky miniature brunette baby with eyes like chocolate.” He sobered. “But it’s a w e situation. Either we can have kids, or we can’t. If not, we’ll adopt. But our lives start with a we .”
She took a deep breath. Everything she ever wanted stood in front of her in a weathered leather jacket and cocky smile. She knew him, and she’d loved him forever. How in the world could she turn away from such happiness? She wanted a life with him. “I love you, too. Marry me?”
He whooped and picked her up, swinging her around. “I thought you’d never ask. Yes.” Then he slipped an antique diamond ring on her finger. “It was my grandmother’s.”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Colton kissed her deep, emotion in every line of his hard body. Finally, he lifted his head and looked around, keeping a tight hold on Melanie. “Well? Who won?”
Everyone glanced around. Finally, his mom stepped forward, her face turning a very pretty pink. “Ah, Mrs. Hudson and I did. We went in halfsies,” Loni admitted.
Mrs. Hudson danced across the street, her wool coat flapping beneath a knitted florescent orange scarf. “Whoo hoo! You were right, Loni. You do know your boy.”
Colton’s mouth dropped open. “Mom?”
Tom jumped out of the driver’s seat of the float. “Loni Eleanor Freeze? You did not bet on this.”
Loni laughed. “You’re just mad I won and you didn’t.”
Tom scratched his chin and threw an arm around his wife. “I had tomorrow as my date.”
Melanie looked around as Quinn and Jake maneuvered through bodies to reach them. “Well? Who’s the bet taker, anyway?”
Hawk cleared his throat. “Well, ah…”
Oh no he hadn’t. Melanie laughed. “How in the world are you the bet taker? You’ve been all over the world lately.”
Mrs. Joskly, the librarian, handed Hawk an envelope. “He had help. I mean, since I was here.”
“And since I gave ten percent to the library,” Hawk said with a grin, giving the envelope to Mrs. Hudson, who instantly counted out bills for Loni’s half.
Melanie slipped her arms around Colton’s waist. “I’m thinking a June wedding.”
He grinned and kissed her again. “You name the date, and I’ll be there. In fact, maybe I’ll even sing as you walk down the aisle.”
The crowd erupted into a series of “Hell no” and groans around them.
Melanie kissed him back. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mel. Always.” He kissed her again.