Epilogue
S taten stared out at his land from the highest ridge on the Double K. He looked up as Amalah settled next to him on their blanket covering the ground. Her warm smile melted through him like it always did. Staten opened his arms, and his girl laid her head on his shoulder.
“You okay?” she asked. “You’ve had a long day.”
Staten kissed the top of her head and watched the sunset make her flawless skin glow. “I am now.”
She laughed, bumping him with her hip.
“No, really, Ama.” He pulled back to stare into her chocolate eyes. “With you here, I feel like I can do anything. Like we can do anything. And I never want to lose that. Never want to lose you. I want to get married and fill this place with babies, like you always dreamed.”
Amalah smiled. “Is that a proposal, Staten Kirkland?”
“Yeah, I guess it is. Will you marry me, Ama?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
Staten kissed her like a drowning man finding air for the first time.
When they broke apart, her carefree laugh filled his heart. “I want a small wedding. Here. On the ranch,” she said.
“But I thought you always wanted a big, fancy wedding. Something you’d seen in those big-city magazines.”
She smiled. “I’ve changed. We’ve changed.” She looked out at the pinks and purples painted in the sky. “This is what I want. This is where we belong. When we get married, it should be here. Right here at the Kirklands’ cathedral.”
Staten pulled her back to his side. Maybe change wasn’t so bad after all. The past few months had been crazy and difficult and unlike anything they’d ever imagined, but they’d survived. They’d survived it together.