Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
Ben had checked to make sure everything was set up before he’d swung back around to grab Hannah.
Being secretive with all their friends and neighbors around them proved to be extra difficult, but he’d managed. Signaling to Cooper, he watched his son nearly stumble in his haste as he left the table to run and join him and Hannah.
“Hannah! Are you ready for Papa to show you his surprise?”
He watched as the woman he loved lifted her slender brows. “Another surprise? After the tree house? What did I do to become such a lucky girl?”
Reaching for her hand, Ben looked straight into her breathtaking face, thinking she was the prettiest girl in the world.
Always would be. He’d watched her all day, walking around in a spring-green summer dress and tan cowboy boots, her auburn hair glinting red in the sunshine when she’d taken her cowboy hat off due to the heat.
“You gave me another chance, that’s what. Now come on.”
Cooper took her other hand as they walked toward the orchard. They passed the small green apples and the lush peaches, still putting on weight, before coming to the fragrant cherry trees. Freshly picked, their green leaves seemed brighter with all the weight from the harvest gone.
Another beautiful moment of nature’s wisdom. Something flowers. Something grows. From flower to fruit. Standing in another part of the ranch Grandma Elena had put her stamp on, Ben couldn’t help but feel her presence around them.
He let go of Hannah’s hand to grab the shovel he’d tucked out of sight. Cooper took the cue to rush over and pick up the tree.
She eyed them with a smile on her face as they returned. “Do I get to help plant the special tree this year?” she asked brightly.
He’d hoped she’d remember the McAllister tradition of planting a new tree—any species—in the orchard.
He’d wanted to propose at the McAllister Cherry Festival, but he was damned if he’d do it when he wasn’t back to his usual self. So he’d consulted Neil and initiated a new plan.
Nodding, Ben led her to the hole Will had insisted on digging earlier. Cooper came to stand beside him.
“We thought we might plant a tree from your world, so to speak, one that could join ours here on the Triple M.”
Cooper thrust it out, and that’s when she raised her hands to her cheeks. “Oh, you two sweethearts,” she only whispered. “That’s a ginkgo biloba tree.”
“Yep,” Cooper confirmed, smiling for all he was worth. “It helps with people’s memory. Gramps hopes it grows fast. Says he can use all the help he can get.”
She touched the leaves and looked up. “You can’t know what this means to me.”
Except he did. And when she thought about it later, she would realize how much it meant to him too.
The land…McAllister land…was real and true and lasting. That was what he wanted to show her—that she could count on it to grow and nurture her hopes with him at her side.
He laid his hand on her arm and looked into her beautiful eyes. “I love you, Hannah. Always have, always will.”
She took the tree when Cooper thrust it out again and looked up. All the love in the world was in her beautiful face. “I think that’s the most incredible, the most wonderful, the most… Oh, the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
“Hannah, are you crying?” Cooper asked. “It’s just a tree.”
She flashed him a smile and brushed aside a tear. “No, it’s so much more than that. Isn’t it, Ben?”
He traced her cheek. He knew she’d understand. “I want deep roots for us. Ones that stand the test of time—like these trees Elena McAllister planted long ago. I promise my love will stand any test. I also vow that it will nurture you and help you grow.”
“So do I,” she promised softly.
She put her hand lightly over his chest, a place he’d never look at the same way ever again. He could have died. He wouldn’t have been here to love her and watch his son grow up. He cleared his throat loudly as emotion swamped him.
“Wow, this is so different from any time we’ve ever planted a tree,” Cooper said, looking up at them with wide eyes.
Then Tank barked, clearly concerned about his son’s reaction. Circling Cooper, the boy fell back onto the ground, laughing as the puppy licked his face.
Ben took the opportunity to kiss Hannah softly on the lips. Later, he would kiss her more, and from the way her smile widened, she knew.
“Now, who’s ready to plant our tree?” he asked, helping his son off the ground.
Hannah gave a happy sigh. “Isn’t she the cutest little tree ever?”
Cooper shot him a look. “Are trees boys or girls?”
He waited for his little wood nymph to reply. Having heard her talk to just about every species growing on Wild Mountain with a kind of childlike wonder, he didn’t doubt she felt they all had a spirit.
“Well, I like to call them a him or a her sometimes.” She pointed at the graceful branches of the tree in her arms. “She kinda looks like a ballet dancer to me, reaching up to the sky.”
Ben bit his lip to keep from laughing as Cooper stared at her before nodding slowly, as if he wasn’t sure what to make of that. Ben figured he could cue him in later. Never argue with a woman, one, and never argue with one when it comes to plants and flowers. Life was easier that way.
She took charge of the planting after sending him a knowing look, so even though it grated, he watched as her son helped with Tank hovering.
“Now you two add some dirt,” she ordered softly.
He and Cooper did as she bid, and then, after placing her hand on the tree, which made him wonder if she’d just given her blessing, she stood back and took their hands.
“It’s a fine tree,” she proclaimed. “We’ll need to care for it every day until the roots establish.”
He turned to her, holding her happy gaze. They were both committed to helping their own roots take hold and grow stronger, and soon, he’d ask her to marry him. From the way her eyes danced, she had to guess a proposal was in the offing.
As he pushed back a tendril of hair from her face, he could feel a new strength unfurling inside him, one he knew she could feel too.
The love of a good woman.
The sense of home and family.
The support from the land where they’d build their life together.
All of it was around them on Wild Mountain.
And all of it would last—whatever came.
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Will Ben propose? Will Hannah say yes? Will Taft cast a shadow on their happiness?
Find out in the next Wild Mountain novel…