Chapter Nineteen #2
All that could be seen in the illustration were the tips of three dogs’ tails and a cowboy boot of a man walking. So, what did this mean? As she looked down at the words— He’s told her, why doesn’t she believe him? —the sound of a truck pulling up outside reached her ears.
The next moment the front door flew open and Becket walked in, followed by his dogs. Slamming the door behind him, he approached Ellie. Duke jumped up, barking, until he saw who it was. Tail wagging, he made his way over to Becket. Marmalade sauntered off in the direction of the kitchen.
Becket was clearly royally ticked off, but he bent down to rub Duke’s ears. How could she not fall in love with a man like this? Eyes blazing, his body language was shouting frustration even before he opened his mouth.
Harper was the first dog to reach Ellie. With a yelp, she licked Ellie’s face, followed by Sadie and Jack. They all seemed anxious.
“I didn’t expect to see you tonight,” was all she got out before Becket picked her up.
“Stay. I’ll fix this,” he said to the dogs before he took the stairs two at a time. Without saying another word, he strode to her room and put her down next to the bed.
“Becket, what’s wrong?”
He began pacing the length of her room, opening and closing his mouth every so often.
“I was on my way to you when I received a message first from my mother and then from my sister. Messages I seriously don’t understand.
Have I, or have I not, told you I loved you?
” he asked as he finally stopped pacing.
“Yes, you’ve told me…”
“And you’ve told me you love me, too?”
“Yes, I told you first if I remember correctly.”
“And what exactly did you mean when you told me you love me?”
There was obviously something going on here, but she had no clue what.
“I meant I love you and I’ll be with you as long you want me…”
Grabbing her hands, he pulled her closer. “Damn it, Ellie! How can you not know that I’ll never not love you, that I’ll never not want you? That what I feel isn’t something that will ever change. I’m in this for the rest of our lives. I don’t know why you don’t get it.”
Slowly it dawned on her what was going on. He’d spoken to his mother or to Willow and they’d mentioned the conversation at the book club.
She swallowed. “Maybe because you’ve never told me.”
“I’ve told you I love you. It means you’re in it for the long haul, for the bad days and the good days, doesn’t it?”
She nodded.
Cussing under his breath, he patted his pockets.
“I wanted to do this right, be romantic, I was trying to find the perfect setting, but apparently, you’re still under the impression I’ll be moving on sometime soon.
You’re also, I’ve heard, still telling people Marietta is just a temporary stop, so I have to do this now, here.
I don’t want temporary with you, damn it, I want…
where the hell have I put…? Oh, here it is. ”
He took out a small box from his pockets. It looked old, the sides were a bit frayed. As Ellie tried to make sense of what she was seeing, Becket went down on one knee.
Stunned, her eyes flew to his. “Becket…?”
“Ellie Campbell,” he said, those blue eyes fixed on hers, “will you please marry me? This weekend? I don’t ever want to be away from you again.
This ring belonged to my dad’s mom; she left it to me to give to my bride.
Never thought I’d have one of those, until I caught you in my arms. Mom gave it to me on Saturday.
If you don’t like it, we can get you another one. ”
With a sob, she kneeled in front of him. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Becket Weston.” Holding out her hand, she ignored the tears running down her cheeks.
“You’re crying!” Frowning, he tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks with his free hand.
“Happy tears.” She held out her left hand.
“You cry when you’re happy?”
“Oh, yes. You’ll have to get used to it.” She smiled through the tears.
“And you’re happy now?” He was still very unsure.
“Very happy.”
Blowing out a relieved sigh, he lifted her hand. Gently, he took out the ring and slipped it on her ring finger. It fitted perfectly.
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Ellie lifted her hand. Surrounded by diamonds, a beautiful blue stone rested on a band of yellow gold. “It’s beautiful.”.
“It’s a sapphire. Grandma had beautiful blue eyes like you do,” Becket said, his voice strangely hoarse. “I really won’t mind if you prefer something else.”
“I love it, love that the ring is a part of your family. I don’t want another one.” Behind Becket’s back, a movement caught her eye. Laughing, she leaned forward. “Look behind you,” she whispered.
Becket turned his head. All four dogs were sitting in the doorway, watching them, looking very worried. Marmalade was between Duke’s front feet.
“She said yes!” Becket called out. As if they’d been rehearsing this, the dogs all barked and, tails wagging, bodies wriggling, came closer.
Harper sniffed the ring, barked her approval before she sat down, waiting for the rest to show their appreciation.
“Okay, guys, this was nice, but now Ellie and I want to be alone, okay? Let me fetch their beds. They’re still in the truck.”
“I’ll help. Will they stay in the kitchen, do you think?”
“We’ll have to see.”
*
Still not quite awake, Becket turned, reaching out to find Ellie, but she wasn’t there. As he opened his eyes, he saw her standing by the window. What was on his leg? Lifting his head, he grinned. All four dogs and the cat had found a spot on the bed.
Getting up, he padded to where Ellie was standing, slipping his arms around her naked body. “I’ve missed you.”
“Look,” she said, pointing toward the big white ball hanging above Copper Mountain. “It’s a full moon. The perfect romantic setting.”
“You want me to get down on one knee again?”
“No.” She turned around in his arms. “But I would like to make love to my fiancé in the light of the moon.”
“With pleasure.” Picking her up he turned toward the bed. All the dogs and even Marmalade were gone.
“I think they’re getting the idea,” Becket chuckled as he took her back to bed.
“I have a question,” Ellie said as he laid her down.
“You want to know how much I love you?” he grinned as he dropped down beside her.
“I’ll never tire of hearing that, but I just want to make sure I heard you correctly last night. When you asked me to marry you, you mentioned this weekend? Surely you weren’t serious?”
“Oh, I’m very serious,” he said, as his hand stroked her body.
“Then we have a lot to talk about.”
“Like what?”
“Well, this house, for instance…”
“It’s your house. There will be times it will be nice to have a place in town.”
“Really? You’re happy to do that?”
“I want to be where you are,” he said, bending down. “Have we finished talking?” His lips trailed over her chest, before his mouth fastened around a nipple.
Her body arched upwards. “The wedding…”
“How many people?” he asked against her breast.
“Ahh…” she moaned, “um… just your family? And my friends.”
“Great. What else?” He moved his mouth to her other breast.
“I don’t have a dress and what about the flowers…?” But Becket’s clever fingers had found her heat and with a sigh, she surrendered.
If he wanted to get married this weekend, she’d be there. Maybe she could make a quick trip to Bozeman…
Becket rolled her over so that she was sitting on top of him. Putting his hands on her breasts, he looked at her. “Beautiful. So, so beautiful.”
And in that moment, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.