Chapter 20
Emee
One week later...
“We look good!”I insist, turning this way and that as I look at the two of us in the long mirror. We’re in one of the bedrooms of the house at River Valley Farm.
The windows are open, breeze that smells like fresh cut hay floating through the room.
“You look fantastic, baby,” King complains, looking at my ass in my tight Wranglers. And I have to say, paired with the cowboy boots, it does look good. “I, on the other hand, look like a fucking asshole.”
“No you don’t!” I tell him, snorting back a chuckle.
He’s wrong.
Well, sort of.
He indulged me with the Wranglers, then the snakeskin boots.
Then, the belt with the platter sized buckle.
And finally. The ten-gallon black cowboy hat.
I hold my expression flat.
Until I can’t.
“See!” He points at me. “I saw that smirk. I look like a fucking clown. I never wore this shit when I lived here before. Owning a farm does not a cowboy make little lady.” He tips his hat on a John Wayne style accent.
Laughter explodes from my chest and throat like a raspberry, and I hold my sides as I give in to belly rolling laughs. “You don’t look like a clown!” I sputter. “You don’t, it’s just… you look like a demented Roy Rogers.”
“Right, that’s it,” he growls throwing the hat like a Frisbee across the room. It hits the wall above the bed and settles on the wood floor. “I’m taking them off.”
“No don’t! Please.” I grab his hands, keeping him from walking away. “Please, I want this. I want you to take me for a walk around the whole property, like you promised. I want the whole fantasy. Farm. Cowboy. All of it.” I pout, adding, “Pleeeease!”
“You know, when you begged with your mouth for me to indulge you with this cowboy fantasy …” He sets his shoulders.
“Pleeeease…”
King huffs. “Fine.”
We’re out of the door, strolling down the long driveway before hopping a gate and marching through a wildflower field.
King explains that after his parents died, he didn’t come back here. He hired caretakers but never wanted to feel the grief of their loss by going inside.
“A few months ago, the neighbor that leased our fields for hay told me he was retiring,” King says as we head for the next field, his fingers squeezing mine as the long grass swishes around our steps. “Selling and moving to Florida with his wife. They have kids, but none of them are interested in taking over the farm.”
“So there will be new neighbors?” I ask, peering at the tips of buildings across the field and behind some trees.
King nods. “It sold last week. A large developer bought it, looking to put two hundred fifty houses on the land. Chop it up into half acre parcels.”
“What?”
“The Nolans were sorry. They didn’t want it developed, but the only other person interested couldn’t put the deal together in time.” He points at a rough stone wall just ahead. “Think you can climb that if I give you a leg up?”
I frown. “Sure, but… isn’t there a gate through to the next field?”
“Not yet. I’m going to have one built.”
“Why?”
“Because, that’s Woodland Creek.”
I step back. “Wait. The Nolan farm is called Woodland Creek?”
King grins, turning my way and nodding. “Uh huh.”
Woodland Creek Farm.
That was the name of the place I wanted to buy. I knew they’d taken another offer…
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why are you taking me over there?”
“I thought you wanted to take a tour of our land,” King says. “All our land.”
He grins, and my heart is thundering. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I bought it for us,” he says with a nod.
“My farm. Oh my God!” My brain can’t quite believe it, and my heart starts to race as I realize I’m not dreaming. This is real. This is ours. “I knew your parents place was in the same area but I didn’t realize their land went this far.”
“We might let Benjamin live in my old place here.” King steps forward, taking my hands in his. “If he gets himself straight. It’s going to take some work to get the farmhouse fixed up, and it will be good for him to keep busy and learn a trade. The Nolan place is ready to move into right away, but I want us to make it ours together. What do you think, baby? Be my wife, make me a real king.”
“I can’t believe it,” I say, trying to figure out all the coincidences that the universe had to bring together for all this to happen.
The chaos of the universe.
I get lost in the breeze and the sunshine, closing my eyes focusing on my gratitude.
When I open my eyes, King is counting.
“…four, five, six…” He’s smiling as he counts.
“What are you doing?”
“…eight, nine, ten.”
“Uh, King? Is there a bomb about to explode?”
He sighs. “It doesn’t work, little firecracker.”
“What doesn’t?”
“You told me that if I have any urges to do something impulsive, I should count to ten. It’s not helping. I still have the urge.”
“Okay…” I frown, wondering if I need to use my training right now to help calm him down.
I have techniques I could use. But I can’t figure out what he could possibly be trying to avoid doing out here in the middle of a field.
Then he drops down on one knee.
“Emee. Marry me. Let’s start our own chaotic life. Messy is good sometimes.”
The ring he finally pulls out is nothing short of fit for a queen.
Those butterflies return, flapping over my skin like they did that first time I saw him in the bar.
“On one condition.” I say, my hands shaking.
“Whatever you want, Firecracker.”
“You have to wear a cowboy outfit for the wedding.”
He drops his head, then brings those ice-blue eyes up, slipping the ring on my finger.
“Anything for you, baby. I’m going to mount you like the Lone Fucking Ranger mounts Tonto.” He lands a hard smack on my ass. “Into the sunset we go, baby.You gotta do something for me too.”
“What?”
He stands, grabbing my head in his hands and spinning me around, bumping his hard on against my ass. “You want me to be a cowboy for you? Then, I want some reverse cowgirl from you, baby.” He drags me through the field toward the house on the other side. Looking up at the sky, he yells. “Yee fucking haw.”