Page 114 of The Cowboy Who Worked Late
He gazed down at her, everything that had been so tight and tense since he’d shown up that morning softening. “I can feel it.”
Joy burst through Angel. “We’re going to buy this house.”
Henry’s smile curved up, and he stepped away from her and into the kitchen. He opened a drawer, and when he lifted his hand, he held a glittering diamond ring. Angel sucked in a breath. Where had that come from?
Henry looked at the ring and then came around the counter. He dropped to both knees and held it up, his expression earnest, open, and vulnerable as he gazed at her. “Every morning I wake up in my bed alone starts a terrible day.”
He grinned at her, some of his cowboy swagger returning to his eyes. “Because I want to start my day with you at my side. I want to watch out for you, and I want you to watch out for me. This isour place, and we’ve worked really hard to get here. Will you marry me, and live here with me, and build your life here together with me?”
Angel nodded as tears pricked her eyes. “Yes,” she choked out. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
“Come on over here, then,” he said, and she took the two steps to be closer to him so that he could slide the diamond onto her ring finger. She gazed at it with pure wonder, sure that this had just happened to someone else, and she was only watching it.
And yet, the weight of the gold band on her finger made it bend, and she felt Henry’s lips as they pressed over the diamond, kissing it into her hand. He looked up at her again and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him. He laid his cheek against her stomach and said, “I love you so much. I am going to work so hard to be the best husband.”
Angel held his head in her arms and said, “I love you too, Henry.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Henry couldn’t stop smiling as they drove to Coyote Pass from the place they had just seen with Jerry Bozeman. The moment they’d come out of the front door and seen Jerry waiting by his truck, Henry had said, “We want it. Tell us what to do next.” And Jerry had said he’d send the paperwork.
Angel had started a timer to see how long it would take to get to Coyote Pass from their place. They had to go into town, then north, and then a little bit further west. Finn’s was to the east, and Henry decided that it would probably take the same amount of time to get to Finn’s as it would to Alex’s.
“Are you still thinking April?” he asked.
“What?” Angel looked over to him. “Yeah, yeah, April’s fine.”
He glanced at her. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m wondering how you got that diamond in the drawer,” she said, pinning him with one of her boss-looks.
Henry’s blood, which had been bubbling since he’d seen Angel’s reaction to the blue farmhouse, positively sparkled now. “Yeah, I bet you are.” He chuckled. “I gave it to Jerry when you were coming up the steps from the patio.”
“You gave it to Jerry, and he just knew what to do with it?”
“Yeah,” Henry said. “I told him that if we found a place today, I would ask you to marry me there. And I could tell that this was ours. I sort of felt it from the pictures, but actually physically being there—and seeing your reaction—I just knew.” He glanced over to her and reached for her hand, spinning the diamond left and right on that left finger where it had never been before. “I can’t believe you said yes.”
“Of course I’m going to say yes,” Angel said. “We’ve been talking about marriage and kids and looking at places for two months.”
“I know,” he said. “It just feels like something that would happen to Paul or Finn or John, not me.”
“Well, it is happening to you,” Angel said. Her phone beeped, and she looked at it and then glanced up and out the window again. “Also, today’s luncheon topic is employee management and staffing,” she said. “I guess Alex is thinking of bringing someone on when the twins are born, and he wants to know how everyone handles making sure that they have the personnel they need to get the jobs done.”
“It’s a great topic,” Henry said. “My dad has been really struggling with staffing all summer.”
“Yeah,” Angel said thoughtfully. She sometimes disappeared into her own mind, and Henry let her, because she always told him what she’d been thinking about.
They arrived at Coyote Pass, and Angel said, “Thirty-five minutes,” as Henry put the truck in park.
“It’s not bad,” he said. “Thirty-five minutes to Alex’s, thirty-five minutes to Finn’s, probably forty minutes to Three Rivers, and forty minutes to Lone Star. It’s literally the epicenter of where we want to be.”
“It’s perfect,” Angel said, grinning. “It’s so perfect.” She lifted her hand again, and Henry nearly got sidetracked by the diamond there. But they had a luncheon to attend anddiscussions to have. He hoped that Alex would at least allow a little bit of time for personal news. They’d had their ultrasound last week, but he hadn’t said what gender the babies were—surely Alex would have something to share.
Henry got out of the truck and helped Angel down, and he once again positioned himself on her left side so he could hold that diamond-ring-hand. “Sure like this ring on you,” he said.
“You didn’t even tell me you’d bought a ring.”
“What do you think I’d been doing all this time?” he said. “I did talk to my daddy about a loan, and I went shopping with Momma and Aunt Kelly. I’ve been busy, my angel.”
