Page 89 of Hopes and Dreams on Foxglove Street

When she looked up, Travis was gazing at her, while Hope watched them both, her sweet little face flicking between them. And then, in one fluid motion, Travis lowered himself from the garden bench and got down on one knee, on which he perched Hope, much to her squealing delight.

“Courtney Flynn, will you marry me?” Travis said, his heart in his eyes. “I’ll love you forever. I’ll love Hope forever. And I’ll spend every day making you the happiest woman alive.”

In the evening shade of the cherry tree, as the summer sunshine dipped to the horizon, Courtney smiled as tears ran down her face.

“Yes, I’ll marry you Travis. Of course I’ll marry you!”

Pure joy swept his expression as he shifted closer, still on one knee, and pulled Courtney and Hope into an embrace. Sobbing as Travis removed the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger, she gazed at the sparkling diamonds and then into the eyes of the man who’d claimed her heart.

“I love you,” Travis murmured into her ear, emotion catching in his voice.

“I love you, too. So much.”

When Hope let out a screech and clapped her hands together, they both laughed.

“And I love you too, little troublemaker,” Travis said as Courtney handed the velvet ring box to her child, instantly making her happy.

Travis kissed the fingers on her hand where the engagement ring now sat, his eyes on her and filled with love. Courtney knew she’d never, ever forget this moment. Everything about it was perfect, just the three of them huddled together in the sunny back garden of the house they’d soon call their own.

But Courtney knew the moment could be even more perfect. She thought of the secret she’d been keeping all day, the one she’d chosen to hold close to her heart for just a few hours before she shared it.

She knew the perfect moment had come to do just that.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” she said as Travis shifted back onto the garden bench and adjusted Hope on his knee while her investigation of the ring box continued.

“What?” Travis asked.

Looking deep into his eyes, she smiled. “I’m pregnant.”

For a long beat, Travis just stared. And then his eyes widened as a look of pure joy flooded across his face.

“You’repregnant?We’re having ababy?”

“We’re having a baby!”

“Oh my God!”

He kissed her and pulled her into another hug and kissed her again, then kissed Hope too, who was squealing with excitement and clapping her hands together.

“You’re going to have a brother or sister, Hope!” Travis said, hugging her and pulling Courtney back into his arms. “This is… this is… I don’t even know what to say. I’m beyond happiness.”

She clung to him, soaking up his embrace and the love and safety she always found inside his arms, while Hope, squashed between them both, patted Courtney’s face with her chubby little hands and rattled the ring box off her nose. Laughter coursed through her, and as Travis grinned at Hope’s antics, the three of them wrapped up together felt like the best thing in the entire world.

“We’re going to be so happy,” Travis said. “We’re going to get married and have another baby and I’m going to love you for the rest of my life.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

On a soft sigh, Courtney pulled him into another kiss and then the three of them, plus the tiny baby slumbering inside her, sat on the garden bench in the evening sunshine, dreaming together about what lay ahead.

Courtney thought quietly about all the darkness she’d endured before she found her way into the light. She thought of what she’d lost and the life she’d once had. Never far from her mind, she imagined what her mother would make of how far she’d come and the world she’d built.

A thump inside her heart reminded her that her mother would always be with her, no matter what, and that knowledge brought peace.

Courtney thought of the Austin family who she couldn’t imagine life without and how excited they’d be when they found out there was a wedding and a new baby on the horizon. She thought of the job she loved at the marketing company, at which she’d learned to excel over the past year. She thought of the bright future Travis had with his author career and how much she loved seeing the joy it brought him to write books that only seemed to get better and better. She thought of the sweet house on Foxglove Street they’d soon call their own.

All the pain and heartbreak she’d endured felt so very far away now, and yet Courtney knew the scars she carried from those dark times would remain forever, not to hurt her, but to remind her to be grateful for every happiness with which she was blessed.

Now, with the evening sunshine on her face, her fiancé by her side, her child babbling between them, and new life fluttering inside her, Courtney opened her heart to joy and let happiness embrace her.

And turned her mind to the future that waited to greet her family and all the bright days that were to come.