Page 106 of Drifter’s Heart

His laugh follows us as he circles over the house build that looks good on paper and becomes more real as we fly over the building’s skeleton. I said it was too big. Cord even agreed. Sally and West both shouted me down. The square structure with its open courtyard/pool area in the middle is a veritable mansion, and it’s Sally’s. I sat in on the majority of the design sessions while Cord, West, and Sally pored over the screens in Cord’s study and West did some truly amazing designing.

And I’ve never been so proud of the three of them.

I’m still in awe of what came out of those sessions. I think I might always be. It’s art and it’s over the top and it’s perfect for us. And now they’re building it. But my own little room at the back that’s bigger than the entire townhouse I used to live in? I designed that. It looks over that mountain that West and I wake up looking at that each morning. I get to see the sunrise over that same peak every day for as long as we live there.

That’s the gift Cordell gave us.

The same day that he proposed to Lanie, quietly, while West and I were still trying to find our butts with both hands and Randall Rand couldn’t work out what his thumb was meant to do.

While Sally and Jesse Duke are discussing the finer points of the wrong end of a bull, and Billy studied one like he might give that eight-second bell a try one day.

When the yard was full and the homestead he built for a family he never thought he’d earn finally happened… That was when my brother got down on one knee and proposed to the woman who will now become his wife.

And she said yes before any of us could figure out what the hell just happened.

I stare at that peak, the gift my brother gave all of us, the land that spreads out across the forest floor, and I can’t speak. It’s too much.

As always, in the world of Cordell freaking Rand.

“You okay?” West’s hand covers mine as the chopper carries us in a smooth line, heading away from everything we know, deeper into the mountains. To a place we’ve never been before.

“Yeah. It’s just… a lot. You know?”

“I know. It’s always a lot, isn’t it? I don’t think that stops.” West’s voice is tight.

I look across at him, but he stares straight forward. I do too. So many peaks line up, so many different rugged and brutal faces, stunning in their stark, harsh glory. “It’s beautiful,” I breathe. “I wish I could paint this, or photograph it. I have zero skill in either.”

He shrugs. “So learn. You have all the time in the world.”

“You say that as though you can just rip talent from someone and put it on a screen.”

West says nothing.

“Hey. Did I break you?” I turn my attention from the mountains. “West?”

“Look down.”

“I mean, I’d prefer not to.” If I do it too often, I’ll probably puke. Heights really aren’t my thing, though the longer we’re up here, the better I’m getting, to be fair.

“Winnie.”

“All right.” I peer over the edge of my window at the forest below me, into the snowy foothills of the mountains. “Is there a wildfire risk? I see a lot of snow. It’s very pretty.”

“Fuck, I love you,” he grumbles. “Look in your lap.”

“Oh.” I readjust, wiggling my butt as I settle back into my seat and find a tiny purple leather box in between my legs. “West. It’s Sally’s birthday. Not mine.”

“I know that.”

“Why are you—Jesus, that’s huge.” I study the Asscher-cut teal sapphire with diamonds studded on either side in its silvery band. I doubt it’s silver, though, and it feels heavy. “West…?”

His laugh rebounds around the helicopter’s cabin. “Put it on, Winnie.” There’s a smugness factor in his voice that I love/hate instantly because it’s all West.

I slide the ring on my right ring finger, and he groans inside my headset. “Seriously. I have limits and we’ve reached them.”

“What?” I turn to him, the ring’s band gripped between my fingers. “It fits perfectly. See?”

“Wrong. Fucking. Hand. Beautiful.”