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“Alright, what do you wanna see next? The office, or the last bedroom?” he asks, pointing to two doors.
“Office,” I say, the first thing that comes to mind. He nods and turns toward the door I chose. He opens it and pushes it open, then motions me to go in. I walk through the doorway. I stop dead just as I get through the threshold.
Just like the living room, windows line the wall, opening the room up to natural light and the view of the river. I walk through the room, taking it in. The desk is a polished dark oak, of course. Gotta stick with the theme. I look through the bookshelves at all the books. On one bookshelf there’s equine science and large animal veterinary books. The other bookshelf is filled with… romance books, the ones I read while I was in the hospital and at the shop. I giggle and smile. I walk back over to the desk to see a new laptop, books, and a pamphlet to Gardenstone University. I pick up the pamphlet and open it. An envelope falls out onto the desk. I glance at it and notice it’s addressed to me. I scrunch my eyebrows and pick it up, setting the pamphlet down. I look over at Issac and he smiles.
He walks over to me and sits on the edge of the desk. “Open it” he says. Without asking any questions, I open it.
Dear Mrs. Raven,
Congratulations! It is my pleasure to welcome you to Gardenstone University, for our Equine Studies Program.
I stop reading and look up at Issac. So many questions are running through my head.
“Issac? What, wait,” I stutter, trying to figure out words. He stands up and grabs my hand and the letter. He sets it down and pulls me along with him out of the office and through the house towards the back door. “Issac?” I say again. But he ignores me. We get to the back door, and he opens it and pulls me through. He walks down the stairs that look like they lead down a hill. The sun has set, but the sky still glows a fiery orange. I look ahead of us toward where Issac is bringing me, and see a building, no, a barn. How did I not see that when we pulled in?
As we get closer, I see fencing lining areas around the back of the enormous barn. The barn has the same walls and roof as the house.
The gravel under our shoes cracks and skitters as we come to a stop in front of a sliding barn door. Issac grabs the handle and starts to pull. The door opens and reveals horse stalls. Twelve of them. Then a tack area and feed area. All the stall doors slide open except for four, and that’s when I hear it. A snort. I step through the doorway. My shoes crunch, the stuck gravel on the bottom as they hit the stone flooring. Then I hear a jingle and then see a head pop up over a stall door. Wendy, and then another head pops out of the stall next to hers. Sugar, then next to her, Sam pops his head out. Then at the last stall, a dark snout pokes out and then its entire head. Roan.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, then run over to him. I open the stall door and push myself into the stall, wrapping my arms around his thick neck.
I hear footsteps behind me approaching. I let go of Roan and turn towards Issac. He’s smiling and leaning against the stall’s door frame.
“How?” I ask, dumbfounded. “How did you do all of this?”
“Well, first, I bought the house,” he laughs. “Then I made some phone calls. One being to your aunt. I called you dad thinking I was gonna speak to him, but he was sleeping, so she answered. Anyway. I went on asking her about what horses needed and just basic things I should get, because I wanted to bring your friend’s home,” he explains.
“But, how do you know if I’m even gonna say yes?” I ask.
“Well, I haven’t really asked yet, but” he says, leaning up from the door frame. Then he walks beside me and grabs Roan’s halter and turns his head towards me. As Roan’s head turns, I see light hit a shiny plate on the halter. Something is written across it.
“Will you marry me?”
My heart stops, then I see the ring hanging from Roan’s halter clip. It has a small black diamond in the shape of a teardrop, surrounded by smaller black diamonds. The band is also black. The more I look at it, the more I see it, a raven skull is lightly carved into the diamond. My jaw drops and my eyes fill with tear, I look at Issac.
“Well? What do you say?” he asks.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Issac
My heart pounds as I stand there waiting for her answer. She let out the breath she was holding and opens her mouth.
“Issac,” she begins. “You did all of this? For me?” she asks. I nod.
“And I’ll do much more for you. Whether you say yes or no, I will always be here. Even if you say no, these guys have a place to stay, and maybe more,” I say.
Everything goes quiet, expect for the horses moving around in their stalls. I watch her closely as she thinks.
“We still have one more room to look at,” she says, looking up at me. I let out a breath of relief. It wasn’t a no, yet.
I nod and pull her back towards the house. We walk through and head back towards the bedroom door. I stop and go to open the door, but she stops me and does it herself. Then she grabs my hand and yanks me in.
“Jesus,” I say, stumbling in behind her. She still has my hand in a death grip and is pulling me around the room. Then she pushes me down onto the bed and jumps on my lap, straddling me. Before I can get a word out, her lips are crushing mine. I grab her cheeks and kiss her back as hard as I can. She pulls away and shits up straight. She’s breathing heavily, staring into my eyes.
“Why?” she asks, tears slowly sliding down her face. I swallow and nod. I raise my hand and wipe away a tear, then cup her cheek.
“Like I said, I’ll do anything for you. You’re my happy ever after Delilah, whether or not you like it,” I whisper against her lips. She blinks a few times, wrapping her head around what I said.
