“I was hell-bent on going back to the desert. I’m certain I wouldn’t have come back alive.” She tries to hug her body to mine, but I stop her. “You healed me then, and tonight you healed me again.”
At that, she relaxes. Her palm is cool against my cheek. “I saw her like this. After I fell, I was in this place in the grass, and she was dancing around me.” A hot tear spills onto her cheek. “She was so beautiful. I wanted to hold her, but she flew away.”
Placing my other palm against her face, I lean down to kiss her again. Her lips are warm and sweet, and as I kiss her cheek, I taste her salty tears. “Will you marry me, Mariska?”
My cheek is against hers, and I feel her nodding. “Yes,” she says, her voice laced with tears. “I want that very much.”
I step back and take her hand. “Come with me.” I lead her out of the room filled with memories of the past, and when we reach the living room, I stop. “I’m going back to Princeton now. I’m going to talk to Derek and officially resign from Alexander-Knight. Between Patrick and Slayde, he has more than enough help.”
She’s calm, listening. “Then what?”
Pulling her hand to my mouth, I kiss her ring finger. “I’ll take you home. Bill and I have been talking about the ranch and what he wants to do with it. He’s been waiting for me to say the word so I can take it over.”
Her smile grows as I speak, but I’m not finished.
“I’d like for us to get married as soon as possible. We can do it here or in Great Falls…”
“Here. So our family can join us.”
Family. “You always wanted a family.”
“I always wanted you.”
Leaning down, I cover her lips again with mine. She pushes her arms around my neck, and meets my strength with her own. Our mouths open and tongues collide, and I almost change my mind about leaving her tonight.
Breaking away, my lips are at her ear and sweet jasmine scent floats around us. “I’ll find out how long it takes to get a license. Let everyone know we’re getting married next week.”
I kiss the side of her neck, and she shivers. It almost does me in, but I pull back, opening the door. “Will that give you enough time?”
She laughs, her pretty eyes twinkling for the first time in too long. I step back and kiss her once more. “Don’t say no.”
“I’ll be ready when you are.”
Another kiss and I’m out the door, ready to make good on my promises.
23
Promises
Mariska
Kenny waits at the top of the pier for me as Amy arranges my veil. As soon as Stuart left my apartment Friday night a week ago, I called my best friend, who immediately got Patrick involved, who put Amy in charge of tracking down my dress. Sylvia flew in to help with Lane, and Elaine called over Skype to tell me all the places she’d used to pull her last-minute ceremony together.
“I guess Stuart has one thing in common with his little brother,” she laughed as we clicked through websites ordering flowers and renting furniture.
“What’s that?” I’d asked, trying not to feel overwhelmed.
“When they decide it’s time, you get exactly seven days to make it happen.”
“But hang on…” I had to correct her. “Patrick said he’d been asking you to marry him for two years, and you kept turning him down!”
“Well, I guess you’re right,” she acquiesced. “Maybe Stuart and I have something in common.”
Last year, when I’d taken off to Montana following nothing but a dream and one encounter with a wounded cowboy, Elaine had been right there with me, covering for me and making a place for me in the Knight clan. Today she is one of my bridesmaids, along with Amy and Kenny.
We decided to set up a small enclosure, and Kenny had the idea of arranging the chairs in a swirled design. “Like a seashell!” she’d said.
Now the two of us wait at the foot of the pier where we both have gone in the past to cry or stargaze or wish for the ones we love.