“Cheers!” the crowd repeated.
“Okay. Let’s open some gifts.” He smiled at Courtney. “You wanna open the first one?”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
He lifted a small box from the top of the pile, passing it to her. Courtney unfastened the blue ribbon, then pulled at the silver paper. There was a cardboard box inside, and she pulled it open, expecting to see a pacifier in there.
But instead there was a pale blue jewelery box. Maybe it was a little silver fairy box – she’d seen those online. Something to store the baby’s first tooth in.
But instead, when she opened it, there was a ring nestled into the velvet cushion, square-cut diamonds sparkling as she pulled it out. She turned to look at Logan, confusion pulling at her brow.
“That one’s from me,” he told her, his expression serious. “If you’ll have it.”
“Is it a…”
“I want us to get married,” he told her, lifting the ring from the box. “Whenever you’re ready. But if you don’t want to, the ring is still yours. It’s a sign of how much I love you. How much I want you to be mine. How I’ll take you any way I can get you, because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Her eyes stung as she looked up at him, her breath catching in her throat. “I want to get married,” she said, her voice sure. “So much.”
His smile was dazzling as he slid the ring onto her finger. “Thank you,” he told her, leaning his head down to kiss her again, murmuring against her lips. “I can’t wait for you to be my wife.”
She kissed him back, her arms looping around his neck, the diamonds glinting in the sunlight.
“Let’s do it soon,” she whispered. “Once the baby’s here.”
“Deal.” He slid his hand down her side, pulling her against him, her stomach pressed against his. “Thank you for making me so happy.”
The baby kicked against the center of her stomach, as if in protest at being squashed. Logan’s eyes widened with surprise as he looked down. “Damn. Strong right kick, just like his dad.”
She had a feeling the little guy inside of her was going to be just like his dad in every way. The thought made her heart so full it could burst.
“I’ll kiss it better later,” she whispered, not wanting anybody else to hear.
He laughed this time, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling up. Taking her hand, he lifted it to his lips, kissing her palm, her fingers, the ring he’d just slid onto her.
“Sounds good,” he whispered back, his eyes full of humor. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
Epilogue
Pouring a glass of cool lemonade, Courtney cradled her son against her chest with her right arm, picking the full glass up with her left and carrying them both out to the porch. The evening air always smelled sweet at this time of year. Corn dust wafted in from the fields, heralding the start of harvest time.
Not that she needed reminding. Her whole body ached from working eight hours on the farm today. Mary had watched George for them, her smile wide when Courtney had walked through the door that morning, gently taking him from her arms as Courtney and Ellis made their way out to the fields.
It was still hard to be away from her child, no matter how many times she went back to hug him or feed him during the day. But now it was the two of them, sitting on the porch of their new home, overlooking the full waters of Hartson’s Creek as they made their way toward the river.
They’d moved in here right before George was born, and had spent those final few weeks of her pregnancy decorating his nursery. All of Logan’s family had come to help – Becca turned out to be a maestro with the paintbrush, Gray and Tanner were pretty nifty with a screwdriver when it came to building all the nursery furniture, and Logan would tidy up everything each evening, making sure that Courtney didn’t lift a finger.
“You’ve got enough to do,” he’d murmured when she protested that she wanted to help. “You’re growing our baby.”
And now that baby was in her arms, staring up at her with wide blue eyes. George Cameron Robert Hartson had been almost two weeks late. Born on July 4th of all days. According to Logan, the waiting room had been like a party full of their families, the Hartsons and the Roberts, as well as Lainey who’d turned out to be a rock when Courtney needed her.
But the only two people who’d mattered to her that day were Logan and George. Though the birth had been hard, she’d expected that. What she hadn’t expected was the rush of bliss that came over her as soon as George was delivered. And the expression of sheer wonder on Logan’s face. As the two of them had sat and cradled their son, counting his fingers and toes, while remarking on who he looked like most, she’d felt this overwhelming sense of completion. As though that was where she was supposed to be.
That all the twists and turns in her life had led up to this.
In the two months since they’d brought George home from the hospital, those emotions hadn’t left her. Not through the pain of breastfeeding and mastitis, and not even when Logan had to fly back to Boston to complete the sale of his company to the new investor, and she had to face a sleepless night with George alone.
But Logan always made it up to her. The last time he’d insisted she have an evening out with Lainey, followed by a bubble bath when she returned home, then he handled baby duty for the whole night. When he wasn’t working – either overseeing th