From Ashes (From Ashes 1)

“Hi, precious,” I whispered, and giggled when I was rewarded with more kisses on my nose and cheeks.

“You like her?” a deep, gravelly voice asked from the side of the bed.

I turned my head and smiled brightly. “Like her? I love her! Is she ours?”

Gage nodded and reached over to scratch behind her ears; she instantly turned and started licking and nipping at his wrist. “She’s an Australian shepherd. If you want another kind of dog, I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

“No, she’s perfect! Oh, Gage, thank you so much!” I brought the little ball of fluff to my face and cuddled against her, enjoying her puppy breath. My fingers hit a collar and I pulled her away so I could look at it. Turning it around, my smile widened when I saw the hot-pink color. I would have paid to see Gage buying girly stuff. “Did you name her?” I asked, but where I expected to see a name tag, there was a large white bow instead, and dangling off one of the loops was the biggest diamond solitaire I’d ever seen.

I inhaled sharply and froze, unable to do anything but stare and hold on to the wiggling puppy. Gage sat on the bed near my hip and took the puppy from my hands. Holding her up and keeping her facing me, he gently untied the bow until he could slide the ring off. I looked up long enough to see his green eyes staring at me and his dimples showing his excitement, before looking back down at his hands. The puppy had started chewing on the untied ribbon, but when Gage grabbed my left hand and slowly slid the solitaire onto my ring finger, she started following his hands, licking all the way.

Gage and I laughed softly once, our hands both going to pet her, but always remaining in contact as we looked back at each other. His free hand came up and brushed some hair from my face and held it there as he leaned in until our foreheads were touching.

“Will you marry me, Cassidy?”

“Yes!” I cried, and pressed my lips firmly to his, which were failing at fighting a smile.

The puppy yelped playfully and wiggled her way in between our chests until she felt like she was the center of attention again.

“Then I just need to know one more thing, darlin’.” Gage pulled the pup to the side of our bodies and laid us down. “When can I marry you?”

“Whenever you want,” I answered breathlessly when his lips left mine.

“Right now.”

“Have to give me at least a few months.”

“Few months?” He leaned back slightly and pulled the puppy back to the side when she tried to crawl between us again. “Tell me honestly, Cassidy, are you saying that because you want time before we get married, or you want time to plan?”

“Need time to plan.”

Gage smiled and kissed me thoroughly. “Then no way am I giving you a few months. Few weeks.”

“Weeks? Gage, I can’t plan a wedding that fast.”

“Darlin’, I’m not gonna spend the next few months living in our house without you. I’m not gonna spend the next few months waiting to start our life together.” He leaned up so he was resting on his elbows on either side of my head. “Cassidy, I’ve wanted nothing but to marry you since I first saw you hop out of Tyler’s Jeep nearly two years ago. We have the rest of our lives to be together, yeah, but we’ve already spent too much time apart.”

I smiled softly and ran my hands through his thick black hair. “Weeks.” I nodded and then shook my head. “As soon as possible.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, and brought his face back to mine.

“I told y’all no hanky-panky until you marry that girl, Gage! I just knew you were sneakin’ in here. You are just like your daddy . . .” Her voice trailed off when Gage, who still hadn’t stopped kissing me, took my left hand away from his head and lifted it so the ring was facing Tessa. “Oh my God!” I heard Tessa’s footsteps quickly leave as she called for her husband.

Gage smiled against my lips and took my raised hand and brought it above my head, pinning it down onto the pillow.

“And, Gage!” she said, suddenly back in the room. “Get your butt off her and out of that bed this instant!” Gage groaned but only separated far enough to look into my eyes.

“Ma?”

“Nu-uh! I told you no funny business.”

“As soon as possible, Ma.”

“What’d you say?” She walked over to us and grabbed the back of his shirt and began pulling, only stopping when our little ball of fluff jumped onto Gage’s back and yelped playfully at her. “A puppy? Oh, son, I knew I raised you right.”

I laughed and grabbed the puppy so Gage could get off the bed, letting his mom feel like she was able to pull him.

“You’re gonna be mine, Cassidy,” he said with the widest smile I’d ever seen on his face.

I bit my lip and nodded. “As soon as possible, baby.”

“As soon as possible,” he agreed, and laughed out loud when his mom smacked his head twice for being in bed with an unmarried girl, at the same time that she screamed downstairs to Amanda that we had a wedding to plan, and then told Gage how happy she was that he hadn’t wasted any more time.

When they got to the door, he grabbed the frame and turned to wink at me before he let her pull him out, and I about melted. The puppy wiggled out of my arms, and, after a few seconds of looking a little unsurely at the ground, she took a step off the bed and half fell, half jumped to the ground. Her paws slid in place as she tried to take off running toward the door before she got traction. By the time she got to the door, Tyler was there and scooped her up.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he called, and nuzzled the pup. “Hey, Li’l Bit.”

“Gaming systems, huh, Ty?”

He smiled and kissed my forehead as he sat down next to me. “Had to think of something quick. Let me see it on you.”

I held out my hand and rested my head on his shoulder as we both studied it. I couldn’t stop smiling and my heart had been pounding since I’d seen my beautiful ring hanging from the ribbon. “I think it’s perfect,” I whispered.

“That’s what he said too.” The ring fell to the left from the weight of the rock and we both laughed. “I think it’s too big.”

“Nope.” I let the word pop out of my mouth and took my puppy from Ty’s arms. “The whole thing was perfect.”

“I’m glad you’re happy, Cassi.”

“Me too,” I breathed, and kissed the pup’s wet nose. “Hey, Ty, can I ask you something? It’s not really conventional, and you might be offended by it . . .” I trailed off as I realized how awkward it might be for him.

“Offended? Oh hell, you have to ask now!” He turned so I could see the wicked glint in his brown eyes.

“Not like that! This is something serious.”

“All right, all right. I’m serious, but I get to hold Li’l Bit.”

I rolled my eyes and vowed to name the puppy as soon as I handed her back over. “All right, well, I have actually been thinking about this a lot this week. I like your dad a lot, Ty, you know that, but I don’t have a connection with him like I do you and your mom.”

His eyebrows drew down in confusion. “Yeah . . . ?”

“I could always walk down the aisle by myself if this makes you uncomfortable, but I was wondering . . . will you give me away?”

Tyler sat there quietly for a moment. “Never thought I’d be on this side of things, Cassi—”

“Okay, then we don’t have to do that—it’s all right.”

“You gonna let me finish, sweetheart? I always thought one day you’d see things the way I always have, but you found that in Gage. I know I’ve been a real dick, Cass, but I am happy for you guys. You know, you think your question is weird, but Gage asked for my permission to marry you.”

I raised my head up to look at him. “He did?”

“Yep, and I didn’t even have to think about my answer. I’ve been taking care of you for most of our lives, and there’s no one I’d trust with you more than him. I would never let you walk down the aisle alone, and since your dad can’t be here, I’m glad you asked me to be the one to give you to him.”

“Thanks, Ty, you don’t know how much this means to me.” I sighed happily and caught the puppy with a grunt when she jumped from Ty’s arms onto my stomach. “I know things got weird for us, but everything feels like it’s back to how it should be; it feels perfect.”

“You know I’ll always love you most,” he said a little loudly, and before I could question his increase in volume, Gage came back into the room and I understood.

“Well, I don’t know about that.” He smirked and sauntered over to the side of the bed, leaned over, and kissed me softly before grabbing the puppy. It was still so weird to have Tyler not say anything when Gage kissed me in front of him. “You name her yet?”

“Li’l Bit,” Tyler said immediately.

I rolled my eyes. “Sky.”

“Sky?” Gage asked with a smile, and I nodded. “All right, Sky it is. I’m gonna take her out, and the girls are waiting downstairs for you, darlin’. I’m warning you. You thought a few weeks wasn’t possible; just wait until they start plannin’. They’re unstoppable until everything’s done.”

“As soon as possible,” I whispered.

“As soon as possible,” he agreed, and pulled me out of the bed with one hand, keeping Sky in his other arm, and led us downstairs.

Gage hadn’t been lying: there wasn’t any cooked food sitting around, and there wasn’t any food being cooked; they were that serious. Tessa, Amanda, and Nikki were huddled around the kitchen island with a pad of paper. Each had a pen in hand and was jotting things down as they talked chattily.

Emily looked up from where she was sitting near Amanda’s side on the island and squealed, “Puppy!”