Page 35 of Winter Memories

“What’s that?”

“You love them with everything you have,” his voice is gruff.

“Always,” I vow.

He nods and then we both look up as the barn door opens and Eden sticks her head inside. Her eyebrows pull together when she sees us together. She nibbles on her lip in the way she always does when she’s nervous.

“I saw your truck out front,” she says to me. “Everything okay?”

“Yup,” Walter grins at his daughter as he walks toward her and pulls her into his arms, “everything is great.” His voice drops to a whisper, “I’m proud of you, Eden.”

When he pulls back, I can see unshed tears in her eyes. They might be happy tears, but I hate seeing them in her pretty dark eyes.

Eden turns toward me, questions swirling around here, as Walter pulls the barn door closed behind him. “Everything packed up and ready?”

She narrows her eyes at my question as she crosses her arms across her chest. Fuck, she’s sexy. Even when she’s annoyed at me.

“Yes,” she purses her lips, “we’re ready to get moved over.” She waves a hand behind her. “Do you want to tell me what you were talking to Dad about?”

Instead of answering her directly, I close the distance between us, hook an arm around her waist, and pull her flush against my chest. Even though I haven’t answered her, she still melts against me, and I take a moment to soak up the feeling.

How did I survive without this woman in my life for so long? It’s like I can breathe again.

“Eden,” I murmur softly, and her gaze comes up to meet mine, “I want to start this new chapter in our lives off right. This time we’re going to last forever and then beyond even that.”

Her arms come up and wrap around my neck, neither one of us minding the thick coats we’re wearing. I’d rather feel all of her soft curves against me, but I can’t stand the thought of going one more moment without asking her the question which has been on the tip of my tongue for what feels like forever now.

“I love you and Macklin more than you’ll ever know,” I start, and she nods. “I want more than us living together. I want more babies with you, to be able to experience it with you right from the start. I want to build a life, a family. But there’s one thing I need to do before that can happen.”

Eden’s eyes go round and wide when I gently pull back from her, dig into my pocket, and then drop down to one knee. I don’t just hold up one ring in my fingers, but two.

She gasps and covers her mouth with her hands, a tremor running through her body and tears welling up in her eyes. “Fletcher,” her voice breaks as she says my name.

“A long time ago, I bought a ring for you because I always knew there was only one woman I was going to marry. When I went to visit you that last time, I wasn’t sure if I was going to slip it on your finger or let you be free. I know it hurt and, maybe, I would do it differently knowing what I know now, and how hard it was being without you. I always kept the ring as a reminder. It was a little ember of hope, one I wasn’t willing to snuff out.”

A tear slides down her cheek, her voice pained, “Oh, Fletch.”

I shake my head and smile up at my gorgeous woman. “It needed to be this way. You needed to find yourself and chase your dream. You needed to bring Macklin into this world. It might not have been the way we saw everything going when we were kids, but I can see that fate was always at our backs and walked beside us when we were together and when we were apart. Then, when it was the right time, fate brought us back together again. The girl you were, the girl I fell in love with, deserves to have the ring I bought back then, but the woman you’ve become deserves something new, something worthy of being on your finger.”

She lets out a soft sob and I stand up and cup her face with one of my hands, wiping the tears away with my thumb, her rings still held between us. “Eden, my best friend and the Shooting Star I have wished upon my entire life, will you make all those wishes come true and marry me?”

“Yes,” she whispers, the word a little garbled and almost too soft to hear. But I hear it. She clears her throat, and she smiles up at me, her voice stronger, “Yes, Fletcher Burns, of course I’llmarry you. The answer was always going to be yes. Then. Now. It doesn’t matter when, it’ll always be yes.”

I slip the rings on her finger, both of them fitting her perfectly and fitting together like they were always meant to sit side by side. Our past and our future.

When I slam my mouth down on hers, her lips part for me and I kiss her until we both can’t breathe. Only then do I pull away and stare down at her, wonderment and awe filling me like it always does when it comes to my woman.

“Thank you,” I whisper and press my forehead against hers.

Eden’s giggle fills the barn, and she shakes her head as if thanking her is ridiculous. It isn’t.

When I hear two honks, I know Noel and Huxley have arrived. “Come on, Shooting Star, lets get my family moved in right where they belong.”

She smiles at me and the pain of the past melts away. The memories we shared have tasted bittersweet for a long time, but not anymore. Now we can see them for what they were—just part of our journey. All of it led us to here.

The moment we step inside the house, I brace because I hear small feet running in my direction. “Daddy,” Macklin shouts and launches himself into my arms.

I lift him and hold him against my chest, something else clicking into place as I look at Eden in disbelief. Those tears I hate are back in her eyes and this time she’s not alone. Edith’s eyes are glassy, and I swear even Huxley’s are.

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