Page 147 of Against All Odds

“Courtney.”

Everett tilts his head to the right a little, almost as though he’s testing it out. “Courtney Finnegan.”

“It’s cute, right? I think it’s so pretty. We can call her Court or Courtney if we don’t shorten it,” I explain quickly, hoping he doesn’t hate it.

“I love it.”

“You do?”

“I do. You know, I love you and Courtney with everything I am.” He releases me and takes two steps back. “I have known a lot of things. For example, I knew, deep in my heart, that you were coming back after you left for California. I knew that I loved you from the first time I saw you.” Everett sinks to his knee in front of me, removing something from his pocket.

“Oh God,” I whisper as he reveals a beautiful diamond ring.

“I knew as I stood at my father’s grave that I had everything I could ever need. I know this feels fast, but at the same time, it’s taken forever. We’ve wasted fifteen years not being together, and I don’t want to waste another minute. I love you. I want to marry you, have children with you, wake up beside you, and fall asleep with you in my arms. I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember, and I will love you until the day I die. Will you marry me?”

I sink to my knees with him, my hands holding his face. I didn’t expect this. I didn’t need to be engaged, but I need him. Everett is the other half of my heart and soul. He’s the reasonthat I know love exists, and there is no one else in the world I want to spend my life with. I nod, tears streaming down my face, and I say the single word he’s waiting for.

“Yes.”

epilogue

Everett

I’ve seen all the movies and shows of a father freaking out when the woman says,It’s time.

I always thought they were freaking idiots.

That was until it was my woman.

It’s not just because I was elbow deep in a cow as I was trying to get her to birth her calf, but because Violet apparently didn’t want to bother me while I had an emergency call.

Yes, because my fiancée thought it was better to let her become an emergency.

Now I’m driving balls to the wall to get to the hospital before she has the baby.

“Relax, Everett. It’s fine. Violet is doing great and I’m here,” Hazel tries to reassure me.

“I should be there.”

“Well, you’re not and it’s fine. Again. She’s not pushing. She’s like, seven centimeters, and you have time.”

That does nothing to reassure me. I’ve seen a birthing animal go from one to one hundred in minutes.

Almost to punctuate my worries, Violet screams in the background. “Ohhhh shiiitttttt, I can’t do this!”

Hazel makes a noise. “Gotta go. Hurry up.”

The rest of the drive, Hazel does not answer the goddamn phone, and I’m losing my ever-loving mind.

I finally get to the hospital, tear my sweatshirt off, throw on a new one that doesn’t smell like a barn, and rush inside.

As I pass by the front desk, I toss my keys to the security guy. “If they come to tow it, just move it for me.”

The guard gives me a weird look. “Sir, this isn’t valet!”

I shrug. “Can’t talk, I’m having a baby!”

This place is a maze, and I spend five minutes trying to find the labor and delivery wing, and when I finally get there, I can hear her.

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