Page 58 of Below the Far Horizon
“They do look good together. And they look so happy.”
“Have you changed your mind on a wedding ring?” he asked, wondering if he maybe should get her one anyway. It seemed likesometimes women said things that they didn’t really mean, and they wanted men to figure out what they actually meant, which was ridiculous, since they often said the exact opposite of what they meant.
“I was serious. I just want you.”
“Would you marry me?” he asked, his voice low and his inner critic telling him that he couldn’t have picked a worse time.
But Grace looked up at him with shining eyes and was nodding her head even before the word passed her lips. “Yes.”
He smiled. She hadn’t said that he had picked the wrong time or that he hadn’t been very romantic or complained about anything like that. She just seemed happy that he had asked and that they would be getting married. In his opinion, those were the things that they should be happy about. The trappings, the ring, the perfect setting, all that, was just…distraction. Or show. And maybe, maybe Grace had enough of that.
“Can we set a date soon?” she asked, lifting her head as her breath whispered along his neck, making him draw her closer to him.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.”
She leaned back, and they shared a look that said that they would be talking about that the next time they had an opportunity.
That had to be good enough for him.
“Have you ever seen Mom look so beautiful?” Stacy came over and stood in front of them, glancing back at the couple at the front of the room, who were accepting congratulations from the people around them.
“She’s practically glowing,” Grace said as Trevor casually listened. Stacy was nice, and her husband was okay, and he would get along with them because they were Grace’s family, but he would stay out of the sisters’ conversation unless invited in. He didn’t have that much experience with women, and sometimes their conversations, rather than going in a straight line, took the route of a gravel mountain road, with switchbacks and lane changes and U-turns and lots of other things that would lose a man who wasn’t used to such things.
“And by the way, I’m happy to see the two of you together. Finally,” Stacy said.
Jill came over and heard Stacy’s last comment. “It’s about time. Thetwo of you are perfect together, and I can’t believe it’s taken you all this time to figure it out.”
“I’m a little slow, but I hope to make up for that by getting your sister to marry me sooner rather than later.”
“Good luck with that. And by the way, you guys should join forces and make crafts together. It’s been obvious to everyone that Mom needs someone to take over her craft business, and Grace is the perfect choice, but you would take everything up a notch and allow Grace to offer things that Mom never could.”
“We haven’t talked about that, but we’ll have to, won’t we, darling?” he said, unwilling to take his arm out from around her waist, no matter how many people were crowded into the room or how warm it got. She didn’t seem like she minded, since she pressed against him.
“I think that’s good. I couldn’t imagine anything better than getting to work with you every day.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” They hadn’t talked about where they would live, but it seemed to make sense that whatever house their parents moved into, they would buy and live in the other one. He really didn’t care, as long as Grace was by his side.
Neither one of them mentioned that he had just asked Grace to marry him. He supposed Grace felt the same way he did, not wanting to take attention away from their parents’ happy day. There would be plenty of time for them to make their announcement some other time.
“Attention, everyone. Can you listen for a second?” Gita stood in front of everyone. The room quieted down as people stopped to listen to what she had to say.
“Don and I are so honored that you came here to share our special day. We have food available in the dining room. It’s a buffet-type meal, where you just grab your plate from the stack and pick what you want. Be sure to get some of the crockpot pepper jack cauliflower, since it’s our signature relationship dish. It…has grown along with us.” She smiled at Don.
“And Gita made it herself, so be sure to compliment the chef, although don’t compliment her too much, because I don’t want to take her spotlight away from me.”
Laughter rippled throughout the crowd as Gita gave him a look that said that no one could outshine him in her eyes.
“I hope we’re that cute when we’re old,” Grace said, looking up at Trevor.
He hadn’t exactly been thinking that same thing, but his words were true. “I hope so too.” And somehow they reminded him of something he had wanted to tell Grace earlier. “Oh. I know what I wanted to tell you. I heard that Claire was back in town. Did you hear that?”
“No. I didn’t,” Grace said, sounding shocked.
“It’s just a rumor that’s going around. I haven’t actually seen her. And I haven’t made it out to her grandmother’s house to check. I did think that you might be interested, since I overheard you mentioning something to your mom about you trying to get in contact with her and Lauren and not being able to get a hold of either one.”
“Thanks. I appreciate you hearing that and remembering. I’ll definitely try to see if I can make it out to go visit her. Maybe I have an old number that’s been disconnected or something.”
Trevor leaned down to Grace’s ear. “Are you sure you’re okay with that? I know that you love your friends, but there are some memories involved there.”
