Page 67 of Promised Summer
“Asupise,” she repeated, completely leaving out thersin the word.
I laughed again and picked her up to plop a loud kiss on her cheek. My baby girl was too freaking adorable.
After more urging from Ryan, I finally relented and headed inside alone to wait for whatever surprise they had for me.
Lily had finished nursing her babies and was taking a food break. When she saw me, she slowly padded my way to say hi. I gave her a good rubdown and told her what a good girl she was.
I had my hesitations about my fur baby having pups, but Lily was an amazing mother. She never left her pups for more than a few minutes and had even refused to do her business outside today, opting to use the many puppy pads I’d spread around the cabin.
I walked Lily back to her nest to check on the pups. They were so tiny and so freaking cute. Their eyes hadn’t opened yet, so they mostly wiggled around in the nest looking for warmth. Lily returned to her spot and the pups, like magnets, found her belly again.
I gave her head one last pat, then heard the front door open. Grinning, I stood and turned toward them.
Karla had already run the distance and was halfway to me wearing a yellow flower crown. She had one in her tiny hands as well.
“Supise!” she called and jumped into my arms.
I laughed and picked her up. “And what’s this?” I asked and let her put the flower crown on my head.
“I made this for you! Love you, Papa!” she shouted, and my heart melted in my chest.
“I love you too, my baby girl,” I said and kissed her cheek. She giggled and tugged on my beard, but I was too happy to even register the pain.
This was the first time Karla told me she loved me.
Ryan stepped up to us, also wearing a yellow flower crown. In his arm was a giant bouquet of different yellow flowers, but most of them were the coneflowers that grew in the field beside our property.
In fact, after taking a closer look, I realized the flower crowns were also made from yellow coneflowers.
“What is this?” I asked with a smile.
Pink graced his pale cheeks as he held out the bouquet for me. I wanted to taste the heat of his blush but held back since Karla was there.
“You always loved the field of flowers at our spot and always said it was the manifesting of the old couple’s love. A little bouquet is nothing compared to all you’ve done for me, and it can’t make up for how much I hurt you?—”
“Ryan—”
Karla slid out of my arms, probably sensing we were going to have a boring adult talk, and ran off to play with Lily.
Ryan laughed as he watched, then shook his head before turning back to me. “I can’t erase the past, but Ipromise you the future. I’ll spend every single day for the rest of our lives proving to you that our love doesn’t lose to theirs—to anyone’s.”
He opened his palm to reveal a ring probably made from baby coneflowers stems. “What is this?” I asked, barely able to breathe. My breath completely left me when he slid it onto my left ring finger. “Ryan…”
“This isn’t a proposal!” he quickly said. “It’s more like a promise ring. When I ask you to marry me, it’ll be much more romantic than this.”
I loved how he saidwhenhe asked, notif.
“What if I propose first?” I asked with a smirk.
“You better not,” he grumbled, and I kissed the frown from his lips.
“I love you, Jones. And I’m never going to stop showing you how much.”
“Is that why you stole flowers for me?” I teased.
“I planted more,” he muttered, though he clearly looked guilty. “I read online that cutting the flower part off doesn’t hurt the plant and that it’ll grow back. Plus, there’s so many of them in the field, I’m sure?—”
I cut off the rest of his words with another kiss. His eyes were just the slightest bit watery when it ended. The moisture making them sparkle as bright as the summer days in my memories.
