Page 14 of Single Dad at Mountain Creek Ranch
She shakes her head. “You don’t mean that.”
"If I didn't mean it, then why do I have a ring?" I pull the white gold band with the pear-shaped diamond out from my pocket, my grandmother's wedding ring.
Eden’s eyes widen in surprise. “Nash.”
I drop down to one knee. “I know this seems crazy fast, and you might think I’m doing this only because Rona showed up, but I promise you I’ve been thinking about this for some time. Not only are you the woman of my dreams that I couldn’t have known ever existed, but you love my girls as much as if they were made from you and me. I never want to lose you. I want us to be a family. Please tell me you will think about it.”
“I can’t,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. My heart drops like a stone in my chest. “I can’t think about it, because I already know what my answer will be.”
Hope fills my heart like a helium balloon, lifting it. "And?"
“Yes, I will marry you.”
I jump to my feet and kiss her with everything inside me. I thought I’d always have that missing part of me since my family broke apart, but with my girls and Eden, I’m whole again.
Epilogue
EDEN
I'm nearly ready. I just have to put on my wedding dress. My and Nash's room on the ranch has been designated as the bridal suite while we all get ready. Willow and Nash's other younger sister, Savannah, are dressed in their ruby bridesmaid dresses and helping me get ready. Abbie and Sophie are sitting on the bed in their matching flower girl dresses.
“Can I just get five minutes with the girls before we put on the dress?” I ask Willow.
She smiles and looks at the girls. “We will go see how Nash is doing and be back in a few minutes,” she says, pulling Savannah out of the room.
I stand up in my silk robe and kneel in front of the girls.
“How are you two holding up?”
They both look at each other, then back to me, and smile.
“Good,” they answer in unison.
I study their expressions. They've been fantastic all year, as we planned the wedding. I made sure they were in on many of the decisions. I didn't want them to feel at all like they weren't apart of all this.
“I’m so excited to be joining your family today,” I tell them. “Thank you for opening your hearts to me and making me feel welcome. I love you both so much.”
Sophie beams and Abbie's eyes tear up a bit. But I know that they are happy tears. She and I have talked a lot about her feelings and how she was handling all this. She's excited, and I'm so glad.
There’s a knock at the door. Nash doesn’t wait for an answer when he slips in.
“Daddy! You can’t see Eden yet!” Abbie stands up to put herself in front of me.
“It’s okay, kiddo. Eden said it was okay that I come in. We have something that we want to tell you.”
I stand up, and Nash comes over to me, his eyes as wide as his smile. He wraps his arm around my waist and leans in to whisper in my ear.
“You look so beautiful.”
“You look pretty good yourself,” I say, checking him out in his navy suit.
“Aunt Willow is going to be mad if she finds you in here,” Abbie warns. She’s very serious about wedding superstitions, but we couldn’t wait to tell them the news.
“Do you want to tell them?” Nash asks.
“You can.”
"Well, girls, we have two pieces of good news. First, I know the plan was for you two to stay with Aunt Willow while we went on our honeymoon." The girls' faces fall slightly. “But I got a call from your mom today. She was hoping you two would like to stay with her while we are gone.”
