Page 86 of A Cowboy's Bride
“Well, for fuck’s sake.” Petra all but growled the words, and both Aiden and Jinx stared at her in shock. “Okay, I apologize for my language, but of all the conversations for you to eavesdrop on, that had to have been the worst. Not because you overheard us, but because you stopped eavesdropping before we finished.”
A frown folded Jinx’s brow. “You shouldn’t have to be together for my sake.”
“No, you’re right. We shouldn’t. But what you missed after you left was us getting our heads on straight as wetalked. As we stopped pretending to ourselves that what we had wasn’t real.” Aiden linked his fingers with Petra’s then lifted them and kissed her knuckles. “What Petra said to me once I was smart enough to listen was she didn’t want to keeppretending. She wanted to know if I was as smart as her and had figured out that us being together was meant to be real.”
Silence echoed for a moment, then another sniff sounded as Jinx considered. “But you were pretending just so that you could have me come to High Water.”
“That might’ve been where we started, but it wasn’t a lie for long.” Petra smiled at Aiden. “What we should do right now is thank you, because I think we would’ve gotten here, but it would’ve taken us a lot longer. I’m so very happy I get to start forever with Aiden now instead of a couple of years down the road.”
“You’re staying together?” Jinx shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Aiden lowered his voice. “We’re really staying together, and while you’re here, maybe you can do me a favour.”
Jinx wiped at her eyes then pull a nearby curious kitten into her lap. “What?”
“You’re my witness.” He turned to Petra. “I’m not going to do anything outrageous like propose and force you into an answer before you’re ready. But I want what we talked about before. About us being real. I’d be very happy if that meant the engagement as well. When it’s time.”
Petra’s lips twitched. She turned to Jinx. “You get to be my witness as well.”
Jinx wiggled upright. “What’s going on?”
Petra ignored the question and took Aiden’s hands in hers. “Aiden Demetri Skye, would you like to marry me?”
A gasp escaped Jinx, but all Aiden saw was Petra’s shining eyes and her wicked smile. “This is me in front of a witness saying I’m not being forced into this at all, and Petra Lynn Sorenson, I would love to be yours forever.”
He would’ve leaned in and kissed her, but at that moment Jinx threw herself at both of them, weeping and laughing and tucking herself between them. Petra joined in the crying and laughing as she gazed into Aiden’s eyes.
“Happy birthday,” he said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she said back. “Happy birthday to me.”
21
Christmas Eve, High Water ranch
“Move it a little further to the right. There, perfect.” Pamela Sorenson smiled at Jake as he stepped back from the hanger on the wall that displayed six oversized Christmas stockings. “Now I need your help wrapping presents. Petra said all the packages I sent ahead are in the artists’ studio, so if you and I go out there now, we’ll have it done in no time.”
Jake looked toward Petra as if hoping for her help.
Nope. Petra had other things to do, and having other people around to occupy her mother and father would make her task that much easier.
In the kitchen area, Zachary Sorenson was decorating an enormous cake with Jinx. They had numerous bags of buttercream on the counter, each with a different tip. Zachary was very carefully going through and showing Jinx how to create different kinds of flowers and rosettes, the oldest in the room and the youngest firmly focused on their task.
It wasn’t Petra’s typical holiday getaway—the Sorenson family usually met in Hawaii for a break in the sun and sand—but she had bowed out of the trip well before her birthday. She hadn’t been about to leave Jinx during her first Christmas at High Water.
Then, with things better than right between her and Aiden, staying in Heart Falls seemed even more important. Finding out that Julia and Zach had also changed plans to stick around had made Petra teary. When her parents had outright invited themselves to High Water, their support and love had been the sweetest icing on the cake.
Next year would be soon enough to head back to the island. Maybe she and Aiden could take Jinx with them.
Declan marched in, a box of brightly wrapped presents in his hands. He paused en route to the tree and leaned in to mutter quietly. “Your parents are— How do I say this?”
“A force of nature?” Petra suggested.
He grinned. “Not the direction I was going for, but it fits. It also seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’m glad they could join us for the holidays.”
“Me too,” Petra said quietly, staring at her father then out the window where her mother chattered nonstop to Jake as they headed across to the studio. “I mean, they partly came to see Zach and Julia since she’s building that baby over the coming year, but it’s kind of nice to know my folks feel comfortable at High Water.”
Declan leaned closer. “Don’t kid yourself. They’re here for you just as much as they are for your brother and that coming baby. They’re good folks. They are a touch nosy, though. That’s all I’m saying.”
