Page 32 of Her Candy Cane Cowboy
The third is one of the pictures his mom took of Dallas and me in front of the fireplace. Instead of the clothes we were wearing at the time, the picture was altered. He’s in a tuxedo and I’m in a wedding dress.
Beneath that photo are the words Where I hope to be.
Dallas moves to stand in front of me. “I know you’ve been hurt before and I hate that. It breaks my heart. But I’ve got you now. And I’ll keep your heart safe. I’ll choose you every day of my life.”
He draws in a deep breath. “I’ll never make you feel small or unimportant. I’ll hold you when the world is tough and you’re feeling like you’re not. I will always speak to you with love and always be the one you never have to doubt is on your side.”
He drops to one knee. “You’re the one I hope to be with in the future I hope to have together. My beautiful woman, will you marry me?”
He takes a ring case from his pocket and opens it. My mother’s ring sparkles in the light.
My legs turn to jelly, and I sob from the depths of my heart, dropping to my knees in front of Dallas.
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”
He slips the ring onto my finger, blinking back tears. “I love you. So much. I knew I loved you the moment I saw you.”
He pulls me to my feet, and I rest my head on his chest. “I love you too.” I lean back to look at him. “My candy cane cowboy.”
Laughter rumbles in his chest and he kisses me.
Sudden shouts and laughter erupt from the back porch, and we turn to find his family and my father.
“Were they in on this?” I ask.
“They were.”
“That’s what was up with all the strange glances!”
“It was so hard to keep quiet,” Elizabeth says, darting across the cold ground in her slippers. “I want to be the first one to hug my soon-to-be daughter-in-law.” She hugs me for a long while whispering to me how glad she is I’m here. How I’m family and will always be her favorite.
I laugh and wipe away my tears. Then my dad strides toward me and the tears begin again. “How can you be this old already?” he asks. “You should still be in messy braids and roller skates.”
“I know, daddy. I know.”
“I brought the champagne,” Royal says.
“I’m freezing my ass off out here,” Radley adds shaking Dallas’s hand and then hugging me.
“Come in out of the cold,” Ned says.
And that’s exactly the way I feel after experiencing the way Dallas loves me. Like I’ve come in out of the cold.
Chapter 13
Dallas
Ginger doesn’t want a big, elaborate wedding. It’s just family and friends at the ceremony. She didn’t want to have it inside a building or a church either so here we are under the bright blue Texas sky on a balmy day in the middle of May.
An arch of flowers is set up in a field on my land and I’m waiting in front of it to see my woman in her dress. Sleeping apart from her last night is the only night we’re spending apart. That’s a promise I made to myself and to her, and I intend to keep it.
I’m in my black cowboy hat, jeans and a black blazer. I’ve got on a white dress shirt and a black necktie like Ginger asked me to wear. I would have worn a tuxedo or anything else she wanted me to wear because what I wear isn’t important to me. Just the woman I’m about to marry is.
Soft violin music starts playing thanks to my mom asking Marina, the town veterinarian, to perform the music for the ceremony.
I keep eyeing the distance waiting for my woman to make an appearance. Then I hear the slow, steady turn of wagon wheels. The covered wagon we’d decorated with tons of flowers comes into view. My horse, paired with the one I bought for Ginger arrives.
