“She’s a smart woman. I love you, Arden. You changed me. From the moment you walked into my life, nothing was the same.”
“Because I almost killed you?” I asked, tears mixing with my smile.
Linc barked out a laugh. “You do know how to make an entrance.”
“I love you,” I whispered.
“More than anything in this life and the next. Even if you steal my thunder.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
Linc took my hand and led me toward the back doors, Brutus following behind us. Pulling back the gauzy curtains, he opened the door and guided us out.
I came up short. It was my back patio, but also…not. Because the entire space had been filled with wildflowers. Rustic bins and vases filled to bursting with every color under the sun. It was like stepping out into a sea of blooms.
“Linc,” I rasped.
He tugged me forward to a small cocktail table also covered with wildflowers. But there was something else on its surface. Drawings. No, plans.
Linc squeezed my hand. “Shep finalized the plans. I wanted you to be the first to see. We can change anything you don’t like. But?—”
“It’s a studio,” I croaked.
“Of course, it is.” Linc’s finger traced the outline. “These three walls will be glass. And I had him put skylights here and here.”
“A barn.”
“Gotta look after my girls,” Linc said with a smile. “And there’s enough room to get a few more horses if you want. Plenty of grazing space.”
“The house…is massive.”
Linc frowned. “Now that we know we’ve got two coming, I think we might need to add?—”
“Cowboy,” I chastised.
A grin tugged at his lips. “I want it to be you and me. Us blending our lives. Making something more beautiful together.”
“We already are,” I whispered.
“Marry me.”
The two words weren’t a question or a demand. They were a simple truth.
Tears filled my eyes. “I’ll bind myself to you in every way I can.”
Linc’s hand slipped into his pocket. “You told me once that you sometimes have to bleed to bloom. You showed me that the deepest beauty can come through the worst pain. You saw me through the dark. You gave me beauty from hardship. You showed me how to create that.”
He slid a wide gold band onto my finger. The ring was breathtakingly unique—like my art come to life. There was no massive center stone, but an array of tiny ones. Inset red diamonds encircled by glittering white ones. It looked like a trailing vine of flowers. Almost like that first painting he’d influenced.
“Linc,” I breathed.
“I knew it couldn’t be bulky with your work. And I wanted it to be you. Wanted it to be what you gave me, too.”
I looked up into those hazel eyes that had become my home. “It’s us.”
“One more thing.”
“Anything,” I whispered.
Linc’s callused fingers teased around the ring. “When we get married, I think we should both change our last names.”
“What did you have in mind?”
The gold in his eyes blazed brighter. “Colson.”
Nothing could’ve been more perfect.
