“Matt, you can’t buy a three-year-old a diamond ring. Ask her where the last ring pop is that you bought her?”
“She promised she would be really careful with it,” I said. “Didn’t you, Ivy?”
“I’ll be weally careful, Daddy.” Ivy patted Hudson’s cheek, pouting. “You don’t wuv my ring, Daddy?”
The room fell silent, all eyes on him. Ivy had just let me off the hook by asking the one question he couldn’t answer in the negative because he would never hurt his daughter’s feelings.
“I love it, but Daddy Matt spent a lot on that ring to show how much he loves you, so you must be really careful with it. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy. I be weally careful with it. I pwomise.”
Rowan all but melted. “And that, gentlemen, is why I kill myself for clients like you.” He snapped his fingers. “So, tell me? Have you picked a date yet?”
“On the twenty-first,” I said.
“Of?”
“Next month.”
“Next month?” His voice cracked. “You want me to pull off a full wedding in four weeks?”
“Not full.” I squeezed Hudson’s hand when he looked ready to argue. “Ceremony small, private. Just us, Ivy, and family. But afterward, we want the whole town fed. A feast. Everyone’s welcome.”
Rowan’s expression shifted from horror to challenge,and then a slow, wicked grin spread. “Oh, darling. You just lit my fire. This will cost you, mind, but I’m sure we can make it happen if we get started right away.”
“Money isn’t an object.”
Hudson huffed beside me. “If we follow your spending habits, we’ll be broke before the end of the wedding.”
I grinned, nudging him in the side. “What? You can love me for richer but not poorer?”
“Don’t joke about that, Matty. I need you to stay rich, not because I want your money, but because the ranch needs it to keep running. That’s the place where I got a second chance. Where I met you. The place you said we would build a home. It’s where Ivy is going to grow up and learn to love the land as much as we do. So yes, I do mind the poorer.”
The words hit me square in the chest, solid as the fence posts sunk deep into Magnuson soil. He said it like every nail, every blade of grass out there was bound up in who he’d become. And I knew then—down to the marrow—that this man wasn’t going anywhere. Not from me. Not from Ivy. Not from Bristle M.
My throat closed, too tight for words. All I could do was slide my hand into his and hold on, hard enough that maybe he’d feel what I couldn’t yet say out loud:You’re it. You’ve always been it.
THE WEDDING STORY
You are cordially invited to celebrate the marriage of
Hudson GrangerandMatthias Magnuson
40
HUDSON
The glass doors of Emma Magnuson’s condo building slid open with a sigh, and I could swear the air inside smelled like money. Polished marble floors, gold accents, vases full of flowers that probably had their own florist on retainer. I rubbed a hand down my shirt, suddenly hyperaware that I’d ironed it myself and missed a crease at the collar.
“Christ,” I muttered. “I feel like a stray mutt someone let in off the street.”
Matty chuckled beside me, shifting Ivy higher on his hip. “Relax. You don’t look like a stray. You look… handsome.” He smirked. “Just try not to drool on the floor. They’ll charge us for cleaning.”
“Easy for you to say,” I whispered back, glancing at the crystal chandelier that glittered overhead. “You were raised in places like this. My parents did okay, but didn’t have this kind of money.”
“You’re fine. Stop worrying.” Matty squeezed my hand before I could tuck it into my pocket. His tone was steady,reassuring, like he knew exactly what was twisting my stomach into knots.
I shook my head. “Fine? I can’t relax when I’m about to face your mom. The woman terrifies me.”
