Total pages in book: 20
Estimated words: 18430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18430 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 74(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Something about the way he’s moving doesn’t sit right with me. I glance behind me at Emily, and I can tell by the look on her face that she understands what I’m feeling.
“What?” I ask him. “What…what did he say?”
Liam says nothing for the rest of the long walk over to me, then takes my hands. He raises them to his lips and gently kisses them both.
There’s something not right about this. What could have happened in that room? My dad had to have liked him, didn’t he?
“How did it go?” I ask slowly. I know I have to ask, but the way he’s looking at me doesn’t make me want to.
“Well…” Liam replies. “I told you father all about me. How I started out as a roughneck but have plans on starting my own farm…”
“Right, right,” I say quickly. Why doesn’t he just spit it out? My father’s approval for this relationship means a lot to me. “So what did he say? What did he say?”
“Well,” Liam sighs. “He didn’t seem to like me, Jess.”
Liam’s sexy eyes look at me, and I feel a sense of dread come over me. My dad didn’t like him? My heart drums in my chest like I’m at the climax of a horror movie. I want to rush past him and storm into my dad’s office and demand reasons right now.
“You’re joking…” I say softly as I hear the sound of my sister’s footsteps leaving the room.
“Yeah…” Liam replies. “I am.”
His words almost go over my head. I look up and see him smiling down at me. “Wait, what?”
“I am, Jess.” He smiles. “I’m joking. Your dad liked me a lot. We got along just swell.”
Relief floods through every vein in my body. “Oh my God, you jerk!”
I’m all ready to jump on him and start playfully slapping him around, but I don’t even get a chance. Liam drops to one knee in front of me and pulls a tiny blue box from his pocket.
“N-no…” I stammer, my voice trembling.
“No?” He grins. “Don’t say that yet.”
He opens the box and shows me what’s inside: a beautiful, shining, diamond ring that couldn’t be more perfect if I picked it out myself.
“Jessica Griffen. Will you please marry me?” he asks. “Will you make me the happiest man in the world? Will you allow me to take care of you, protect you, be by your side, and be your man forever and ever?”
My jaw is nearly on the floor. I can’t even speak.
Still smiling, Liam gives me a tiny nudge on the foot, awakening me from my shock.
“Yes!” I blurt out. “Of course I will!”
I’m laughing with delight as Liam stands up and places the ring on my finger. Oh, and I’m crying too as he takes me into his arms, lifts me off my feet, and spins me around and around and around, then places his lips on mine.
I was so afraid that my dad didn’t like him and we would have a major obstacle in the way of our relationship, but as it turns out, Liam was just playing a joke on me. And normally, I’d be in the mood to get him back, but not tonight.
Tonight, I just want to go along with him and enjoy myself. Which is what I do.
I follow him into the kitchen, where the rest of my family is already waiting, and everyone else has a good laugh as we enter. As it turns out, they were all in on the joke too.
We share our first meal together as a family, and I get a picture of what the rest of my life will be.
Epilogue
Liam
Four Years Later…
“And you see those, Jeffery? Those are pepper plants. Those will grow green, orange, or yellow peppers, all depending on how long we let them ripen for.”
I lean down and smile at my son, whose hand I’m holding, and watch as his eyes move over the plants. This isn’t the first time I’ve taken him through our garden, but as he gets older and older, his comprehension of exactly what’s going on increases, and it’s an incredible thing to watch.
“And these are the tomatoes,” I say, leading him on. “You like those, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he says with a smile.
It seems like only yesterday I was carrying him through the garden. They just grow up so fast. It seems like only yesterday Jess was giving birth and I was out here starting this garden from seeds. Now my first son is walking with me beside the plants that have grown up just like he has. It seems like a miracle.
Jess and I wasted no time getting married. We knew it was the right thing to do given the risks we’d taken together—never using protection—and the chances that she was carrying my child.
And as it turned out, she was. All it had taken was one of those first two times to get it done.