Gabe smiled down at Avery. He could ponder the last thirty minutes for thirty years and still not grasp everything that had happened. Today was supposed to be one of the worst days of his life, and wasn’t it just like God to turn the whole thing on its ear in ways he never imagined?
A thought struck him. “Do you think Cyrus knew what he was really doing?”
Harold Haverman gave a doubtful smirk. “Let’s just say I’m of a mind that what Cyrus meant for orneriness, God meant for good.”
Gabe looked at Harley... Theo—it’d take a while before that adjustment sunk in. His grandfather was talking in animated tones with Samuel Teller and Edmund Grayson. His grandfather. Right under his nose all these years. Suddenly, the powerful connection he’d always felt with Harley Jones made sense. Theo may have believed he could never be there for Gabe, but Harley had been there. In a hundred ways over the years. There was so much surprise and astonishment in his heart—especially now with Avery—that there wasn’t any room for judgment or resentment. Only love, and loads of it.
Gabe pulled Avery to his side. “I love you,” he whispered into her ear despite the many people surrounding them. “Have I said that yet?”
She smiled up at him with glistening, tear-filled eyes. “Not in words.”
“I love you,” he repeated, finding a startling delight in uttering them. “In words, this time.”
“And swings, and tea parties, and doctor visits, and tumble-down cabins...and a few rather persuasive kisses.” Her cheeks turned the most distracting shade of pink. “But the words are nice, too.”
“Speaking of tumble-down cabins,” Haverman said. Gabe tried not to begrudge the attorney for horning in on his happy moment. “Miss Avery, I believe we have some unfinished business.”
“The rest of Cyrus’s bequest,” Gabe added. In all of the drama, he’d half forgotten that the other portion of Cyrus’s will for Avery would be revealed if she stayed until today.
Harold produced an envelope from his jacket pocket. “I’ve no idea what’s in here, miss. Don’t think I’ve been holding out on you.” He handed the envelope to Avery, who took it with an expression that seemed half curiosity, half apprehension. Gabe didn’t blame her one bit. Based on Cyrus, and today, Gabe was ready to think just about anything could happen.
Avery opened the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper. Gabe longed to read over her shoulder, but stood silently in front of her. After a moment, however, neither man could show much more patience, and Harold said, “Well?”
“He’s made me beneficiary of a three-hundred-thousand-dollar life insurance policy in addition to the cabin. ‘Enough to make a home and a life in Haven if you choose,’ he says.” She also shook the envelope to let a key slide out. “And this is to a safe-deposit box that’s filled with family photos and my grandmother’s jewelry.”
She looked up at Gabe, blinking away tears. “I didn’t know any of that existed. I thought it all was lost. Daddy never talked about any of it.” She turned the key over in her palm. “When Rhetta gave me that one photo, it made me so lonesome for more—for any bits of my family. And now I have a whole bunch of them.”
“And a nice little sum to set you up comfortably,” Harold added. “I know he could be a stubborn old goat, but I like to think Cyrus wanted to do good by you in the end.” Harold stared out at the party, still in full swing. “Look at them. Theodore, Samuel, Edmund, the boys in their new home, you two—could you ever think Cyrus could do so much good while putting us through so much trouble?”
Gabe put his arm around Avery. “He always did have a talent for stirring things up.”
“I suppose he’s having a good laugh right about now,” Avery said. Gabe reveled in the way her arm slipped about his waist. She felt so perfect settled under his arm—it made him wonder how he hadn’t noticed how empty his arms were before they held this marvelous woman.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but thank God for Cyrus Culpepper.” True enough, Gabe did feel an honest sense of gratitude to God for what Cyrus’s crazy scheme had brought him. One look into Avery’s eyes told him she felt the same way.
Suddenly, a burst of cheers went up in the far corner of the room. Harold, Avery and Gabe all looked at each other. “What now?” Harold asked, echoing what Gabe was thinking.
Seconds later Marlene came up with a huge smile. “Well, that molasses of a man finally did what he oughta,” she declared.
“Meaning?” Gabe asked.
“Pastor Andrew finally found his nerve and popped the question to Katie Ellis. Just now in front of God and everybody.”
Avery nodded her head toward the hugs and laughter bursting out of that corner of the room. “And she said yes?”
Marlene chuckled. “Honey, I don’t even think she let him finish the question.”
Gabe watched as several men clasped the pastor on the back. “Some days I think that reverend was the last person in town to realize how sweet Katie was on him.”
Marlene gave Gabe a look. “Some men just take their time wising up to things, don’t they?”
* * *
A week later, Avery sat nestled against Gabe on the porch staring up at the brilliant collection of Texas spring stars. This had become their favorite time of day, when the house was quiet and the girls were tucked away in bed. “Well, that’s the last call. I’ve thanked them all for praying while I talked to Danny.”
Gabe exhaled in relief. “With that many prayer warriors lined up, he didn’t stand any hope of saying no to your request.”
“It didn’t take much convincing, actually. When I told him how happy I’d become here, how the girls loved it, he said yes. Almost right away. I treated him like Cyrus, Gabe. I turned him into some kind of monster based on how abandoned I felt. But he isn’t. He’s far from perfect, but he wants what’s best for the girls.” She looked at Gabe. “And that’s you.”
His eyes glowed. “I love those girls. I love their mama even more.” He kissed her again, long and slow and full of wonder. The last of the obstacles had been removed, and the world was settling down into a perfect future for her and the girls.
“I’ve been thinking about what to do with the money Grandpa Cyrus left me.”
Gabe’s arm tightened around her. “Have you, now?”
“Of course, I’ll need some of it to restart my decorating business down here. But I’ve been thinking about how different my life would have been if I’d have had a place like the ranch. So many boys’ lives have been changed. Why not girls’ lives? The cabin isn’t big enough, but the land around it is. Maybe there’s just enough to start renovating and expanding that old place.”
Gabe’s gaze fell out over the land in the direction of the boys ranch. “I think it’s a great idea. I expect the league would donate toward the cause in a heartbeat.” He planted a tender kiss on her forehead. “The president is rather fond of you, you know.”
“Well, yes, there’s that. And I rather like the idea of Cyrus doing even more good than he planned.”
He carefully took both her hands in his as he slowly asked, “But if you give away the property for a girls ranch, where will you live?”
She turned to look at him. She’d been trying to find a way to say this for a week now, but couldn’t work out how or when. “There’s only one place in Haven I want to call home.” She took a deep breath. “So you’d better hurry up, cowboy.”
Gabe’s eyes took on a playful gleam. He had clearly caught her meaning, but pasted a puzzled look on his face and asked, “Hurry up and what?”
She sat up and yanked on the hands he was holding. “You molasses of a man. Am I gonna have to call over a crowd of mystery matchmakers from the ranch to explain it for you?”
“Well, I don’t know. What do I need with a bunch of meddling boys when I’ve got this?” With that, Avery watched Gabe slip one of his hands from hers and reach down under the wicker couch. His hand came back up with a small black box.
Avery’s heart bubbled up like a fountain at the sight of the glistening ring inside. It sparkled like the starlight she loved so much in the sky above Five Rocks.
Gabe’s eyes grew intense. “I know it’s quick, but I’m done waiting. I’d have done it even sooner but I knew you needed word from Danny. And now we’ve got that, and I don’t ever want you to leave Five Rocks. Not for a day. So I figured I better make an honest woman out of you fast as I can.”
“Gabe.” It felt so splendid to sigh his name. Yes, it was quick, but even the girls had sensed how things had settled down in perfect places. Gabe was an honorable man. If they waited, he would insist they move off Five Rocks, and she knew what he knew: no one wanted that. If putting plans in place to become a family—the family they had in many ways already become—meant moving quickly, then Avery felt they couldn’t move quickly enough. The girls deserved to stay where they were for the same reason she did: they loved it here.
All of this was rushing through her heart so fast that Avery didn’t realize Gabe was staring at her. “Speaking of slow as molasses...” he said, raising one playful eyebrow.
She’d already said yes so many times in her heart it had escaped her she hadn’t voiced the words. “It’s yes! It was yes before you ever asked.” She kissed him soundly, just to underscore her point.
When they pulled apart, breathless with happiness, Avery thought of something. “How shall we tell the girls?”
Gabe actually blushed a bit—something so endearing Avery thought her heart might actually burst. “Well,” he said, reaching into his shirt pocket, “I’ve been thinking on that.” He produced a little silk bag. “I figure I ought to ask them, too. And when I saw these in town, I knew just how.”
He opened Avery’s hand and spilled the contents of the little bag into her palm. Two silver rings tumbled out with a jingle—tiny but real silver and inlaid with sparkly mother-of-pearl.
In the shape of cowboy boots. “How else would Mr. Boots ask for their hand...hands?”
“Oh, Gabe, they’ll just die of happiness.” She slid her arms around his neck. “I think I already have. If I didn’t want you all to myself, I might just go and wake them up right now.”
Gabe’s eyes burned with the same glow that filled her heart. “It can wait. Right now, I just want to kiss my wife. My future wife.” And he did.
“How does tomorrow sound?” he asked, his voice so breathless she tingled all the way to the tips of her toes.
“Too soon,” she laughed into his chest.
“Can’t blame a man for trying.”
Avery held up her hand, watching the diamond sparkle in the moonlight. “Now that I think about it, I could be persuaded to consider next week.”
He grinned. “I’ve been told I’m very persuasive.”
“I’ve been thanking God twelve times a day you persuaded me to bring the girls out to Five Rocks. For all of it. I know all this craziness seemed chaotic and unfair along the way, but I can see it all leading to this now. To us, together. And I’m glad. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad.”
Gabe pulled her back against his chest and they settled in together to stare up at the brilliant sky of stars. “I believe I am the happiest man in Haven, Texas. Maybe the whole world.” She felt his chin settle against the top of her head. “It is an amazing thing, my loving you. I hope it never stops startling me every time I think it.”
“Why Gabriel Everett, what a downright romantic thing to say.”
She could hear the smile in his tone. “A tidal wave of tiny pinkness will do that to a man.”
* * * * *