Late afternoon, Kyle and Beth fed the livestock and turned their care over to the three teenagers Raoul had hired to spend the night with them. Two of the lambs had won prizes, as had one of their Red Wattle pigs. Most of the chickens and roosters had been sold, and the rest of the lambs as well. They would take the lambs back to the ranch and Enos Walker would slaughter and deliver them.
Arm and arm, brother and sister headed for the bustling midway. “What’dya say, sis?” Kyle said. “Fancy a ride on the Ferris wheel?”
“I dunno. Why don’t you go and I’ll observe?”
“Nothin’ doin’. Look, Emma, Ben, and Maggie are getting on. Come on! I bought a bunch of tickets earlier for just this eventuality.”
Kyle pulled her toward the line. It appeared that, like it or not, there would be room on the next turn for them. As they reached the gate, Beth was in front of him, marching stoically toward the open swing. She did not see the hand on her brother’s shoulder or see him step aside to give away his place. She was already seated in one of the last cars on that turn when Lang slipped in beside her.
“Don’t scream, please. It will scare the kids.” Warm eyes gazed into hers. Lang took her hand as the operator locked their crossbar into place and the Ferris wheel began its turn. “Besides, screaming will spoil what I want to say.”
“Lang, what in the world? Why are you here? You should be halfway across Texas by now.” She paused, staring hard at his sky-blue eyes as they turned gray in the light of late afternoon. “I must look like a fright, covered in dirt and sawdust and smelling like the barnyard.”
“You’ve never looked more beautiful, my darling.”
“What did you want to say?”
Lang took both her hands in his and forced himself to block out the looks of every Morgan and a number of other Valley people, including his mother and sister, on the ground and on the turning wheel. “I love you, Beth, more than anything else in the world. I cannot go anywhere if you’re not there. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I refuse to waste another minute. Marry me? Please, my darling, please say yes and make me the happiest man on earth.”
“Oh, Lang, I love you so much. I can’t believe you came back.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes,” she said softly, her arms circling his neck.
Lang’s lips found hers as their swing neared the ground and started another upward swing. Hoots, hollers, whistles, and clapping accompanied their ascent. “I think we have a bit of an audience,” he said huskily, eyes gazing down at her with love.
“It’s the Valley, darlin’. You might as well get used to it, unless you’re planning on a bicoastal marriage?”
“Never. This is where you belong, so I do, too.”