“Hey,” he said when he got close to her. “What are we doing here?”
She turned to him. “I just kept trying to apologize to you for what I did to you that night and the words seemed so inadequate.”
“I told you, my love, it’s all forgiven.”
“I know, and I believe you. You have such a good heart. But I kept thinking that for the rest of our lives … and our children’s lives—”
“Our children?” He smiled.
She smiled back. “Yes, I’d love to have babies with you some day. But stop distracting me and listen. For the rest of our lives we’re going to live in this town, and one day the little ones are going to want to come down here during the summer when the other kids are jumping off the bank into the creek and the parents are cooking hot dogs. You and I won’t want to come because all either of us have are bad memories of this place because of what I did to you. I can’t believe you forgave me, but I’m incredibly grateful that you did. I just wanted to do something to help you forgive this spot. I want you to have a new memory of it so when we bring our kids here, neither one of us will be sad.”
“Okay …” She suddenly clapped her hands, and the water was flooded with light. For a second he almost had a post-traumatic moment. “What’s going on?”
“Look up at the bridge.”
He looked up and suddenly his heart was so swollen with love that it almost hurt; his eyes filled with tears. Hanging along the side of the bridge and visible to anyone who drove by on the road below it was a huge white sign with fluorescent green lettering: “Kadence loves Reed, now and forever.” Underneath it were the words, “I want to marry you again … and again … and again.”
Reed pulled Kadence into his chest and kissed her hard. When he was fourteen he could have never imagined it would all lead them back here, but now that it had, he wouldn’t have it any different.
“Who’s up there?”
Kadence grinned. “Your mother and Stephanie.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded. “Yeah, your Ma wants to know if next month is good for the wedding on the ranch.”
Reed looked toward the light again. He still couldn’t see anything beyond it but he waved his arm and loudly proclaimed, “Next month is perfect, Ma. I love you.”
“I love you too, son. Stephanie and I are going home now. Kadence?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“I’m leaving that big heart in your hands.”
Kadence kissed her husband again, possessively, as her fingers gripped the buttons on his shirt, and she whispered, “I’ll love and cherish it from this day forward as long as we both shall live.”
~ The End ~
Read about Luke McMurtry finding love in To Cherish and Keep a Cowboy.
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To Love And Honor A Cowboy (Cowboy Nuptials Book 2) Page 7