by Jeff Carson
She dangled the wind chimes in one hand and a fluttering piece of paper in the other.
“What’s that?” Wolf gestured to the paper.
“Oh … yeah, it’s a drawing I did for you.” She handed it to him.
He’d seen Ella Coulter draw with crayons and colored pencils before, and every time he’d been struck by the raw talent that came out of her right hand. He was sure some of the art hanging off their refrigerator could’ve found a place in a gallery.
But this picture was something beyond that, and looking at it made his breath catch.
The drawing was his house standing in a green meadow at the foot of a pine-covered mountain. The sky was orange, just like tonight. Lauren was there, on the front deck, and just like tonight she wore a dark shirt and gray pants with bare feet. Ella’s outfit in the picture matched the blue jeans and red sweatshirt she wore now. Wolf was between them. As if posing for a photo, they all stood holding hands and smiling.
He opened his mouth, then closed it when he noticed the food on the patio table, his bottle of beer, and Lauren’s glass of wine, all of it drawn in detail.
“This is great, Ella. This is really great.”
Ella smiled and nodded proudly.
“She wrote a note on the back.” Lauren had walked over to watch and stood in the grass with crossed arms.
“Turn it over and read it,” Ella said.
He flipped it over and read the sentence.
It read: Will you marry us?
He lowered the sheet of paper and looked at them.
Lauren stepped forward. “I … I knew you probably didn’t want to ask me again, seeing that I said no once. And I’m sorry, I … I thought this was a cute idea … but now I’m freaking out. This puts so much pressure on you. I thought—”
“Yes.” He said. “Of course I’ll marry you guys.”
“Yay!” Ella ran up and hugged him, and the wind chimes clanked against his legs.
Lauren stood smiling with tears running down her cheeks.
“Come here,” he said.
She did and he pulled out the ring from his pocket.
“You had the ring in your pocket?” She exhaled and sagged, looking like the mountains had been lifted off her back.
He opened the box and plucked out the ring.
She held out her hand and he slipped it on.
“I drew the ring, too.” Ella pointed at the piece of paper.
“You did?”
Sure enough, she’d drawn a golden ring with a tiny blue diamond on Lauren’s left hand.
“That’s mighty confident of you two,” Wolf said, pulling Lauren into a hug.
Lauren smiled. “You know the old adage: it’s hard to say no to a seven-year-old.”
“Impossible,” he said. “And, of course, I would never want to.”
Ella hopped in the grass, testing the timbre of all eight tubes colliding with the clapper at once.
“Oh, yeah.” Wolf bared his teeth. “Fabian was right. Those are great-sounding.”
“I’ve always wanted to marry you,” she said with a sober expression.
He looked back down at her and nodded.
“I’m sorry I said no before.”
“You don’t have to apologize about that.” He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But you do have to kiss me.”
Thank you for reading Dark Mountain. I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you did, thank you for taking a few moments to leave a review. As an independent author, exposure is everything, and positive reviews help so much to get that exposure. Tap/click here to leave a review.
I love interacting with readers so please feel free to email me at [email protected] so I can thank you personally. Otherwise, thanks for your support via other means, such as sharing the books with your friends/family/book clubs/the weird guy who wears tight women’s yoga pants next door, or anyone else you think might be interested in reading the David Wolf series. Thanks again for spending time in Wolf’s world.
David Wolf series in order
Gut Decision (A David Wolf Short Story)—sign up for the new-release newsletter at http://www.jeffcarson.co/p/newsletter.html and receive a complimentary copy and a copy of ForeignDeceit (Wolf #1).
Foreign Deceit (Wolf #1)
The Silversmith (Wolf #2)
Alive and Killing (Wolf #3)
Deadly Conditions (Wolf #4)
Cold Lake (Wolf #5)
Smoked Out (Wolf #6)
To the Bone (Wolf #7)
Dire (Wolf #8)
Signature (Wolf #9)
Dark Mountain (Wolf #10)
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