“Yeah,” says Lucas, who has his briefs and jeans on again but still wears no shirt. “Come on.”
He takes me by the hand and leads me through the muddy ground and rain to an area not far from the cows. He stops me, taking both my hands in his. His face is serious as he finds my eyes and holds my gaze. He laughs a little at himself, looking uncharacteristically nervous for a second before he straightens again and regains his confidence.
“I planned out this big speech, you know. I spent a while memorizing it and everything. Fuck it, though.”
My heart flutters and my mouth opens but no words come. Is this what I think it is?
He falls to one knee. “I love you, Mila. I could say it in a bunch of fancy ways. I could talk for hours about it. But that’s the heart of it. I fucking love you and I’d die before I ever let you go.” He fishes in the back pocket of his jeans and pulls out a beautiful ring with a stone that’s not so big it’s gaudy, but it’s big enough to make my eyes widen. “I want you to be my wife, Mila. Will you marry me?”
My knees give out and I fall into him, accidentally tackling him to the mud, but I don’t care. I hug him on the ground, wrapping my legs around him and crying with happiness.
He laughs. “I’m pretty sure it’s customary to give a yes or a no. I don’t know how to interpret a tackle.”
I sit up, straddling him and smiling so wide it hurts. “Yes. Yes. Of course. Yes!” I squeal.
He licks his lips and slides the ring on my finger.
“Would this be a good time to tell you I’m pregnant?” I ask.
Watching realization sink into his features immediately locks into my memory as one of my fondest moments--from the way his eyebrows inch together and then up, to how his lips slowly part, the way his breath hitches, and the absolutely pure happiness in his laughter as he reaches up to hug me back and ends up flipping us both over so he’s on top of me, face inches from mine.
“You’re not just fucking with me? You took a test and everything?”
“I took a test and everything,” I say. “We’re going to have a baby.”
Lucas kisses me before jumping up into the air and punching his fist in victory a few times. It’s only then I realize the cows are surrounding us and actually sitting on their rear ends, like a bunch of spectators.
“Uh, Lucas?” I ask, pointing to the cows. “Do they normally do that?”
“Oh fuck,” he says, clapping a hand to his head. “Damn, I spent all that time training them and forgot the plan. See, the cows were supposed to sit down before I kneeled.”
I try my hardest not to laugh, putting a hand in front of my mouth to stifle the coming laughter. “Why?”
“Shit, I don’t know? I thought it’d be romantic. You know. Like we had an audience.”
“Of cows?” I ask, unable to stop the laughter anymore. I bend over with the force of my laughter, and even Lucas can’t help chuckling at himself a little.
“Not just some random cows though,” he protests. “These are my girls. I wanted them to be here for it.”
“I’m sorry,” I say once I’ve calmed down a little. “It’s actually really sweet. It’s just--” the laughter comes again and I can’t stop myself. “It’s really mooving. What you did.”
Lucas joins me now in laughter, and we spend the rest of the evening outside, neither of us ready to let the magic of the moment pass from the present into memory, even if we still have tens of thousands of happy memories ahead of us, we both know these few hours will be one of the fondest to look back on.
Lucas
Three years later
The whole town turned out for the Harvest festival, as usual, but watching Mila and our two-year-old daughter, Aubrey, keeps me from really noticing much of anything else. Mila looks even more gorgeous every day. I loved how much she glowed through her whole pregnancy, and even after giving birth she has held onto that aura of happiness.
Aubrey is without a doubt, the cutest two-year-old that has ever been brought into existence. She has platinum blonde hair from god-knows-where that naturally curls up at the ends, and the most infectious little smile I’ve ever seen. Right now Mila is trying to keep Aubrey from assaulting the chickens Red Strickland brought to sell.
I decide I should probably stop admiring them and do something to help, so I sweep up Aubrey and give her a raspberry that has her cracking up in seconds.
“She is so adorable,” says Martha, who comes in to give us hugs. Frank is close behind her, and he holds up his fingers like crab claws and snaps them in the air at Aubrey, who squeals with terrified delight.
“Rab! Oh nooo!” she yells.
“A hungry ‘rab’, at that!” says Frank, who pretends to nibble at her belly with his fingers.
I set Aubrey down and she proceeds to make a crab counter-attack on Frank’s legs while we catch up with the couple.
“You look absolutely stunning, dear,” says Martha.
“Thank you,” says Mila. “I think it’s Aubrey’s fault for not giving me time to eat.”
“Oh if you ever want to drop the little gremlin off with us we’d be happy to watch her. And Frank could whip you up some food that’d stick to your ribs.”
“Never understood that phrase,” says Frank. “If food’s sticking to ‘yer ribs, you got a digestive problem, I figure. Food ought to be going in your stomach and passing right through you. I’ve always said a good pooper is a happy--”
“Frank,” says Martha, who gives Mila and I a suffering smile. “First of all, you have not always said that. And second of all, you do not talk to a young woman about pooping! How many times do I have to tell you?”
Frank and Martha devolve into one of their amusing argument sessions and forget all about us. Mila gives me a quick grin and we head over to where the Peterson twins are happily holding Petey, who is no longer a miniature pig and must weigh about three hundred pounds, on a leash.
“Finally caught up with old Petey, did you?” I ask.
“Yessir,” says the girl. “He’s not so quick anymore, but papa got us this leash and Petey hasn’t escaped since.”
“A leash, huh?” I say with mock thoughtfulness as I look toward Aubrey. “Do they make those in tiny human size?”
Mila slaps my shoulder and we continue moving through the festival.
Cynthia is standing in front of a display of about fifteen paintings of various size. They are all landscapes, and while they aren’t horrible, they aren’t great either, but I’m still happy to see she has found something she’s passionate about. Ever since Ronnie got put away, Cynthia has apparently had a chance to take a second look at herself and as far as everyone can tell, she’s trying to change for the better. We wave and smile to her as we pass. Mayor Riggs and Sheriff Landry are laughing about something over by the corndog stand Henry Miller sets up every year.
As much as I hate to admit it, my brother getting put away might have been the best thing that ever happened to this town. The corrupt mayor and sheriff went along with him, and ever since, Wade’s Creek has felt a lot more peaceful and a hell of a lot better as a place to raise a family.
When we get home later that evening, Mila insists on driving Aubrey and I out to where the cows are grazing on the south end of the property. I start to get suspicious when I see the way she keeps stealing glances at me, but I decide to play it cool and let her have her little surprise, whatever it is. I know her parents are coming to visit us in a few days, and even though things are drastically different between them these days, she still turns into a nervous wreck when they’re around, so I’ve got to go extra easy on her for a while.
She brings the Gator to a stop and lets Aubrey get down and go running around in the grass. Mila leads me closer to the cows and my suspicion grows. “What’s going on?” I ask.
“Well,” she says, making a not-so-discreet gesture to the cows, who, to my surprise, still remember how to sit down on their rear ends. I look around at the group of cows surrounding us and sit
ting on their asses with an amused smile.
“You gonna propose to me now?” I ask.
“No,” she says with a smile. “But I thought it was only fair that your girls found out at the same time you did. We’re pregnant again.”
I sweep Mila up in my arms and squeeze her tight before realizing I probably don’t want to squeeze the little baby nugget too, and I let her down, settling for holding her by the hips and looking into her eyes. “You’re sure?”
“I took three different tests,” she says, smiling a little nervously up at me. She must not be sure if I’m going to be happy about this.
I cup her cheeks and kiss her long enough that Aubrey wanders over and says, “ooOoo. Kiss!”
We break apart, laughing.
I kneel down, picking Aubrey up so she is level with Mila’s still flat stomach. I take Aubrey’s hand and press it there. “You’re going to be a big sister, sweetie. Your little brother or sister is growing in there.”
“Baby?” she asks.
“Yeah, honey,” Mila says running her fingers affectionately through Aubrey’s hair. “Our baby. Our family is going to be even bigger and even happier.”
“You’re damn right it is,” I say with a grin.
“Damn right!” repeats Aubrey.
Mila gives me a cross look, but even she can’t hold back her smile.
I hug them both to me, closing my eyes and feeling for the first time that everything has come full circle. There’s no place I’d rather be--standing on my father’s land, making the family I wish Ronnie and I had had growing up, and taking a chance at doing something better with my life, of doing something meaningful and worthwhile.
I open my eyes and look over the green pastures and the trees and the ranch. It’s worth hundreds of millions to some oil execs for what lies just beneath the ground, but none of that matters to me. What matters is here, within arm’s reach and where my eyes can see it. I have everything I’ll ever need.
I hope I made you proud, Dad.
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed the bundle or any particular stories within, please do me the huge favor of leaving a review! If you like my books and want to keep supporting me, one of the most helpful things you can do is leaving a review. I’m able to take your feedback and keep improving, and you can also help others decide if my work is what they’re looking for.
Also, keep an eye out for my next book, Baby for the Brute, which will be coming very soon. I can’t wait to share it with you!
xx
Penelope
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Bad for the Billionaires: A Bad Boy Billionaire Bundle Page 108
