“Carney! Stop talking like that!” She never would have believed there’d be a day when she’d want him to stop talking, but now the tears came, sliding down her cheeks and dropping onto their clasped hands. “I don’t think I can bear this,” she whispered.
He sighed heavily, and squeezed her hands. “That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
The way he said it made Pru straighten up, the fear in her belly shifting uncomfortably.
“They’re pulling me off the road for a while, maybe indefinitely. I’ll almost certainly need surgery, and depending on what they find in the next couple of weeks, it could be pretty major.” He took a deep breath. “They’re talking about opening up my heart and either fixing the valve or replacing that part altogether, depending on what the tests show.”
She gasped and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. Carney pushed the coffee table away and slipped off the sofa to kneel in front of her. He reached up and placed both palms against her cheeks, lifting her face toward his. “Pru, I need you to look at me.”
She was so afraid. She didn’t want to hear him tell her he might die.
He waited. Finally, she lowered her hands. His expression was gentle, his eyes glistening a little, but he was smiling. “There you are, Doll.” Then he took both her hands in his again.
“Pru, I imagined this so differently. I had such big plans for when the time came. I don’t want to wait a minute longer, though, not because I’m sick, but because it’s become very clear to me just how important every single day, every single minute, every single heartbeat is with you.” He paused and swallowed loudly, his Adam’s apple dipping low. “I don’t know what kind of future I have to offer you. In fact, it could get really ugly for a while, but if I know you’re waiting for me at the end of the day, I’ll fight with everything that’s in me to get home to you.” From his back pocket, he withdrew a small velvet box and pried it open with clumsy fingers. “Prudence Meriweather, will you marry me?”
The white gold ring with its square-cut diamond held high on four prongs shimmered beautifully, and Pru could only nod, her voice stuck behind the huge lump that had formed in her throat. Carney took her hand and tenderly, slowly, slid the ring onto her finger.
Pink powder rooms and jungle-themed bedrooms no longer mattered the way they did just hours ago. Girlie décor and leopard print drapery; it was all superfluous. The ring on her finger was a monument of what was truly important in her life—the rock of a man who knelt on the floor in front of her, offering her everything he had, including his bruised and battered, but still madly-beating heart.
“Yes, you big stud.” The words finally broke loose as she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. “Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times, yes. Every day. Every minute. Every heartbeat. I’m yours.”
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Continued in Elderberry Croft: Volume 4
Coming December 2013
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For more information about Willow Goodhope, visit Becky Doughty’s website: www.beckydoughty.com
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Becky Doughty is a Braveheart living passionately for Jesus Christ. Her weapon of choice is her pen, and she wields it in writing heart-changing women’s fiction and nonfiction. Becky lives with her real life champion, Kevin, and their children, in the foothills of Southern California. They share their lives with too many animals, a large vegetable garden, and a very strange underground concrete room that they’ve determined was built for dark and sinister purposes....
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OTHER BOOKS BY BECKY DOUGHTY
Elderberry Croft: Volume 1
January Breeze
February Embers
March Whispers
Elderberry Croft: Volume 2
April Shadows
May Embers
June Melody
Life Letters: The Fruit of the Spirit
A collection of letters personally penned by nine women from the Bible to women today. Each letter concludes by taking the reader back to the Scriptures for a life-application study.
Available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online bookstores.
Elderberry Croft: Volume 3 Page 11
