Everyone chuckled.
“Somehow, I’m not sure Oz would be quite as supportive if Bria came home and declared that she’d found the boy she wanted to marry,” Gillian said with a laugh.
“Right? Oh my God, no way,” Aspen agreed.
“Walk with me?” Grover asked Sierra quietly as the others discussed how hilarious Oz’s reaction was going to be when his niece decided she wanted to start dating.
She nodded and stood. Grover immediately took her hand. “We’ll be back,” he told the group. Everyone smiled at them as they headed across the yard.
Sierra didn’t have to ask where they were going. She knew.
Grover led her to the barn, and she grinned at the empty stalls—one of which would soon be filled. Grover had surprised her last night by telling her he’d arranged for a cow to be joining their family. Apparently, it had been rescued from a life of neglect and the rescue group needed a place for her to go where she’d have nothing but love and all the grass she could eat. Sierra had cried when he’d told her.
It seemed as if she cried all the time now. The tears welled up in her eyes at the drop of a hat. When she was happy. When she was surprised. When she was sad. When she was scared. She was a virtual crybaby, but surprisingly, Sierra was perfectly all right with that. It meant she was moving on from the horrors she’d experienced in the Middle East.
Grover led her to the stairs and followed behind closely as she headed up to the loft. Sierra was somewhat amazed that they were alone. That no one had followed them into the barn. It seemed as if there was always someone who wanted to talk to Grover. He was liked and respected by just about everyone he met.
He walked them over to the couch and she sat. Grover took a seat right next to her, and Sierra blinked in surprise. Usually the first thing he did up here was open the large doors in front of them, so they could look out at the land or the sunset.
But today, he took her hands in his and simply stared at her for a long moment.
“Are you all right?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “I’m great. For a while last week, I wasn’t sure if I’d get to do this again. Sit here with you and simply be. I’m good, but even I knew I couldn’t overpower a dozen men. I had planned to just go with it, wait for an opening if one came, and if it was my time to go, I was comforted by the fact that you were somewhere safe.”
“Then I walked in.”
“Then you walked in,” he confirmed. “I’ve never been so scared, and so determined to live, as I was in that moment. And then you proved how smart I’ve always known you are. You manipulated Cory into putting me right where I needed to be. I’ll never underestimate you. I’ll never take you for granted. I’ll never stop loving you, Bean. We were meant to be together, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Sierra’s heart nearly stopped beating. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? She felt that tickle in the back of her throat, but instead of her emotions getting stuck, tears immediately welled up.
He chuckled a bit at seeing them. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see a woman cry in my life,” he said softly. “For the record, I have no problem with your tears, you go ahead and cry whenever you want.”
Sierra chuckled. “I don’t even know why I’m crying now. It’s ridiculous, really, but I suppose my body’s just making up for all the tears I didn’t shed after I was rescued.”
“Well, why don’t I give you something to cry about then?” Grover said gently.
Sierra frowned. She was about to ask him what he was talking about when he stood and headed for the large doors. He pushed one door back, then the other, then held out his hand and wiggled his fingers at her.
She stood and took a step toward him—freezing as her gaze focused on the yard.
All their friends and family were gathered below.
They’d arranged themselves so their bodies spelled out the words MARRY ME.
When Sierra turned back to Grover, she found him kneeling on the dusty loft floor. He was holding a ring box open, but she barely glanced at it. “Grover,” she croaked, the tears falling in earnest already.
“I know it’s fast. And I know people probably think we’re crazy. But I knew you were it for me over a year ago. I don’t know how, it was just a feeling deep down inside. And when I lost you, I was devastated. I had to go about my business, pretending it wasn’t tearing me apart, but it was. Nothing was going to keep me from you once I got that letter. Nothing.
“Marry me, Sierra Clarkson. Let me love you for the rest of our lives. I don’t know what’s ahead for us, but hopefully it won’t include militia members on a suicide mission.”
She chuckled through her tears. “Yes. Of course I’ll marry you,” she told him softly.
Grover stood up and Sierra threw herself into his arms. He almost dropped the ring box as he went to catch her.
“What’d she say?” someone yelled from below.
Sierra turned her head and saw that the words now looked more like gibberish than the carefully planned message they’d been a moment ago, as people broke formation. She laughed as parents tried to wrangle their kids back into place, without luck. Gillian was trying to get everyone to look at her so she could take a picture, but no one was paying any attention. The scene was unruly, and Sierra knew she’d never forget this day for as long as she lived.
She felt Grover sliding the ring onto her finger. She looked down—and gasped.
“Oh my God, Grover! How did you—”
“It’s not your mam’s ring,” he said quickly. “Unfortunately, when Shahzada took it from you, it disappeared forever. I did embellish it a bit more though, I hope that’s okay.”
It was more than okay. He’d added an emerald-cut diamond to the simple setting of her grandmother’s original ring design. The old and new together created a unique look that fit her perfectly. “You got this done in a week?” she asked.
Shrugging, Grover said, “No. I had the guy start on it before we met up in New Mexico. I spoke to your dad on the phone, told him what I wanted to do. He got with your mom, and they sent me some pictures of what the original ring looked like, and I found someone to replicate it.”
Sierra could only stare at him in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I knew even then that I wanted to be with you forever. How could I not? You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a woman. From the second you offered to hold my hand in those caves, I was a goner.”
“Damn,” she breathed. Then, ignoring the heckling the guys were giving Grover from below, she wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe.
“I love you, Fred Groves. With all that I am. I know I’m a mess. I have an apartment with my stuff in it that I’ve only slept in once, I have no job, and I somehow talked you into getting us a cow when neither of us have any idea how to take care of it…but I’ll do whatever it takes to be a good partner to you.”
“I know you will, just as I will to you,” Grover answered. “I don’t care about your apartment, and you never have to work a day if you don’t want to. We’ll figure out the cow thing together. All I want is you. Holding my hand, by my side. We’ll deal with whatever life throws at us as we go.”