Star shut his eyes and sighed.

“Yes, he is. While he’s sleeping, I have a surprise for you, darlin’. Close your eyes,” Raylen said.

She didn’t have to be told twice. She loved surprises. She was so excited she had trouble standing still. “What is it?”

“Santa Claus came last night and left you a present,” he said.

“Is it a new puppy?”

“No, darlin’. I thought about us getting one, but I thought you’d want to help me pick him or her out.”

He took her hands in his and pulled her up to a standing position.

She heard a snapping noise and felt a whoosh of air. “What was that?”

He tucked her hand into his and walked her to the porch, then scooped her up in his arms and carried her. “Close your eyes.”

“Did you get me a puppy?” she asked.

They didn’t go far before he sat down with her in his lap and suddenly, they were swinging. “Now open your eyes.”

She gasped. “You bought it!”

They were cuddled up together in the swing that she’d coveted on their first real date. And there was the picnic table and two Adirondack chairs to match.

“I can’t believe it. It’s a wonderful, wonderful present. I love it, darlin’. It’s perfect. It means you want me to stay in Ringgold as long as this wood holds up, doesn’t it?” she gushed.

“Longer than that,” Raylen said. “I hope this is something that a rancher or a horse whisper woman would have that has roots.

“When I went back to get my keys, that old feller told me that you could swing the new babies in it and your grandbabies would eat off that table. And speaking of the future…” He dropped down on one knee in front of her and took her hands in his. “When I look into your eyes, I see our future laid out before us. We will love each other, have arguments, enjoy makeup sex, and I see horses, kids, and grandkids. I see us having a full life together. Liz Hanson, I’ve loved you since we were kids. I want to be the father of those babies that you swing in this swing. I want to sit on those two chairs when we are old and watch our grandbabies eat off that table. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she answered without a second’s hesitation, locked her arms around his neck, and pulled his lips up to hers in a sizzling kiss.

***

February is a petulant child in Texas. It can be happy, sunny, bright, and beautiful, or it can spend the day pouting in the corner not knowing what it wants. It was a happy-go-lucky kid on the last Saturday of the month. The sun was out and only a few white clouds floated across the sky above Claude, Texas.

The big barn had been cleaned from top to bottom under Poppa and Haskell’s supervision and transformed into a thing of beauty for the wedding. The building was full with the carnival family, the O’Donnells, and all the friends from the Ringgold area that could make the trip. They were seated in folding chairs when the fiddle music began.