“I imagine for Sammy, it would.”

“She’s very aware of everything to do with shiny rocks and stuff. It’s what she does. Okay. I bet there’s a place in town I can go to. I bet Willow Creek will have something.”

“Excellent. I suggest you get your ass over there bright and early.”

“Definitely.”

“And you should propose to her.”

“I did,” he said. “I proposed to her, and that’s why we’re getting married soon.”

“Did you get down on one knee? I know you didn’t give her a ring. Sounds like a pretty half-assed proposal.”

“Well, it’s different.”

“Quit making it different. Give her both. Give her the different that you are, but give her the tradition, too. Because isn’t she worth that? Who else is going to do it, Ryder? You think some other bastard is going to propose to her in a couple of years? He won’t. Not if you don’t screw this up. So if I were you, I would make sure that I was the man that gave her absolutely every damn thing, or expect that someday she’ll go find somebody else who will.”

That stuck deep in his chest, lodged in a place that he couldn’t access. Couldn’t shake it free.

“You don’t like that,” West said. “Good. So I suggest you make sure it’s a nonissue.”

Ryder nodded and lifted his beer bottle to his lips. “Okay. I can do that.”

Romance wasn’t really his thing. Never had been. But for Sammy, he would do anything.

And if West thought she needed some trappings in order to make this all feel real, he would give her whatever the hell trappings she needed.

He had never intended to propose to a woman in his life. And now he was fixing to have done it about three times. Because the first time she had refused him. The second time she had accepted. But it hadn’t been real. So now he was going to set about to make one as real as he could.

And he knew exactly where to source the help. “I hope that you and Logan aren’t busy tomorrow afternoon,” he said.

“What do you have in mind?” West asked.

He could see her suddenly, so clearly. His Sammy in a flowing dress under a beautiful arbor. Lots of flowing. That was Sammy. She was a fairy and she should have a fairy wedding, and he didn’t know why he suddenly knew that, only that he did.

There’s nothing sudden about it.

No. Knowing that was seventeen years in the making.

And so was this marriage.

“I’m going to need some help with some building.”

“I think I’ve created a monster.”

“With any luck, a monster who’s going to be able to hang on to his marriage.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

THE WEDDING WAS TOMORROW, and Sammy was starting to feel jittery. Worse, she was starting to avoid Ryder because whenever she was near him she felt enervated. Like all of her anxieties had twined together and left her feeling completely drained and flat. She hated that. It had never been like that between them.