alongside Slade. She chattered in his ear the whole way, going on about how she’d missed him and Mommy had, too, and saying she wanted to ride Ruffles again so she’d be ready to carry a flag at the rodeo and compete in the barrel racing when she was bigger.
Kendra, seeing them, broke away from the gathering.
Madison, spotting Shea nearby, squirmed in Hutch’s arms and he set her down. She ran toward the older girl with barely a glance at Kendra, and Shea greeted the little girl with a bright smile and a giggle.
Hutch and Kendra, meanwhile, stood a few feet apart, the grass rippling all around them like a low tide, just looking at each other.
Figuring that he’d put this conversation off long enough already, Hutch cleared his throat and moved in closer, cupping her elbows in his hands. She smelled of lavender soap and sunshine, and her eyes were as clear and green as sea glass.
“I love you, Kendra,” he said, on a swell of emotion that made the words come out sounding hoarse. “Maybe it’s too soon to say it—hell, maybe it’s too late, I don’t know—but it’s true.” He reached into his coat pocket, brought out the small velvet box, opened it with a motion of his thumb. His great-grandmother’s engagement ring was inside—a simple but elegant concoction of diamonds and rubies. After Joslyn had done a little detective work so it would fit Kendra, he’d had it sized, cleaned and polished at the jeweler’s. Now, it caught fire in the sunlight.
Kendra’s eyes widened as she looked at the ring, but she didn’t say anything right away, and the next few moments were some of the longest of Hutch’s life. They’d traveled a rocky road, the two of them, and while he knew she loved him, he wasn’t sure she’d be willing to throw in with him for the long haul.
“Are you asking me to marry you?” she finally asked very softly.
Hutch was only vaguely aware of the nearby crowd. For him, time had stopped and Kendra was all there was to the universe.
“Yes,” he managed at last. “If you feel the same as I do, that is.”
She smiled. “I’ve loved you since we were kids, Hutch,” she told him. “That hasn’t changed.”
“Then you’ll marry me?”
She stepped in close, put her arms around his neck, and looked up into his eyes. “I’ll marry you,” she agreed quietly. “When we’re both ready.”
“I’m ready now,” Hutch told her. God knew that was the truth in its entirety.
She laughed. “There are things we have to work out first,” she reasoned. “Plans and decisions to make. We have to consider Madison, for a start.”
He wanted to adopt Madison, raise her as a Carmody, but this wasn’t the place to talk about that. He’d already jumped the gun by declaring himself and shoving a ring at Kendra, in a graveyard of all places, with half the town looking on. This time around, he wasn’t going to botch everything, like he had before.
She stepped back and offered him her left hand, and he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger.
He kissed her then, and the town of Parable applauded from the picnic tables under the trees.
One month later...
OPAL DENNISON SAT UP straight in her new favorite pew, one that afforded her the best possible view of the pastor, Dr. Walter Beaumont. She’d taken it over the first time he preached and laid claim to it every Sunday since.
Today, on this bright August afternoon, Hutch Carmody was up front, in exactly the same place he’d stood at his last wedding, with Boone beside him as best man, just like before.
The church was packed with guests once again and, since the organ music hadn’t started up yet, folks were buzzing with excitement and speculation, most of them wondering, unless Opal missed her guess, if history would repeat itself.
She settled in, Joslyn’s baby safe in the infant carrier beside her, since Joslyn and Tara, being bridesmaids, were at the rear of the church, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Slade was back there, too, fixing to give Kendra away, though she was still out of sight, except for a spill of shimmering lace, part of her magnificent dress.
Turning a little, Opal saw Slade’s gaze connect with Joslyn’s, and it seemed to her that their two souls glowed right through their skin, lighting up their faces and surrounding them with a shared aura.
She smiled to herself, turned her attention back