and she went that way, finding a sign on the side of the fridge that read August Winters loves Etta Glover.
She wanted to frame that one, but she moved over to the skinny cabinet next to the stove. “I have bandages in here.” She opened the cupboard—and it had been cleaned out. No Band-aids.
“Hmm,” she said. “Maybe in my bathroom.”
Before she could take a step in that direction, the back door opened, and Mitch limped through it. Auntie Etta, he signed. I fell on the scooter. Do you have a Band-aid?
“I’m mysteriously out,” Etta said as she signed back to him. Plus, he wasn’t bleeding.
“Auntie Etta,” another teen said, and Link came into the kitchen through the arched doorway she’d just used. “I just kicked the doorway. My toe is bleeding. Do you have a Band-aid?”
Etta put her hands on her hips, grinning at the boys. “You’ve hidden them all.”
“Auntie Etty,” a tiny voice said, and Gun came crawling around the end of the couch. He wore a huge grin and started to giggle. That made several other little boys and girls giggle, and Etta looked over the back of the couch.
All of the littles had been gathered there, corralled by Ida and the ranch wives. Etta laughed and shook her head. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Excuse me, ma’am,” a big, blustery voice said. “I heard there was a huge need for Band-aids here.”
All of the nieces and nephews—including the teenagers—started to fake-cry, and Etta burst out laughing. She looked at August, and he set a couple of plastic grocery sacks on the counter. “Let’s see. I’ve got pink ones. Blue ones. These regular ones, but I wouldn’t recommend those. And a bunch with horses on them.”
He unloaded box after box after box of Band-aids with horses on them.
Etta stilled, realizing something very important was happening here.
August looked at her, the brightest smile of happiness on his face. He picked up one of the boxes of bandages and came toward her. All of the children seemed to know it was time to be quiet, because a hush fell over the group of them.
“Etta,” August said, more serious now, but still with that mega-watt smile on his face. “You changed my life with a simple Band-aid. You told Hailey that Band-aids do so much more than help with bleeding, and you were absolutely right.”
He opened the box and pulled something out of it. Dropping to both knees, he held up a huge diamond ring. “With a single Band-aid, you have healed me completely. You took my withered, stony heart, and you made it beat again. You helped me learn how to love again. I love you.” He swallowed, hope filling his eyes now. “I love you. I love you. Will you marry me?”
Etta’s tears blurred the joy on his face, but she nodded. “Yes,” she said through a terribly narrow throat. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He slid the ring on her finger while voices from six months to sixteen cheered, and then the door to her suite opened, the back door opened, and footsteps came thundering down the steps as everyone in the Glover family arrived.
Etta laughed through her tears, because this was about the most perfect proposal she could’ve hoped for.
“Let them go,” someone said, and the next thing she knew, all the children were piling on her legs. She crouched down to hug all of them, and August came with her. Their eyes met, and Etta managed to say, “I love you,” amidst the chaos of little voices and chubby fingers and big, bright eyes trying to get her attention.
“All right,” Bishop boomed. “The cakes are here. She said yes, right?”
Etta picked up Robbie and stood, noting that August had Chaz in his arms. His daughter ran toward him, and he hugged her with his free hand. Hailey faced Etta, and she passed Robbie to Montana so she could hug the girl freely.
“I love you too, Hailey,” she told the girl. “Are you happy?”
“Yes,” Hailey said, beaming up at her. “I can’t wait for you and Daddy to get married.”
Etta looked at August, at the vibrant spirit he possessed and which radiated from him. “I can’t either,” she said.
She insisted all the children get their cake first, and then she took hers and went with August to the steps in the foyer. “Wow,” she said, looking at her left ring finger. “That was incredible.”
“You’re incredible,” he said. “I talked to Jeremiah. He said we can have Seven Sons for