Aiden asked as Will approached.
Will beamed and shoved the envelope at him. “Straight As.”
Aiden’s stomach tightened. Will radiated pride and triumph, and Aiden basked in the trust Will put in him. He thought of all those days when he’d done the same with his own dad, only to be told he was arrogant. He thought of those days and pushed them aside, tossed them aside, because they had no place here. Because this moment was about him and his own son. He had broken the chain of violence in his family. He wasn’t perfect, but he’d done that.
Will looked at him as though he were some kind of hero. He trusted him. Aiden would sooner cut off his arm than touch him in anger. Maybe that—his love for Janie and Will—was his greatest accomplishment in life. Not going to college, becoming a vet; maybe, it was loving them well, being the best man he could be.
He cleared his throat and pulled Will into a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Will. So proud. You’ve accomplished so much this year. You can do anything you want with your life. I’ll be here for you every step of the way,” he said, blinking the moisture from his eyes but not hiding it from Will. He wanted him to know that it was okay to show emotion, that he had that much emotion for him.
Will’s smile wobbled. “Thanks. I feel like I can do anything. Like, last night I was going to sleep, and I was thinking that maybe I could be a vet with Mom and I could also help you run this ranch for rescue horses. We could turn it into something huge. The three of us,” he said, his eyes wide and filled with hope and dreams and everything Aiden had once had.
“I would love that,” Aiden said, clasping his shoulder.
“Me, too. I’m going to go in and see Rocky,” he said, referring to their newest horse.
“Sure. I’ll join you,” Aiden said.
“I just saw Mom. She’s on her way,” Will said.
Aiden glanced at the house, spotting Janie on the front porch. “Maybe I’ll go meet up with her and we’ll be back in a couple minutes,” he said as Will walked into the barn.
“Okay,” Will said, already in front of the horses.
Aiden turned back to the house, a satisfaction, a happiness, trailing him, as it had these last few months as he watched Janie. Will had asked them both one night if he could call them Mom and Dad, and they’d been floored. And it had solidified everything they were doing, the family they were building.
Janie spotted him and waved, walking down the steps. He’d missed her today, but he missed her every day when they didn’t see each other. In the fall she’d be going back to school, commuting and living here. And that’s what he wanted to talk to her about today. He had planned on doing this tomorrow night, but the second he saw Janie approaching him, he knew he wouldn’t be able to wait. Her long hair fell in soft waves from beneath her cowboy hat, the wind toying with a few silky strands as she approached. Her face was glowing, and her gorgeous green eyes were sparkling in that way that made him feel like the luckiest man in the world.
“Hey there, handsome,” Janie said, leaning up to kiss him.
He kissed her back and then held her in place. “Hey there, beautiful. I wanted to talk to you about something. I was going to wait until tomorrow night when Will is going to a friend’s, but…I don’t want to wait a minute longer. I feel like I’ve waited for this since the night I met you.”
“Where’s Will?” Her eyes darted to the barn.
“He’s with Rocky. I told him we’d be there in a moment.” Aiden took a deep breath, trying to focus on what he was about to do and not what she was thinking he wanted to do.
He pulled out the small box from his jacket pocket and wished like hell, one crazy last wish, that she would say yes.
Her eyes widened as he slowly got down on one knee, which unfortunately happened to be in mud, and opened the box. He took the tears in her eyes and the trembling smile on her face as a good sign.
“Janie, I love you more every day, and I want us to build on this amazing life we’ve already started. You told me that maybe someone