do it again. I trust you.”
I wasn't sure how that was possible, but I wasn’t going to argue with his forgiveness. I was too glad to have it. His mouth ticked up again. “I might know a little bit about keeping things to myself.”
“We haven’t had a chance to talk about the future in any more detail. It’s been such a whirlwind. I know that I want to stay in Pine Hills. But how do you want to raise the baby? Do you want to live separately and split custody? Or do you want to live in the same house?”
Tyler’s fingers tightened over mine. “I want us to live together.”
“Perfect. So do I.”
As soon as we got back from Chicago, I applied for a job at the local paper. Pine Hills had a tiny publication that had a partnership with the other small town in the county. It didn’t pay much, but we didn’t need much either. Tyler owned the house outright, so there was no mortgage payment. He still received benefits from his time serving in the SEALs, and his sheriff salary more than covered everything we needed.
Chapter Thirty
Tyler
I’d told everyone in Pine Hills that I’d come back home for a peaceful life post-military.
Ha. Now it had become something of a joke between me and Ava. There hadn’t been a lot of peace. I’d been elected sheriff, had a fake maid move in to my home and had to rescue her from a deranged thug.
Now my girlfriend was pregnant, and I was going to be a father.
It was not the life I’d planned, but it was exactly what I wanted.
The only thing lacking was having Ava as my wife. She’d never mentioned marriage. She’d never even mentioned getting engaged.
I wondered if she thought she was too young, or if she assumed I wasn’t interested. Or I wondered if it simply hadn’t been a big deal in the circles she associated with in Chicago. Many young professional women her age who lived in the city were putting off marriage and children until their mid to late thirties. She was only twenty-four.
Maybe she wanted to raise the baby with me, but not be tied down. That was understandable. But I wanted her to be my wife.
I was going to propose.
When she’d asked me if I wanted to live separately and split custody, or live together, it had stunned the words right out of my mouth. As a country boy at heart, I’d taken it for granted that we’d be getting married. I hadn’t really thought about when, I’d just assumed we’d make it happen sometime before the baby was born.
Hearing that marriage wasn’t an automatic solution to her took me a minute to process.
I wasn’t going to pressure her, but I sure did want to be clear that marriage was most definitely an option.
I also wanted to let her know that I wanted to be with her, as her husband, and not just the baby’s father. I didn’t want her to think I was approaching this proposal out of an antiquated sense of duty, or obligation. I wanted to show her that I loved her, as Ava Elizabeth, and not just someone who was having my child.
And I was going to do it correctly. The popular proposal seemed to be pretty flashy, with lots of people watching and someone taking a video. Ava was hardly a typical young woman, and I didn’t think she’d go for flashy. It was a huge contrast from the life she’d grown in living in elite Chicago society, but she seemed to relish the small town part of life that we led in Pine Hills. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t want a good proposal.
I imagined she’d want a proposal that related to our current lives.
The Pine Hills Fall Festival was coming up. Ava had been working non-stop to help get the whole thing organized, so that was a possible time and location.
I needed to talk to my mother and my sister. It would be easier if I did it together, but the excitement they’d generate would be through the roof.
As soon as I told them, my mother disappeared for a minute. “This was your grandmother’s ring. I want you to have it.”
I looked over at Abigail. She shook her head. “I want you to have it. I love Ava, and you guys are already together. And you’re giving me a little niece of a nephew.
I didn’t know much about rings, but I could tell this