It’d been a few months since the dig re-opened as a permanent site and the professor announced the opening of the visitor’s center. It was a lot of work—helping supervise the dig site, prepping for the opening of the center, being a daddy to Laurel, working on my dissertation, and being a mate to Shiloh—but I’d never been happier in my entire life. Or more tired. But I was making it work, mostly thanks to Shiloh. He was incredible; loving, gentle, and a wonderful father to our baby girl.

We found a house a little further from the dig site than Shiloh’s parents, but also a bit closer to the city. It was still in the country, but it didn’t take us long to get to either of our families’ homes now. It had the rustic atmosphere Shiloh wanted to raise Laurel in, and all the modern conveniences he’d grown accustomed to living in the city. It turned out to be the perfect place for us.

I was a little worried it was too far from his pack and his duties as seer, but Shiloh decided to step down as pack seer. He wanted to concentrate on being a daddy to Laurel and also on his own studies, both metaphysical and the online courses he’d started taking through the university, while he was close enough the pack could reach him if they needed him. Shiloh was taking time to focus on himself. And he’d confessed to me that they really didn’t need him anymore to bridge the gap between the pack world and the modern world, with more of the pack’s younger members working at the dig and with the visitor’s center. He was really growing into his own. And he still made time to be a loving mate to me.

We were outside in the yard of our home. Laurel had started to crawl, and she was rolling around on the grass, getting green stains all over the knees of her little coveralls. She stopped her play and plucked a leaf from the ground. She held it up in her chubby little hand, studying the way the light shone through the veins. Her little face was lit up, full of intelligence and curiosity. She let the leaf go and laughed as it floated up, caught on a current of air.

Shiloh sat on the ground near the baby, smiling and watching her play. The he rolled over, his feet bare in the grass, and watched me.

“What?” I asked.

“Just thinking.” He smiled.

“Okay.” I laughed and didn’t push it further. I’d learned to let Shiloh be Shiloh. When he wanted to tell me something, he would. If he wanted to hide his thoughts from me, he could. And I didn’t question when he just knew things. It was the way he was. And if my daughter was what we thought she was, I could look forward to a lifetime of the people in my family just ‘knowing.’

“I’ll be right back,” Shiloh said, and hopped up, heading for the house. I watched as he walked across the yard. He gave me a sexy grin over his shoulder before he opened the door and disappeared inside.

I tickled Laurel with a piece of grass and caught her when her giggles made her topple over. I sniffed the top of her head, still fresh with that baby smell, and now sunlight and grass. The door slammed shut and I looked up to see Shiloh headed back toward us.

He sank to his knees in front of where Laurel and I were sitting in the grass. Then he held out his hand. It was folded around something.

“What is it?” I peered at his hand. His fingers unfolded and sitting in his palm was a large, flawless ruby. It was cut to catch the light, and the sunlight gleamed off the edges, setting it on fire. I’d never seen a more perfect gemstone in my entire life. It looked almost fake, it was so perfect. When Shiloh didn’t fold his fingers back around it, I reached over and took it, turning it over in my hand.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, “but what’s it for?”

“It’s for you,” Shiloh answered. “You don’t know everything about our pack traditions just yet.” He smiled at me, suddenly shy. “When one pack member wants to marry another, he presents them with a ruby, the most perfect he can find.” His head dipped and he was looking at me through his lashes.

“Are you asking me to marry you?” My heart was stuttering in my chest. Oh, my sweet, sweet valley boy.

“Yes.”

I swallowed around the lump that was suddenly forming in my throat. And then I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small, gold box. I nudged the top open and held the box out to Shiloh. He peered inside and gasped. There was a ring nestled inside, soft yellow gold, with a large, almost-clear diamond fitted onto the top.

“I’ll marry you if you’ll marry me,” I said to him.

There were tears streaming down his face and he couldn’t seem to find the words to say yes to me, so he just sobbed and nodded his head over and over. I pulled him off his knees and tumbled him to the ground. Laurel climbed over us, giggling at her silly daddies rolling in the grass.

“So, yes, then. From both of us.”

Shiloh just nodded again. I pulled the ring out of the box and slid it over his finger. He held it up to the sun, watching rainbows spark and flash across the surface.

“It’s gorgeous,” he breathed. “Like you.” Then his lips were on mine, pressing into me and claiming me as surely as I claimed him. Laurel’s laughter broke us apart and I reached over, pulling her into our hug.

“She’s going to make an adorable flower girl,” I said.

“That she will. But we’re not getting married until you finish your dissertation and graduate. You’ve got enough going on without adding one more thing to the stack.”

“Agreed,” I said, laughing. We had all the time in the world.