“Where are we going?” I asked for the hundredth time.

“Mommy, I told you, it’s a surprise!” Max had my hand and was dragging me after him over rough, uneven ground.

He’d taken me for a nature walk. He said it was more homework, but since it was the middle of June, I was starting to think he had something up his sleeve.

That and after twenty minutes of walking in one direction, he’d made me close my eyes and blindly follow him to the middle of nowhere.

If he wasn’t my son, I’d assume he was bringing me out here to murder me. But I had faith that Max was going to do more with his life than murder. He was going places.

I realized, ironically, I had the same kind of hope for Max that my mom had for me. Mine was to keep Max from murdering me. Mom’s was to keep me off a stripper pole. So… putting it like that, we were on equal playing fields as far as momming went.

I snorted to myself. Hardly.

“Max,” I demanded. “What are we doing? If I walk through a giant spider web on accident, I will never forgive you.”

He giggled. “We’re almost there.”

Five minutes later, after nearly breaking my ankle at least six times, he slowed to a stop. “Don’t peek yet!” he demanded.

“What is going on? Did you join a cult? Why can’t I see anything?”

“Mom…” he groaned.

I shut my mouth and tried to wait as patiently as possible for something to happen. When nothing immediately changed around me, I spread my fingers for a quick second to make sure he was okay and not planning to jump off a ridiculously high structure the minute he told me to open my eyes. That would definitely give me a heart attack. And I was not looking forward to that.

But I didn’t see anything. All around me was wide open Nebraska prairie, but nothing to spill why I was standing in the middle of a field, surrounded by trees and wooded areas and open sky.

“Stop looking!” Max called from a distance.

Footsteps started heading my way again and I assumed it was him, so I pressed my hand tightly over my eyes and waited for the big reveal. I rested my other hand on my slightly swollen belly and smiled to myself.

Levi and I hadn’t told Max yet. We hadn’t told anyone. But the small baby growing inside me was already twelve weeks. It was probably time to share the news.

Unfortunately for Levi, I hadn’t gotten pregnant on New Year’s Eve. It hadn’t been the right time. Which was okay for Levi, because he wasn’t a quitter and didn’t plan on giving up anytime soon.

Oh, this pregnancy was also a surprise. I mean, it was easy to tell how we got pregnant, since Levi couldn’t keep his hands off me and birth control seemed optional most days.

But unlike my first unplanned pregnancy, this one was received with unbelievable joy. There was no panic. No devastation. No loss of life plans. There was only hope for the future, faith in the beautiful baby yet to come.

This experience alone, even though Levi was the only one that knew so far, had healed a million broken pieces inside of me. I hadn’t even known how messed up I was either, until all the misplaced parts of my heart and soul started finding their way home.

We’d kept it a secret so far though because our parents were still recovering from the news that we were together. My mom was probably the least surprised, but she did get hung up on our future kids.

“So they’re going to be brothers and cousins?” she’d asked when she imagined more sons in our future. “God, y’all are like a soap opera.”

Which was probably true, but her opinion didn’t really matter anyway.

Although, slowly, surely, she was changing my mind about that. Rich had found out she managed the local strip club and offered her a job almost immediately after meeting her. I’d promised him she was a hard worker, even if she was a little rough around the edges. He’d promised me a managing position in the office for him wasn’t any better or easier.

Mom was still deciding if she was going to take it or not. I constantly reminded her that it had a 401K and dental. She was starting to favor Cole Family Farms in a big way.

Levi’s parents had taken it much harder. It had killed me at first. I hated destroying the tenuous relationship Darcy and I had built. But they had quickly come around, deciding I was exactly the kind of woman they wanted Levi to be with.

They had stepped in as the parents I never had, and I knew they would be thrilled at the prospect of another grandbaby to celebrate.

Although Max would always hold a very special place in their hearts. Levi and I could have twelve kids, but Max would forever be Logan’s. I had made so many mistakes in my life, it was weird to cherish one of the biggest. But I couldn’t help it. And not only because I’d gotten my son from Logan. Max had kept me in Clark City. He’d brought me Darcy and Rich. And he’d given me a full, wonderfully big life that I never expected to have.

All was well in Clark City. And I loved my life here.

“Okay, you can look!” Max exclaimed.

I opened my eyes and blinked against the bright sunlight on the warm summer day. The sun was so bright I could barely focus on what was in front of me—which was why it took so long to realize Levi was there, on one knee, a giant ring held out in front of him.

“What is this?” I gasped, finding Max standing next to him, a phone in his hand, no doubt recording the moment.

Levi’s gaze captured mine again, green and intimate and achingly familiar. “Marry me, Ruby. Make this forever thing official.”

I put my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming, but I didn’t even know what to say or how to say yes. Oh, God, I should say yes. “Levi, are you serious?” I gasped.

His lips tipped up on one side, his small smile coaxing. “Why do you always doubt me, woman. Of course I’m serious.”

“It’s just that…”

He stood up and wrapped an arm around my waist, drawing me against his body. “I’m serious, Ruby. I want to marry you. And I want to build a house with you on this land.”

“Th-this land?”

“Look around, babe. This is ours. Our property. Our home.”

I understood what he said, but I couldn’t make any of it make sense. “Here?”

Concern brought his eyebrows together over his nose. “Is that okay?”

“You bought me land? You bought me this land?”

He kissed the top of my forehead. “I bought us this land. I wanted you to be able to stay close to your mom. And I also wanted enough land that Max could run wild on. I wanted to give us the chance to build our lives together.”

He’d bought us property to build on? Oh my god! I was going to move out of the trailer. Into my own home—that I was going to build with my husband. The reality of those words settled around me like the sweetest truth.

How could I say no to him? How could I ever deny him anything?

He was going to build me a house. And granted it was still on the wrong side of the tracks, but it was mine. It was ours. And I would happily live out the rest of my life on the wrong side of town, if it meant I got to do it with Levi.

It was time for a new bucket list.

1. Marry Levi.
2. Have his baby.
3. Build a house together, a real home to raise our children in.
4. Make out with Levi Cole for the rest of our lives.
5. Live happily ever after.

“You bought me land, Levi,” I gasped, throwing my arms around his neck, forgetting about the ring entirely.

He laughed against my neck, but promised, “It’s only yours if you answer yes to the first question.”

I blinked up at him. “What was the first question?”

Making a frustrated sound in the back of his throat he bit out playfully, “Will you marry me?”

I smiled at him while Max hollered and cheered for us. “Oh, I thought you already knew that answer.” Slipping my finger through the ring he held out for me, I marveled at how it shined and shimmered in the late afternoon sun. “Obviously, I’ll marry you, Levi. This ring has to be worth a fortune.”

He shut my smart mouth with a kiss that quickly turned into the kind of lust that got me pregnant a second time. Max’s cheers turned to boos as he complained how gross we were being.

We pulled back, trying not to scar our child, but finding it hard not to touch each other all the time.

Our. Our child. Levi was the fun uncle, but he was even better at being the great dad. And the way he interacted with Max only made me fall in love with him more and more.

We weren’t perfect. And we were certainly unconventional. We basically gave Clark City their daily dose of juicy gossip. But we loved each other and our little family.

And as we sat down where Levi had set out a lovely picnic and talked about what kind of house we were going to build and how we wanted it to look and why we couldn’t build it in the shape of the Death Star, I knew I would never have to worry about Max’s home situation again. Because Levi and I loved each other more than I knew was possible and we were always going to fight to keep loving and falling in love with each other.

He was the boy I tried to run from. But he would forever be the man I ran to.

And he was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

Well, right after Max.