Chapter Forty
I came home from a day of paperwork and crashed on the couch. Maria had picked up Kori that morning and driven her to Statesboro for her checkup. I told her I would take the day off and take her myself, but she refused. She insisted Maria take her. They had made plans to shop afterward.
Rhett was out helping his pappy tend to the horses. I took the opportunity to grab a nap before it would be time to find something to throw together for dinner.
I woke up abruptly, shooting up off the couch, when I felt someone slide their hand up my thigh. Kori’s sweet laughter had me spinning around to face her.
“What’s wrong? It’s been so long, you forgot what my touch feels like?” With her lips curled up in a smile she baited me with her seductive stare.
“Maybe?” I stepped toward her, and she took a step back. “What’d the doctor say?”
“He may have cleared me.” She shrugged.
I grabbed for her wrist and tugged her back against me as she tried to walk away. “Take a ride with me?”
“A ride? Where?” She looked back over her shoulder.
“Just out by the lake, I wanna show you something.”
Still looking at me with a puzzled expression, she agreed. I led her toward the barn. Crawling up onto the four wheeler, I slid back, making room for her in front of me. She climbed on, and I caged her in against my chest. I kissed her shoulder and skimmed my lips over her soft skin.
Her head rested back against my shoulder, her hair tickling my nose. I drove out to the lake and around the back side. I came out here shortly after her accident looking for the best spot. I found it just a few hundred feet back from the dock. There was a stretch of sprawling flat land hidden behind a line of high grass and a couple trees. One large tree sat in the middle of it all.
Bringing the four wheeler to a stop, she looked around slowly. I knew she probably thought I was crazy for driving out here when we could have been naked in bed by now. There was a reason I brought her here. I wanted to show what I had been doing, when I wasn’t at work. What Rhett and I had been building.
I noticed the very moment her eyes locked on the tree house. They immediately glistened and her lip trembled. “You built him a tree house?” she whispered.
I shook my head lightly. “He and I worked on it.” I chuckled. “He used his play hammer and nails, but he was out here with me.”
“It’s perfect.” She crawled from the four wheeler and took a few steps forward, staring at it in complete awe. “You make me love you more every day,” she whispered as I stepped up behind her.
I never touched her, but instead knelt down on one knee behind her. The moment she turned around and found me there in that very position, the tears ran heavily.
“I’ve run this through my mind, I know, at least a dozen times. I planned it all out, then changed it again.” My hands were shaking uncontrollably, and I fisted them to hide the nervous feeling running through me.
“I made a wish that night I saw you in my bar. I wished you could see the good in me. I wished for forgiveness for the way I hurt you and betrayed your trust. I wished for another chance to show you how much I love you.” I swallowed and took a deep breath. “Your happiness and Rhett’s, it’s the most important thing to me. I live for your smiles, and his giggles. I want both of you as my forever. You both bring out the best in me, you make everything I do have purpose.”
Kori reached out to me, running her hand through my hair before resting it against my jaw.
“I want to be your forever, Kori. I wanna stand by your side for the rest our lives.” I pulled out the diamond ring from my back pocket and held it out before me. “If this last couple years have taught me anything, it would be that life is so short. You have no idea when it will shift and change forever. All those missed opportunities, never having an outcome. I don’t want to waste another moment without you as my wife.”
Her lower lip trembled, and my throat tightened. My eyes filled with their own tears. “Kori, will you marry me?”
She held out her hand, indicating for me to slide the ring on her finger, and I chuckled. “Baby, aren’t you forgetting something?” Her eyes connected with mine, questioning me.
Then it hit her that she had not yet answered me. “I was screaming yes in my head,” she said and grinned.
I shook my head and stood up, taking her face in my hands, and crushing my lips against hers. “Yes,” she spoke against my lips. “I’ll marry you.”
I slid the ring on her finger, picking her up and spinning her around.