Alyssa woke up alone, which sucked, but Beau had left her a note saying a neighboring ranch had asked if he could come over and give them a hand. He’d see her later when he finished. She couldn’t fault him for helping a neighbor, but she’d wanted to talk to him about what to tell his family and hers. And she was a little surprised she hadn’t heard him talking to the neighbor. She supposed the discussion could wait until later, but she was bursting with excitement to tell everyone.

The only one in the kitchen was the old yellow lab that was living out his golden years in the house after having been a working dog his whole life. His tail hit the floor a couple of times when she walked in and then he went back to sleep. Alyssa smiled, remembering some of the animals her dad had allowed to live in the house over the years. Most of them had been old or in some other way handicapped, and unable to work and live outdoors.

She was just finished eating when Cade and Chase came in from outside.

“Alyssa. Good, you’re up. Can you come with us out to the pasture? One of the hired hands mentioned a heifer and her calf that needed to be looked at,” Cade said.

She went on full alert. “Of course, what did he say was the problem?”

Cade looked at Chase then back at her. “Oh, um, nothing of huge significance. He thought the calf wasn’t nursing too well.”

“Alright. I’m done here, so let’s go.”

Chase cleared his throat. “We were kind of thinking about taking some horses out rather than the truck. Since it’s not an emergency and it’s a nice day.”

Cade nodded. “Yeah, let’s take some sandwiches with us, in case it takes us a while.”

Alyssa frowned. That didn’t sound like a normal plan. “Sandwiches? Horses? That doesn’t sound very expedient.”

Cade grinned. “No, but it sounds like a whole lot more fun, don’t you think? You haven’t had much fun since you got here—we’ve only taken the horses out a couple of times. Come on, don’t you miss riding?”

“I do but….”

“No buts. Let’s get some grub together and head out to check on the cattle and have a picnic. We’ll have our phones and if anyone needs us, they can bring a truck out.”

She still thought it sounded odd, but she would like to get on a horse. They’d been too busy during calving season for riding. “Okay, you’ve won me over.”

“Good, you get some supplies into a saddle bag and we’ll get some food ready. We already saddled the horses.”

She laughed at their audacity and went out to load up a saddle bag with whatever they might need out in the pasture.

They spent the whole day searching for the elusive heifer and calf, only to find out late in the afternoon that the hired hand had brought the troublesome pair into the calving barn and Beau had looked at him when he got back from the neighbor’s. She’d enjoyed the ride and the picnic but was ready to head back and see Beau. They had spotted a couple of cattle she’d taken a closer look at. One looked like had tangled with some barbed wire. She hadn’t needed stitches, but Alyssa had cleaned the wound and put some salve on it. She needed to record her findings in the database later. They brushed down the horses and gave them food and water for the evening. The twins said they had one more job before they came into the house, so they would see her at dinner.

Meg met her at the back door. “Alyssa, I forgot to tell you, we’re having company tonight. We’re going to eat in the formal dining room. You might want to put on a nice dress for the occasion.”

Alyssa nodded, but all she really wanted to do was see Beau for five minutes.

“We’ll be eating in about forty-five minutes, so you’ve got time to shower and change.”

Well, hell. That shot seeing Beau right in the foot. She barely had time to clean up and be downstairs. She wondered who the company was, that was worthy of a dress. They’d had neighbors drop by from time to time and they’d used the dining room, but they’d not dressed up past good jeans and a nice blouse. She did have some dresses with her for church or school parties. She’d had to bring everything with her when she’d come to the Rockin’ K so her roommates could find someone to share the rent with.

She finished in thirty-eight minutes and went by Beau’s room to see if they could have five minutes together, before the dinner, but he wasn’t there. She stuffed her disappointment down and headed for the dining room. She didn’t hear the normal chatter of the family entertaining guests. Maybe they hadn’t arrived yet.

When she walked into the dining room, she knew she’d been had. There were bouquets of roses on every flat surface. A large screen TV sat at one end of the table, and on that TV was her entire family and Rachel. They were all grinning at her. She looked at the Kipling family and they were all grinning too. No one said one word. Finally, she found Beau off to one side of the room and lifted an eyebrow at him.

He approached her and got down on one knee. “Alyssa Jefferson, will you do me the very great honor of becoming my wife?”

She laughed and said, “Yes, Beauregard Kipling, I will marry you—providing Daddy didn’t tell you no.” She turned her head toward the TV and camera perched on top of it.

Hank laughed. “Nope, the boy gave me an excellent spiel and I gave him my blessing.”

“He scared me for a minute before he finally consented.” Beau shuddered dramatically. “I never talked so much or so fast in my life. He just sat there not saying a word.”

She laughed. “That’s my daddy, a man of few words.”

“You could have warned me.” Beau fished a ring box out of his pocket and held it out to her.

She gasped. How had he found the time to get her a ring after spending half the day at the neighbor’s ranch? She narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t go to a neighbor’s ranch, did you. You lied to me. Again.”

Beau looked wide-eyed and a little nervous.

Hank groaned. “Alyssa, for God’s sake, cut the man some slack. He wanted to surprise you.”

She pointed at the twins. “And you guys were decoys.”

They grinned back at her. “Guilty as charged.”

She shook her head at them and then laughed.

Tony said, “Mama? What’s Uncle B doing on the floor? Does he want to play trucks with Lyssa?”

Emma laughed. With tears in her eyes, she said. “Uncle Beau is asking Alyssa to marry him, so she can be your Aunt Alyssa.”

“Yay, Aunt Lyssa.” He clapped his hands and then turned back to his mother. “Mama? What’s an aunt? Not a tiny bug?”

“It’s like an uncle only it’s a girl. Now shush, baby, so she can look at the ring. We’ll talk about it later.”

Alyssa grinned at Emma and opened the ring box and there was the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen. It had a main diamond set low, so it wouldn’t catch on anything and there were three tiny rubies, channel set into the band, on each side of the diamond. “Beau, it’s gorgeous. I love it.”

Beau breathed a sigh of relief that was loud enough that everyone heard it and started laughing. He put the ring on her finger and it fit perfectly. He finally stood up and she flew into his arms to kiss him silly.

Rachel said, “Enough kissing already. I want to see the ring.”

Hank said, “Bless you, Rachel.”

Alyssa kissed Beau one last time and then turned to show her family, best friend, and her new family-to-be the ring. Pandemonium broke out as congratulations were given. Champagne was opened, and toasts were made to the new couple.

Rachel pointed. “Look.”

Hank shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

Alyssa looked at the stunned expressions of her entire family and demanded, “What is it?”

Hank picked up the laptop and turned it, the room swimming past. He turned it toward the window and walked nearer to it.

Alyssa gasped. There, in the window, was the town peacock in full array. She burst into tears while the Jeffersons cheered and the Kiplings looked confused.

Rachel took pity on them and explained. “The peacock has a reputation of showing up and giving his approval or blessing at whatever might be going on at the time.”

Hank said, in awe, “He’s never been out to the ranch in all the years I’ve lived here, until today.”

Alyssa laughed through her tears. “Even the town peacock is giving his approval.”

Both families laughed and marveled at the sight—except Adam who looked skeptical.

When all the commotion died down, Beau took her in his arms and whispered, “Better?”

She smiled up at him. “Perfect.”