Chapter 29
“What in the hell did you do to poor Dax now?” Calla stormed across the room toward the back door.
Magnolia shot to her feet. “I have no idea. He just… left.”
Calla turned back to her. “Well, now you’ve good and gone and done it.”
Zinnia strolled through the kitchen door next, much more casually. She hopped up on the counter and opened the cookie jar. She pulled one out and started nibbling on the side of it. “I think he’s lost his mind.”
“Y’all are mean.” Magnolia stood next to Calla, watching Dax walk away in those perfectly fitted jeans.
Calla wrapped her arm through Magnolia’s and brought her back toward the table. “You know why he brought us here, don’t you?”
“I have my suspicions.” She crossed her arms, waiting for either of them to speak.
Zinnia hopped off the counter and strolled up next to her, with a cookie in each hand. She tilted her head and gave her that devil-come-what-may smile. “You ain’t leaving. Period. Lest I’m gonna hogtie you out back.”
“Zinnia!” Calla sucked in a breath. “What she means to say is—we don’t want you to leave, darlin’. It would be too hard without you. You’re back in our lives, and we don’t want to give you up.”
Though she still held a mournful sadness in her heart for her father as she looked around the room at Triple R Ranch, and the friends who’d become her family again, she knew she didn’t want to leave. “I don’t know what y’all are in a panic over. I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
Zinnia shoved the rest of her cookie in her mouth. Crumbs poured down her face and shirt. “Seriously?”
Magnolia rose from the chair and opened her arms for Zinnia and Calla to come closer. She wrapped them up tightly, squeezing. “You guys are my sisters. And I’m not leaving again. It’s time for me to come home for good.”
At her side, Calla clung to her as she squeaked, “I knew you would stay this time! I had no doubt.”
Zinnia tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at Calla. “Sure, you didn’t.” She held her hand to the side of her head, mimicking Calla’s voice. “Zin, get your ass ready, we need to go tell Magnolia her ass needs to stay put. You be nice now. But don’t screw it up.”
“Oh, my gosh, you did not say that.” Magnolia threw her head back, laughing.
“Magnolia!”
She froze. “Dax?”
“Magnolia, I need you to come out here right now!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“What in the world?” She dragged herself from Zinnia and Calla and headed toward the back door.
In the middle of the back yard stood Dax with Hayden at his side. Magnolia opened the door and strolled out to meet him. Though it was a crisp fall day and the ground crunched under her feet, the sun shone through the clouds. And for the briefest moment, Magnolia caught the hint of evergreen on the breeze. Smiling to herself, she could feel her father all around her. “What’s all this about?”
Dax shifted from one foot to the other. “You asked about a box. The one Lulu mentioned.”
“Yeah?” She put her hands on her hips, waiting.
“Maggie, I’ve had this box for nine years. I bought it the year after you left for school.” He pulled the small blue velvet square from the pocket of his jeans. “I’ve been holding it for you. I couldn’t bring myself to return it. I thought if I let it go, I would be lettin’ you go.”
She sucked in a breath. “What are you sayin’?”
Dax cracked open the lid to the box, revealing a platinum ring with a diamond studded magnolia sitting at the center of it. “This isn’t an engagement ring—it’s not nearly nice enough for that. But it’s a promise of my love and commitment to you. I know we’ve got a lot to work out. But, damn it, Magnolia, I just want you to be with me.”
Magnolia fought not to smile. “On one condition.” His lips rose up in a half-smile. “You take everything daddy left to you.” She motioned to the ranch around her. “This place is as much yours as it is mine.”
A light chuckle passed his lips, and he looked down at Hayden. “Little man, never underestimate the power of a woman.”
“Mommy knows.” Hayden giggled and ran toward Magnolia, holding out his hand to her. When she took it, he pulled her toward Dax and put her hand next to his. “You two hold hands.”
Without hesitation, Dax took her hand in his and slipped the ring onto her finger. “A promise that I will always be yours and you will always be mine.”
Magnolia tilted her head to the side. “If you think that’s goin’ to get you out of marryin’ me, boy, do you have another thing comin’.”
“So sassy.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.
She laid her hands on his chest and felt the beat of his heart under her fingertips. His fresh, clean scent enveloped her. “You love it.”
“I love you.” He leaned in.
“And I love you, always.” She popped up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to his, kissing the only man she’d ever want as long as she lived.