Page 104 of High Intensity

She is a little stockier than Tinker Bell, and her coat is more of a chestnut, but her mane and tail are the same golden flax color. She’s also well-trained, comfortable around other horses, and easy to handle. I made sure of that.

“Her name is Rosie,” Jillian says in a soft voice when we get to her stall.

Hayley freezes when she looks over the door, and both her hands come up to cover her mouth.

“She’s six years old and is as gentle as can be,” I add, curling my arm around Jilly’s shoulders and pulling her to my side, as we watch Hayley trying to take it all in.

“For me?” she finally manages, turning her head.

I have to swallow when I watch the fat tears running down her face, because for once, I know these are happy tears.

“All yours, sweetie,” Jillian says in a choked voice.

Jillian

“Marry me.”

I blink open my eyes and have to squint to see Lucas’s face hovering over me.

“Sorry?” I mumble, thinking for sure I must’ve heard him wrong.

But he confirms there’s nothing wrong with my hearing when he repeats, “Marry me.”

He moves back, grabs my hand, and pulls me up into a sitting position. I shake my head, trying to clear the cobwebs, because if this is what it appears to be, I don’t want to miss a damn thing.

Although—on second thought—I might’ve preferred a proposal at a time I don’t have a bird’s nest in my hair, gunk in the corners of my eyes, or drool marks around my mouth. Not to mention the bad breath I know I have, thanks to the super garlicky pesto gnocchi we had last night.

The ungracious, “Now?” escapes me before I can rein it in. Luckily it only widens the grin on Lucas’s face.

“Absolutely,” he returns with conviction as he holds up a box with a gorgeous ring. “This ring has been burning a hole in my pocket, waiting for the right moment for weeks. I would’ve asked you months ago, because I know for a fact what I feel for you is a once in a lifetime deal. A rare gift I wasn’t expecting but am so fucking grateful for. But this isn’t about just you and me, this is about Hayley as well, and the timing hasn’t been right for her.” He takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “Then yesterday we were able to put happy tears in that little girl’s eyes for the first time since she lost everything. She looked at us likewe hung the moon when all we’ve done is love her. Something I know we’ll do for a lifetime if she’ll let us. So, this morning when I woke up, I realized this was the moment.”

Holding on to my hand he gets off the bed and slides down on one knee.

“So, I’m asking you again; Jilly, love of my life, will you marry me?”

I can’t stop staring at my ring.

Hayley zoomed in on it the moment she sat down at the kitchen island for breakfast this morning. To say she was happy would be an understatement. She was beaming and hugged us both hard before announcing she’d always wanted to be a flower girl. I had to laugh, because Lucas looked a little pale at that—I don’t think he’d gone so far as to think about an actual wedding yet—but over breakfast it became clear Hayley was quite the little wedding planner.

So, it was a bit of a surprise when she asked Lucas how far of a ride it would be to take the horses up Shaw Mountain. When he asked her why, she said she wanted to visit the site of the plane crash. My first instinct had been to tell her no, but Lucas quietly asked her why she would want to go there. When she explained why, I instantly changed my mind.

“I want to show Mom and Dad I’m okay. I mean, I think maybe they know already, but I want to make sure, and up there it would feel like I’m closer.”

Lucas made a few calls after that, mainly making sure the actual crash site was completely cleaned up of debris, which Junior Ewing assured him it was. After, he called Jackson andasked him to put the drone up in the air to make sure the trail to the site would be passable.

Then we got dressed, went to the ranch to pick up the horses, and drove to the trailhead.

Lucas brought Pudding for me to ride. She’s a sweetheart and is quite happy closing the ranks while Lucas leads the way on Judge, and we have Hayley safely tucked in between on Rosie. She’s excited to be on her first trail ride. I’m just happy the weather is nice, and it’s not raining like it has been most of last week, or we’d be trudging through mud.

Somehow Ama got wind of our plans, and was nice enough to pack us a picnic lunch, which is tucked in Lucas’s saddlebags. When we get up there, maybe we can find a nice rock and have a picnic. Some might think that morbid, but Hayley seemed to like the idea, which is all that matters.

“Do you recognize that?” Lucas asks, bringing Judge to a halt as he points up to a rocky ledge where the opening to the small cave I know is there is just visible.

It takes a moment for Hayley to respond, first with a nod.

“I was so scared,” she starts, and it’s all I can do not to jump off my horse and haul her into my arms. “The last night at the hotel, I overheard my dad, my mom, and my grandma arguing. Mom wanted to stay in Canada, but Dad said we weren’t safe anymore in Whistler. I heard him say my uncle wouldn’t hesitate to kill us all to get his way, which Grandma got upset about. Dad caught me listening in the hallway. He was upset and made me promise not to trust anyone, and that if anything ever happened to him or Mom, that I would run as fast and as far as I could.” She takes a shaky breath. “That’s why, when I heard that FBI agent say my uncle would be picking me up in the morning, I ran as well.”

“You did the right thing,” Lucas says in a warm, steady voice.

---