Page 97 of The Stars in the Sky
Tattoos
TWO YEARS LATER
WILL LAY BACK INthe saran wrap-covered chair, his Wrangler jeans unbuttoned and pulled down to an indecent level. The gloved tattoo artist had his head bent, working on the design on Will's hipbone, a tattoo machine in his hand, permanently inking the purple pattern.
Stars to match mine.
One was already done; we had returned for his second, matching star.
My lover. My soul mate.
My husband.
I sat in a chair to the side, my legs tucked under me, my arms resting on my swelling belly, my fingers playing with my ring, twirling it around. In about five months, there’d be a new Thrash child. We had decided not to find out if it was a boy or a girl, but to be surprised.
Since I met Will, I’d finished up my degree at UCSB and opened a small therapy office in a downstairs room of the ranch house. I had patients come from miles away for counseling, mostly children, and I think that the relaxed air of Headlands Ranch aided in their recovery.
The avocados came in really well last year, with the lucky coincidence of prices going sky high, and he was able to make a sizable down payment on the neighbor's property. We were in escrow to close, and the acreage would ensure that the area would remain rural, without the development. These days, since he wasn't getting development pressure, he was a lot more relaxed.
Will had proposed to me a year ago, while we were out riding Thor.
It was a summer's day and the first time that I’d ridden bareback. He was teaching me how. Once you got the feel for it, bareback riding wasn't that hard. But it was fun to go riding together, me in the front and Will behind, holding my waist.
We ambled through the orchards and took a ride through the vineyards, back around, and then went out to our favorite bluff overlooking the beach. There, looking out at the ocean, the sun shining, and the air sultry, he pulled an antique filigree diamond ring out of his pocket and slipped it on my hand while we had stopped to look at the view.
Startled, I looked down at my hand, and then turned around on the horse to look at him.
"Want to be with you forever," he told me, sincerely. "I’ve loved you since I met you and always will. This was my grandmother's ring. Asked my dad for it. Want you to wear it. Marry me, Marie."
Overcome, unable to form words, I simply nodded, and burst into tears, and he wrapped me in an enthusiastic hug and then kissed me.
"Tonight. I don't want to wait anymore."
"Tonight?" I answered, startled. He smiled.
"Do you want a big wedding?"
No. I didn't. "No."
"Then tonight, baby. Pack a suitcase. Tell the Fieldings to meet us in Vegas."
I burst out laughing, and he pulled out a printout of the plane tickets from his pocket.
"You’re serious?" I asked, astonished.
"Yep." His brown eyes were amused, but completely serious.
"What if I’d said no?" I asked him, unable to stop challenging him.
"You haven't said yes yet," he retorted.
Giddy with excitement, I burst out, "Yes, you crazy cowboy, Okay, yes, today." I paused. And it hit me. "Ohmigod, we're getting married today." And I totally squealed.
He dug his heels into Thor and we galloped back to the stables, put the tack away and settled him in, cleaned off, and were in his truck, headed to the Santa Barbara airport within an hour and a half. I shook, trembling with excitement, and could barely keep my hands off of him.
Even Will kept laughing, happy.
Ryan and Amelia met us at the airport. I shrieked when I saw her and almost bowled her over with a hug. Ryan gave Will one of those dude handshake, half hug, back slap things, and then wrapped me in a big hug, too. Will had apparently tipped them off to our trip. Actually, not just that, because Amelia had packed up a special suitcase with a new dress for me. She remembered my favorite one, she said, from going shopping with her for her wedding, and she went ahead and bought it for me.
