Page 196 of Lavender Lake
His tongue slid into my mouth and my body hummed with pleasure.
“Wait,” he said, pulling back. “There’s more.”
“I don’t need more,” I protested. “Kiss me again.”
He let out a low chuckle. “You’ll like this, I promise.”
Cas riffled through the picnic basket and pulled out a piece of wood encased in resin. It was smooth to the touch and there, through the crystal clear resin, I saw my carved initials, along with my mother’s in the bark of the red cedar from the forest.
“The fire burned most of the tree, Salem.” His tone was sad. “I didn’t want you to lose your special place, so I took a chainsaw and cut out the initials and had it put in resin. Turn it over.”
I flipped over the resin encased wood. The back was flat and numbers had been burned into it.
“I don’t understand.” I looked at him for an explanation.
“Those are the coordinates of where the tree was. I was thinking it would be a unique tattoo. After the baby’s born, of course.”
I pressed the piece of wood to my chest as tears gathered in my eyes. “No one has ever—God, Cas. Thank you. Thank you so much.”
We reached for each other at the same time, our lips meeting. Not in desire, but in fortitude. In vows. In promises.
He gathered me into his arms and held me for a long moment, but then my stomach rumbled.
With a laugh, he let me go. “Let’s feed you.”
He opened the picnic basket and pulled out homemade ginger beer, watermelon salad, and brisket from the Copper Mule.
As the sun sank behind the mountains, we ate dinner underneath the night sky. And when the fireworks started, helaid me down in the bed of the rowboat and made me see my own fireworks.
After I came undone, he sat behind me and wrapped his arms around me. His hands went to my belly. He lovingly stroked his thumbs up and down my stomach and I covered his hands with mine, the light of the fireworks winking off my sapphire engagement ring.
“Casimir William Bowman, you sure do know how to propose to a girl.” I looked up at him and smiled.
He pressed a kiss to the end of my nose. “Salem Kathleen Powell, you sure do know how to drive me insane.”
“You’ll never be bored.”
“Nope.”
“Me and our six children will keep you on your toes.”
“Six? Good God, woman, are you determined to drain me of seed?”
“You don’t want six?”
“I want as many as you want,” he said. “But holy hell, Salem. That changes things.”
“Changes what?” I asked with a furrowed brow.
“Well, the plans for the house, first of all. I better talk to Grady before we finalize the blueprint.”
“Is that all?” I asked in amusement.
“No, that’s not all.”
He moved one of his hands up from my belly to slide into the top of my dress and cupped a breast. His thumb grazed my nipple and it pebbled instantly.
“It’s going to be a full-time job,” he whispered huskily. “Keeping you satisfied. I heard pregnant women are insatiable.”
