Page 26 of Treasured

I break into a big smile. "I was just thinking the same thing. But why do you look so glum about it? This is exciting."

"I can't stop thinking about the last time we tried to get a ring on her finger," he says and I notice that his expression has gone from glum to pained.

We'd proposed to Tracy, assuming—wrongly—that she'd be overjoyed to be our wife. Instead of weeping happy tears and throwing herself into our arms with joyful hugs and kisses, she'd hemmed and hawed and said she needed to think about it. And bolted back to her aunt Max's house.

I'd wanted to follow her, talk some sense into her, but Creed said we needed to give her time.

The next morning when we went to find her and set things right, tell her we'd wait forever for her, she was gone. Maxine had answered the door and when she went to get Tracy from her room, she'd come down the stairs with a bewildered look on her face and a note for us in her hand.

I'm sorry.

That's all the note said.

Maxine had a note with a bit more information in it, but basically she'd run away from us. We'd scared her out of town.

It took a while for us to recover from that. In fact, I'm not sure either of us ever did, as evidenced by the fact that Creed currently has an anxious look on his face at the prospect of proposing again.

I blow out a breath. "That was awful. But, now that I look back, I think she was right. Oh, she handled it horribly, don't get me wrong on that. But we were all so young. Not that we're old now, but we're all wiser and a bit more mature. I think things will go much differently this time."

He looks at me and our eyes meet. A bit of the tension leaves him. "You're right," he says and I feign shock at his admission. That makes him smile.

"Come on," I say, clapping him on the shoulder. "This is going to be the best day of our lives, so far."

* * *

Creed

It's funny how two people as different as Jake and me can be brothers, let alone twins. But other times, it's shocking how well we know each other. When things are bad, he often says just what I need to hear.

As much as I hate to admit it, he's right. It will be different this time. We're different, Tracy is different, but the arrow of love still connects us.

"Sorry I'm such a pessimist," I say as we pull out of the driveway. "I guess things have been going so well for the last two weeks, it’s like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Only good shoes dropping for us, and Tracy, from now on."

"Is good shoes dropping even a thing?" I laugh and shake my head. Jake is practically bouncing up and down in the passenger seat; he's so anxious to get to Tracy.

"Look," I say to him, "don't go blurting out a proposal as soon as you see her this morning. Let's make this nice. Romantic and special."

"I wouldn't do that," he says, then grins. "Well, I don't plan to, but sometimes things do just pop out. But you're right, let's do it after our picnic. That'll be super romantic."

"I assume you have the ring?"

Jake pats the area on his chest where the ring rests below his shirt. "Absolutely."

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to slip it on her finger while she was sleeping," I say.

"Don't think I haven't thought about it."

"I admire your restraint. Such that it is."

"We're a good balance, aren't we? You hold me back from plunging off the cliff and I keep you from staying stuck in the mud all the time."

We arrive at Maxine's house and trot up to the door. Maxine opens it before we can knock.

"Good morning, boys," she says. "Tracy asked me to pack up some things for your picnic." She holds up a basket and opens the lid to reveal a fresh-baked pie. "Now, I want you to bring some of this back, you hear?"

She's in a particularly jovial mood and I wonder if she can sense what we've got in mind. In Eagle Canyon, once you know someone is your fated mate, there's not a whole lot of reason to wait around. The arrow of love is never wrong. Just sometimes delayed, as in our case.

---