“Is it Miah?” I whispered. “Have you heard something?”
“No,” Chace whispered back, his eyes moving over my face in a way I couldn’t quite read.
It wasn’t bad. But I wasn’t sure it was good since it was so intense.
“Becky?” I went on quietly.
“Nope,” he answered immediately and also quietly.
I pulled in a breath then cautiously put out there, “Has something gone down with Misty’s case or, um… anything around that?”
“Nope,” he repeated and his hand left my neck to drop to mine on his thigh and wrap around it.
“Chace –”
His head dropped to watch his thumb move over my fingers as he muttered, “Naked, baby.”
My head twitched at his weird word.
“Pardon?”
His eyes came to mine and he repeated, “Naked.”
I felt my brows draw together and I asked, “Naked?”
He held my gaze even as he moved, his other hand leaving my hip to shove into his jeans pocket then he held my hand as his other moved to it.
My eyes tipped down as my breath stopped coming when I watched a simple but stunning diamond solitaire being slid onto my left ring finger.
“Naked,” he whispered and I sucked breath into my nose as I stared at the diamond now at the base of my finger. “You marry me, I’ll add a band under that, cover you up.”
I blinked as the sting hit my nose, the wet hit my eyes but after I blinked, my gaze didn’t move from that ring and I again stopped breathing.
“Baby,” Chace whispered, his hand holding mine giving me a squeeze, “Breathe.”
I breathed.
His thumb moved over the ring and his beautiful deep voice came back at me, “Will you marry me, Faye?”
“Yes,” I whispered so quietly it was like a breeze.
But I didn’t take my eyes off Chace’s ring.
His hand stayed curled around mine, his thumb firm at the base of his ring but his other hand came to the side of my neck and slid up into my hair behind my ear.
“Will you build a home with me?” he whispered his question.
“Yes.”
“A family?”
“Yes,” I repeated, my breath catching just at the idea of that beauty.
“A life?”
My head tipped back, his beautiful blue eyes locked on mine and everything he felt for me was shining from them, warming me to my soul in a way I knew I’d never, ever be cold.
Not again.
Not in my whole life.
“Yes,” I whispered as the tears slid out of my eyes.
When they did, his hand slid out of my hair so it could cup my jaw and his thumb moved across my cheek to catch them as they fell.
“I love you, Faye Goodknight,” he said quietly, looking deep in my eyes.
I sucked in a breath that broke twice before I replied, “I love you too, Chace Keaton.”
His lips tipped up and his eyes grew super warm.
“Want you movin’ in, baby,” he murmured.
“Okay,” I agreed immediately.
“Next weekend,” he went on.
“Okay,” I agreed, again immediately.
“We start buildin’ our home, our life now so we can give it to our kids after that band joins your diamond.”
My breath hitched again and I repeated, “Okay.”
His eyes lit with a different light, one I loved just as much when he asked, “You gonna jump on-line and tell your geek squad you landed me?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Kiss me and I’ll finish the tacos so you can do that.”
“Okay,” I said yet again but stayed where I was and didn’t move.
“Baby, kiss me,” Chace prompted when this lasted a long time.
“In a second, honey, I’m memorizing this moment.”
Raw flooded his features but this time, it wasn’t pain.
It was beauty.
Then Chace’s hand drove back into my hair, he pulled me to him and kissed me.
Ten minutes later, Chace finished the tacos and I got on-line to give the news to Benji and Serenity.
* * * * *
Krys didn’t miss my ring when we wandered into Bubba’s an hour later.
Therefore, Chace didn’t have to hit the ATM. Any time he tried to pass a bill to her, she refused and Chace could be bossy but if Krys was in the mood to refuse, you had no hope of winning.
There were a lot of hoots, hollers, claps on the shoulder for Chace, hugs for me as Krys and Twyla shared the news around the bar then told anyone who came in. One or the other of them got on the phone which meant Tate and Laurie came in. Then Deke. Wood and Maggie came a little later. Deck wasn’t far behind them. Sunny and Shambles hit the bar not long after. The flow continued as did the hugs and claps on the back and news spread so fast, I took a call from my father whose voice was thick when he told me we’d have a family celebration soon and he’d try to keep the news from Liza so she wouldn’t do something dramatic to steal my thunder.
Although I would have liked to share the news with my family, I was too happy to care someone took away my shot and I was happier hearing Dad was happy.
Bubba jacked the stereo up and after a few songs, Krys took over the control of the iPod attached to it. She clearly was in a romantic mood and Chace was definitely in a romantic mood because even though no one was dancing, the minute Mazzy Star’s “Fade into You” came on, he led me to an open space by the window, pulled me into his arms and we started swaying.
Before Chace, this would have mortified me.
In Chace’s arms with his ring on my finger, the world faded away as I faded into him.
Krys followed this with Bad Company’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, Bruce Springsteen’s “Leah”, the Cowboy Junkies singing The Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane” then back to Bad Company for “She Brings Me Love”.
Through all this, Chace held me close in his arms, I kept mine locked around him, our friends were close, part of our town looking on but there was no one who could penetrate our moment. We were in a sea of happy people celebrating love and babies and a town free to just be. But for me it was just Chace and for Chace it was just me.
And through it, holding me in a way I knew he’d be happy never to let me go, Chace proved he could hold me close and dance until the morning light.
Then she played it. Whether she remembered me telling her about it or whether it just came up, Krys played it.
Ella Mae Bowen singing “Holding Out for a Hero”.
And when she played it, I decided it was time he knew.