Page 71 of Power Play

“Slow down, Harp,”I call after her. “There might be some nails and stuff. Watch where you’re going!”

Levi laughs as he takes my hand, leading me up the front steps of the house. And I am in fucking awe.

It’s everything I said I wanted. Down to the paint colors. We walk through the front door, and I want to burst into tears. How did I get here?

“What do you think?” he asks, wrapping his arms around me from behind and resting his chin on my shoulder. I haven’t even made it past the foyer. I’m just standing here, looking up at the rustic, antler chandelier I picked out. The taupe paint color on the walls. The sliding barn doors on the study. It’s everything.

“This is… I can’t believe we’re standing here,” I say. I swallow back the guilt that I still fight off. How he paid for everything. How hepaysfor everything—present tense. We walk around all the rooms on the first level, the big family room, the kitchen that I can’t wait to cook dinners in. I walk to the back door and look out over the patio.

“Let’s go look at the yard,” he says, tugging me through the back doors. I look around at the set-up, loving every square foot. The stonework is beautiful, and in the middle of the yard sits a bigger, crazier playset for Harper.

“Oh my gosh,” I laugh, “she’s going to lose her whole mind.”

He smiles, then his eyes divert toward the other side of the yard. And then I see it.

A little swinging bench that looks just like the one my dad built for my mom. And it’s facing the trees in the distance. Perfect for watching sunsets. I turn to him slowly, and he shrugs and smiles.

“Your dad helped me build it,” he says. I tilt my head, biting my lip. Sometimes, when I look at him, there’s this voice, and it says,no one has ever loved you like this. And every day, he does something else—sometimes something as grand as building me a house or a bench, and some days, just by kissing my forehead and telling me how much he loves me—that lets me know it’s okay to believe it. I turn back around to look at it, running my finger over the wood.

I turn back to him, but he’s not standing there. He’s on his knee in front of me.

Holy shit.

He’s holding out a ring with a square diamond, and my eyes open as wide as saucers.

“If you marry me, Lola Calway, I’ll make whatever life you want. If you want to stay home with her, I’ll make that happen. You want to go back to school? It’s done. You want to have more babies? Let’s make ‘em. You want things to stay just as they are? I couldn’t think of anything more I need. I want you, and I want Harper. You two are my family. Be my wife,” he says. I smile through my tears.

“Is that a question?” I ask. He smiles back.

“If that makes you feel better.”

“No one will ever love you like I do, Levi Buck,” I say. “Make me your wife.”