Page 190 of Homeward Colorado

“Piper,” he said, his voice steady but soft. “You and Ollie are everything I could’ve dreamed of or hoped for. During the darkest times in my life, even when I didn’t think I had any hope left, something got me through. Maybe I sensed back then, somehow, that life would bring me to the two of you.”

Tears were already streaming down my face.

He picked up the ring, holding it between us. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes.” The word burst out of me before he’d even finished. “Yes, of course, yes.”

Ollie let out a whoop of celebration, jumping up and down. “Gray, I told you she’d say yes!”

Grayden slipped the ring onto my finger, and I launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He caught me, pulling me close as I sobbed into his shoulder.

“I love you,” I whispered. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

When I finally pulled back, Ollie crashed into both of us, his arms around us in a fierce hug. I held them both, my son and my future husband.

Grayden had always felt like part of my family, even when I was young. But now, the three of us had a bond together that went beyond any words or description. Nothing would ever tear us apart.

Grayden was going to beOllie’s stepfather. He would love my son and take care of him. I’d already seen how wonderful he was with Ollie.

Grayden would be my husband. My happily ever after.

And I was going to be Piper O’Neal. The thought made me laugh through my tears. The O’Neals and the Landrys. We were already family in the ways that counted, but soon, it would be legal too.

“Can we have pancakes now?” Ollie asked, still wrapped around us. “To celebrate?”

“We’re having eggs and bacon,” I pointed out.

“But pancakes are great on the side. Everyone knows that.”

Grayden laughed, pressing a kiss to the top of Ollie’s head. “Chocolate chip?”

“Obviously.”

I looked at the two of them. At the ring on my finger that promised a bright future. I remembered the first night Grayden stayed here with us, back on Thanksgiving, less than a year ago. Before so much had happened.

This felt like the end of one chapter of our story. But for our family, it was only the beginning.