Rocky Mountain Proposal Page 24

  Even in that dire moment, when her world was seemingly spiraling out of control, she’d felt a tangible assurance that God was there—and more than worthy of her trust.

  When the bull snorted again, Jonas whimpered, then squeaked out a pitiful cry as though he was no older than a toddler in nappies.

  Aaron exhaled and raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll have Ben tend to my wounds later, but right now I need to deal with him.” He glanced down at where Jonas was huddled in a tight ball. “At least until Brodie and the sheriff get back from Jane’s.”

  Hope shoved her gaze to her former fiancé. His words had been so smooth and polished over the past couple of days. She should’ve known better than to believe—if even for a weak second—that he’d actually changed.

  “He loves you, you know?” He peered down at the huddled mass of quaking man.

  “Jonas?” she choked out, horrified that Aaron would think such a thing after what had just transpired. “How could you think—”

  “I was actually referring to this big guy, Caesar,” he said, nodding to the bull. Grimacing, he turned and grabbed a handful of Jonas’s collar, then dragged him over to the fence as the bull stayed right with him, every step of the way. “For the most part, Caesar has always been cooperative with me. But from day one, he’s been like a puppy with you.”

  A smile cracked the sadness on her face. “He’s just a big old baby,” she sputtered, feeling like she could laugh just as easily as cry. She remembered how adamant Aaron had been that she be very wary of the bull. The concern he showed time and again had given her a wonderful sense of security and protection she’d yearned for.

  “I’m not so sure that Hargrave, here, would agree with you.” Aaron unwound the bull rope from Hargrave’s thin neck and wrenched the man’s arms behind his back.

  In a matter of moments, he had Jonas bound and secured to a sturdy fence post. “He won’t be going anywhere now—at least not until Brodie and the sheriff get back.” Standing, he swiped an arm over his brow as he gently nudged the bull aside. “Come on, buddy, you’ve scared him enough.”

  Hope crossed to Caesar’s feeding trough and grabbed a handful of grain. “Come here, boy,” she encouraged as the bull trotted over—just like a playful pup.

  With a sigh, Aaron leaned against the trough. “Good thing that that bull was intent on protecting you.” The steady, peace-filled expression she witnessed on his face just then filled her with an unexplainable joy. “The three of us and God…we make a pretty good team.”

  The packed crowd roared with applause in the town hall as the play came to a close. It’d gone off without a hitch.

  Hope smiled as each of the cast members took their bows. Libby, Elsa and Luke held hands as they rushed to the front of the stage and gave a dramatic, unison bow, evoking a loud round of applause along with a smattering of chuckles in the room—and a heartening smile from Elsa.

  When it was Jane’s turn to bow with several other cast members, a twinge of compassion swelled inside Hope for the woman. Jane had been so wracked with guilt after her confession yesterday that she’d gone overboard to redeem herself, fluffing and fussing and fluttering about in an effort to tend to Hope’s every need. With extreme gentleness and carefully considered words, Hope had eased the woman from her toil and guilt.

  When it came time for Hope to take her bow with Aaron, her stomach grew oddly fluttery. She’d felt just fine all evening and had remained surprisingly calm throughout the performance, so why, now, would she be feeling as though she was on tenterhooks?

  Aaron grasped her hand and stared down at her, sending her stomach into a series of flip-flops. Her knees grew weak. The smile he wore and the deep look of pleasure permeating his expression made her heart skip more than one beat.

  “Are you ready?” he whispered in her ear.

  She drew in a sharp breath as a tremor shimmied all the way down her spine to her toes. She chided herself for being so nervous and flustered, after all this was Aaron. Her good friend. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  He paused for a moment, gave her hand a brief squeeze then led her to center-stage, his fervent gaze never leaving hers. Not even for a moment. His grin faded to a captivating look of intensity and…and something else that brought every wandering thought she might have to a staggering halt.

  Aaron held her hand, her gaze, her heart—even when he was completely unaware of that fact.

  The applause thundered louder, as whoops and hollers from Aaron’s brothers rumbled to her hearing. When she took her bow beside Aaron, her eyes welled with ready tears, as though something big, something profound was stretching before them like some grand design.

  She was blessed and honored to be a part of such a worthy cause, but her tears and the overwhelming sense of destiny and hope and expectation that hummed around and through her seemed to stretch beyond just this moment in time.

  When the applause died down, Aaron dragged his focus from her and faced the audience—friends, family and neighbors. He held up his hand, the town hall growing so still and quiet that the sound of nighttime crickets chirping outdoors echoed in the large room.

  When Hope took a step back in order to give him the limelight, he wrapped his arm around her and tenderly pulled her to his side. “Oh, no. You’re not going anywhere.”

  Muffled giggles flitted, featherlight across the room as her heart surged all the way up to her throat.

  “As probably all of you know,” he began, his rich voice filling the room and her heart, “this past year has been a difficult one. Like many of you, I’ve been through loss. I’ve been angry with people, God, myself…. It’s been hard, and most of the time I’ve bowed out of social events just because I didn’t want to hurt any more than I already did. If not for my delightful little niece, Libby,” he said, his voice breaking as he glanced over his shoulder at where Libby stood waving at him, “I never would’ve been in this play.”

  Aaron drew in a long, slow breath, giving her shoulder a tender squeeze. “You folks…you’ve been so supportive.” He gestured to the crowd. “And my close friends—” he nodded at where Brodie sat in the front row and very possibly where Paul might have sat had he lived “—you’ve been long-suffering. And my brothers and family…you’ve been more than a man could ask for in a family.”

  Pulling his fingers over his eyes, he cleared his throat. “The one thing I know that I lacked over these months was faith and hope. But mostly hope. Well, I want you all to know that I’ve found it. And I’m not letting it go.”

  Quiet awe-filled gasps and a sniffle or two wafted through the town hall.

  When he pivoted to face Hope, her pulse swished and swirled, the noise almost deafening. “I’m never letting her go.” His eyes misted over. “I’m not going to let you go, Hope,” he whispered, his mouth tipping in one of those half grins of his that made her head swim. Her stomach all aflutter.

  She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. With each passing moment, she could almost feel her love for him grow. She loved the way he’d protected her, encouraged her and had been her strength when she was weak. And she loved the way he unabashedly cherished her at this moment. Suddenly everything around them, all of the people, the props, the chairs…all of it seemed as if to fade away.

  “To find true love once is a blessing. To find true love a second time is an unexpected and beautiful gift,” he proclaimed, his voice sure and steady and wholly unashamed. “You prayed for me when you didn’t even know me. And you prayed for me when you knew me.”

  She remembered praying, even when her faith was so new, for Aaron, that God would bring healing to his broken heart.

  “I may have said what I’m about to before, but this time you have to know that it’s not from my pride or obligation. It’s from my heart.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes as he held her hand and dropped to one knee in front of her. “Hope Gatlin, I love you more than I ever thought I could love a woman. Will you marry me?”

  A
collective sigh filled the room as she held his adoring gaze. For as long as she could remember, she’d dreamed of something so beautiful, so loving and so very romantic. After what had happened with Jonas and then Paul, she’d concluded that love had passed her by. But God…

  God had redeemed over a year of heartache. He’d led her down a trail she would’ve otherwise never traveled—and all to find a man like Aaron Drake. He was honorable, loyal and loving. He was a man who’d not only divested himself of the past but had boldly stepped into the future. When he usually sought to avoid public attention, he’d been intent on capturing the limelight just moments ago—and all for Hope.

  Through her tears she peered at him and nodded, knowing that he had her heart and that she had captured his whole heart. “Yes.” She gave a silent little sob and then hiccupped. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”

  Epilogue

  The viola’s rich song infused the late afternoon with magnificent anticipation as Callen Lockhart played near the makeshift wedding altar. The small table had been placed smack-dab in the middle of Hope’s field, bordered on two sides by mature trees. The pastor stood there, too, as well as da Vinci, who claimed a place right beside Callen, and could be heard making that chirping cluck kind of noise that hens use when they’re content.

  An amused grin tipped Aaron’s mouth as he turned from the whimsical wedding ensemble. When he glimpsed Hope, some forty yards away, walking down the aisle, his breath caught in his chest. His heart skipped several beats. His arms ached to hold her…to hold Hope.

  She looked as lovely as the day was perfect. The warm smile she gave him seemed to cast a glow over the field—the very same field she’d labored so hard to plow—as Ben walked her down the aisle, an unsophisticated path hemmed in by colorful scrap quilts and people. Lots of people. Aaron barely even noticed the throng of guests who’d stood from their quilts. It seemed as if the whole of Boulder had come out for the occasion, but Aaron had eyes only for Hope.

  His Hope.

  He gave a long and satisfied sigh, relishing every last detail as she moved closer. Each step ushered in by the viola’s harmonious melody. And by nature’s melody, too. The birds, the beasts of the field, the gentle wind’s whispering song…

  It’d been a sorrowful moment for Hope this morning, knowing that her animals would be watching from a distance. The fact that their furry feelings had even crossed Hope’s sweet mind had only made Aaron love her more.

  “Thank You, God,” he whispered as his bride approached.

  He’d once vowed that he’d never again marry.

  That was before Hope. Before he’d voiced a promise to his friend that had at one time tasted like a bitter draught on his tongue, but had become his wonderful saving grace. A lifeline out of his agonizing grief. God had placed Hope, a beautiful city flower, right here in the rough-and-tumble West, and Aaron couldn’t feel more blessed.

  Two months ago Aaron never would’ve dreamed Hope would be walking through a mature hayfield, in kind and golden light, with the cattle calling from their pens and the goats bleating from theirs, and her rambunctious orange tabby chasing a butterfly down the pathway before her, to take his hand in marriage.

  His heart squeezed inside his chest at the sight of her. She didn’t look much different than when he’d picked her up from the train station several weeks ago. She wore the same lovely brocade wedding dress. The same hat. The same shiny brown lace-up boots. She looked as stunning and beautiful as she had then.

  And yet Hope had changed.

  And he’d changed.

  As she drew nearer, a peace and calm washed over him. A deep sense of destiny obliterated any last whisper of a hesitation—especially as Ben eased Hope to a stop and placed her hand in Aaron’s.

  “I love you, darlin’,” Aaron breathed, fixing his gaze on hers and drawing her to his side.

  The most satisfying, the most adorable, the most meaningful sigh he’d ever heard fell from her lips then as she peered up at him, her emerald gaze glistening. “I love you, too.”

  Aaron had changed, all right. He’d found God to be true, trustworthy and loving in the midst of uncommon and uncomfortable circumstances. And he’d found honest beauty in Hope’s utter loveliness. Overwhelming joy in her innocent delight. And healing in her arms.

  He’d found Hope.

  “So I guess this settles it, doesn’t it?” he whispered in her ear, remembering how lifeless and void of conviction those words had sounded many weeks ago. “We’re getting married.”

  “You guess?” She peered up at him, her brilliant gaze taking in every inch of his face as though she couldn’t quite get enough of him.

  He placed a kiss on the angry scar blazing across her hairline, his heart clenching just thinking about how he’d almost lost her in the accident.

  But he hadn’t. She was here. And she was his.

  “Oh, we’re definitely getting married, darlin’.” He pressed his face to her head and breathed in Hope. He held out his hand and stepped up to the altar. “I’m one blessed man to have you, Hope.”

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed reading Aaron and Hope’s story as much as I enjoyed telling it. My characters are so very much a part of me—their likes and dislikes, dreams, struggles, fears, sorrows…. Writing them compels me to dig deep for honesty and openness.

  Grief, along with other profound emotions born of circumstance, can carve ruts into our souls, grooves that can be difficult to overcome, as with Aaron and Hope. I very distinctly remember the sadness I felt when I left Aaron widowed so early in his life. As I stared at my computer screen and broke the news to him, it seemed cruel and unfair. Yet, being his creator, I was confident that he’d eventually discover realms of trust and faith and love he might not have known otherwise. Similarly, I believe that God knows our limits far better than we do, and the utter goodness of His heart for us overwhelms our limitations, our fears and our brokenness.

  It is my hope that you will feel God’s absolute love and enduring presence with you each step of your journey. And that, like Aaron and Hope, you will make amazing discoveries about yourself and God along the way.

  Thank you so much for taking the time to read Rocky Mountain Proposal. Please check out the first and second books in the Drake brothers series, Rocky Mountain Match and Rocky Mountain Redemption, and watch for the fourth book, Rocky Mountain Homecoming, due out in September. I’d love to hear from you. Visit my website at pamelanissen.com.

  With love,

  Pamela Nissen

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. Desperate to comfort his dying friend, Aaron makes a promise, unaware of the full impact of his words. Have you ever faced a similar situation?

  2. Imminent death has incited many promises and vows through the ages. What do you feel is the best way to honor such a promise?

  3. Hope faces a very difficult situation when she arrives in Boulder. How would you have reacted, given the same scenario?

  4. Aaron feels he will dishonor his marriage vows if he bends to the call of his heart. Do you feel his struggle is warranted? Have you ever walked through a similar situation?

  5. Hope’s stubbornness and pride are both her virtue and her vice. Have you ever dealt with a monumental task in the same way? If so, did you find your breaking point?

  6. Jane’s outright antagonism is a constant source of frustration for Hope. Have you ever dealt with someone like Jane? If so, did you find your breaking point?

  7. Aaron’s refusal to deal with the things that remind him of Ellie is a natural response. Have you had to walk through the pain of such loss, and if so, how did you respond?

  8. As Aaron succumbs to the desire of his heart and experiences the full measure of his attraction to Hope, he experiences guilt’s heavy weight. Do you believe his guilt is warranted?

  9. Aaron’s faith is shaken by the loss of his wife. How would you help him? What would you say? Do?

  10. Hope’s desire to feel “chosen” seems to be a re
curring theme in her life. Do you remember a time when you struggled through something similar? How did you overcome?

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-0257-3

  ROCKY MOUNTAIN PROPOSAL

  Copyright © 2011 by Pamela Nissen

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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