Julianne swallowed hard. “We agreed we weren’t going to tell them about us.”
“Correction. We agreed not to tell them we were married before. You said nothing about telling him that I was in love with you and wanted his blessing to marry you. No one needs to know it’s round two for us.”
She winced, torn between her curiosity about what was in the box, her elation about his confession of love and how her daddy had taken the news. “What happened?” she asked.
Heath smiled wide, easing her concerns. “He asked me what the hell had taken so long. And then he gave me this.” He opened the hinge on the box to reveal the ring inside.
It couldn’t be. Julianne’s jaw dropped open. The large round diamond, the eight diamonds encircling it, the intricate gold lacework of the dull, worn band... It was her grandmother’s wedding ring. She hadn’t seen this ring since she was a small child and Nanna was still alive.
Heath pulled the ring from the box and held it up to her. “The last ring I gave you was cheap and ugly. This time, I have enough money to buy you any ring you’d like, but I wanted a ring that meant something. Ken told me that they had been saving this ring in the hopes that one day it would be your engagement ring. He knew how much you loved your nanna and thought this would be perfect. I was inclined to agree.
“Julianne Eden, will you marry me again?”
* * *
Heath was kneeling in the snow, freezing and holding his breath. Julianne took far too long to answer. Her expression changed faster than he could follow. At first, she’d stared at that ring like he was holding up a severed head. Then her expression softened and she seemed on the verge of tears. After that, she’d gone stony and silent. Waiting more than a beat or two to answer a question like this was really bad form.
“Yes.”
And then his heart leapt in his chest. “Yes?”
Julianne smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. “Yes, I will marry you again.”
Heath scrambled to slip the ring onto her finger. It flopped around a bit. “I’m sorry it’s too big. We’ll get it sized down as soon as we can get to a jeweler.”
“That’s okay. Nanna was Daddy’s mother and I take after Mama’s side of the family. We’re much tinier people.” She looked down at the ring and her face was nearly beaming. “I love it. It’s more than perfect.”
She lunged forward into his arms, knocking him backward into the snow. Before he knew it, he was lying in the cold fluff and Julianne was on top of him, kissing him. Not so bad, after all. He ignored the cold, focusing on the taste of the lips he’d thought he might never kiss again. That was enough to warm his blood and chase off any chill.
Julianne was going to marry him. That just left telling Molly. Even though he now knew that Julianne had never kept their relationship a secret out of embarrassment, the idea shouldn’t bother him, but he still felt a nervous tremble in his stomach. A part of him was afraid to say the words. “It’s getting dark. Are you ready to head back to the house and tell everyone?”
He expected her to dodge the way she always did, to make some excuse, to say that she wanted to celebrate with just the two of them for now. A part of him would even understand if she wanted to wait until tomorrow after all the drama of the day.
“Absolutely,” she said, smiling down at him. “I’m thrilled to give them some good news for a change.”
Relief flooded through him, and the last barrier to total bliss was gone. They got up and held hands as they walked back through the trees to the house. When they came in together through the back door, Molly was in the kitchen cooking and Ken was in the living room reading a book.
“Mom, do you have a minute?”
Molly nodded, more focused on the boiling of her potatoes than the clasping
of their hands. “Yes, these need to go for a bit longer.”
“Come into the living room,” Heath said, herding her ahead of them to sit down next to Ken by the fireplace.
Heath and Julianne sat opposite them. He was still holding Julianne’s hand for support. She leaned into him, placing her left hand over their clasped ones and inadvertently displaying her ring.
“Mom, Dad...” Heath began.
“What is that?” Molly asked, her eyes glued on Julianne’s hand. “Is that an engagement ring? Wait. Is that Nanna’s ring?” She turned to Ken with an accusatory glare. “You knew about this and you didn’t tell me!”
Ken shrugged. If he got wound up every time Molly did, he would have had twenty heart attacks by now. “He asked for my blessing, so I gave him the ring. That’s what you wanted, didn’t you? Saving the ring for Jules was your idea.”
“Of course it’s what I wanted.” Molly’s emotions seemed to level out as she realized she should be more focused on the fact that Heath and Julianne were engaged. A bright smile lit her face. “My baby is getting married!” She leapt from her chair and gathered Julianne into her arms.
She tugged Heath up from his seat to hug him next. “I didn’t even know you two were seeing each other,” she scolded. “A heads-up would have been nice before you dropped a marriage bomb on me! Lordy, so much news today. Is there anything else you all need to tell us?”
Heath stiffened in her arms. He was never good at lying to Molly, but Julianne was adamant that their prior marriage stay quiet, no matter what. “Isn’t this enough?” he said with a smile.