I hug the terrycloth robe tight around my sore body and listen to the hum of the plane’s engine fade as the Cessna disappears into the morning sky, shuttling another round of tourists out to admire Henry’s Alaska.
I’ll always see all of it—the wilderness, the beauty, the peace—as belonging to him.
“Do you want another coffee, Abbi?” Henry calls from inside.
“I would love one.” I finish off the last of my first cup with a resigned sigh. We’ll be on the helicopter soon, heading for Henry’s private airstrip, and then on the jet, heading back to Manhattan where “real life” awaits us. Whatever that means anymore, because life with Henry is anything but normal. It’s a completely new life for me, full of deep and peculiar friendships, a business venture that is mine—that may actually evolve into something I can’t yet comprehend—and more money than I can even fathom.
Though, none of that is important if Henry isn’t at the helm of it all.
He’s all that’s important, really.
I’m staring out at the water as Henry slips my empty mug from my hand to refill it. I wait patiently, my hand out and ready to accept it back.
Instead of a hot mug, though, I feel something slip over my finger. “Oh my God.” I stare down at my hand in dumbfounded shock, at his grandmother’s engagement ring.
“Marry me,” Henry whispers.
My heart stops for a few beats as I wrap my head around those words. I must have heard that wrong. We’ve only been together a few months. This is Henry Wolf. But then there’s this ring sitting right there, on my finger, staring up at me….
“Marry me, Abbi,” he says again, evenly.
“I… but… why?” I stammer.
“Why?” With a finger under my chin, he lifts my face to meet his gaze. He stares down at me with such earnestness. “Because I trust you like I’ve never trusted anyone else. Because you’re in my thoughts constantly. Because when I was stuck in that mine, getting back to you was the only thing I thought of. Because you know what things—even the most simple things like birthday cakes in a woodstove—will make me happy.” He leans down to press his forehead against mine. “Ever since you stepped into my life, you’ve been in it, for every second of every day. Marry me, Abbi. Let me love you in every way I know how to.”
A rash of butterflies flutter wildly in the pit of my stomach. But…. “Henry, you’ve had a rough few weeks. I mean, your dad died, and then Scott…. And then you almost died, like, two days ago! How do you know you aren’t just caught up in it all?”
He smirks. “Do you think I’d propose to you because I was caught up in it all?”
“No.” Henry may act quickly, but he does it with clear purpose and smart decision-making.
“I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. But I kept playing devil’s advocate, telling myself that I should wait and let things settle down. But if the last few days taught me anything, it’s that I’ve never been more sure of any decision in my life.”
I study the ring on my finger again. It’s polished and gleaming, and even more stunning than it was the first time I saw it.
“Be my wife, Abbi. Share my life, have my babies, let me make you moan every single night until we’re old and—”
“Yes,” I whisper, the pearl and diamonds in the ring blurring beyond the tears now in my eyes. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you.” I don’t need more time to know that I’ll never feel for anyone how I feel for Henry. I was ready to throw myself off this porch when I thought I’d lost him.
Henry’s throat bobs with his hard swallow. “You know by now that I’m not a traditional man, but if you want me to get down on one knee—”
“No. You’re not.” I smile up at him. “And you’re turning me into a very untraditional woman. But I prefer you just like this.” My hot-blooded, foul-mouthed, depraved man who knows how to make me feel like no one else.
Who has shown me a kind of love that I can’t live without.
He lifts my hand to kiss my knuckle, just below the ring.
“It fits perfectly.” Almost as if it was made for me.
“I know.” Henry smirks. “I slipped it on while you were sleeping one night to test it out, and then had it resized a touch smaller.”
“You did not!” Now my eyes widen with surprise, earning his chuckle.
“I told you. This isn’t a whim.” He leans down to press his lips against mine. From his pocket, his phone begins ringing. “That’s got to be Jack. He texted me earlier. We need to be in the air by nine to avoid a storm coming through south of here. I’m sorry. I don’t want to rush us.”
I lean into his firm body, inhaling his intoxicating scent. “It’s okay. We can celebrate on the plane.”
“Not the way I had in mind.”
As sore as my body is from last night, it immediately begins aching with need at his words.
He groans. “Don’t look at me like that, Abbi. You’ll drive me to bend you over and fuck you right here, standing in the cold. I don’t want to defile you like that five minutes after I’ve proposed.”
“Maybe next time then?” I whisper teasingly.
His arms rope around me, squeezing me tight. “Definitely next time.”
I let my eyes drift over the dark blue waters below. “Will we be back this year?”
His gaze follows mine. “I guess it depends on when the wedding is, and how fast we have to move on planning it. This is where you want it, right?”
A fresh wave of tears blurs my visions. “Yes.” Of course he remembered.
“Then this is where we’ll have it.” He pauses. “You should probably call your parents and let them know, before news leaks.”
“That can wait until we’re back in New York,” I mutter as my anxiety stirs with that notion. She may have been willing to pray for Henry’s safe return, but how willing will she be to accept him becoming a part of our family?
“It’s better she hears it from you than someone else,” Henry warns. Something that could very well happen, especially given the media attention on him and Wolf Hotels right now, with the recent deaths and the mine collapse.
“I know,” I say reluctantly, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I just don’t want to give her the opportunity to knock me off this cloud I’m on right now.
Henry presses a kiss against my temple. “Remind her what this means for getting grandchildren. That should help sway her.”
My chest swells. “She’ll drive us nuts, asking.”
He chuckles. “And I’ll thoroughly enjoy the process of trying for them.”
I watch Henry’s retreating back as he disappears into the cabin, wondering what those arms will look like cradling a baby in them. Our baby. Just the thought has my body priming itself for him.
My phone begins ringing in my hand. I look down to see Mama’s name pop up, and my eyes widen, afraid for a split second that she’s somehow already heard. With a resigned sigh, I answer.
“Abigail! Why haven’t you responded to me?”
I sent her a quick text after Henry arrived back, safe, but haven’t answered the dozen texts that followed. “I’m sorry. Things have been crazy since Henry came home. We slept for, like, fourteen hours straight.”
“That’s okay. All that matters is you’re all okay.”
I swallow my nervousness as I study the ring on my hand and the promise it holds. A life with Henry.
“I’m okay. I’m better than okay.”
“What did I tell you? God would deliver, and He has. The Reverend had the whole of Greenbank praying, all day and night. I truly believe that’s what made the difference, Abigail. I really do. What about the man who was badly hurt?”
“He had a badly broken leg but he’s going to be okay.”
“That must have been something, getting him out of there.”
I smile. “Henry carried him through the tunnel to another shaft. It was a long way.”
“Well, I hope they think twice before going back down. What were they doing down there, anyway? The mine isn’t even operational! They were doing exploratory work? For what?”
The news outlets have clearly been thorough in their digging, and Mama has been as eager as ever to get all the information she can.
“It’s a long story, but he’s not going back into that mine. He’s having it sealed off.”
“Good. Well, we’re all just so happy that they were able to get them out of there in one piece. When are you coming home? And I hope you’ll bring Henry with you this time.”
“You do?” I can’t keep the shock from my voice.
“Now, Abigail, I know we got off to a rocky start, but the Reverend has been helping me see that there is good in him, beyond all those expensive suits and that murderous brother.”
I turn back to find Henry leaning against the doorframe, arms folded over his chest, watching me expectantly. “Yes. There’s definitely good in him.” And a lot of what she’d consider sinfully bad, that I love equally.
I smile.
My future husband.
The father of my children.
The indomitable Henry Wolf is mine.
I bite my lip with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. “I’m really glad to hear you saying this, Mama. Because I have some exciting news.”
