Nate(106)

He laughed into the mic. “Maybe, but as everyone here knows, life completely turned everything upside down for me after that day, and it’s made me not only a better man but also a better everything. Better person. Better father.” He winked. “I fell in love with you, and I just became a better man. Happier man. You and I have been through so much, and I know we’ll have ups and downs. That’s just a part of life, but the night I told you that I loved you, I asked you to unofficially marry me. There was no dating between us, no deciding if we wanted to be in each other’s lives or not. We just were, and thank God for that. Thank God for a lot of things. But I knew that night… well, I knew long before that night, but I was still learning this science called communication, and that night I told you that I wanted you to be my partner for the rest of our lives.”

I was crying.

I couldn’t stop the tears.

My heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest.

All the nerves Nate had before were now in me. My stomach was doing butterfly flips and pirouettes over and over again. It wasn’t stopping.

“I told you I’d ask you officially later, and well, today’s that day. I hope that’s all right?” He didn’t wait before going to one knee. He looked up at me, pulling out a ring and holding it toward me. “Will you, Quincey Royas, be my wife and become Quincey Monson?”

There was a roar from the crowd, but they ceased to exist for me.

I couldn’t move.

I opened my mouth, my tears cascading down my face, and then I whispered, “Yes. Oh my God, yes.”

“Yeah?”

I nodded, my emotion fully choking me.

I’d been content with Nate, with Nova, with my family. But now, I was elated.

“Oh, thank God.” The mic caught that last bit as Nate stood, sliding the ring onto my finger, and then picking me up and spinning me around. There were laughter and more cheers after that, but it was all a blur to me.

It was compounded by everything and everyone, and I had no words for a moment.

Finally, I just wrapped my arms around Nate and said, “Thank you for loving me.”

He pulled back, searching my eyes, and a deeper look came over him. “Thank you for loving me.”

I smiled, and his eyes darkened again before his mouth found mine.

Nova didn’t want to leave the cow, so we went to her. The crowd went with us, which Nova was annoyed because she literally only wanted to be with the cow. We didn’t care.

There were hugs, kisses, congratulations.

A line formed, coming up to us, and there were more hugs. So many hugs. I was hugged out by the end of the night. When we shared what happened with Nova later that night, she nodded, a very serious look coming over her. Then she stood, hugged both of us one by one, and asked, perched on our laps. “Milly told me that she’d like us to rescue her.”

It took a second before the dots connected.

Milly was the cow, and Milly seemed happy, but Mason and Sam rescued their dog, so Nova thought every animal needed rescuing.

Nate said, “We’re going to have to move to a farm.”

Nova’s eyes got big. “REALLY?!”

I gave him a look. “Now she thinks us getting married means we’re moving to a farm.”

He grinned at me. “Maybe we could get married on a farm?”

I laughed because maybe we could.





*



Six months later, we got married on a farm.

Nova put in a request to “rescue” some ducks, too.





*



One year later, Valerie Stephanie Monson was born.

A year after that, Lilac Aspen Monson was born.





*



If you enjoyed Nate’s story, please leave a review!

They truly help so much.

For more reading, check out the rest of my books.

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Acknowledgments





Oh man! I have so many to thank. My editors, proofreaders! You guys are all so amazing and flexible, very very flexible and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To Crystal and Amy — holy goodness thank you to both! You both drop what you’re doing and help me out, and not with simple things. It’s heavy time investments, but you guys do it. You guys are all my team, and yesss. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thank you to Debra Anastasia, Helena Hunting, and Ilsa Madden-Mills. You three are like my cheerleaders when I need to vent or need to get picked up. Without a doubt, all three of you will Skype or call or whatever I need.

Thank you to Kimberly because damn, woman. You’re a rockstar in getting these books out to the rest of the world.

Thank you to ALL OF THE FALLEN CREST READERS! Nate did not talk to me. Like, ever. He was very hard to crack, and I honestly felt like I needed to write Aspen’s book first before his because I didn’t understand myself.

Then I wrote Aspen. And I understood.

I’m an author who really listens to the characters. I let them show me who they are and I’m just as surprised when I peel back their layers as readers are. There’s been a lot of mystery and curiosity about Nate, and once I wrote him, I was like —OH! Now I understand.

Nate and Quincey AND Nova!

Gosh. I hope you guys loved them as much as I did and do.