Angel Falling (Falling #1)(86)

Gripping her hand over the table, I tugged it and forced her to look at me. “You’re killin’ me, Angel. Are you sick?”

“Nothing that won’t go away after six or seven months,” she said.

“Do you need surgery on something?” My mind was scrambling around, trying to connect the dots, figure out what could possibly need that amount of healing. Hell, even my shoulder was healed up after three months for the most part. “I’m not following.”


“I’m nervous, Stud. Give me a minute.” Nervous Aspen was a new thing. This was not a side to her I’d seen often. She was sitting across from me acting shy, and she looked pale and uncertain. Even her eyes didn’t hold the same fire. I couldn’t imagine what was making her act this way, but I was scared shitless to find out.

A small smile was on her lips and that tiny little quirk of her lips acted like a balm on my own nerves. She took a deep breath and started again. “Since we’ve been together, you’ve made it clear that there were a couple things that would make you the happiest man on earth. Do you remember what you said those were?”

I had no idea where she was going with this, but she bit down on her lip and reached into her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and the coveted blue velvet box I hadn’t seen in almost three months. My heart started beating so hard in my chest I thought that it was possible to hear it thumping across the room.

“Angel,” I whispered.

“Look inside,” she smiled. I grabbed the box and opened it. Inside were two rings. One was a huge square diamond with three circle diamonds hugging the square on each side. I pulled it out and inspected it. It was obviously for her. She smiled when I slipped it on the edge of my pinky finger to examine it. “Pretty nice.” I smiled and she nodded.

The other ring was a band with the whitest gold I’d ever seen. Running through the inside was a raised rope of metal, like one we’d use on roping our cattle back home. “So, does this mean you’re asking me to marry ya?”

Her smile fell and she slowly pushed a small piece of paper across the table. Her finger held whatever it was face-down. After what seemed like forever, her gaze lifted to mine and what I saw there broke me. She had huge tears in her eyes, but wasn’t letting them fall.

“That depends, Hank. If you still want to marry me after you see what’s on the other side of this piece of paper. The deal is, you ask me and in turn, I will ask you.”

I feared the little square of paper, but whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Even if she had a terminal illness and I only had one more day with her, there would have been nothin’ I wanted more than to marry my Angel. Her hand was chilled as I covered it with my larger one. “Angel, I will marry you no matter what. There is nothing I want more in life than to be with you. Forever.”

“Look at it, Hank. Please. ” Her lip quivered, a tear fell, and I turned over the piece of paper. It was black and white and showed a white grainy blob in the center of a dark circle. Like someone had tried to erase black ink off a piece of paper and pressed too hard and got a hazy white smudge for their effort. Aspen’s name was on the top left hand, her doctor’s information on the other side.

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. “What am I lookin’ at, darlin’?”

“That’s a picture of our baby.” My eyes shot to hers. Huge tears poured down the sides of her face. Her lips trembled and she licked them. I wanted to kiss them, hug her, laugh with joy and scream. I did none of that. The only thing I could do was stare at the perfect little blob in the grainy image. My child. Our baby.

“Angel, I … I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you want to marry me,” she urged, and I could tell that she was scared this news would make me not want her. God only knew what was going on in that head of hers, but nothing could be further from the truth.

“I want to marry you.” I said with as much conviction as my emotions would allow. My voice was strained but loud enough for her to hear.

“Say you’ll marry me,” she asked and clutched my hand with hers.

“I’ll marry you.”

“Okay,” she whispered with a tentative smile.

“Okay, when?” I asked, gripping her lovely hands to mine, waiting for the moment when I could kiss her.

“I don’t know?” She was beautiful when she was confused. She was always beautiful.

“Tomorrow?” My smile must have reached my ears because she stood up.

“No. Soon though.” She laughed lightly.

“Okay. Can I kiss you now?”

Her smile melted my heart. I stood and pulled her out of her chair. My hands cupped her face. “You’ve made me happier than I ever dreamed. Thank you.”

And I kissed her. I kissed her as if I’d never get the chance again. I kissed her as though the world was ending when it had only truly just begun. Our worlds were colliding in the best possible way. I’d always remember the day that my Angel fell into my arms. The day she agreed to become my wife. The day she told me I was going to be a father.


“How pregnant are we?” I asked, cupping my hand over her belly. If I focused really hard I imagined I could barely feel an outline of a little something growing there. My baby.

“We’re about nine weeks. I didn’t even realize I’d missed my cycle last month completely. With all the work and … ” I put my fingers over her lips.