Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 46257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
I point it out to her. How else will she know which is mine?
Which one is ours, I mean.
“This is us,” I tell her, pointing down into the valley.
She gasps audibly, but she’s not fooling around this time.
She genuinely likes it, I can tell.
I felt the same when I first saw it from a distance.
“Oh, Ash!” she squeals when we get closer. I slow to a stop, about to let myself out to open the gates.
“It’s just beautiful,” Bridget beams, looking over everything she can see, even the old homestead.
“It sure is,” I say, not taking my eyes off Bridget. “It sure is….”
It’s all the more beautiful now that she’s here too. And I remind myself I have done a fair amount of work on the place already.
If it wasn’t for work, I probably would live up here.
Clean air, nothing but grass and trees for miles around. And my nearest neighbor is in the next state.
I guess I always tell myself it’s never going to be finished because I’ve never had a real reason to see it done.
Not until just now.
Seeing Bridget’s reaction and the way she’s hurrying me up to get in so we can drive the quarter-mile to the house. I know she’s in love with it.
I know I did a good thing with my choice all those years ago to buy the place.
All her questions are coming at me now, even though she’ll see it all for herself in a few minutes.
But god, I’m the happiest man alive right now.
I’ve flipped my opinion on this place altogether, seeing her light up the way she has with us here, like I know she is.
Like I am too.
Parking right out front, I tell her to stay put, which has her furrow her brow until she figures me out.
I hurry around to her side, and lifting her out, I carry her up the steps to the porch, keeping her in one arm as I find the key to let us both in.
My instincts tell me to toss her over my shoulder. March her straight to the bedroom upstairs and give her what we both need, but I can see Bridget does like the more traditional approach.
She makes a joke about me putting a ring on her finger, which makes us both blush as I stare into her eyes.
See? She’s thinking exactly the same things, Ash. She’s the one. You know she is.
“You wanna see the place?” I ask, “Well. We’re here.” I say, feeling prouder of myself than I ever could.
That's for sure, feeling more of a rush than dragging someone from a burning wreck. Because nobody’s in danger anymore, that’s how Bridget makes me feel. Like she was the one person I had to rescue to make me see that I’ve really been trying to rescue myself from an empty house all my life.
A house she’s made brighter and more perfect than anything just from being in it with me.
“Home,” Bridget whispers, and I kiss her so deep and long that I almost forget I’m still holding her in my arms.
My mind and my body want the bedroom. My heart wants hers pounding against it as she calls my name as I fill her with a family.
But we know that’s coming. First, I know I have to show her around.
“Tonight,” Bridget rasps in that husky tone that makes me moan every time she does it.
“Tonight,” I echo back to her, kissing her again. Squeezing her hard, knowing that even if I had pre-planned all this, it could never be as perfect as it is now.
It could never be as perfect as her.
I move to set her down so we can take a tour. But Bridget grips my jacket tight, “Can you carry me?” she mews. “I like it when you carry me…I feel…safe,” she reasons.
And I have no problems with that idea.
“I thought that might be too over the top,” I murmur, smiling to myself.
“Nothing’s over the top with you, Ash. But if you can stand my weight…,” she says, and I feel my smiling face frown.
“Bridget, I really want you to stop about your weight, okay?” I tell her firmly. “I weigh ten of you, and you don’t see me putting myself down over it.”
She looks wounded, but I’m quick to explain what I mean, walking us into the living area as I talk.
“Being a big guy in a world built for smaller people isn’t easy. And as far as your weight goes, you and me are a perfect fit. So don’t say anything bad about it. Okay?”
She looks down at my shirt, apologizing.
“I’m not telling you off, Bridget. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Hell, if anything, I could happily see you gain a few pounds,” I tell her.
My grin returns as I picture her barefoot and pregnant.