CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
TALON
It’s been two weeks since Bailey told me she loves me. It’s been two weeks since I finally felt like my life is full and meaningful. I was never one to pity my life. My life has been blessed beyond reasonable means and for that I am thankful. However, the second I learned who Bailey was, I realized that my blessed life was missing a piece. Bailey is the piece I didn’t know I needed until she became my very reason for breathing.
Thankfully, it only took a couple days of sedation for Bailey’s dad, Paul, to heal from his surgery and infection enough to be discharged. When he woke he looked right at me and said “Who the heck are you?” Then looked at Bailey and asked, “How long have I been asleep?”
The only semi-ok thing about Hollister is that because he was such a prick I don’t have too much to prove to Paul. He instantly liked me once Cheyenne told him I flew out because I was worried about Bailey. Then Bailey explained that I was in fact her boyfriend and I received a, “Welcome to the family,” along with a handshake from her dad.
Today we are preparing for a bbq and small get-together before Bailey and I fly back home. Blaine, Garrett, Tucker, and I are in charge of getting the tables and chairs set up while the girls and Paul get the food ready. Daniel is on kid duty.
Just as I finish setting up the last table with Blaine, I look up and see Bailey coming towards us from the house. Her hair is down and flowing on her shoulders in soft waves. She’s wearing a pale pink sundress with her brown cowboy boots. She looks stunning.
I feel an elbow nudge me in my side so I grudgingly take my eyes off Bailey and look at Blaine. He’s standing there with a goofy smile on his face watching me staring at Bailey.
“Are you alright there, buddy?” Blaine asks as he laughs at me.
“Yeah, I'm great. She’s pretty perfect, right?” I ask him, not really needing confirmation though.
“Yes, she is Talon. Yes, she is.” He walks off just before Bailey reaches me.
I pull her to me, wrap her arms around my waist and just stare down into her eyes. She doesn’t need anything to be said at this moment. Neither do I. I know she’s happy and I know that I am over the freaking moon happy and I just want to hold her for a minute. And she lets me.
“Will you come out to my tree with me? I'm all finished in the kitchen and we have some time before everyone else shows up.”
“Of course.”
****
Once we get there I help her down and hold her hand as we walk over to her favorite tree. The tree that she and her mom would always choose for picnics. I sit and extend my legs. Bailey sits down between them and rests her head on my chest. She looks up through the branches of the big old tree as I run my fingers through her hair with one hand and lean back on the other.
“Do you think you will ever move away from New York?”
“I'm not sure. I’ve always imagined myself staying there forever. Can't say I'm opposed to the idea though.” I'm not sure where she’s going with this conversation but it looks like I may get an opening to see where she really stands on marriage.
“I know you have your business there, and that’s where all of your family is, so it would probably be more like a retirement thing, right?” She’s fishing.
“Not necessarily. Where’s this coming from? Do you want to move back here, love?” Bailey doesn’t answer right away. She takes a deep breath before spinning around and crawling up on my lap to straddle me. After planting a sweet kiss on my lips, she looks down and starts fidgeting with my shirt before responding.
“Tell me something else… do you think we’ll get married one day?” she asks so softly I almost don’t hear her. But I do. I hear her loud and clear. If I had a ring in my pocket I would be asking her to be my wife right this very moment.
“Do you remember our discussion on the dance floor at Delaney’s the night I found out that you could finally be mine?”
“Yes. I remember, but we were just excited to have each other.”
“Yes, I was excited to have you in my arms Bailey, but that’s not why I said what I did. I said I was going to be your husband one day. I meant that. I still mean that. We
will
get married love. I'm ready; I'm just waiting on you to catch up.”
Bailey looks so happy, so relaxed and refreshed. I want to capture this moment in a bottle and label it
Top of my list of favorite times.
She’s kissing me again, this time she’s pouring her passion for our future together into our kiss. Her hands are tangled in my hair and her body is pressing against mine with the suggestion of us lying down in the wild flowers and weeds. Once I lie back she slides off me and cuddles up along my side with her head on my chest.
We have lounged out here many times in the two weeks that I’ve been here. She’s told me a majority of the stories of her childhood. Some of the conversations she had with her mom in this very spot. She’s hinted towards not wanting to leave here but she’s never come out and said it to me. I figure this is a topic that she’s going to have to make a decision on and then discuss it with me so I don’t push her on it.
“What about babies?” Baileys asks as she allows her fingers to trail across the front of my t-shirt.
“What about them?” I can’t help but smile at the wicked thoughts crossing my mind.
“Do you want them some day? Have you ever thought about it?”
“Yes and yes. I have thought about it. A lot actually and I do want them. How about you?” I'm surprised none of this has ever come up. We have put so much time into this whole communication thing, I thought that we had literally covered every topic available. Apparently I was wrong. I guess I just assumed we were on the same page with all of this.
“Yeah, I want to be a mom. And I can see you as being a great dad, so that’s all settled then. Moving on!” She laughs out loud and it's so beautiful. She turned a pretty important discussion into a laughing matter. Very typical of her. “Do you think after we’re married and we have our 2.5 kids that maybe we can buy a vacation home or something out here? I mean I know Gilroy, California isn’t really an ideal vacation spot, but at least it would make it easier to get out here to see my family.”
I sit up and rest my head on my hand so I can look down into Bailey’s eyes. “Baby, moving out here is always up for discussion. It doesn’t have to be off the table, ever. And if you want to have our own place out here then that’s what we’ll do. Just say the word and I'm on it.”
Bailey is smiling a soft smile and tears are welling up in her eyes as she leans forward and lets her lips linger on mine. “I love you more than you will ever know,” she whispers across my lips. But I don’t think she realizes just how much I love her and what exactly she has done and continues to do to me.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
BAILEY
The sun is pouring in through the windows and I can already tell it’s going to be hot out. I reach over with my right hand to feel for Talon while I keep my left arm folded over my eyes. Instead of feeling my man, I find a piece of paper on his pillow. I rub my eyes clear and sit up to read the note.
To my beautiful Bailey,
Please do me a favor and play by the rules. I laid out some clothes for you to wear today for our adventure, no arguments, just wear them. Please. After you get dressed, go on downstairs, there’s a fresh pot of coffee and a travel mug. The golf cart is waiting at the bottom of the porch steps for you. Ride over to the barn for your first step in the adventure.
I Love you baby, and I look forward to a beautiful day with you.
Well, this should be fun. I look to the foot of the bed and find a white sundress with my brown boots, panties, but no bra.
He couldn’t have planned that part, right? I mean, white with no bra?
I start to get dressed when I notice he stuffed the bra in my boot, he was being funny.
I brush my teeth and hair and do my makeup. Since he wants me in a dress I guess I should look the whole part. I go downstairs expecting a houseful. We are having a bbq after church tomorrow and I assumed Shy, Daniel, and the boys would be here preparing for the feast; but there is nobody here. Everyone is gone and it is extremely quiet. I grab the travel mug and notice another note on the coffee pot.
I can’t wait to see you in that dress baby.
Wow. He is really going all out with this. He has done special things for me from day one. He loves surprises and I love that about him, this one in particular seems to be the most creative of them all.
When I scoot onto the driver’s seat of the cart, I see a small vase of handpicked wild flowers in the cup holder. I know exactly where these came from too. They only grow in the spot under the oak trees where my mom and I would always go to have picnics alone. Every couple of days, she would do something with just me and the other days with just Shy. Shy usually wanted to go shopping or out to eat but I always wanted to go to “our” spot. There are tons of really old oak trees clustered together and we would lie out on the blanket and look up at the sky through the tree branches and try to make out animals in the clouds. I told Talon and showed him the spot a while back and I know that’s why he picked these flowers in particular.
I arrive at the barn and go inside, not real sure what I’m supposed to be looking at or for. As soon as my eyes adjust to the darkness of the barn I notice Garret walking towards me.
“Hey Garret!” I say, smiling at him. He smiles back just as big but doesn’t say a word, instead he hands me another note.
Love,
Garret will not, under any circumstances speak a word to you, so don’t try.
You told me once that you loved the smell of the barn, that it represented your childhood. I want you to conjure up those happy memories for me right now. Also, I saw this a couple months ago and knew that it belonged to you; I hope you love it as much as I do. Our past is special because it brought us to our present. Our present is special because we have each other and are planning our future. Our future is especially special because no matter what comes our way at the end of the day; it’s me and you love.
I love you.
Ever since I found Talon, my tear ducts came back in full force and they refuse to stop. I wipe away the few tears that spill over because he is just so freaking amazing. I look to Garret who I imagine is uncomfortable at this situation, but when my tear filled eyes meet his he is all smiles. Garret extends his hand with a black box and flips open the lid.
My hand automatically lifts to cover my mouth which is agape and I reach out with my other hand to touch the platinum necklace. It has three different sized diamonds that represent past, present and future. They may be different sizes but they’re all massive. It’s absolutely stunning. Garret clasps the necklace around my neck. I reach up and hug him before he hands me another note and walks out the back of the barn.
Please go over to the pond.
So I do as I am told and on the way over I try to figure out what he’s doing all of this for. It seems too elaborate for a simple day of adventure, but this
is
Talon we’re talking about. He does nothing less than amazing.
I pull up to the pond and see Tucker. Tucker is smiling as big as Garret had been.
“I’m guessing you’re not allowed to speak to me either?” He just shakes his head one time and hands me another note.
To My Gorgeous Bay
,
When you told me that this is the place you came to think, I knew it was special to you. I can see you sunbathing out here and relaxing or listening to Tucker play his guitar. I can also see where you learned of your love for whiskey. This place is a part of you and I couldn’t think of a more appropriate spot than this to give you your next surprise.
Tucker holds out another box in the same way that Garret did and opens the top to show a pair of diamond stud earrings.
This is getting ridiculous!
I think to myself since Tucker won’t respond anyway. The diamonds are sparkling like glitter, they are incredible. I take them out and put them in my ears, feeling the weight of them tugging on my lobes.
I kiss Tucker on the cheek and thank him before he hands me another note.
Next stop is the horse pasture.
Blaine is sitting on the fence when I pull up. He is the most excited to see me. He doesn’t say a word either, but he jumps off the fence and runs to me before picking me up and spinning me. He kisses me on the cheek then sets me back down. He hands me a note.
My love,
This pasture holds a lot of firsts for you and helped make you the person you are today. I will never look out here and just see horses. I will see a little Bailey learning to ride. I will see where you fell off your horse for the first and last time. I will see where you shoveled horse manure as a punishment when you woke up with a hangover on your seventeenth birthday. Haha! That one is still my favorite. When I look at this pasture I will see remnants of a past of the love of my life.
Once again the tears fall freely. Blaine scoops me up into a hug and holds me for a minute while I get the rest of the tears out. He pulls back and holds out a long black box and flips it open. It’s a tennis bracelet. And like the past two gifts, these diamonds glitter in the sun. There are so many diamonds on it that it’s almost blinding.
“This has to be the world’s most expensive daytime adventure,” I say to Blaine as I sniffle and he just laughs. He silently clasps the gorgeous and very heavy bracelet around my left wrist.
“So where to now?” I ask Blaine and he hands me a note.
Bailey,
You are now heading to the last stop of the adventure and I will be seeing you soon. I know this next spot is extremely important to you so I had to make it your final stop. Please go to your spot under the oak trees. I love you more than words or even diamonds could ever express, but I’ll never stop the effort of proving it to you. I promise.
I don’t want to put too much hope into this but I can only come up with one reason why he would have gone to all of this trouble today, and now I’m getting shaky. I’m not scared or nervous, just super excited.
Blaine hugs and kisses me one more time before he runs and jumps on his gator and takes off. I walk back to my cart and head over to the trees. I have folded all of his notes to me and stuck them in the cubby on the front dash, now I’m happy I did that, because it’s looking like this day is going to go down in the books!
The oak trees are all the way on the back side of the property and with me being in a golf cart instead of a gator it’s going to take several minutes before I get there.
I take the time to think about my life with Talon. I never thought I would ever love someone so passionately. I literally feel like I wouldn’t be able to breathe if he were taken from me. The thought alone freaks me out. He has replaced Drea as my best friend, although I would never tell her that. He is my rock to cling to throughout the storms of life. Talon makes me a type of happy I didn’t realize existed before him.
My thoughts are broken up as I see everyone standing in my spot underneath my trees. They are all here.
My dad, Cheyenne, Daniel, and their kids. Blaine, Garret, Tucker, and their parents. Drea, Kali, Hunter, Alan, and Talon’s parents. Even Declan made it.
This is really happening!
I slowly walk out to where they are standing and all of the women are silently shedding tears as they smile at me. They are all dressed so nice, too nice to be out in the middle of nowhere. I still feel overdressed though now that I am drenched in large diamonds.
Everyone is looking at me but no one is saying a word to me. They are all in a semi-circle. When I look down to see what they are surrounding I almost lose my ability to breathe. It’s the blanket my mom would pack for our picnic and the picnic basket sitting it in the corner. Now I’m practically bawling like a baby. When I lift I my eyes I see the world’s most beautiful man walking towards me.
Talon comes all the way up to me and holds me tight in his arms. He rubs my back and I begin to calm down a bit.
“I see you received your gifts,” he whispers in my ear.
I nod my head. “It’s too much baby; you didn’t need to do this.”
“You deserve every bit and more. You may as well get used to it because I will never stop showering you with beautiful things, my love.” He kisses me so softly and gently before wiping away the tears on my cheeks. “Come with me.”
Talon guides me over to the blanket and stands me where I’m facing our family and friends. I offer them a quick smile but my sight goes immediately back to Talon when I see him getting down on one knee.
My hands are shaking terribly as he reaches for my left hand. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself. Talon is as cool as a cucumber and laughs at my miserable attempt to calm down.
He kisses my hand before he starts with his lovely words. “Bailey.” His smile could heal any illness all on its own. “I knew the second you crashed into me that I belonged to you. I never knew that my heart was missing a piece until you told me you loved me, but the instant those words hit my ears, that missing piece was filled and I have never been happier.” I don’t know if it’s proper etiquette to interrupt during a proposal or not but I can’t stand here without kissing him any longer. So I lean down and give him a soft sensual kiss before standing back where he put me. He laughs again along with everyone else standing around us. “You will forever be my number one priority in life. I promise to always keep our relationship new and exciting and never go a day without ensuring you know how deep my love is for you. Baby, you are my everything, my world; and I will love you for all of eternity. Bailey Hayes, will you please marry me so I can call you my wife for the rest of the days of forever?”
Never, in all my life, have I been so overwhelmed and overjoyed. I want to jump up and down, so I sort of do. My feet never really leave the ground but I bounce up and down like a little girl and I don’t care one bit. The man who owns my heart just asked me to marry him and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. “YES!! Yes, I will marry you and be your wife forever, Talon McAllister!”
Everyone is clapping, laughing, crying, and congratulating us as Talon slips yet another diamond onto my ring finger. The boy apparently loves diamonds and he is amazing at picking them out. This ring is unbelievable and it is mine to wear every single day for the rest of my life.
We walk first to my dad and he hugs us both while the tears of my big strong cowboy of a father stream down his face. He passes us off to my sister, and then we just go around the circle and hug and kiss and thank all of the most important people in our lives. When we reach the end of the semi-circle everyone starts heading to my dad’s house and Talon jumps in the driver’s seat of one of the gators after loading up the quilt and picnic basket.
“I have one more surprise for you my wife to-be.”
I gasp in shock, because seriously, what else on God’s green earth could he surprise me with now? “You’re kidding, right? Babe, if you put one more diamond on me my legs won’t be strong enough to hold me up!”
Talon laughs and grabs my hand to kiss the finger that is newly adorned with my
engagement
ring! “No more diamonds, not today anyway. This surprise is something entirely different. In fact we should probably get your blindfold on now.” My emotions must have played out perfectly across my face because Talon laughs hard then tells me I still have to play by his rules.
Fair enough.
I wrap the silk blindfold around my face and secure it against my eyes. Talon picks up my hand again as soon as I drop them back in my lap. Approximately five more minutes and I imagine we have to be at the edge of my dad’s pro
perty when Talon parks the golf-cart and tugs my hand to pull me off the seat. Once he has me standing steadily I can feel his hot breath against my lips before I feel his lips actually touch mine.