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Her arms were folded, her painted fingernails tapping her arms as she surveyed the group.

“You know where Charlie went?”

“Inside, I think. She said she wanted to make sure there was enough space for everyone to be in the kitchen. If not, we might be moving to the barn.” She wrinkled her nose, then laughed. “I should have known better than to assume my cousins weren’t the hicks my siblings made them out to be.”

He gave her a funny look just as he got pelted by another drop of rain. “Thanks.” Ash made it to the kitchen door just as the rain started coming down in sheets. Squeals of surprise and laughter erupted as people rushed past him. He barely made it to the side of the doorway before he was crushed by their stampede.

Charlie laughed, and his head swiveled to find her smiling at him from where she stood a few feet away. The whole room was filled to the brim with the Keagans and their growing family as they overflowed into the living room.

He moved toward Charlie and took her hand in his. “Follow me,” he whispered.

“What? Ash! It’s pouring out there,” she blurted as he tugged her toward the still-open doorway.

“Humor me!” He laughed. “Just this once, humor me.”

Her eyes sparkled as he pulled her out into the pouring rain. She flinched at first, then turned her face up to the sky and let out a strangled laugh before lowering her gaze to him. “You’re crazy.”

He shook his head, not bothering to tell her he was simply in love. Around to the side of the house, he continued to tug on her until he pulled her under the roof’s awning and toward his body. She shivered, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Do you know what day it is today?”

She smirked. “May tenth.”

Ash nodded. “Seven years ago. On this very night, you and I stood out in the rain.”

Charlie blinked, the amusement in her eyes sobering. “Ash…” she whispered breathlessly. “You’re not serious.”

“I would never forget, Charlie.”

She stared at him, wonder in her expression. “You remembered the actual date?”

He nodded. “I remember everything about that night. The way you looked. The way you smelled. How angry I was at myself for what I’d done. And how terrified I was that I’d ruined your life. I thought for sure I’d be a dead man walking if you?—”

Charlie placed a finger to his lips. “None of that. Regrets can live in the past as far as I’m concerned.”

Ash stared at her, amazed by every aspect of her. “I told you then, and I’ll say it again. You’re perfect. You were perfect the way you were then, and you are today.”

She snickered. “And yet I’ve changed.”

“And I still love you.”

Her hand pressed to his cheek. “I love you, too.”

“And I still want to marry you.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I’m ready when you are.” It was something she’d said to him a lot over the last couple of months. Ever since New Year’s Eve, she’d teased him about them gettingmarried and officially starting their life together. Only tonight, he wanted to make it official.

Slowly, he lowered himself to his knee. Her eyes widened. “Ash,” she blurted, “what are you?—”

“Charlotte Diane Keagan, I’ve known I wanted to marry you since I came back to Copper Creek just over a year ago. I knew I wanted to share my life with you long before then. Don’t make me wait any longer. Be mine.” He pulled a ring from his pocket; one he’d purchased last fall after they’d gotten back together. Ash lifted it upward, and Charlie gasped. “Be mine, forever, please?” he repeated.

She nodded, her hands covering her mouth as a happy sob escaped her lips. When she lowered her left hand toward him, he slid the ring on her finger. She only glanced at it for a second before she threw herself into his arms, her momentum causing them to stumble back into the downpour. Charlie’s lips crashed against his, and they sealed their promise in the rain.