Page 53 of The Lilac River (Silver Peaks #1)

Marry Me - Train

Lily

W aiting was the worst thing in the world. Especially when it was to find out if the man you hated was finally about to be erased from your life.

"Stop pacing, honey," Mom suggested, gluing a tiny felt beak onto the woolen chick she and Bertie were making. Her tone was light, but I could hear the undercurrent of nerves behind it.

"Yeah, stop pacing, Miss. Lila," Bertie echoed sternly, glancing up at me with her serious, grown-up eyes. "You’re gonna wear the rug out. Just wait. It’s going to be a big surprise."

Grandma chuckled from the recliner she’d claimed in the Millers’ newly furnished living room. “And it’s a nice rug,” she added with a smirk, shifting her knitting needles with a soft click.

It had been six months since Nash, Gunner, and Wilder uncovered everything their father had done.

Six months of rebuilding, healing, and falling deeper in love with Nash Miller every single day.

Days that had passed like chapters, some quiet and sweet, others louder and harder, but all of them had felt like moving forward.

Two months after we got back together, Nash asked me to move in with all the subtlety of a cowboy wrangling a cow.

We’d been clearing up after Thanksgiving dinner at the ranch, the house full of laughter and the smell of pumpkin pie, when he’d said, "I'll follow you home... we’ll need my truck for your stuff."

“My stuff?”

“Unless you want to use my shower gel and shampoo and only have back copies of Rancher Monthly to read forever, then yep, Lila. Your stuff .”

My hands had frozen over a stack of plates. "Are you asking...?"

"Stating not asking,” he replied confidently, hands hanging from his hips. “It’s time to move in. No more nights apart. It’s time to start being a family, baby. You, me and Bertie."

There’d been no hesitation. No second-guessing.

Just love. A love that had only grown with every Sunday dinner spent with Mom and Grandma, every nightfall tucked against Nash’s chest, every laughter-filled morning with Bertie, who, although she still called me 'Miss.

Lila', was stitching herself tighter and tighter into my heart with every passing day.

Of course, it hadn’t been perfect. A tantrum here. A misunderstanding there. A meltdown over a lost glitter glue when I’d cleaned up her room. But we worked through every bump, every stumble, the way a real family did, with honesty, with hugs, with more love than we knew what to do with.

Now, I was pacing because today wasn’t just another day. Today, the boys were at the courthouse, hearing Michael Miller’s sentencing.

"Please sit down, honey," Mom urged gently. "They’ll be home soon."

"Miss. Ella," Bertie asked seriously, looking up from her half-finished chick, "is today when we find out if Grandpa’s been a bad man?"

Mom glanced at me. I nodded subtly. We’d agreed it was better to be honest, after all, this was a small town, and secrets didn’t stay secret for long. And besides, Bertie was no fool. She saw things, heard things. She deserved the truth, wrapped in kindness, but truth, nonetheless.

"Yes, sweetheart," Mom said gently. "Daddy, Uncle Gunner, and Uncle Wilder are finding out Grandpa’s punishment today."

Michael Miller had been found guilty, both for concealing his late wife's will and for criminal negligence with the poisoned creek.

He faced prison time and massive fines, including compensation to all the affected ranchers.

Today was judgement day as we found out how long he had to spend imprisoned for his cheating and lying.

It wouldn’t erase the damage, but it was something. A line in the sand between what had been and what was still to come.

Bertie, wise beyond her years, grinned. "Maybe Grandpa will get kept in at lunch break!"

"I think it'll be a little longer than that, sweetheart," Grandma muttered dryly, not even looking up from her knitting. I smiled despite the nerves rolling through me.

Minutes later, the front door swung open, and the Miller brothers walked in, looking like they belonged on the cover of a Wrangler ad: sun-kissed, broad-shouldered, and grinning like men who’d just wrestled the devil and won.

My heart slammed against my ribs as Nash crossed the room, dropping a kiss on my cheek before bending to press one to Bertie’s head.

"Well?" I blurted, unable to wait a second longer.

"Six years," Nash said, voice low and sure. "Four for hiding Mom’s will. Two for the chemicals. No early release."

A sob of relief caught in my throat and stuck there, trembling behind my smile.

"And," Wilder added, flashing a grin, "he has to repay everything he stole."

"Millions," Gunner crowed, waving two champagne bottles around. "Every damn cent traced to his offshore accounts. Thank God for the forensic accountant who found all the money hidden by Dad’s shady accountant."

“Yeah and the fact the shady dude snitched helped,” Wilder added.

Nash squeezed my hand, his thumb tracing slow, calming circles on my palm.

"It’s over, Lila. Finally."

My breath shuddered out of me, and I leaned into him.

"And there’s more," Gunner said, popping a cork. "We’re expanding the ranch, stables, training facilities, the works. Everything Mom would’ve wanted."

The look on Gunner’s face, part awe, part disbelief, made my heart swell.

But it was Nash’s next move that shocked me. Typical of the man I adored, it was unexpected, confident and without fanfare. And it shattered me into a million blissful pieces.

Clearing his throat, he dropped to one knee. The room seemed to freeze around me. In his hand a small black velvet box that caught the light and held it captive.

"Nash..." I gasped, air evaporating from my lungs.

His eyes locked on mine, steady and sure, his smile soft but filled with the kind of purpose that made time stop.

"Lila," he said, voice thick, a tremble of emotion in every word, "you know I’ve loved you since I was sixteen years old. Through the spring of meeting you, the summers of having you, the fall of losing you and every damn season since. And no matter what we’ve been through, nothing’s changed that. You’re my heart. My home. My forever."

Tears blurred my vision instantly, hot and relentless.

"I want every season that’s left of my life building dreams with you. Growing our family. Loving you with everything I have, every day." He cracked a soft smile. "Will you marry me?"

Was there ever any choice?

"Yes," I sobbed, already half-laughing, half-crying as I flung myself into his arms so hard we almost toppled over onto the floor.

Laughing, Nash caught me easily, sliding the ring onto my finger, a gorgeous square-cut amethyst surrounded by diamonds. Light danced through it like sunlight on the fields that I held so close to my heart.

"It’s the closest thing I could find to lavender," he murmured, pressing a kiss to my knuckles.

"It’s perfect," I whispered, my voice trembling. "You’re perfect."

His mouth crushed to mine, stealing my breath and filling every broken place with something whole and right and good.

A champagne cork popped somewhere behind us. Bertie squealed with joy. The room erupted into laughter and clapping. Life, beautiful, messy, ours, bloomed around us.

"I told you, Miss. Lila," Bertie whispered in my ear, snuggling into my side with a grin so wide it could’ve split the sky. "I told you it was a big surprise. I bet you thought I meant how long Grandpa was being grounded for, didn’t you?"

"I did, sweetheart," I said, voice thick and barely holding back tears.

Then she leaned closer, her breath warm against my cheek, a conspiratorial whisper that wrapped around my heart like a bow.

"Can I call you Momma now? I think it's time."

My heart exploded into a million glittering stars. I looked at Nash who nodded, pride and love shining so fiercely in his eyes I thought I might burst.

"Absolutely," I whispered back. “I’d be honored.”

And I truly would feel it was a privilege to be that little girl’s mother.

How could I not when she was the sunshine that filled all our days?

She filled my heart with warmth and joy and was proof that unconditional love didn’t just come from blood it came from choice, from moments, from hearts shared.

And when she threw her arms around me, calling me 'Momma' for the first time, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had everything I’d ever dreamed of. More than I ever thought I deserved.

Later that night, after everyone had gone home or were asleep, I found myself back out on the porch with my hand curled in Nash’s. The quiet hum of crickets surrounded us. Stars scattered across the velvet sky.

“Lila,” he said softly, “there’s something I need to ask you.”

I giggled. “Well, you asked me to marry you, what else is there?”

“This, which is probably more important.” His voice was thick with emotion as he produced a manila envelope from behind the cushion. “I had these drawn up three weeks ago.”

With trembling fingers, I opened it and instantly tears flooded my eyes. Adoption papers for Roberta Louise Miller.

“Nash,” I whispered, my cheeks wet.

“She’s been yours since the day you walked back into our lives,” he said softly. “Hell, maybe she was always meant to be yours. I want it to be legal, though, Lila. I want you to be her mom in every way that matters.”

“But what if she doesn’t want?—”

“I already asked her,” he told me with that crooked smile I loved so much. “Her exact words were ‘Daddy that would be my wish come true’.”

I didn’t say anything, I just flung myself into his arms, holding on tight to my past, my present and my future. Determined I would be everything to them both. My soulmate and my daughter.

We didn’t talk much after that. Just sat together under the wide Silver Peaks sky, hearts full, futures wide open.

I couldn’t remember the last time the stars looked so close to me. Like if I stood up, I could pluck one down and make a wish on it.

But I didn’t need to.

Because every single wish I’d ever made had already come true.