Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 94119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“I’m happy because of you,” June said. “You told me at the ranch to write you for me, and I did, and you have changed my life—in every single way that matters.” June wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you, Jesse Taylor. So very much.”
“I love you too.”
Those words just didn’t seem adequate enough, so I planned to show her instead.
I lay in the hospital bed; June lay beside me. I stroked her hair, and I felt the nerves build within me. Finally, on a deep breath, I reached into my bedside table and pulled out my sketchpad.
June lifted her head from my chest, clearly wondering what I was doing. “You want to draw?” she asked, and I shook my head.
June frowned.
I placed the sketchpad in front of her. “I want you to look through it.”
She was confused, but when she opened the first page, her confusion morphed into love. “Jesse,” she said, and ran her fingers down the picture of us at the ranch, sitting in our egg chair.
“Keep going,” I said, and June turned the page. It was us smiling and holding our diplomas at the ranch’s graduation. Next was June beside me after my first Longhorns game.
June choked on a sob when she turned to the next picture, which depicted us in this room, me on chemo and June holding my hand, looking up at me like I hung the moon.
“Jesse, what is this?” she asked in awe.
“Us,” I said. “My own version of the story of us. You have your words; I have my sketches.”
“I love it,” she said.
“There’s one more,” I said, my chest squeezing tightly.
June froze when she turned the page. She glanced back up, tears in her eyes, and I’d retrieved the ring from my pocket—her mamaw’s ring, the same one from our love story. Her father had given it to me when I’d asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage.
“Jesse,” June whispered, speechless.
“Marry me, Junebug?” I took her hand in mine, drawing her gaze away from the picture of her left hand wearing this ring too. “Marry me. Tonight, tomorrow, next week, next year, I don’t care. Just say you’ll be mine forever?”
JUNE
Jesse and June’s Happily Ever After
Hopeful, passionate, forest-green eyes waited for me to respond. My heart was fit to burst, to overflow with love. I glanced down at the picture Jesse had drawn. It was of my hand, and on the left ring finger was the ring that was now being offered to me. And I recognized the ring—it had belonged to my mamaw. Which meant Jesse had asked my daddy for permission.
My heart exploded all over again.
“Yes,” I said—there was no other answer to give. I looked at Jesse. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you. In any lifetime, in any love story, I will always choose you.”
Jesse’s responding smile was euphoric. With shaking hands, he lifted the ring from the box and slid it on my finger.
It was a perfect fit.
Jesse kissed me, and I kissed him back with all that I held in my soul. Total adoration. When I pulled back, I laughed and said, “We’re getting married!”
“We’re getting married,” Jesse said, and as I looked at him on the bed, a few weeks away from reclaiming his life…again, I realized I didn’t want to wait.
“Now,” I said to Jesse, and his lips twitched. “I want to marry you as soon as we can.” Jesse stroked my hair back from my face. “I love you and you love me and you’re walking into remission, and I just want our life to begin. If I’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s that we can’t waste time.” Calmness washed over me. “You asked me to marry you tonight or tomorrow or whenever I liked.”
Jesse held his breath.
“I pick as soon as we can,” I said, then held my breath as I waited for him to reply.
But this boy, this playful, rule-breaking country boy only returned my smile and said, “We’ll need a license.” I nodded, trying to quickly work through the semantics in my head. “But then there’s a chapel on the hospital’s ground floor.” He let that idea burst into the air above us and it sounded like fireworks. Jesse ran his lips over the ring that now lived happily on my finger. “You’re going to be my wife, Junebug. My wife.”
I kissed his lips and said, “My husband.” I let that settle between us, then added, “I cannot wait.”
CHAPTER 31
June
The warm breeze washed over us as I tried to keep on writing. Even writing a sentence now took me so long. But I was close to the end of the story, and I was determined to finish.
Our oxygen tanks gave us both much-needed air, and tiredness began to drag my eyelids down.
Jesse was already asleep beside me on the egg chair. I ran my finger down his face. Three weeks had passed since we’d been married. Three weeks of talking and loving and being safe in one another’s arms.