The Cowboy’s Curvy Song Bonus Scene

Ruly

Summer slipped into fall before I knew it. I’m in town and the lampposts on Main Street are decked out with corn stalks, pumpkins, and various shades of fall mums.

Every October, Lucky River holds an annual Welcome Fall festival, and the scent of apples and baked goods surrounds me as I walk arm in arm with Dash.

Our eight-year-old daughter, Georgia, is somewhere at the festival with my parents and her cousins being spoiled as usual, so he and I get to spend the evening together just the two of us.

We walk past Bear’s Diner where we ate breakfast this morning. We’d sat at the large window and watched the sun rise over the town square.

The square that’s now set up with dozens of booths. We dodge the people crowding around the ones offering face painting, games, and pumpkin carving.

Dash is a man on a mission the way he’s weaving us around families. He’d told me earlier as he packed a small duffel bag that he had a surprise ready for me tonight.

When I’d asked what it was, he’d laughed and said if he told me, then it wasn’t a surprise.

I love beginning and ending my day with him. Sometimes, I’m so happy that it scares me.

“Let’s hurry.” Dash picks up speed and I hurry along with him.

At the far end of the square, he finally slows, then turns to me with a grin.

“A hayride?”

“A special hayride.” He claps his hands together. “Come on. Up you go.”

I climb up and sit on one of the hay bales. Then I frown. “This looks like our wagon.”

“It is. Now sit tight and relax.” He gets in the front of the wagon and guides the horse out of the square and down a side road by the library.

After several minutes, I recognize where we’re going. In addition to their ranch land, his grandparents own a couple of acres of land here that they’ve never been able to part with because the old five room cabin on it is where they started their married life.

At the end of a long, dirt road, Dash stops and secures the horse, then he comes to help me down.

“That’s still standing?” I ask as he takes my hand and leads the way through the gate and around the back of the house.

The tree house where Dash and I used to play and sometimes argue is still here. I’m amazed by how good it looks.

I peer up above the wooden slats leading to the structure. “Those look new.”

“They are. I fixed them and replaced some of the wood inside that weathered badly.” He tips his head toward it with a certain gleam in his eyes. “Wanna play?”

I laugh as he leads the way up.

Inside the tree house, Dash pats the sleeping bag he spread out.

Once I’m settled, and he puts a throw blanket over our laps, he hands me an old Christmas cookie tin.

Seeing it makes me smile. “Ah, our time capsule where we buried our secrets.” I lightly touch the top of it.

“Don’t worry. I dusted it off after I dug it up and made sure there weren’t any critters in it.”

I’m grateful for that. “Do you remember what you put in here?”

“Not when I was seven. But I did when I was eighteen.”

“You added something?”

He nods. “The night after high school graduation.”

I pry the lid off and take out the folded sheet of notebook paper.

I want to tell Ruly I love her. I love that girl a lot. She’s the only one for me. It would be so awesome if I could marry her. I think I’m going to ask her.

Lips trembling, I hold the paper against my chest.

“I bought these that night too.” He takes out a small paper bag.

Inside are two cheap gold bands and another sheet of paper.

“It’s all I could afford then,” he says.

“Dash,” I whisper, my heart filling. “They’re beautiful.”

I unfold that paper.

I can’t ask. She thinks of me as a friend. That sucks. It hurts but I can’t risk losing her.

Tears blur my vision. “You kept this stuff secret for a long time.”

“I forgot about it until I was helping Mom clean out the attic and saw an old Christmas tin.”

He takes the rings and holds one out to me. “From my then eighteen-year-old self, Ruly, I love you a lot. Marry me.”

I hold out my hand for him to slip the ring on, and then I put the matching one on his finger.

“With this ring, I marry you again,” I say softly.