“Here,” Cole said, passing the daisies off to Mama. “I’ll go to her,” he said. And in three strides he had me in his arms, nearly taking me off my feet. In his tight, now-familiar embrace, I forgot all about Mama’s scolding.
He put his lips to my ear. “You are everything I have ever wanted,” he whispered. “And don’t you forget it.”
As soon as he released me, Mama was there, shaking the bouquet in my face. “Aren’t these gorgeous? Elise, be a dear and put these in some water.”
But before I could take them from her, Cole grabbed them. “I’ll do it. Just tell me where I can find a vase.”
“O-oh,” Mama stammered. “Under the sink. But she can do it, Cole—”
He shook his head, moving past me toward the kitchen. “I’ve got it. Besides, I think Elise was trying to tell you something.”
I shot him a panicked look, and he threw me a grin over his shoulder. He quirked his eyebrows and gave a little dip of his chin.“Go on,”he seemed to say.
I looked back at Mama to find her studying me with a confused frown. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly full of sawdust.
“Well… it’s kind of funny really,” I began, forcing a weak laugh. Through the rushing in my ears I heard the tap in the sink running. Cole was filling the vase, but I suddenly wished he was standing beside me. “Cole and I—”
“Stop crumpling the front of your dress like that, Elise. You’ll wrinkle it.”
I looked down to find myself gripping handfuls of the cotton skirt. Mama was right. I was wrinkling it. Probably because she was making this impossible.
“Mama!” I snapped. She jerked her head up in surprise at my tone.“Lis-ten.”
“Well, what, Elise?” she prompted, looking at me like I’d just spoken in tongues.
Now that I had her attention, the words I needed fled. “So… um… see—”
I turned at the sound of athunkto find the flower vase on Mama’s small dining table and Cole standing beside me. He hooked his arm around my waist.
Mama’s eyes zeroed in on it.
“Last week, after Ava and I had breakfast with you,” Cole began, his voice level, calm. Confident. Unlike mine. “I called Elise and asked her out. It was something I’d wanted to do for a long time.”
Mama sucked in her breath so quick she almost choked, and her eyes bugged. “Wh-what?” Her gaze bounced from me to Cole and back to me.
Intrepid, Cole continued. “She did me the honor of accepting my invitation, and we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.” I let my eyes drift to his profile as he spoke. He wore a smile for Mama, but it was tempered, relaxed. Everything he told her was true — technically — but it sounded so much better, so much saner than the way I would have explained it.
“And I plan to keep it that way as long as she’ll put up with me,” he finished, pressing his fingers into the side of my hip in a touch only I would notice. This, he was saying, was true too.
I looked back at Mama to find a smile suffusing her face. It started at her mouth and spread all the way to her eyes. She brought her hands to her heart.
“Well, that’s— Good heavens, I— My word, I can’t even—” Her gaze shot to mine. “Elise Nicole, why didn’t you say anything?”
I might have squeaked, thinking about the handful of times I’d talked to Mama the last few days. But Cole tugged me closer and ran his possessive hand up and down my arm.
“Oh, she wanted to…” Cole fibbed, pulling out the charm he used to weave for Mama when we were kids. “…but I thought it would be more fun to surprise you together.”
Mama’s eyes narrowed in a playful scowl, and she swatted the air in front of her. “Cole Whitehurst! How could you keep this from me even for a second? This is the best news I’ve heard in ages!”
I rolled my eyes at her, recovering some of my nerve now that the news was out. “Mama, I’m twenty-four years old. I’m allowed a few secrets.”
Ignoring my censure, Mama hugged herself and bounced up and down. “But it’s just so exciting! The two of you? Together? Who would have dreamed it?”
Me. My whole life. God, please let this be real.
As if Cole had read my mind, he looked down at me tucked against him, his gaze warm for me alone. “Actually, it’s been my favorite dream,” he murmured.
Well, that shut Mama up. She stared at him with her mouth hanging open while all the blood in my body rushed to my cheeks and my heart did cartwheels in my chest. Without a word my mother rushed us, claiming us both in a hug. Nearly smothering in her soft embrace, I felt her lips press to my heated cheek.