Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(67)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Piper kissed him softly. “You have a beautiful heart that is as bright as those stars above us in my truck. I have always seen that.”

Brady knew that he was going to spend the rest of his life trying to live up to the trust in those words. He had never understood how falling in love would be so much bigger than himself, that he would care more about someone else than about himself. It should have been obvious, but he had never gotten it until that very moment, and he kissed Piper back, his hands on her waist pulling her as close as four layers of clothes would allow.

Her lips were soft and pliant, and he closed his eyes and gave in to everything that he was feeling.

“I’m sorry,” he told her, kissing her over and over between his words. She smelled like bonfire and whiskey and sweet country air, and he knew that as soon as this party started winding down, they were going back to her place.

“For what?” Piper opened her eyes and stared up at him, guileless and open.

“Sorry that I’m broke and basically homeless.” It wasn’t exactly a pretty package at the moment.

“I don’t care about your bank account. And stop insulting the man I love.”

Brady laughed. Then he picked her up and squeezed her so hard she squealed.

Gasping and laughing, she said, “You’re crushing me.”

“I did strike a deal with some of the local antique shops to carry my work. We’ll see if anyone actually buys it.” If he made enough to pay for the paint, he was happy.

“Really? That’s fantastic. I’m so proud of you.”

She was. He could see it. Brady dug into his pocket. “So I got something for you a while back. I saw it and I thought of you.”

“What is it?” she asked, eyes wide with anticipation.

“I’ve been carrying it around this whole time. Guess that makes me a little pathetic. I prefer to think of it as being romantic.”

“What is it?” she asked again.

Brady drew the moment out just a few seconds longer. “Well, it’s not a poke in the eye.”

She was about to smack him again, but he caught her off guard by holding up the ring in front of her.

“Oh, my God,” Piper breathed, taking it and turning it around and around to study it, stunned by his gift.

She started crying, tears blurring her vision. “Brady,” she breathed, started to choke on her tears. He had gotten her a pewter ring that was shaped like a butterfly, the gems in its wings a perfect match to the purple of her childhood bedroom.

“My plan was to tell you that I love you, then ask you to marry me. I thought this ring suited you more than a fancy diamond. It’s delicate and feminine and it’s not traditional, but I thought you’d like it. You don’t have to wear it, and—shit, I’m just going to shut up now.”

She was sobbing. She couldn’t help it. “I love it,” she managed to blubber, hugging him tightly, letting the feel of him, the smell of him, wash over her so that she would always remember this moment.

“But that was before that night, so even if it doesn’t make sense for me to propose right now, I still want you to have it.” He wiped her tears off her cheeks. “It’s been like carrying a piece of you with me, but now I have the real deal.”

He just made it worse, in the best way possible. She just cried harder, then she shoved the ring back at him. “Do it.”

“Do what?” he asked, bewildered, enclosing his fist around the ring.

“Propose to me.”

“What? Are you serious?”

Oh, hell, yeah, she was serious. “Yes, I’m serious. And in case you’re wondering, I’m going to say yes.” Maybe it was crazy, and maybe she was jumping way ahead, but she knew how she felt and that wasn’t going to change. They didn’t need to get married tomorrow, but she wanted to hear him ask.

Brady grinned. “Well, alright, then.” He held the ring up, and what she saw on his face quieted her tears. It was such a look of total certainty, Piper saw him by her side fifty years down the road. “Piper, will you marry me?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Then he put a ring on it.

           Chapter Sixteen

“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?” BRADY ASKED Piper. She looked pale. Hell, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it.

But she nodded. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“Okay, then.” He turned to Bree. “Should I go somewhere else?”

“No.” Bree handed her baby to Shelby, who was watching with a baleful expression. “You’re integral to the unrest these spirits feel.”

Brady rocked on his feet in front of the fireplace at Shelby and Boston’s and tried to think whether there was anything particularly intelligent about allowing his fiancé to harness a spirit. Nope. Not smart at all. But Piper wanted to do it.

“So you think just by the accident of my name I became connected to the spirits here?”

Bree was burning some smelly herb all around the parlor. Brady wondered whether the baby needed to be taken into the kitchen. He’d be happy to volunteer. That stuff didn’t seem great for a baby’s lungs, and he didn’t really want to be here.

“Your name, and the fact that Piper is a medium. The universe chose you two for each other, and to release the original Brady and Rachel from their bonds here on earth, in this house.”

Brady was an open-minded guy, but sometimes Bree made his bullshit meter go off. But given that he had seen what he had with Piper, he figured he couldn’t really dispute any of it. He and Piper had been together again for three months and he accepted her for who she was, and the truth of it was, she saw dead people. He was just glad she’d finally come to terms with it and had stopped trying to hide it. It wasn’t something she advertised, because most parents of kindergartners wouldn’t want to hear their kid’s teacher talked to ghosts. But Bree had taught Piper how to gently but firmly tell them when they needed to give her privacy.

For the most part, it hadn’t been an issue. The house on Swallow seemed empty of anything other than their own vibe, which was a happy and sexy one, he was grateful to say.

“If it wasn’t for Rachel, you and Piper probably wouldn’t have gotten together,” Shelby said. “I could say the same for me and Boston.”

Brady thought he and Piper were together more because she had dropped her robe and they’d had sex on Shelby’s bed, but he wasn’t about to share that.