15. Aspen

"Are you sure this is where you want to go?" I ask Jasper as we drive down this long winding country road. Apparently, while I've been at work the last few days, Jasper has been looking at homes for us. I can honestly say I didn't see that coming. He mentioned before that he wanted to find something halfway between Vintage Threads and the oil rig, closer to my shop if he could make it work, which means he can commute on the off chance he doesn't work fourteen-hour days, but he'll keep the travel trailer at the campground in case he does

"I'm positive. It's going to be a fixer upper though. I figure while I'm out the next few months, I can oversee anything that needs to be done with a contractor." It's eating him up that he's not the one driving and helping when he can. Jasper is not the type of person to sit on the sidelines.

"I'm not worried about that. I won't be able to stay out here with you some days though. Not until Berkley gets her butt down here. I think she's having entirely too much fun on her road trip." She left two days ago, and while it is a ridiculously long trip, the girl is eating her way here. Berkley has posted non-stop about the places she's stopped to eat or drink. I'm sure it's making her dad cringe every time she does it.

"You can drop me off and pick me up at the end of the day. Who knows, I may be able to drive in the next couple of weeks." I take my eyes off the road for one second, letting him know just what I think about that comment.

"It's been three days, Jasper!" I turn my eyes back to the road. There's no way he's driving any time soon. I'll rope him to a damn chair at the shop to make sure of it if need be.

"Calm down, wildflower. We might not even like this house. Not only that, it could take a few weeks before a contractor can start." I roll my eyes at his statement. We wouldn't be driving twenty minutes away if it weren't worth it. We both looked at the listing online, and sure, it definitely needs some work, but it looked pretty damn near perfect to me.

"I might have been born at night, Jasper, but it wasn't last night. You're a rule breaker when it comes to doctors' orders. Even you have to admit that."

"I'm not admitting to shit. Were you able to get ahold of your doctor? Speaking of orders." It's him looking at me now, his eyebrow cocked.

"As a matter of fact, I did. My appointment is tomorrow. I'll more than likely be a better patient than you are." We're waiting to tell everyone that we're getting married. I'm not exactly sure why, but my parents do know I'm pregnant. They were more than ecstatic. Mom said they'd be down by the end of the week. I put my foot down. Sure, she is recovering, but she shouldn't be traveling thousands of miles. Plus, with Jasper's injury and Berkley coming down, I'll have my hands full. I told her the last time I was up there what Jasper meant to me. Heck, both of my parents knew; it's probably why they pushed me to leave when I did, or maybe I was wearing out my welcome. Anything is possible when it comes to having one son and three daughters. We are all out of the house now, but I'm sure we were cramping their style.

"I'm sure you will be. You're going to be an amazing mother, Aspen." I hate like hell that I can't hold his hand or touch him right now, not with that damn sling on his body.

"We're going to be amazing parents, period," I reply as the GPS tells us we've reached our destination.

"Look at all that land for our little one to play on, Aspen." The awe in Jasper's voice is contagious as my own eyes take in the front porch, the large pillars. It needs more work on the outside than we could see on the pictures, but the land and the statement of the house alone are worth it.

"Oh my God, Jasper. Are you sure we can afford this?" We talked about our finances. We both have some money put away, Jasper more than me because I have to keep so much for Vintage Threads in a separate account. He told me he'd use his nest egg as the down payment to keep our payments as cheap as possible, and we could use what I have saved for the renovations that are needed the most first.

"Wildflower, I wouldn't have even suggested it if we couldn't. Come on, let's go check it out." Jasper called the realtor he's known since childhood. He gave us the lockbox code and just asked that we lock up once we're done.

"Alright." We get out and walk up the sidewalk, checking what needs to be done right off the bat.

"I think some cleaning and painting on the outside is all that I'm seeing," I suggest.

"Definitely," Jasper agrees as we walk up the steps. The porch is massive, enough room to sit out in the evenings, drinking a glass of sweet tea, a porch swing swaying while we watch our kids play on the fourteen acres surrounding the house.

"I don't need to see the inside. I'm already sold," I'm not even joking. The pictures online showed a lot, and I was prepared for the inside needing paint and the floors refinishing.

"Yep, I am too, as long as there isn't anything structural going on with it. Everything else we can fix as we go." Jasper opens the front door, and my jaw drops as I take in the wood floor, the casings that surround the doorways, and the staircase. It's beautiful even though it does need some work. We make our way through the rest of the house, taking it all in. Everything seems to be in good working order, minus the downstairs bathroom, where the shower needs to be gutted. It's not like we'll need that right away.

"I'm ready to put an offer on the house. Think we can get it for a bit less? I mean, I know it has the pool and a covered outdoor kitchen, but I'm worried about the can of worms that might open up when we start to renovate that bathroom. And refinishing all of the wood is going to cost more than I think we assumed. I'd like to say we could do it ourselves, but that's not very feasible," I'm rambling while walking around the foyer, the woodwork surrounding us.

"Wildflower, baby, come here." Jasper stops me in my tirade.

"What?" I spin around. He's sitting on the stairs. Jasper is in need of a haircut, but I have to admit I'm loving the longer locks. The white shirt he struggled to put on this morning shows off his upper body and those arms I love to have wrapped around me. Don't even get me started on his jeans, worn in all the right places, and he's wearing a pair of slip-on boots.

"You're gorgeous when you're in a tizzy," he tells me. My eyes are still roving over him.

"And you're the most devastatingly beautiful man I have ever laid eyes on." I walk towards him. Jasper's good arm reaches out, bringing me into the comfort of his body.

"Men aren't beautiful, wildflower. But I love it just the same. I didn't formally ask you to be my wife. I think you know me well enough by now to know that when I want something, there will be nothing stopping me. Not our age difference, not the fact that you're class, and well, I'm not. I'm a dirty oil rigger. Our life isn't going to be easy. You'll feel like you're pulling the weight when it comes to our children and the house. I promise you this though, there won't ever be a day when I won't love you or our children. I'll bust my ass to make sure you know just how worthy I am of both of you." His hand moves to my lower belly, where our baby is growing.

"Jasper, don't say shit like that. You're worth so much more than you give yourself credit for. It's you and me against the world. I'm sure it'll be hard, but we'll always be in it together."

"Thank fuck." He moves his hand away from me. I watch as he tries not to jostle his other side while he gets something out of his pocket.

"Do you want help?" I hate seeing him struggle.

"I've got it." He comes out with a ring, and not just any ring. It's freaking everything I would have picked out for myself—rose gold in color, pear-shaped diamond, but instead of it being vertical it's turned horizontal. "It's so beautiful," I murmur as he takes my hand and slides it on my ring finger.

"Not as beautiful as you are. Wait till you see the wedding band," he replies.

"I love you." Tears are streaming down my face. I'm sure my face is a splotchy mess. The way Jasper is looking at me, though, you would think I'm the only person in the world, which is another thing that makes me love him even more. I'm his as much as he's mine.

"I love you too, soon-to-be Mrs. Knight." His lips seek mine, and not for the first time am I cursing the fact that he's injured and we can't have our way with one another's body right here in our future home.

"As much as I want to stay here all day and kiss the hell out of you, we need to get back to the realtor, and it pains me to admit this, but I think it's time for me to rest." Our kiss ends with that. I'm up and backing away.

"Let's go. You can call him from the road." I hold my hand out for him. Jasper shakes his head but allows me to help just the same. I'm so ready to see what our life has in store for us.