Chapter 6 - THE COLORADO SUNRISETwo months later, the chaos of Aspen and the corporate wreckage of Chicago felt like a lifetime away.
The sun was just cresting over the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains, painting the sky in strokes of bruised purple, fiery orange, and brilliant gold.
I stood on the wraparound porch of our new home—a sprawling, sunlit timber-and-glass ranch nestled on fifty acres of private alpine meadow outside of Boulder. Down below, in the fenced pasture, two chestnut ponies trotted around in circles while Betty and Mia shrieked with laughter, their little riding helmets bobbing up and down.
Footsteps echoed softly on the wooden planks behind me.
A pair of strong, familiar arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back against a warm chest. A chin rested comfortably on my shoulder.
"You're up early," Daniel murmured, pressing a warm kiss against the crook of my neck.
"I can't sleep," I smiled, leaning back into his embrace. "Every time I wake up, I keep expecting to look over and see an empty pillow. Or a wedding invitation."
Daniel chuckled, a rich, deep sound that vibrated through my spine. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, unassuming wooden box. He flipped the latch with his thumb.
Inside sat a pair of tiny, faded yellow baby shoes—dusty, worn at the toes, but perfectly preserved.
"I had my team scour that old storage unit in Chicago," Daniel said softly. "They found the exact box you packed eight years ago. You left these behind on the kitchen table the night you ran."
I turned around in his arms, looking down at the tiny shoes. My throat tightened. "I thought you didn't want them. I thought you chose your company."
Daniel took my hands, his slate-gray eyes fierce and unwavering.
"I was a blind, arrogant workaholic who didn't realize that my real empire was standing right in front of me," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "I never saw those shoes, Rachel. If I had, I would have dropped everything, chased you to the ends of the earth, and never let you out of my sight."
"Well," I smiled, tracing the small bow on the tiny leather shoe. "You took your sweet time finding me."
"Eight years, two months, and fourteen days," Daniel whispered. "And I plan to spend the next eighty years making up for every single one of them."
He reached into his pocket again.
This time, he didn't pull out a business tablet, a legal document, or a billionaire’s checkbook. He pulled out a simple, elegant platinum band inlaid with a delicate row of tiny, sparkling diamonds.
"No glass chapel," Daniel said, dropping gracefully to one knee right there on the wooden porch, with the Rocky Mountains rising behind him and our daughters laughing in the pasture below. "No cameras. No board members. No mother to interfere."
He looked up at me, his crooked smile crinkling the corners of his eyes, revealing the exact same asymmetrical dimple that Mia had inherited.
"Rachel Miller... will you marry me for real this time? No games. No lies. Just us."
Tears spilled over my lashes, hot and bright in the morning sun.
"About time, CEO Harden," I choked out, a laugh bubbling up through my tears.
Daniel slid the ring onto my finger, stood up, and pulled me into a kiss that wiped away every ghost of the past eight years.
Down in the pasture, Betty and Mia stopped riding their ponies, cupped their hands around their mouths, and yelled across the meadow in unison:
"Does this mean we get to throw more flowers?!"
May you like
Daniel pulled back, laughing against my lips, and shouted back across the valley:
"As many as you want, girls! As many as you want!"
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