Николас Спаркс - The Longest Ride

“You’re smiling,” Sophia said, interrupting his thoughts.

“I guess I am.”

“Which means… what?”

“I rode him,” Luke said. “And after that, I knew I was ready to walk away.”

Sophia nudged his shoulder. “That was dumb.”

“Probably,” Luke said. “But I won myself a new truck.”

“I never saw a new truck,” she said, frowning.

“I didn’t take it. I took the cash instead.”

“For the ranch?”

“No,” he said. “For this.”

From his pocket he removed a small box, and dropping to one knee, he presented it to Sophia.

He heard her sharp intake of breath. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Open it,” he said.

She did, slowly opening the lid and focusing on the ring.

“I’d like to marry you, if you think that would be okay.”

She looked down at him, eyes shining. “Yeah,” she said, “I think that would be okay.”

“Where do you want to live?” she asked him later, after they’d told his mom. “Here on the ranch?”

“In the long run? I don’t know. But for now, I like it here. The question is, do you?”

“Do you mean, do I want to live here forever?”

“Not necessarily,” Luke said. “I was just thinking we might stay until things get settled. But after that? The way I figure it, we could live just about anywhere we want. And I’m thinking now – with a major bequest or gift, let’s say – you could probably get a job in the museum of your choice.”

“Like in Denver?”

“I’ve heard there’s a lot of ranch land out that way. There’s even ranching in New Jersey. I checked.”

She cast her gaze upward before coming back to him. “How about we just see where life takes us for a while?”

That night, as Sophia lay sleeping, Luke left the bedroom and wandered out to the porch, relishing the lingering warmth from the day. Above him, half the moon was visible, the stars spreading across the sky. A light wind was blowing, carrying with it the sound of crickets calling from the pastures.

He looked upward, staring into the dark reaches of the heavens, thinking about his mom and the ranch. He still had trouble fathoming the path his life had suddenly taken, nor could he reconcile it with the life he once had lived. Everything was different, and he wondered whether he would change. He found himself being drawn frequently to memories of Ira, the man who changed his life, the man he never really knew. To Ira, Ruth meant everything, and in the quiet darkness, Luke pictured Sophia asleep in his bed, her golden hair spread over the pillow.

Sophia, after all, was the real treasure he’d found this year, worth more to him than all the art in the world. With a smile, Luke whispered into the dark, “I understand, Ira.” And when a shooting star passed overhead, he had the strange sense that Ira had not only heard him, but was smiling down on him in approval.

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