"I...I can't believe that this really happened! I don't know what to think, or what to do, I'm just so excited!" Lacey giggled like a little girl. "I want to tell everyone. I want everyone to know that I am engaged to Slade Reid." She said in a dreamy singsongy voice. Glancing at Slade, she couldn't contain her sudden excitement. "Can we start tellin' folks?" She gasped at the sudden thought. 

        Slade couldn't hold in his smile. Sliding a hand over Lacey's stomach as she still laid beside him in bed, he replied, "If you're alright with it, I would like to wait until I buy you a ring before we start tellin' folks, if that's okay? Until then, it can just be our special secret." There was a look in his eyes. 

     "Of course that's alright with me.  So, you said that you're getting me a ring. Does that mean that you're fixin' to propose a second time?" She grinned, feeling on top of the world. 

      "Well, of course. I want to see that adorable look on your face when I propose to you out of the blue. I wish I could see that grin all the time." He rubbed his hand over Lacey's stomach, beside himself with the new huge leap in their relationship. 

     Lacey let out a groan, leaning her head back against the headboard. "I still cannot believe that I am engaged...that we are gettin' married." She looked at Slade, leaning forward to wrap a hand around his jaw, asking for a kiss.

       Slade pulled back slightly. "I have mornin' breath." He placed a hand over his mouth.

      "I don't care. Besides, if we are fixing to get married, I will have to get used to your stinky breath anyways, right?" She teased.

      "True. Very true." Slade smiled as he leaned forward, closing his lips over his new fiance's. 

       Pulling back after a sweet kiss later, Lacey let out a sigh. "So, I have a confession to make." She started, resting her hands over where Slade's were on her stomach. 

      "Yeah? What's that?" He pressed.

       "Last night, when you came in from your shower and I was freakin' out, trying to close down your laptop? Well, it's because I was lookin' at engagement rings." She glanced over to see Slade's reaction.

      "I know." He grinned. "I thought that I caught a glimpse of it on the screen, but then after you went to bed last night, I went and looked at the laptop, and you had left the tab open. Hang on a second." As much as he didn't want to, Slade slipped away from Lacey, getting out of bed to fetch his laptop from the living room. Joining Lacey back in bed, Slade opened up the laptop, opening up the jeweler's page that had the ring that Lacey had picked out. "This is the ring you were lookin' at, right?"

     "Yeah, that's it." She said in a dreamy voice. The ring was even more beautiful now that she got to see it again. She truly loved it. 

     "Well," Slade slid an arm around Lacey's shoulder, smiling at her with stars in his eyes. "What do you say tomorrow we go check it out in person?" 

       "Wait, are you serious? Slade, I would love to!" Lacey quickly gave Slade a peck on the lips before looking back to the ring. "Do you like the ring?" 

       "I really really do. But, do you promise me that you like it for how it looks, and not just the price? I was ready to spend over double than that on your engagement ring. Are you sure you don't want to keep lookin'?" He glanced over at his fiance, just to make sure she was telling him the truth.

      "I'm positive. That's the one. But, that is sweet that you were already thinkin' about pricing on the rings long before we started lookin'." Lacey rested her head on Slade's shoulder.

      "Of course, darlin'. I have been fixin' to propose for a while now, and I wanted to get you the perfect ring. I'm just so excited for our future together, babe." 

       "Me too." Lacey leaned in, ready to kiss Slade when her cell phone beside the bed signaled a text message. "One second." Reaching beside her, Lacey checked her phone. It was Willie, asking her where she was at. "Slade, what time is it?" She pulled her eyes away from the phone. 

       "9:45. Why?" He asked, concerned. 

      "It's Sunday. We have to go to church." She countered, following it with a chuckle. 

      "I cannot believe that we forgot!" He hopped up from the bed, scurrying around his bedroom. "But then again, I guess we were pre-occupied and distracted to say the least." He turned to wink at Lacey. 

      Opening the door on his closet, Slade fiddled through the shirts hanging up before pulling out a long sleeved blue, gray and white long sleeved pearl snap. Removing it from the hanger, Slade walked over to his dressed, pulling open the second drawer to grab a white undershirt, slipping it over his head, onto his bare chest. 

      "Lace, I am so sorry that we are goin' to be late. I should have paid closer attention to the time." He said in an almost panicked voice, putting his arms through the sleeves on his pearl snap. 

      "It's okay, Slade." Lacey chuckled at how cute Slade was when he felt rushed. She watched as he pulled out a pair of his nicest Wranglers from the bottom dresser door, taking them into his bathroom to change. Coming back out two minutes later, Slade had a toothbrush in his mouth, a comb in one hand and his pajama bottoms in the other. 

      "What do you want for breakfast?" Slade's words were jumbled due to the toothbrush interfering with his speech. 

      "I want you to come here." She grinned. 

      Slade stopped what he was doing for the first time all morning to smile at Lacey. Washing out the toothpaste from his mouth at the kitchen sink, Slade threw his pajama bottoms in the laundry basket at the foot of his bed before walking over to Lacey.

      Grabbing the shirtfront of his unbuttoned pearl snap shirt with both hands, Lacey pulled Slade down closer to her. "I love you." 

      Resting a hand on either side of his fiance, Slade grinned into Lacey as he soundly closed his lips over hers. "I love you too, and I cannot wait until I get to wake up next to you every morning." He quickly gave her another peck on the lips before pulling back, buttoning his shirt, tucking it into his jeans. 

       Walking back to his dresser to get a pair of socks, Slade asked, "Do you just want to wear the clothes you have left here, or would you like me to go grab you something from the house?" 

     "What I have here is fine." Lacey couldn't find a reason to frown. Pulling her chair closer beside her, Lacey carefully slid herself in it before rolling over to the basket of folded, clean clothing on the chest at the foot of the bed. Pulling out her garments, Lacey made her way to the bathroom to get dressed. As she did so, she couldn't help but allow herself to get excited with the fact that she could see Slade and her doing this in the future. That is, laying in bed together, and just talking and enjoying each other's presence, resulting in them being late to events. Even as she got ready to leave for church, Lacey still found herself smiling at what had happened this morning between her and Slade, and she prayed that this feeling would never go away. 

                                                         ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

       "Look at that, we are right on time." Slade nodded to the clock on the dashboard of his truck that read 10:30. 

     Lacey let out a chuckle as she pulled down the visor, checking her hair in the mirror before unbuckling her seat belt. "The service starts right now, at 10:30. We usually get here fifteen minutes early, sir, and by the time we get ourselves in there and seated, we are goin' to be late." 

      "Man, oh man, someone is feisty this mornin'." Slade teased, leaning across the bench seat in his truck. 

      "Oh, you know that my dad will have my hide if we aren't in church five minutes from now." She tucked some hair behind her ear, looking at Slade. 

       "And here I thought you would be ecstatic to be engaged to me." He ignored Lacey's previous comment to tease her, grabbing her chin in two of his fingers, grinning at her with that cockeyed grin that told her he was teasing her. 

      "Oh you little-" Lacey reeled back to slug him, but was interrupted when Slade's warm lips hushed her up real quick. Taking in a breath through her nose, Lacey kissed Slade back before pulling away. "And just for the record, I am extremely ecstatic to be engaged to you, and I cannot wait until we get to go look at the rings tomorrow, but seriously, there won't be a tomorrow if we don't make our way into the sanctuary right now." She partially teased, knowing how serious church was to her whole family. 

      "Yes ma'am." Slade said submissively, hopping down from the cab of his truck, grabbing Lacey's chair out of the back, and opening her door. "May I do the honors?" He grinned, holding out his hands to Lacey.

     Chuckling, she nodded, letting Slade lift her out of the cab, and into her chair. Once she was seated, Slade manned himself behind her, pushing Lacey into the church. 

      The only open seats in the small church were in the very back row of the sanctuary. As quietly as possible, Slade and Lacey filed in to the pew. Since there was room, Lacey left her chair unfolded in the aisle behind the pew so that she could sit next to Slade.

      Reaching out, Slade grabbed Lacey's hand, interlacing their fingers, making Lacey turn to him. Slade mouthed the words, "I love you" before lifting her hand to his lips, placing a delicate kiss on them, turning his attention back to the pastor at the front of the sanctuary. 

                                                                  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

       As always, the church service was beautiful, and the sermon perfectly pertained to Lacey's life; it almost always seemed like their pastor wrote the sermon just for her since it was so perfect for the situations she went through each day. Part of her wondered what would have happened, and where her faith walk would be right now if Slade hadn't helped her through her time of trials when she was shunning God. 

      Saying a silent prayer as the congregation was dismissed, Lacey thanked her Father in Heaven for leading Slade to her, and for him showing her what she had been ignoring immediately following her accident. Slade was the one who helped Lacey get back on track with God, and showed her that God never left, nor abandoned Lacey; instead, He was the one beside her through everything. 

    Overjoyed with thankfulness, Lacey gave Slade's hand a squeeze, as they sat in the pew, waiting for more of the churchgoers to exit so they could meet up with Lacey's family, who were helping pass out the weekly church bulletins. 

      Just as the majority of the congregation left, a familiar voice made it's way through the crowd, and next to Lacey. 

      "Hey, girl. I was wonderin' if y'all were coming to church today." Brooke greeted, bending down to give Lacey a hug. 

       "Yeah, we slept in, and were a little slow movin' this mornin'." Everything in Lacey wanted so badly to tell Brooke the other reason why they were late arriving to the service.

      "That's alright. Y'all still coming out to lunch with all of us?" She stood with one hand on the back of the pew, and the other on her hip. 

      Lacey, still holding Slade's hand, raised her eyebrows at him, silently asking what his plans were. 

      "That sounds great, Brooke. Where are we goin'?" Slade answered for the couple. 

      "Same old, same old." Brooke smiled at how adorable the two were. "Mind if I ride with y'all there?" 

      Lacey hesitated. Not telling her best friend the biggest news of her life was on Lacey's list of hardest things that she has ever had to do. Brooke and Lacey told each other everything, so keeping something from her was something Lacey knew wouldn't last long. If Brooke rode with Slade and Lacey to the restaurant, Lacey was afraid Brooke would pick up on the fact that she was keeping something from her. 

       "Only until tomorrow." Lacey told herself, knowing that was when her and Slade would be buying the rings.

        In the meantime of Lacey's mental battle with herself, Slade had already invited Brooke to ride with them, and the rest of Lacey's family had joined the couple, all talking about their plans. 

      "You ready to head out?" Slade's voice drew Lacey out of her trance. 

      "Yeah." She nodded, bringing her wheelchair around the pew, next to her. Sliding herself into it, Lacey, Slade and Brooke all made their way out to Slade's truck. Hoisting herself into the cab, Lacey scooted into the middle seat.

      The whole ride to the restaurant was filled with a conversation between Brooke and Slade. Lacey kept to herself as she looked out the dashboard window at the surroundings. 

    Finally, the trio had arrived at their destination, and each of them filed out of the truck. 

     Everyone was seated, and their drinks had arrived before Slade, sitting on Lacey's left, excused himself to use the restroom. The second that Slade left, Brooke, who was seated on the other side of Lacey, leaned closer. "Are you and Slade fighting or something?" 

      "What? No, not at all. Why do you ask that?" Lacey grabbed her glass of sweet tea, taking a sip. In her mind she mumbled, "Crud, she knows something is up. I am goin' to have to tell her."

     "You're just actin' weird, and as if you are upset or something." Brooke hesitated. "What aren't you tellin' me?" She whispered, even though the restaurant was loud enough that no one else could hear their conversation. 

       "Well, it's...I want to tell you, but I promised Slade I wouldn't tell anyone." Lacey stared into her glass, trying her best to bite her tongue. 

        "Oh, honey, even when someone tells you that, you still tell me. You're fantastic at keepin' secrets, but not from your best friend." Brooke took a long gulp of her sweet tea, giving Lacey a look. 

      Letting out a sigh, Lacey knew she had to tell Brooke. "Well, Slade proposed to me this mornin', and I said yes. We are engaged." She tried to hide her smile at the words, but found she couldn't. 

      "What?! Oh my gosh, no way!" Brooke squealed loudly, causing several of the others sitting at the table to look over at he. Her face turning bright red, Brooke quickly attempted to defend herself. "This sweet tea, I'm just amazed at how good it is." She stumbled over her words. Once everyone went back to their own conversations, turning their attention away from Brooke, she turned back to Lacey, keeping her voice low. "You have to tell me every single detail."  

       Seeing Slade sit down beside her, Lacey told Brooke, "Later," before giving her a look to drop the conversation. 

                                                                    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

      "You're awful quiet, darlin'." Slade noticed as he held Lacey's hand, driving back to the ranch after church and lunch.

      "Just thinkin' about things. And, I have to tell ya something." Lacey chuckled. "I may or may not have told Brooke that we are engaged." Lacey bit her bottom lip as she looked at her fiance.

      Slade let out a teasing groan, followed by a chuckle. "I reckoned that you would. I, uh, may or may not have talked to your dad, too." He looked over at Lacey. Instantly, he felt his palms getting sweaty. 

      "About us gettin' engaged?" Lacey probed. 

      "Yeah. Well, I asked him for his permission to marry you. I didn't tell him we are engaged right now." Slade looked back to the road so he could focus on his driving. 

      "What did he say? Did he give you permission?" She became nervous. 

       "That is for me to know, and for you to find out." Slade winked. 

       "Well, now you have to tell me, Slade. Now I am all worried." 

        Slowing down to stop at a stop sign, Slade closed the gap between them with a kiss. "Now, darlin', why would I ruin a perfectly good surprise when I can just make you be patient and see? Besides, I wouldn't want to ruin this moment now, would I?" 

       "Slade..." Lacey groaned out. 

       "You're so cute when you get yourself all flustered." Slade reiterated, chuckling as he drove through the stop sign.