Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

lap when he stood up. “Bye y’all. See you in a month when we get back from Europe.”
     
    Gemma thanked the man with the hairy eyebrows who held open the door for her at the café. She walked in and immediately the volume rose to near-deafening levels. Questions were being thrown at her. People were hugging her. But she still couldn’t see Cy. Although the celebratory atmosphere did cheer her up, she couldn’t shake the feeling she had to find Cy.
    “Kenna, have you seen Cy?” Gemma asked when she finally made it over to her table.
    “No, I haven’t. Have you, Will?”
    “Yes. I passed him on his way out to the farm. You may want to check out there.”
    “Thank you.” Gemma leaped up and smiled at Kenna and Will before trying to make her way to the door.
    Finally breaking free of the happy crowd, she hurried through the door and out onto the street. She needed a car. Gemma turned to head back inside to ask Kenna and Will to give her a ride when she heard something. She looked up Main Street and there was a man on a horse coming down the center of the street. Cars pulled over to honk and wave. The rider waved back.
    Gemma shielded her eyes from the sun and looked at the rider. He was in jeans and a button-down shirt with the long sleeves rolled up on his masculine arms. A dusky brown cowboy hat set low on the man’s face, but she didn’t need to see it. She knew Cy’s body anywhere.
    The café door opened and people started pouring out onto the sidewalk, but Gemma didn’t even see them. She started walking down the street toward Cy. He slowed the horse in front of her and dismounted with an amazing amount of grace. The hat hid his face, except for the smile he was wearing. He turned back to the saddle and set Fred down on the ground. Gemma put her hand to her chest and laughed at her little dog with a black bandana around his neck.
    “Fred and I have come to find you,” Cy said as he swept off his hat. The sun shone on his face. His eyes danced with excitement as he smiled at her.
    “Well, here I am.” Gemma was overtaken by excitement. She belonged here, with him.
    “He’s turned into a good farmhand and doesn’t want to leave. I don’t want you to leave either.” Cy’s smile disappeared as he hung his hat on the horn of his saddle. He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “Gemma, this is me. The new me and the old me, all mixed into one. A former spy and stuntman turned farmer. I've had trouble coming to terms with my new life, but I've never had trouble coming to terms with how much you mean to me. I love you, Gemma. I loved you when I was a stuntman, when I was a spy, and now as a farmer. Do you think you love me for who I am now? A boring farmer living in a crazy small town in Kentucky with a huge family?”
    Gemma reached up and ran her fingers along his jaw. “Oh, Cy. There’s nothing boring about you. I love you so much—the real you. The one who loves his family and the one who embraces this town.”
    She raised her chin and pressed her lips to his. At first he was hesitant, but then his arms wrapped around her and he deepened the kiss. Cheers erupted from the patrons spilling from the café.
    Cy smiled against her lips and stepped back. He dug into his pocket and Gemma couldn’t stop staring as he pulled out a black box. She heard herself and all of Keeneston gasp when Cy went down onto one knee. Fred ran around him barking and wagging his tail as Cy opened the box, showing her a ring—a solitaire diamond between two emeralds.
    “I love you for everything you are, have been, and will be. I am yours and the love we share will only grow throughout our lives. I look forward to each day when I wake up with you beside me. Gemma Perry, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
     
    “Someday we’ll find the one we cannot live without. The perfect man who will love us both,” Gia giggled as she wrapped Gemma in a hug. “He’ll make you smile and laugh and put up with you talking to me every day.”
     
    Gemma felt the tears streaming down her face as Gia’s voice filled her head with the memory of their conversation when they were just sixteen. And she was right. Gemma had found the perfect man who made her smile and laugh. She looked down at Cy’s nervous face and nodded. “Yes.”
    Cy fumbled the ring but managed to slip it onto her shaking finger before standing up and pulling her to him. He kissed her with such love and passion that Gemma forgot she