“Izzy, Izzy would you listen to me?” Alec asked me. I had been dosing in and out of sleep. We were on the plane back to Texas to go home.

“Sorry Alec, I am just tired. What did you say?” I asked him. Any time I got on a plane I would start to fall asleep and then wake myself up.

“I said that you should try to stay awake. The plane is going to be landing in about ten minutes. You are going to want to stay awake to see Austin. He will be there with Crystie, Aunt Sophie, Uncle Jasper, Heston, Allie, and Rose.” He told me. The second he said Austin’s name my mind started to wake up. Austin is my boyfriend and I haven’t seen him for two weeks because we have been in California.
“I’m up.” I said. I couldn’t wait to see Austin. I hated anytime that we had to be apart from each other. Usually no one can separate us for more than ten minutes. People would be lucky if they could keep us apart for an hour. There was nothing in this world that could keep me from him whenever I could be near him.

The plane started to angle down and I knew that it would only be a matter of minutes until I could be in his arms. I put on my seat belt and waited until we landed. When we got into the airport I forgot about everything. I just wanted to find Austin. My family and I got through security and went to meet the family waiting for us. My mom, dad, and little sister Katie went to greet the family. Alec and I went straight for Austin and Crystie.

I ran up to Austin and gave him a huge hug and kiss. “I have missed you so much. It suck’s when you aren’t at the ranch.” Austin told me. “I’m happy you’re finally back. The house feels really empty when you’re all gone.

“I missed you to. How is Blaze?” I asked. Blaze is my Palomino wild mustang. I have been training him since I got him last spring. I have only been in with him a few times, and I’m the only one he well even let in with him.

“Blaze is fine. He is doing really well right now. I tried to go up to him the day after you left, but he wouldn’t let me even get close. I tried again this morning and he didn’t shy away as much. It took about an hour before he would come out of the barn and into the round corral where I was.”

I was happy that he would at least come out. We left to go get the bags, and then we went home. All the girls went to the car except me. I preferred to be with the guys so we all went to the pickup. There isn’t enough room for all of us in the front so my dad, Uncle Jasper, and Heston rode in the front. Austin, Alec, Crystie, and I rode in the bed of the truck.

When we got to the house Austin and I went up to my room so I could unpack. He insisted on carrying my suitcase for me so I let him. Once we were in my room I unpacked as fast as I could. The part that took the longest was putting the books I brought back up on my shelf so they wouldn’t get ruined. I had ten different books with me and they each had a special spot on the shelf. If they didn’t get put back in the right spot I would never be able to find them. I had to have them in the right spots no matter what.

When we got done with that we went downstairs with the rest of the family. They were in the game room playing rock band. It is the funniest thing anyone could ever see. My dad was on the drums, Katie was singing, and Alec and Uncle Jasper were on the guitars. None of them could keep a song going for more than the second chorus then one of them would fail out and ruin it for everyone else.

“Hey mom, Austin and I are going up to the old swimming hole. Do you guys want to come with us?”

“Yeah. We can all go up. Just give us ten minutes to change and then we will go.”

“Okay. We will meet you up there.”

Austin and I left then to go up to the old swimming hole. We got up there about ten minutes before the rest of the family did. The very first thing we did was we went to the swinging rope Alec and I had tied to a tree when we were seven. It still held our weight and we took turns diving off it into the water while waiting for the family to get up here.

“Hey mom, where are the girls?” I asked when I swam over to the bank. Katie, Allie, Rose, and Crystie weren’t up here yet. I started to wonder if they didn’t want to come. “Did they just decide that they didn’t want to swim today?”

“They will be up in just a minute. They all want to swim, they just had to grab a few things before they come up is what they told us.” Alec told me while helping me up out of the swimming hole up onto the edge of the grass.

Sure enough about fifteen minutes later the four girls came up with their beach bags on their shoulders. “What did you guys bring up here your whole bedroom?” Alec said to them when we all saw them. When they put their bags down to open them all you could see was all of their hair stuff.

“No we just thought that we should put our hair up before we go swimming and keep us from a headache later from trying to brush it out.” Katie said. She was so cute while trying to do her hair without a mirror. “Not all of us have as short of hair as you do Alec.”

“Katie come here and I’ll help you put it into a French braid. Alec shut up seeing as how your own girlfriend did the same thing you have no room to talk.” I said. It took five minutes to get her hair done then we were all swimming. By the time that we got back to the house it was ten-thirty at night.

I said goodnight to everyone and went to bed. The next morning I got woken up by a kiss and Austin’s voice whispering in my ear “happy nineteenth birthday.” I sat up smiling. I had even forgotten that it was my birthday today. I wasn’t totally awake but when I pulled him closer to me he knew what I was looking for. My lips found his and I kissed him for the next five minutes.

We went down for breakfast then and when I walked in there was a chorus of happy birthdays. We had my favorite breakfast bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, and toast, with chocolate milk. “So Izzy, how has your morning been so far sweetie?” My mom asked me once everyone was done eating.

“It has been wonderful. Thank you all so much. This has got to be the best birthday that I have ever had.” I said with a gigantic smile on my face.

“Well I’m hoping that it will get even better in a minute.” She told me.

“What are you hiding from me mom?” I asked her.

“Actually it is me that is hiding something.” Austin said turning toward me so I couldn’t lean into him anymore. He turned me toward him so we were facing each other. “There is something that I want to ask you that I have already asked your mom and dad. They have given me their permission and their blessing.” In the next moment he was down on his knee and was taking me by the hand. He pulled a little box out of his pocket and opened the lid. In the middle of the box was a no doubt a diamond ring. It had three diamonds in it. They weren’t very big but I was thankful because I knew we would both be paying the ring off for at least the first six months after we get married.

“Isabelle, I love you and I promise to take care of you and love you forever. Will you marry me?”

I was so shocked that it took me a few seconds to answer him. “Yes, a million times yes.” I said and he slid the ring on the third finger on my left hand. I held my hand out and we all examined the ring that would be staying on that finger for the rest of our lives.