Riaan showed up at Anna's family ranch, and was just another hired hand. Little did Anna know that this hired hand would actually stick around. They met briefly while walking past each other on the long gravel driveway but it wasn't until a few weeks later that they had their first real conversation and became friends.
Riaan stayed on the ranch for nine months before heading back to South Africa and then Texas. However, he later made the decision to come back to the ranch. During this time Anna graduated high school and moved far away to college. Throughout all this time they continued to be good friends. On 08/12/16 just a few days before Anna was going to head back to college Riaan said "come on, let's go rabbit hunting!" Instead he took Anna up the mountain with an amazing view of the ranch and asked her if she would be his girlfriend. Obviously she said yes.
After a couple years of dating and life. Riaan and Anna found themselves living in Reno. One day while running errands Riaan drove up to a spot overlooking the city and handed Anna a book. The book was a story of their journey together and on the very last page it said 'Will you Marry Me? Riaan then gave Anna a beautiful opal ring.