“They’re so beautiful,” he murmured.
“And very understanding,” she said. She looked back and saw that he had made his way over without the wheelchair or crutches. “Wow. I hadn’t expected to see that either.”
“The legs work,” he said, “but sometimes they’re not something I can really count on.”
She turned and headed the few steps over to the blanket where she opened up the other basket. She deliberately left him to his devices to get where he needed to go, using whatever methodology he needed. But when he took two hesitant steps toward the blanket, and then managed to crouch down and sit, she smiled at him. “That was very well done.”
He grinned at her. “According to Shane, Dani, and Iain, I still have months and months to go, but I’m beginning to see the progress I need to see.” He winced as he shifted.
“Sounds like maybe you’re doing too much.”
“No,” he said. “I’m finally doing the right amount.” He didn’t explain, and that was okay too.
She laid out the picnic foods and served up two plates of everything.
He looked at the food and smiled. “This looks amazing.”
“I hope so,” she said. “It’s just for us.” And she sat here in the beautiful sunshine, watching the horses and the long green grass, feeling happy inside for the first time in a very long while.
Keith couldn’t believe how much effort she’d gone to for him. “You know what? Having a date at a place like this is pretty hard to pull off,” he said, “but you managed.”
She looked at him in surprise, then smiled and said, “That’s what this is, isn’t it?”
“Well, we’ve been having little dates all along,” he said. “Lunches and coffee, but this? This is special.”
“It is, indeed.” She smiled and took another bite.
He hesitated, not sure what he was supposed to say. “I had a phone call with Gunner earlier this morning. We’ll go ahead with the job,” he said. “I’ll work for him. Not while I’m at Hathaway, but he’s hoping to have a start date for me in two and a half months.”
“That sounds perfect,” she said.
He nodded. “I’m pretty happy, I have to admit. Some of the work I can do from home, and some will require me to go to the local office, but we’ll see how it goes.”
“Well, it gives you a couple months to figure out where home will be as well.”
He nodded. “And you live here on the Hathaway property, don’t you?”
She nodded. “I have one of the larger residences,” she said. “I’ve been here since the beginning. It just happened that way.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
She looked over at him. “You’ve gotten awfully quiet. Is something wrong?”
He looked up at her, smiled, and said, “Not really,” he said. “I’m just wondering about my future and about your future.”
“Well, I would like to stay here,” she said. “There’s just so much value in the work I do.”
“There is,” he said. “So I can either find a place to live on this side of Hathaway near Dallas, so the commute is a little shorter, and maybe you could move in with me,” he said.
She stared at him in surprise. “Oh my,” she said.
“Or,” he said, “I could check out how big your residence is, and maybe I can move in with you and commute when I have to.”
“Oh, my goodness.” She stared at him, stunned because he was saying the words that she’d wanted to hear but, at the same time, hadn’t expected to hear.
He said, “I’m not very good at this. I mean, really not good.” With a sigh, he pulled out a very tiny thin metal ring. “This is my mother’s. I thought Robin would want it, but she told me it makes better sense for me to have it to give to someone special, like Iain would give her an engagement ring. I’ve just hung on to it all this time. So I know it certainly isn’t an engagement ring, no diamond or anything, and it’s only a token—and a cheesy token at that. But it’s a piece of my mother that I hung on to with my heart, and I haven’t been able to let it go. Maybe I can add a diamond to it, signifying you, so there’s a piece of you as well. So I was wondering if maybe, sometime down the road—” He heard her catch her breath as she stared at him, tears in the corner of her eyes. And she already had her hand out, her fingers splayed. With a gentle smile, he placed the little band on her ring finger, and he whispered, “Will you marry me?”
Her fingers closed around his in a hard tight grip, and she tugged him forward ever-so-slightly and kissed him.
“Yes,” she whispered, just before their lips met. “Double yes.”
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “I didn’t expect this when I first came here,” he said. “And I’m not anywhere near in the shape that I can be, but I’m getting there.” He smiled. “So that means you’re seeing the worst that you could possibly see, and I can only tell you that it’ll get a whole lot better.”
She smiled and reached up a hand, gently rubbing her fingers across his cheek, and she whispered, “If this is all there is,” she said, “I’m delighted to spend the rest of my life with you. Please don’t worry about how good you can be or where you’re going because you’re no longer alone. This is a journey for the two of us, and we can work it out, no matter what way it goes.”
He tilted her chin and kissed her. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for being awake at five o’clock in the morning and showing me that the world wasn’t such a lonely place.”
She chuckled and whispered back, “You’re so welcome. And thank you for letting me know that the world isn’t full of short-term relationships. Thank you for showing me that there really is somebody out there for each and every one of us.”
Epilogue
Lance Mayfair stared at the picture from Iain. In fact, there were multiple photos. It’s just that none of them were registering as being from his friend. How was it even possible? Iain had left the same VA hospital Lance was in, as a mess. A determined jokester but somebody who would turn his life around. They hadn’t talked too long or too deep because it had been painful for them all. But Lance had never really expected to hear from Iain again. Instead, here he was, sending him photos and letting him know that there was life after the VA hospital. Not only life but a crazy-good life. He stared in shock, and then he read the simple message again.
Get here. It’ll make all the difference in the world.
Lance quickly responded.
But will it? Or is it just more false hope?
No, it’s not false hope.
Just then his phone rang. He picked it up and answered it. “Are you sure? Because, man, these pictures look like they’ve been seriously edited with Photoshop.”
Iain’s laughter boomed through the phone. “I know they do,” he said, “but I would never steer you wrong. It’s a completely different world now. Take a look at that last photo. That’s me. That’s me right now,” he said. “Compare that to where I was when you saw me last.”