Moving On (19 page)

She shook her head. “I’ll never fit in here. I should just pack my bags tonight and close the cottage. I’ll give it to you. You have more right to it than I do.”

“No, I don’t. It’s yours. I’m just glad the ladies liked John and he kept track of his offspring. Tell me about your fiancé.” He slipped his arm around her waist.

She pulled her sweater tighter around her chest. “Murray was a firefighter. He was badly burned in a fire ten days before our wedding. I couldn’t save him. He died during the night. We had his funeral on what was to be our wedding day.” Her voice had dissolved into a whisper. “I can’t, I won’t allow myself to love someone else who could get killed on the job again.” She hung her head.

She said
love
. He heard her with his own two ears. He put both hands on her shoulders and turned her to him. “Look, Anna. A computer programmer can get injured by a computer falling off a shelf. A grocer can get bitten by a rogue tarantula. A mother can get cancer and leave children behind.” He pressed his lips to her forehead.

She leaned into him and laid her hand on the stump of his left leg. “Everyone’s going to know your secret, too.”

“Yeah. But you’re more important to me than titanium and plastic.”

The leaves rustled as birds settled into trees.

“How are we going to get home?” She looked around.

He pulled a flashlight from his pocket. “When I give the signal, Harvey will pull as close to the path as possible and give us a ride to your place.”

He tapped a mosquito that landed on Anna’s cheek.

“Give the signal. I’ll take you home later,” she murmured.

Nick turned the beam of a miniature flashlight on and off in quick succession. They heard a car engine roar to life. Anna scrambled to her feet and passed Nick his walker. She kept her hand on his arm while they navigated around the twigs and branches that seemed to be everywhere on the path.

“Hi, Harvey. Nice to see you again. The garden’s doing real well.” Anna smiled at him as he opened the trunk and waited for Nick to pass him the walker. She slid along the seat and Nick sat pulling her close to his side.

“Harvey, will you drive to the back of Anna’s property? It’s level there. I’ll be able to walk into the house.” Nick held Anna’s hand in the back seat. He hadn’t directed anyone to drive him since he was forced to wait for a driver during his rehabilitation. He wondered what kind of ribbing he’d have to take over the next few days. He didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him.

At Anna’s, Harvey shot Nick a sympathetic glance when Nick offered to buy him another dinner. “Don’t worry, Nick, I’ll have lots of bribes to tell everything that happened tonight.”

“Harvey, just tell the truth as you know it. The story will find its own level,” Nick replied.

“They do, don’t they, until the next one comes along. But folks are going to be real surprised. They all thought your leg was still there.”

“It is better this way, believe me. They tell me it was pretty bad. The titanium one doesn’t hurt a bit. Tell them that, will you?” Nick smiled.

Anna opened the back door. “Go in and make yourself comfortable. I’ll run over and let Herman and Margaret know we’re back. I’ve come to my senses and won’t run away anytime soon.”

Inside, Nick began to settle himself into a chair but turned to the couch. It would be her decision if she sat beside or away from him.

He put his foot up on the ottoman and leaned back. The email he had received just before Herman and Margaret drove into the yard gave him something to consider.

When Anna returned, she brought two mugs of tea from Margaret. She passed one to Nick and clung to the other as she sat beside him.

“Does it hurt?”

“You know it can’t but I get phantom pain. Sometimes I feel a burning in my toes, or my calf feels like it’s cramping. But most of the time, I don’t think about it.” The scent of mint tea filled the space between them.

“We sure are a fine pair. We’ve both been on a journey of discovery.” Anna held the mug to her chin.

“I’m at a crossroads.” He took her free hand in his. The breeze fluttered the curtain against the window. “I’d like you to join me on the next path.”

“Oh, Nick. I don’t think I can support you if you go back into harm’s way. I’d sooner die than live through the kind of grief I dealt with last year.” Her chin trembled.

He rubbed his thumb along her lower lip. “We’ve grown close. And I’ll admit I would like to explore this relationship a whole lot further.”

“You’re only saying that because I’m not concerned with a little thing like a missing leg.” A smile pulled at her lips, while her eyes filled with tears.

“That helps. At least I wouldn’t have to explain it to someone new.” He returned her smile. “I assume you know all exercises and prosthetic adjustments.”

“Of course.”

“Anna, if you’re serious about going back into health care, I have a proposition for you.” He felt her fingers relax as his thumb circled her palm.

She placed her hand on his strong, whole leg. “Let’s hear it.”

“It’s an idea in the embryo stage. Just before Margaret and Herman arrived, I was researching a project on the internet.”

“Is that why you didn’t have your prosthesis on?” She snuggled under his arm.

“I was going to go for a swim when that familiar incoming email pinged. My therapist sent me a link about a program she’d heard about at a conference. A group of American soldiers formed a support group at a hunting and fishing camp to help their fellow comrades and their families recuperate their bodies and spirits.”

“Are you thinking of your father’s land?” She sat up straight, eyes shining. “Great idea.”

He nodded. “A lot of families have agricultural roots.”

She leaned in and tilted her head, a signal she wanted to be kissed. A pebble in her pocket pressed against his leg, the first stone on their journey through the next phase of their lives.

Nick brushed his lips against hers, then slowly drew away, their mouths almost touching, lingering. She cupped her palms to his cheeks, rasping against his day old beard. Through half closed eyes he watched her lick her lips, softening them, inviting another kiss.

Ready to lose himself with Anna once more, if fireworks had gone off beside him he wouldn’t have noticed. His focus was on Anna and her wonderfully soft, inviting mouth. Her floral scented skin.

When they each had to breathe again, he held her close to his side.

Anna leaned her head against Nick’s shoulder. She had kissed a friend and a man she had grown to love through his sweet caring. Their friendship started with loss but their future would fill with love.

She retrieved the pebble from her pocket and handed it to Nick, an earth solid man.

“Will you consider being a part of this adventure, my Rock Queen?” Nick covered the pebble in her hand with his palm.

Anna curled her arm around him. “Of course I will, my thirst-quenching hero.” She brought their cupped hands toward her lips and sealed their journey with a kiss.

A look of calm contentment crossed his face as he held the pebble against her ring finger. “Will you marry me?”

Anna bit her lip and swallowed, but her response was steady. “Of course I will.”

He brushed away a tear rolling down her cheek as she nestled her face against his shoulder.

He kissed her again. “Should we keep this between us until morning?”

“This is one secret I’d like to treasure before we open it to the world.” Anna reached up and brought his lips down to hers.