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“Yes, you are,” she says, making me laugh. “And I’m a lucky woman. No one could take their eyes off you today. Mrs. Longhorn looked positively jealous.”
“It was the tears that did it. No one can resist a weeping man. I should pull that card in court sometime.”
“You do that. So where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
I park at the outcropping when I reach it, and she gives me a surprised glance, because she knows this place, of course. We both do. It’s her safe place.
“You told me you’ve already seen the initials on the bench,” she says slowly.
“That’s not why we’re here,” I insist, going around to open her door. She laughs when I pull her up into my arms, princess style.
“You’re my wife. Indulge me.”
“Oh, I’ve got no problem with being carried.”
So I carry her to the spot, hoping Izzy and Danny were right when they gave me the green light, and this isn’t a total screw up that will ruin our new wedding day.
When she sees it, her eyes fly wide and she looks at me.
“Shane.”
I set her down on it—the new bench with the plaque reading
Donated by Shane and Ruthie Royce
“Where’s the old one?” she asks, her voice breathy as she traces our names on the plaque. I wasn’t so vain as to assume she wanted to take my name. She’s the one who suggested it a while back. She told me she’d carried around the name of a man who didn’t love her for long enough, and she’d prefer to have mine.
“I asked them if we could keep it,” I say, sitting down beside her. “I thought we could put it in the garden. I don’t want to ever forget how I let you down. If I can’t forget, I won’t do it again.”
She turns my face to her. “I love this, Shane. It’s…it’s like a fresh start for this place. But that’s a terrible reason for keeping the old bench. Let’s keep it because it’s a reminder that I’ve always loved you, and you finally saw sense and started to love me back.”
“If I’d loved you when you were ten, it would have been pretty screwed up.”
“True,” she says with a half-smile. “But you still have some lost time to make up for.” she pulls me to her. “I suggest you start now.”
And, because I’ve finally smartened up, that’s exactly what I do.
