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“He’s shy around everyone until he gets to know them, then he’s a friend for life. He’s a good boy,” Burke bragged.
We left soon after Burke ran to take care of business and Rick took my hand to lead me out the door.
We got to his car, and he told me not to worry about mine. “I’ll bring you back for it. In fact, I’ll likely bring you back for the night.”
“Not yet. Take me somewhere where we can be alone and talk.”
“That was my plan,” Rick said, then pulled me over the console to kiss me. “I want to know you well enough to know everything.”
As Rick drove in the opposite direction of his home, I asked where we were headed.
“Oh, my darling, I’ve lived here almost every moment of my life. I know everywhere that’s special. This one we couldn’t run to, unfortunately, but I’ve considered driving us there a few times. I just didn’t know what you’d think if I did.”
“Oh, no, you don’t have a lover’s lane, do you?”
“Of course, we do! We’re country here, and there are a few spots for lovers. This one, however, is the most beautiful.”
He drove me down a dirt road that was little more than two lines through the grass where other tires had worn the earth. We drove next to a split rail fence that seemed to go on forever.
The night was heavy, as there was just a sliver of a moon, and the mountains were deep, black sentinels against a sparkling sky. He parked just off the road, got out of the car, and came around to open my door. “Old habits. I don’t know if men do this for one another.”
“More of that misogynist chivalry?”
“Guilty.”
We walked hand in hand to a stand of tall grasses that had been woven together at the top to make a natural arch. I’d never seen anything like it. “What is this?”
“It’s always grown this way,” he told me as we walked under the arch.
“It’s wonderful,” I said in awe.
“This is nothing compared to what is ahead.”
When we came out of the little tunnel, I stopped, and Rick stopped beside me. “What the hell?”
“Isn’t it perfect? Like a fairyland?”
That took the word from my mouth. It was exactly like a fairyland, most of it natural and some man made to be a place where fairies would frolic.
There were stones carved into couches, arches, and pergolas made from sticks, branches, and twigs. Solar-powered lights lit the little path that led to the couches that were under a canopy of elm and birch trees.
From the couches was another path that led to an old wooden bridge that crossed the stream and led to a pond that glistened in the light from the sky filled with stars. As we walked along, I couldn’t stop turning my head, looking one way, then the other, entranced with the place.
Standing on the narrow bridge, I leaned on the railing and Rick was behind me, holding me as we admired the water in the stream. With Rick’s chin resting on my shoulder, his arms wrapping me tightly, the fairyland around us, I felt like I was dreaming.
“This was a favorite place of mine, especially when I wanted to get away from our property.”
“Did you bring girls here?”
“Actually, no. Not one. This was a place that I liked for myself. I took girls to other places, and no, I won’t take you to any of them for a date.”
“Thanks for that.”
“I don’t want to share you, and that includes with my own memories. I don’t want you sharing them with anyone from my past.”
The night was cool, but he kept me warm, feeling protected and needed at once.
We were part of that beautiful scenery, part of the stars in the sky, part of the water trickling over rocks and fallen logs. We could have been another plant, growing so thickly by the water, or a tree to shade others from the sun.
