AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ivy, who had been dressed as Mary and cuddling a very fake baby doll hugged me tenderly. “It was just as powerful for us, Lance. We loved Michelle and we were so happy to be able to do it.”
“Agreed,” said Cameron who had been Joseph. Shep couldn’t be out in the cold that long because of his asthma and someone had to take care of Lucy, so Cameron stepped in for him.
“Happy birthday, Cameron,” I said again, shaking his hand. “I appreciate that you gave up your night for me.”
“I can say with absolute certainty that there was no better way to spend it than here with my family and my new wife,” he promised, kissing Becca’s hand, which he held.
“Michelle especially would have loved that the wisemen were wisewomen,” Becca said on a wink. Addie and Heather had rounded out the trio carrying gifts to the new baby.
I clapped my hands once and nodded. “You had her pegged. She was always about girl power,” I said, wiping a tear that had fallen down my cheek. Indie walked over and slipped her hand in mine.
“Are we going to see you all tomorrow at the community dinner?” Indie asked, her head resting on my shoulder for a moment. She was tired and I needed to get her to bed, but I had one more thing to do.
“Ten o’clock sharp at the community center,” Ivy agreed. “Do you guys need help cleaning anything up before we leave?”
“No,” I said before Indie could. “But if you don’t mind, there’s something I’d like to do while you’re all here?”
“Sure,” Ivy said. “Should we do a picture?”
“A picture would be great!” Indie said with excitement.
“We’ll do a picture, but before we do that, I have to do this.” I turned and knelt in the cold snow of the driveway at nearly ten p.m. on Christmas Eve and took the hand of my beautiful girl. Ivy’s squeal was the first thing I heard, followed by Indie’s gasp. I cracked open a black box and held up the amethyst and diamond ring.
“Lance,” she whispered but didn’t say anything more.
“I was going to take you to the cemetery tomorrow and propose, so Mom could be there. Then we turned the corner and I saw all of our friends honoring her memory in this way and it was like she sent a direct message straight to my heart. She is here. She surrounds us now, so now is when I will ask you to stay in this house with me forever. We started out as friends many years ago, Gumdrop. I loved you then but didn’t know how to tell you after my accident. Mostly, I was afraid you didn’t want to be with a guy like me after my injury.”
She knelt and grasped my chin, her gaze holding mine. Her eyes had tears in them but also determination. “I’m honored to be with a guy like you, Lance. You’re kind, sweet, funny, honest, and trustworthy.”
“I know, because you showed me that by embracing me at my worst and teaching me that what happened to me doesn’t have to be a dirty little secret. Maybe I can’t read or write, but that’s the smallest part of who I am.”
“Yes!” the group behind me yelled.
I chuckled, shaking my head to keep the tears from falling. “It has taken me too many years to be upfront about my challenges in this life, but then I reconnected with you and you made it easy to be me. Don’t get me wrong, it was hard as hell to explain what happened to me, but what made it easy was how accepting you were at a time when you could have been angry at me for running away. Sometimes I think I’d like a redo on life, but then I remind myself that I don’t need a redo. I have a wonderful life, not to sound like James Stewart, but I do and that’s because of you.”
She wiped the tears off my face and leaned in for a kiss. “I love you too.”
“I asked Shep to take me to Saginaw a few days ago to find a ring I hoped to put on the finger of my beautiful Indigo. I know it’s not a traditional engagement ring, but when I saw it, I saw you inside the amethyst. Your beauty, your grace, and your determination to love me led me to this ring.”
She smiled as tears ran down her face. “I love that Shep took you,” she said, her lip trembling. “He’s such a good guy.”
“He is, and also, I’m shocked he managed to keep it from his wife long enough for me to make this a surprise.”
“Hey!” Ivy said with laughter. “I resemble that remark!”
Our laughter filled the night and when it died off, I cleared my throat. “I know this hasn’t been the most traditional proposal, but I think that’s what has come to define who we are together. Gumdrop, we’ve known each other our whole lives, so even though I hate to admit that we were the couple the gazebo picked this year to find love, I’m convinced that’s exactly why we’re standing here tonight. I don’t know a lot, but I do know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”
Tears fell down her face as her gaze met mine. “It would be an honor to become Indigo Garland. A deep, deep honor that one day I might be able to explain to you, but for now, I’ll answer with one simple word. Yes.”
Our friends hooted and cheered so loud the rest of the neighbors came out of their homes to see what was going on. Cheering filled the night but I saw nothing but the beautiful woman before me holding her right hand out to me to put the ring on.
“I want to wait to put your ring on my left hand until the cast is gone,” she explained, tears still dropping down her cheek.
“Your fingers might swell. That’s a good idea,” I agreed as I slid it on the ring finger of her right hand.
She grabbed my face in her right hand and pulled me down close to her lips. “They might, but that’s not why. I don’t want to put the symbol of my new life on that finger until my old life has been removed. You’re my new life now, Lance. No one who hurt me before will hurt me now that I’m with you, right?”
I attacked her lips in a hungry kiss not more than a few seconds long, but it spoke volumes. “No one will ever hurt you again, that I can promise you. I love you, Gumdrop.”
“And I love you, Mr. Garland. Merry Christmas,” she whispered right before her lips found mine again.
