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“Marry me,” he said, and a small gasp escaped my mouth. He continued, “I know it’s only been a couple of months, but I don’t want to waste another minute. I want to wake up next to you every day and see a ring on my finger that shows I belong to you.”
My mouth opened, but before I could answer, someone pounded heavily on the door.
I jumped and scrambled around. “Can no one just knock like a normal person anymore? Why is everyone always pounding!” I threw my hands up in the air. “Just, well, just hold that thought.”
Hold that thought? Someone asks you to marry them, and you say, “Hold that thought?”
I ran to grab my pajamas on the floor in the breakfast nook and hopped on one foot, trying to put my pants back on. I closed my eyes, racking my brain for a better response. “What I meant was that I want you to ask me this again, okay? But that”—I gestured to the door—“sounds urgent.”
Tuck was stifling a laugh and still standing in his underwear as I placed my shirt back over my head. I straightened my hair and yelled, “Coming!” before turning back to Tuck. “Promise? You’ll ask me again?”
He nodded. “Promise.”
“Okay, good.” I exhaled. “Now crawl back to my room and put on some clothes. I have no idea who this is.”
“Crawl?”
There was another knock on the door. “Yes! Crawl! Whoever it is, I can assure you I don’t want them to see you, like… this.” I pointed to his body. “The entire town would be in an uproar. I can just see the look on Mrs. Turner’s face… as though she has any room to judge, because we all know what kinds of parties she throws.”
“I don’t want to know anything more about Mrs. Turner and her parties, but as far as the town, they know we have been dating,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied, shuffling him. “But they don’t need to know we are baking practically naked in my kitchen.” I kissed him quickly.
I went to the door, looking behind me to make sure he was down the hallway, and fixed my hair again and straightened my shirt. I opened the door.
“Hey, Rosie! What brings you by this morning?”
Rosie was an older woman, a staple around Aveline, and brilliant with flowers. She normally had a cheery disposition and was known for her keen observation skills—a.k.a. she was the town gossip. It wasn’t terribly unusual for the townspeople to show up at my door on any given day, but it was weird for Rosie to show up with tears in her eyes and panic all over her face.
“Rosie, what’s wrong?”
Her breath shuddered. “Oh, Lettie. You have to come quick. It’s Lenora.” She was wringing her hands and shaking.
“What about Lenora? What’s wrong?” My entire body was immediately on high-alert. I grabbed my boots and my coat, not caring that I was still in my pajamas. “Tuck!” I called.
Rosie continued, “They think she’s had a stroke, Lettie. It’s bad. Teddy called an ambulance, and they’ve taken her to Mercy General. I came here right away because Teddy told me to tell you. He was so shaken up, he couldn’t find his phone when he got into the ambulance with her. I could have called, but I didn’t think it was news you’d want to hear over the phone.”
“Rosie, it’s okay. Thank you for coming. Tuck and I will head straight to the hospital.” Tuck came up behind me and placed his hand on my back.
“A stroke?” he asked, his eyebrows pulled together.
Rosie’s eyes welled with tears again as Tuck and I stepped out the door and I locked it behind me.
“Thank you, Rosie,” I said again.
“Please, keep us all informed! The whole town is praying. Lenora is on the top of the prayer chain!” she hollered as we both got into my car and I sped out of the driveway.
SEVENTY-TWO
TUCK
Lettieand I were silent the whole way to the hospital. She drove with her hands planted firmly at ten and two, and I knew that her mind was racing. I wasn’t sure how to comfort her, not because I didn’t know her well enough to know what she needed, but because I couldn’t find the words to even reassure myself.
Lenora was family to all of us, and it was hard to imagine a life without her.
The hospital was twenty minutes from Aveline, but Lettie made it there in ten. She’d barely put the car in park before she jumped out and took off running through the doors. I followed, but for a moment, I was halted by the fluorescent lighting and the smell of sterility. I hated hospitals. I had hated hospitals for almost as long as I could remember.
I instinctively grabbed ahold of my leg and then my jaw, feeling a twinge of pain in both of them that I knew was just in my head. I closed my eyes for a moment, counted to ten, and tried to remind myself of where I was and what was going on. I exhaled and opened my eyes, brushing off the feeling, and moved toward Lettie. When I caught up to her, she was frantically asking the front desk where Lenora was, and I realized she was still in her pajamas. Just as the lady at the desk was telling her she couldn’t give her any information, Teddy came from around the corner and Lettie ran into his arms.
