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I placed my hand on the doorknob and closed my eyes, inhaling and exhaling before opening.
When I walked in, I didn’t see Tuck anywhere. Instead, I saw a stack of letters. There must have been two hundred in the pile. I placed my hands to my mouth as I leaned down.
My letters.
I began to sift through the envelopes, tracing my name written on each of them.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get them to you.” Tuck walked from the hallway with his hands in his pockets.
“Looks like you forgot the postage,” I replied, standing up and walking closer to him.
“That must have been the problem,” Tuck teased.
“I can’t believe you actually wrote me. I mean, I believed you when you said you did, but seeing it…” I couldn’t finish my thought. Seeing it was, what? Both heartbreaking and fulfilling at the same time? To know I hadn’t been the only one who’d had a hard time moving on.
We were standing face-to-face now, only inches apart. “I’ve always loved you. Even when I tried not to, I couldn’t stop myself.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets, and with it came a small, velvet box.
I gasped.
“I’m sorry I made you wait for this too. I can explain though. After I blurted it out—meaning every word, mind you—I realized I didn’t have a ring.”
“Oh, Tuck, you know I don’t care about those things,” I said.
“No, I know, but I also thought I should wait until… well… Here…”
My heart was pounding so fast, I could feel it throughout my entire body. I could feel thethump, thump, thumpin my ears, and every sense was on high-alert. I stopped breathing the moment he opened the box.
And inside was a bone-shaped dog tag.
“Oh,” I said. Everything froze, and I began laughing uncontrollably. “Oh,” I said again. “This is nice. For Gilbert?”
Tuck’s lips were in a straight line and he cleared his throat. “Wait, sorry, hold on. This will make more sense in just a second. I’ll be right back.” He practically ran down the hallway, and I stood holding the box and staring blankly at it.
After only a moment, Tuck came back holding something in his arms covered in a blanket.
“I wanted to ask you to marry me again the minute after I did it, but then I had an idea.” He slowly removed the blanket, and out popped the most adorable, tan puppy head with big floppy ears.
“Oh, good heavens! Debbie’s puppy!” I immediately took the dog into my arms and began snuggling it. “Is it ours?”
“She’s ours. I thought, why not wait until Debbie’s puppies were ready and surprise you. I went and asked Millie which one I should get, and she said this little girl is the spunkiest.”
“This is the best surprise ever! She’s beautiful!” I nuzzled my face into her neck and then kissed her paws.
Tuck moved closer, took the dog tag out of the box, and turned it over. I looked at it, taking in the engraving.
Anne.
“I made you a lot of promises, and I want to spend the rest of my life making sure I keep them all. Starting with Anne.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out another box, opening it as he bent down on one knee. “Marry me, Lettie, because I have never loved anyone or anything the way that I love you.”
I wiped the salty tears from my face and bent down to meet him, still holding Anne in my arms. “I thought you’d never ask.” Tuck kissed me and I pulled away. “No, I seriously thought you’d never ask. It took you forever! I was waiting and waiting and waiting…” I kept going as Tuck pulled me closer and wrapped Anne and me up into his arms and kissed me all over—my forehead, my cheeks, my lips.
I pulled away slightly and looked at Anne, stroking her head and taking in all of her puppy features. “Henry Pearson has some explaining to do, because even though he denies it like his life depends on it, this little girl has definitely got some lab in her.”
SEVENTY-EIGHT
JUNE 2018
TUCK
