by Casey Ford
Despite her excitement, I’m nervous. This is it, the final phase. I have a very good idea how she’s going to react to this, but it’s still scary to put yourself out there like this. It’s the small amount of unknown in this plan that causes the doubt to take hold and fester.
I smile despite it all; at least I have to do that.
“Calm down, Speed Racer, or I’ll turn this car around and go home,” I repeat what I heard my dad say all the time to us when we were younger. Sam immediately stops what she’s doing and starts rocking back and forth in a vain attempt to contain her enthusiasm. I laugh at her bubbly expression. Her eyes are shining like a kid in a toy store.
I come up to her and gently cup her face with one of my hands, the opposite from the one that holds the ring box. I look into her eyes and try to figure out what she sees in me by way of my reflection.
The doubts are strong in this one.
“You are beautiful and you are going to make someone a very happy fiancée someday,” I smile at her obvious disappointment of the term ‘someday’. I have plans and I’m not going to let her goad me into changing them. I’ve been planning this for four years. It will go on without a hitch.
Doubts banished, mostly.
I pull the box out of my pocket and watch as Sam’s face lights up at the sight of the tiny box, but I don’t hand it to her. This one is the one that I’ll be opening for her. It gives me a bit of satisfaction that Sam looks confused by this before understanding chases it away. She starts to play with her charms absent-mindedly.
I drop to one knee and her entire body stops working.
Her breathing hitches and sputters before it exhales itself out in a surprised breath. Tears start falling immediately and she covers her mouth to keep the smile she has hidden — I never understood the point of doing that, I love her smile. I reach up and grab her left hand without wavering my line of sight. She looks beautiful in the moonlight, all surprised and happy.
“Samantha Cohn, I love you. I love you and I promise that I will always treasure you and your heart, forever. I promise always to listen to you and to always cherish your input and opinion. I promise to support you in anything you wish to do, be it skydiving or lounging at home on the couch, nothing will prevent me from being your biggest supporter.” I raise the box and open it for her. The gasp I hear from her makes me realize that I made a good choice in letting the sales lady help me pick this ring. She looks like she wants to say something, but I cut her off with my other hand. I don’t place the ring on her finger, yet. It just sort of hovers there in front of her ring finger.
“This ring represents my undying love. Just as the ring is never ending you will remember that my love for you is complete and unending,” I pause for effect, “now I have just one question for you…”
“Yes!” she shouts before I even finish the question and I can’t help but smile at the excitement.
“Let me finish at least. It took a long to plan this and you have to go and jump the gun like that. Sheesh.” Sam rolls her eyes playfully and motions for me to continue with an excited smile.
“Will you marry me?”
I slip the ring on her finger after she nods her head. I step back from her and admire the girl I love.
“Jesus, Al, it’s about time. I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that for four years,” Sam admonishes. “Though, I have to admit it’s amazing how you set this up.”
“I love that you did this for me,” she says.
“Now you have my entire being with you.” Sam look confused by this statement and I step up to her.
“I told you what each of your gifts represents physically. Now I’ll tell you what they truly mean,” I tell her. I reach up and pin the necklace pendant to her chest with my finger.
“This represents my promise to treasure you heart, what it means is that this is my heart. You have my heart on a chain.” I move to her earrings and shine them with my thumb.
“These represent my promise to always listen to you, what that means is these are my body.” I look down and gently raise her wrist with the charm bracelet.
“This represents my promise to support you at all times, this is my soul. You carry my soul with you.” The charms each represent a certain portion of my personality — soccer ball, letter A, letter S, a pair of small children, boy and girl. I play with her new addition for a second before continuing.
“This represents my never ending love for you, what it means is that my promises are never ending.” Now for the grand finale.
“You hold my heart,” pointing at the necklace, “my body,” the earrings, “and my soul,” the charm bracelet, “for all time,” the ring on her finger.
“I am wholly and completely yours, Samantha Cohn.”
Sam has tears chasing each other down her face. A massive ecstatic smile on her face, tells me all I need to know. I smile with her and she leaps into my arms, squeezing me tightly as her tears soak into my jacket. Nuzzling my neck a bit, Sam giggles to herself. I feel the happiness radiating off her in waves. It’s incredibly infectious and I find it hard not to laugh with her.
“I promise to forever be yours,” she declares into my neck and I smile.
I practically carry her back to the car since she keeps jumping into my arms every time I set her down. It’s time to head back to reality for a while before we can have our fairytale ever after.
Sounds cheesy, but I really want the cheesy fairytale.
I would gladly hand in my man card for it.
She stares at her ring in a blissful trance as we pull out of the parking lot. I take a few quick glances at her happy face and try to memorize it for future reference. Life won’t always be kind to us, but I know we can manage. I’m sure we’re ready for anything fate can throw our way.
“I still can’t believe you got me to go see that stupid movie,” I exclaim one more time while on the way home. Sam playfully groans and rolls her eyes at my discomfort before breaking into a laughing fit.
“You know, Al, I’m so happy right now I could die with no regrets,” She exclaims to me as I pull into the intersection on our way home.
Present Day
My lips leave hers one more time. Placing my forehead against hers again when there is no reaction, I cry out of desperation. My tears have been falling during my entire breakdown.
“Please, Sam, I need you,” I whisper mostly to myself, but hopeful she’ll hear me. I look at her one more time and slowly lower my lips onto hers. I gently coax her mouth to respond to mine and nearly jump back when they do. Slowly at first, her lips start to gain more fervor as they work against mine and I fight the urge to deepen the kiss more. I moan softly into her mouth as the lip-lock breaks slightly. I can feel the happy and weak smile play across her face as I dive in for another kiss.
The best feeling in the world is to be kissed by the one you love.
A single tear falls from my eyes and crashes on her cheek.
“You are such a pansy,” Sam’s soft and scratchy voice breaks the silence in the room.
Epilogue
6 Years Later
“Daddy, hurry up! Mommy’s in the TV!” the little angel shouts from the living room, bouncing excitedly on the couch. I quickly gather up the snacks from the kitchen and hurry out of the room.
Ethan is sitting in my recliner with Lauren in his lap. They got engaged last year and have been trying to figure out a good date for the ceremony. Ethan had to quit his job in order to date her, but he tells me all the time that it was worth it. He found a higher paying job at another company and he just bought a house — in fact, he proposed the same day he closed. Lauren is a great woman and she compliments Ethan well. She’s all business and seriousness; it makes Ethan slow down and think before he does something stupid. I get a kick out of the two of them when they’re together since they argue like 90-year-old men who have been friends all their lives.
Quentin and Arianna are trying to control the devil angel on the couch, or actually,
Quentin is trying to keep her from accidentally jumping — falling — on Arianna’s very pregnant belly on the couch. Those two got married two years ago and this is their first child. I see Arianna’s glow whenever she feels the kid kick and Quentin has turned into a regular Suzy Homemaker. He has a trust fund that he has dipped into heavily to prepare for the baby. His house looks like they built it out of rubber and drew the plans with a compass — no sharp angles anywhere. We let them babysit whenever they want in order to practice — their words.
Kate and Hayden Blake — great guy by the way — are sitting on the floor in front of the TV, leaning on the coffee table. Hayden knew a great physical therapist in the area that helped Sam with her disability. The first few months were really hard for us and Kate has been a great help following the accident. She just started trying to get her master’s degree in counseling, specializing in grief and accident victims. Her unofficial sessions did wonders for Sam back then and helped the two of them bond. They are now the friends I always knew they could have been in the past. Hayden pushed Sam solely into the “get better fast” category when he told her about the Paralympics and all it entails.
Which is where my lovely wife is right now: beautiful Tokyo, Japan, taking the country by storm.
“Angie Marie, you better not be jumping on the couch,” I scold as I turn the corner into the living room.
“Oh, busted!” Ethan yells and Lauren hits him. He throws her an innocent look like he has no idea why she hit him. Angie plops herself down on her butt and folds her hands in her lap like she hasn’t done anything wrong all day, which I know is a lie. She is too much like her mother that there is no way she hasn’t done anything wrong in the last hour let alone all day.
But it’s a special occasion, so I have every intention of letting it slide for today only.
I place the snacks on the coffee table and sit down, pulling Angie into my lap as we watch the TV. Sam worked extra hard when she found out about the Paralympics from Hayden. She was training in both the physical therapy from the coma in order to get her full mobility back and how to walk with prosthetics. This was something she wasn’t entirely ready for, but did it without complaint — I doubt I could have said the same in her shoes. We got married a year after the accident — in that park, I thought it was only fitting. Angie was born while Sam was in the middle of training for the Games four years ago. It killed her to have to take time off, but she loves Angie unconditionally.
She’s done all this and still managed to get a degree in medicine. A successful pediatrician now, general practice, she’s become what she always wanted to become. She doesn’t let her disability get to her and actually manages to keep up with Angie most of the time.
I finally found my major after a long while of thinking about it and it’s something that hits close to home. I passed the bar over a year ago and have been practicing law as an assistant DA for almost a year. Already I have a reputation as an uncompromising hard-ass. No one is going to get a slap on the wrist from me. I have no problem with that title at all.
“Welcome back to the Paralympic Games. It’s been a lovely day here in Tokyo, Japan, filled with medals and upsets. The women’s side of things has set records and the men’s has been just as surprising. We’re just getting ready for the woman’s T44 100-meter dash right now, so let’s go down track side.” The camera skips to a wide shot of the racers at first, “Some people might not understand how the classification system works when it comes to athletics in the Paralympic Games. T43 is double amputee. T44 is single amputee. The races are usually separated between the different classifications, but since there isn’t enough T43s and 44s running in these Games, the commission has voted to combine the two. So you’ll see both double and single amputee runners in this race,” the announcer explains as the camera cuts to each individual runner at a time.
“There’s Natasha Vasilyev. The 16-year-old single amputee from Russia has had a good day today here on the track, winning a bronze in the 200-meter race.”
The camera pans to the next person in the line.
“Yuri Sato from Japan. The 22-year-old, single amputee has been a competitor in two Paralympic Games. This contender has had a rocky start in these Games and could be looking to turn things around in this race.”
Next person.
“Sarah Anderson, 21-year-old single amputee from Australia, is next in the block. She’s had a great night tonight as well, winning gold in the 200-meter dash.”
The camera pans again to the next person and Angie leaps from my grasp, clapping loudly. I adjust so I have a better view of the screen as it shows Sam bouncing on her prosthetic running blades, warming up for the race.
“There she is folks, Samantha Green. The 26-year-old double amputee from the United States has had a phenomenal day today winning medals in all of her events. She’s won gold in the 110-meter hurdles, another in the 400-meter dash, and finally silver in the 200-meter race. She was within two one-hundredths of a second from getting the gold in that one. She’ll be looking for gold in this event and with the way she’s competing it’s a very good possibility.”
The camera starts to pan to the rest of the contestants and I tune them out, I don’t care about them.
Once the introductions are complete the runners start setting up. Sam places her prosthetics on the starting blocks as she waits for the pistol to fire, starting them off. There is a weight and a silence that I haven’t heard since before Angie was born filling the room.
The starter calls “get set” and all the racers tense up. Painful seconds start counting down as the racers wait for the pistol to fire. The audience in the stands falls silent and everyone in my house holds their breath. It’s painful how long it takes as the tension builds to boiling point.
The only one that doesn’t seem affected by it is Angie as she bounces up and down eagerly watching her mother poised to take off.
The runners take off before I even register that I heard the starter pistol.
The longest ten seconds of my life plays out in front of me. Sam and Sarah trade place three times before they both lean forward to give themselves an advantage crossing the finish line. The finish is close; they pull out the old photo finish — which shows that Sam was the one that crossed first.
The scoreboard pops up with Sam’s name in the first position, Sarah’s pops up right after with a one one-hundredth of second difference. Sam screams loudly and starts jumping up and down as Sarah and several other competitors come over to congratulate her with a hug. One of the officials wraps the American flag around her shoulder and she flies around the track like it’s a cape, laughing as if it’s the only thing she knows how to do. She’s the same as she was from the past, full of life and promise. Not afraid of anything and able to do everything. Her eyes glow with the brilliance of accomplishment. Her body radiates satisfaction and pride.
I can’t be any happier for her than I am at this moment.
Her bright eyes and smile makes the time until now all worth it.
Acknowledgements
This book has been a labor of love – and hate – for me. It started out as a short movie script for my little brother’s production company, I95 Pictures. The script was only 25 pages long and was a lot more depressing. That was almost two years ago. It never really took off, but the idea kind of stuck with me and I kept going over it as time went on.
This version of the script came to be after a friend suggested I do it. That friend has been there every step of the way for me on this and, despite having her own obligations, has never once let me down. So, Ohio gets the lion’s share of the credit for this book – alongside my wife. She’s given my pointers and even took time out of her busy schedule to edit a few of the first chapters. I’m glad I reached out to you all those months ago after your book touched me so closely. Thank you for talking to me when you didn’t have to and thank you for being a great friend. I miss the long nights just sending emails back and forth about nothing and everything,
but I’m glad I can still call you friend. Don’t ever change. I still have to stump you at song lyrics, damn it.
The other lion’s share of credit for this book goes to my wife, Julie. Everyone talks about the family that was awesome. They have families that let them write without interruption and put up with a dirty house and left-over dinners without complaint. I didn’t have a family like that. There was always something to do with the kids [parks, birthday parties, play-dates, etc.]. I can’t complain, I love my family and writing has always been a hobby of mine. My wife is the most supportive of this endeavor than anyone else I know [Ohio excluded]. If it wasn’t for her silent approval, and gentle pushes, I doubt even Ohio could have gotten me to finish this book. Believe me there were times that I wanted to give it up. It was her sympathetic agreements with me – then hard hitting questions about regrets – that kept me writing this little book here for all of you. I love you, Baby. Don’t ever leave… it would hurt a lot. ;-)
I must also mention Ohio’s sister, Dawn. She’s been a great cheerleader as well. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for the editing, but I’m glad I got to know you regardless. I look forward to future cheerleading from you. Thanks again for making me feel 100ft tall with that Nicholas Sparks reference.
My good friend Morgan needs an acknowledgement as well. He edited the original manuscript for me, despite it not being what he normally reads. In fact I think this genre is by far his least favorite one of all time. So, thank you for suffering through it for me and thanks again for helping me out.
My kids, the annoyingly adorable little buggers, that made it their life mission to distract me from writing this book, David and Jennifer. I can’t get enough of them and so I’m not as mad as I should be. ;-)
Now we move on to the beta-readers. I love this group since they are awesome, every single one:
