by David Connor
“Okay. Thanks.”
Patrick and I decided to try to get some sleep, too, just before daylight was about to emerge. The snow was still falling. I texted Rip to suggest he wait until at least noon to come pick me up in the plow truck. I wanted to let Carrie sleep as long as possible. I also asked if he and Shelby would consider letting Carrie stay with them a while, a couple of nights or longer, if necessary.
“I think she’d be more comfortable with a couple than she would with just me,” I said, cuddled up to Patrick and Wilbur on the yellow vinyl couch in the room that still smelled like popcorn. “I hope we made her start to feel better.”
“I think we managed that. I told her I could help out with the cost of her medication when the time is right. The center I brought all those condoms for will be able to point her in the right direction as far as counseling and finding a physician and a psychiatrist. If Shelby and Rip won’t take her in—”
“They will,” I said. “They’re in the right school district, so she won’t have to change to a different one. My house isn’t. That’s another reason.”
“Well, there are resources, if things don’t go as planned.” Patrick kissed the top of my head.
“You’re pretty amazing,” I told him.
“You are.”
“That drawing?”
“Yeah?” Patrick asked.
“I’m almost certain it was Ruth Porter, the mom from my vision. Charlotte’s mom. What are the odds they were her ancestors, Ruth, Daniel, Charlotte, Lewis and…and…Moses. The other son’s name was Moses.”
“I mean, as far as things have been going lately, the odds are probably pretty good.”
“Yes.” I spoke into the soft fleece covering Patrick’s chest. “Oh. You know what else?”
“What?”
“Ruth and Daniel had an older son named Charles. Maybe it’s a family name.”
“Hmm.”
I was quiet a moment. “I came back to life a little bit tonight, too, you know. That’s on you. It’s because of you.”
“And you told me you love me. We had quite the snow day, Goose Tucker.”
“Snow night. Other than going back to school, I really loved the day after a snowstorm, too, when the sun comes out and everything is beautiful, all the colors of the world so crisp against a background of white. The sky never looks bluer. A new day, a fresh start, a hopeful feeling.”
“I hope it’s safe for you to sleep.” Patrick groaned as he stretched his entire body, head to socked feet. “The bump on your head, I mean.” He kissed me there, It didn’t hurt. “I think it is.”
“I slept before,” I reminded him. “And woke up just fine. Goofy, madly in love, but fine.”
“Good.” The second kiss atop my head was noisier. Patrick lingered there. “Nighty night.”
“Sleep tight, Patrick.”
He did. As for me, rest didn’t come. After dozing off for barely thirty minutes, I sat up and grabbed my sketchpad again, to draw another picture of Patrick, and then Jefferson and Calvin’s faces. The ridiculous notion came to cut out the images to attach to the mannequins’ heads. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. Jefferson and Calvin called to me.
Electronics was near the back of the store, not far from the employee lounge, so I tiptoed over to check on Carrie first, on my way to the DVD rack. She was hugging her unicorn, and out like a light, with her crown a little crooked, but still on her head.
“Oh.” A moment after I’d thought those words, “out like a light,” the power cut off for real. Dawn was breaking, but the clouds, bringing ice now that pinged off the glass when the wind blew, kept the sky dark. The generator kicked on right away. Carrie didn’t even stir. Wilbur was at my heels, though. I’d left Patrick asleep on the couch. He hadn’t roused either, the whole time I’d been cutting out my artwork with scissors I’d found in a drawer back there. Patrick was an adorable sleeper, all deep breaths and soft snoring that made the hairs of his mustache wave like the tall grass at the Eaves farm. Leaving him was hard, but I didn’t want to disturb his slumber.
Holding on to my cutout drawings, I made my way farther up the aisle, with just some dim, yellow light from the emergency lamps and the illumination of exit signs to guide me toward Jefferson and Calvin, so I could finally give them faces.
“Okay. Where did they go?”
Wilbur looked side to side, as if he’d understood my question, barely whispered in disbelief. The mannequins were not where we’d left them.
“It’s not like you could walk away.” I looked all around, still talking quite low. “Okay, maybe you could.”
From Electronics first, to Small Appliances, then Office Supplies, Arts and Crafts, Gardening, and Toys, I searched. The food section would have been my next stop, way across the store, but something told me to double back the other way and head toward Footwear and around the corner to—”No way.”
There, in Jewelry, stood Motorcycle Cowboy Jefferson and Presidential Calvin, still dressed to the nines in his suit and tie.
“That’s a pretty clear message,” I softly declared, though I wanted to shout, there in front of the glass-front counter with silver necklaces, platinum bracelets, and a good selection of rings with an array of precious stones. The light in the display case was out, like all of the accent lighting in the store. “You proposed to one another. That’s what I was trying to remember from my visit.”
Two men’s golden wedding bands were aglow in warm white illumination, its source, once again, otherworldly, not electrical.
“Hey.”
I spun around to see Patrick, rubbing sleep from his eyes, with his pajama pants sagging and the top scrunched up, so his belly showed some.
“What are you up to?”
Before I could say anything, he spoke again.
“Oh. Oh, no.”
“Patrick…”
“I spoiled your surprise.”
My heart skipped a beat. He was all smiles. “Patrick…”
“I can go and come back,” he said, “so you can finish.” He didn’t get far. “Why, though?” He rushed back and grabbed me, grabbed me and twirled around in a circle, his big arms hugging me at my ribcage, me a foot off the ground. “Yes. Yes, Goose, I’ll marry you.”
No, no, no, no, no, I thought, still in the air. “Patrick…” He was reading it all wrong, and I was freaking out.
“I know. I was afraid it was too soon to ask, way too fast. But if you’re asking…”
I wasn’t.
“If you’re asking, I must have been wrong. I’m glad the whole thing with my divorce didn’t freak you out.”
This was freaking me out. I loved him. With all my heart, I did. My brain, my heart, and my body. But marriage? Already?
“Your face…”
What about my face?
Patrick touched me there. “I see in it…”
Sheer terror? Extreme anxiety?
“Love.”
That, too.
“This night has been magical.” Patrick was still talking, still smiling, though also choked up. I could hear it in his voice. I should have stopped him. “I didn’t see how my life could be any more charmed, but now I know of just one more way.”
Why wasn’t I stopping him?
“Okay.” He set me down, guided me to face him, and then gave me a kiss. “I’m ruining your plan. Forget everything I said. It’s your turn to talk.” Patrick straightened out his shirt and pants. He even fixed his hair and smoothed down his beard. “What did you, Jefferson, and Calvin have planned? What did you want to say, or should it be what did you want to ask?”
Oh, boy.
Now what?
THE END
ABOUT DAVID CONNOR
David has always wanted to be a daytime drama writer. His books are like soap operas in print, filled with intrigue, romance, comedy, and drama. His imagination refuses to shut off even when he sleeps. Many of David’s plots and ideas come from nightly dreams and nightmares. He l
ives in upstate New York with a kitty cat named Molly and the spirits of several doggies and kitties who have passed on. David enjoys writing (of course), puttering in the garden, and naps for new story ideas.
ABOUT E.F. MULDER
E.F. and her writing partner, David Connor, have always been soap opera fans. Living in a small New York town, they both turned their love of the genre to books and short stories with romantic, soap opera-ish themes. Nothing beats a cliffhanger, a twist, a good mystery, and maybe an evil twin.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
