by Caroline Lee
Now, she stood beside him, tall and beautiful and straight. Dustin shifted so she was still braced against his forearm, but his other hand rested on her shoulder.
“You’re beautiful and strong and brave, Marley,” he whispered. “You can do anything.”
“I’m not strong enough…”
As if to prove her point, she took a step as he backed away. By her second step, he saw what she meant.
After weeks of working with her, he understood her body and movements. Her legs were shaking, and her core muscles were too taut.
“Marley,” he whispered, unable to help the anguish in his tone.
She met his eyes. “I shouldn’t have gone swimming this morning. I…I’m just too sapped. It’ll take another few days before I can try this again.”
He halted her movement by stepping in front of her. “Please don’t regret swimming with me. It was one of the highlights of my year.”
Her dark eyes flicked between his. “It was special for me too. But if I hadn’t done it, I would still have enough strength to walk down the aisle with you. For Caroline. But I don’t want to risk it—”
Dustin was already shaking his head. “Mar, Caroline and I love you for you. Having you with her is the important thing, not whether you walk or roll down the aisle to support her.”
“What did you say?”
Her eyes were wide, and he thought maybe she looked a little paler than usual, although it was hard to tell. “I said, the important thing is that you’re there for her—”
“No,” she whispered, her voice harsh. “About…about loving me.” She swallowed. “You said—you said you loved me.”
Ah. Well, he hadn’t meant it to come out that way, but he wasn’t going to tell her that, not now.
But then, she swayed suddenly, and only her grip on his arm kept her from falling. Swiftly, Dustin wrapped one arm around her back and half-carried, half-pulled her the few paces back towards her wheelchair, which had been parked to one side.
As he lowered her into it, he saw the shock and sorrow on her face.
“What’s wrong, Marley?”
She grabbed his arm with one hand, her fingers biting into the smooth lines of his jacket. Her other hand braced against her wheel, and she grunted as she lifted herself into a better position.
“Dustin,” she finally said. “You can’t love me.”
It hadn’t been what he’d expected her to say. His brows rose. “What do you mean?”
When she met his eyes again, they were clearer, calmer. But there was still a sense of urgency in her expression, of hesitation.
“You…you can’t make promises like that, Dustin. You can’t love me, because—because—”
“Because why, Marley?”
“Because you haven’t kissed me!” she wailed, and he saw the sorrow she’d been trying to hide. “You can’t love someone if you never want to kiss them. I know that!”
Oh.
He didn’t think his eyes could get wider. “And do you want me to kiss you?” he choked out.
Suddenly, she flushed and ducked her head. Staring at his cummerbund, she nodded jerkily. “I’m not blind, Dustin. The moment I saw you, I wanted to kiss you. Any woman with a pulse would want to kiss you.”
He was grinning when he sank to one knee beside her chair and reached out to take both her hands.
“Marley Santana, listen very well, okay? Because I’ve never said this before.” He squeezed her hands. “Are you listening?”
Mutely, she nodded, her eyes wide.
“I love you. I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to figure out how to kiss you, without you thinking I was just…I dunno, messing around with you. This morning, when I was holding you in that pool, it took every ounce of strength I possessed not to kiss you.”
“Why didn’t you?” Her whisper was ragged.
“Because it wasn’t right. I could’ve kissed you then, when we were nose-to-nose. Or I could’ve kissed you just now, when you were standing in front of me. Or any of the times you were practicing with the exoskeleton over the last weeks, when you were upright and in my arms.” He squeezed her hands again. “But that wasn’t you.”
She leaned forward slightly, her gaze intense. “This is me, Dustin. My legs don’t work without the exoskeleton, and I’ll be in a chair for the rest of my life.”
“I know, Marley, and I love you. I love the you you are now—just the way you are. Right now, I mean. I don’t want you to have to walk. I don’t want you to think I only want to kiss you when we’re in the pool.”
She was silent for a long moment, her gaze caressing his face, as if trying to see the truth. Finally, she said, “And do you want to kiss me now?”
“I do.” A grin grew on his face. “And I think I’ve figured out the perfect way to show you what I mean.”
On one knee in front of her wheelchair, he tugged her forward, until their lips met.
Both of them kept their eyes open, their hands clasped between them. It was a soft kiss, a gentle one, but they were both breathing hard when they pulled apart.
He grinned, and she answered it. Then she twisted her hands out of his grip, threw her arms around his shoulders, and pulled him in for a deeper, longer kiss.
When they pulled apart from that one, Dustin’s bow-tie was undone, his gelled hair was mussed, and Marley’s crinoline was caught in the gears at her knees.
But they were both smiling.
“You really do love me, Dustin?”
Mutely, he nodded, still on one knee in front of her, trying to remember how to tie a bow-tie without a mirror.
“Well then…” She blew out a breath. “I guess it’s only fair to tell you I love you too. I have for a long time, I think. But I wasn’t sure if a playboy like you could love someone…”
“Someone like you?” Managing to pull his tie tight, Dustin leaned in to brush another kiss across her slightly swollen lips. “I can, and you know why?”
She shook her head.
“Because I’m a doctor. I’m very smart, you know. Smart enough to know an incredible young woman when I meet one, and you are choka.”
“I am, you know.” She grinned the way she always did whenever he tried to use one of her words. “Are you sure?”
He pushed himself to his feet. “Let me put it this way, Marley. Since meeting you, I’ve seriously been thinking about contacting Brian Baker over in Riston and asking him to design me a house I could put on my family’s land. A nice ranch, with a ramp off the front and back porches. And a big covered lap pool in the back.”
Her eyes were twinkling as she straightened her dress over the exoskeleton. “And a handicapped lift?”
“How else am I going to get you in there to swim with me? Now that I’ve kissed you here, I’m going to do it again just about every place we go, and that includes that pool.”
Her dress looking perfect once more, she smoothed the satin down and met his eyes. “Sounds like you’re looking for a future with me, Dr. McIver.”
“Would you possibly consider it, Mar? Sticking around Idaho a little bit longer, just to see where this—this love takes us?” He couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous before. “I mean, more than just dating. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she whispered. “And I’m sorry I ruined our plans for the wedding—”
“No.” He planted his hands on the gears by her knees and leaned in, until he was inches from her face once more. “These were just plans, Marley. You’ve taught me that things don’t always go as planned, and Caroline and I and Travis, and everyone else, will love you just as you are. You don’t need to walk to be choka.”
Slowly, he watched her expression change from concern to contemplation to assurance. She met his eyes and nodded once, a grin slowly growing.
“I really am awesome, aren’t I? I told Caro that, way back when we were talking about how a playboy like you would never go for someone like me. I’m sorry I thought you were so shallow.”
> Suddenly, he needed to tell her the truth. He flushed and straightened once more, smoothing down his hair. “Well, actually, you were right. When I met you, I thought…I dunno, I thought you were safe, you know? I didn’t have to be a playboy around you. I could just be me.”
“Well then.” She winked at him. “I’ve never been thankful for this stupid accident and my wheelchair, but I guess that’s what worked this time. If I’d been like the other girls, you would’ve been your usual playboy self, wouldn’t you? But I got to see the real you.”
She really was amazing, wasn’t she? Dustin shook his head, amazed by her understanding and ability to forgive and forget with teasing.
“I love you, Marley Santana.”
“Good, because I love you, Dustin McIver. Now, hand me my bouquet, because we’ve got a wedding to get to.”
He looked where she was gesturing, then reached out to pick up the simple posy of white fluffy flowers of some sort. But when he held it out to her, just as she was unlocking the brakes on her wheels, they both realized the problem.
She couldn’t hold the flowers and wheel herself at the same time.
“Marley, I know we’d planned on walking down the aisle beside each other. But would you consider allowing me to push you? I know you can do it, but if you’ll let me, you’ll be able to hold the flowers too.”
“You know I don’t like relying on anyone, Dustin.”
He was nodding. “You don’t like relying on someone who won’t always be there for you. That’s what you said. But…” He took a deep breath. “I will. Be here for you, I mean.”
“Always?”
Slowly, he held her gaze and nodded.
She swallowed. “Promise?”
“I promise,” he whispered.
“Well then.” She took a deep breath and folded her hands in her lap, the little bouquet between them. “Let’s go wheel down the aisle, shall we?”
Smiling, he moved behind her and grasped the handles of her chair, ready to push her towards the church where Travis and Caroline were waiting.
“I love you, Marley,” he said in a low voice.
“And I love you. Promise.”
EPILOGUE
The crystal-clear water of the Caribbean sparkled in the afternoon sun, and Marley’s heart beat fast as she watched a pair of green-and-orange parrot fish chomping on the coral reef below her. It was her first time snorkeling since her accident, and she couldn’t be happier. If the snorkel didn’t have to stay clamped in her teeth, she’d be grinning hugely.
Beside her, Dustin squeezed her hand to draw her attention, then pointed to the sleek gray form of a baby Bonnethead shark as it cruised in between the formations, searching for an easy lunch. She nodded to let him know she saw it, and allowed him to tug her in that direction.
They were off the coast of Nassau in the Bahamas, above the Andros Barrier Reef, which Marley had snorkeled once before, when she was about twelve. The area had changed since then, most especially with that big hurricane last fall, but she was pleased to see the reef was still healthy, and the fish were still vibrant.
She and Dustin had arrived a few days ago with her parents and brother, intent on spending the holiday season with Mama’s mother and aunts, who had rebuilt down near Congo Town. But before they island hopped, Dustin arranged for this snorkeling expedition, just the two of them. Their charter captain had anchored the rented boat off the reef and was napping in the canopy’s shade.
Marley had been surprised how nervous she’d been, getting into the water for the first time in so long. Her life vest was at maximum inflation, and she didn’t bother with flippers. Instead, she let Dustin pull her gently through the water, helping him stroke occasionally.
In the months since Travis and Caro’s wedding, she’d been surprised by how okay she was with Dustin doing things like that for her. He pushed her chair as often as she wheeled herself these days, and she even allowed him to lift her in and out of the van or the pool when they were in a hurry.
But at the same time, he was just as patient and gentle with her as he’d always been, allowing her to do things on her own, and not begrudging her the time it took.
That, more than anything else, proved to her he really did love her, and understood what was important to her.
Now, he was pointing to a school of red snappers, which darted among the sea sponges. She glanced at him and was thrilled to see the twinkle of joy in his eyes, even through the plastic of the mask.
Something else caught her eyes, and she whipped her head around, then gasped through the snorkel, as a loggerhead sea turtle swam lazily by. She tugged Dustin around, pointing, but by the time they both began to move in that direction, the turtle was on his way towards deeper waters.
They both shared a smile at the magnificent sight, then she looked back down again. Below her, a black-and-red parrot fish was darting in and out of the coral formations, chomping on the coral polyp’s exoskeletons with his thick beak, as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
As she watched, the fish squirted out a stream of what would eventually become sand, and she laughed out loud through her snorkel.
Taking in the hard stuff and passing it right on through.
She’d done that. After her accident, there’d been days she thought her life was over. And it had been, in some ways. She’d had to relearn so many things, including how to swim.
But she could do it all.
She could swim, even better than she could before her accident, and without the use of her legs.
She could snorkel, and heck, there were even adaptive surfing options, if she wanted to try that again.
She could even walk again, thanks to the exoskeleton. She still practiced with it, and had learned to do all sorts of moves in it. Maybe one day she’d use it every day, but for now, she was happy in her chair, and happy knowing Dustin loved her just as she was.
Yes, Dustin. Thanks to Dustin, she had the most important gift of all: happiness. She was content with her current abilities, because she was awesome, and he loved her.
That was the best thing of all.
Thinking of him made her glance in his direction, the parrot fish below her forgotten, when she saw the way his lips were pulled in a big grin on either side of his snorkel. She pulled herself around to face him directly, her neck craned at an odd angle to see him underwater, and grunted a, “What?” through the snorkel.
He didn’t say anything—not that she would’ve been able to understand him if he had—but using his free hand, he reached into the pocket of his swim trunks. He dropped her hand, leaving her to float serenely above the reef, and cupped something small between his palms.
Holding them under her, he slowly opened his hands…to reveal a small black metal box, with a prong nestled inside.
And resting on that prong, was a simply stunning engagement band.
Spitting her snorkel out of her mouth, she forced herself upright in the water, her eyes wide behind her mask. She waited for him to lift his head out of the water, then she asked, “Is that what I think it is, Dustin?”
“Will you marry me?”
“Are you sure?”
To her surprise, he burst out laughing. “Of course I’m sure! These last few months have been the most fun I’ve had in—in ever! I love having you at my side and being your partner. I want to come down and visit your family more often. I want to swim laps with you each morning, and burn dinner with you each night, then have to go out to get take-out from Quinn’s and put up with my cousins’ teasing. I want to cheer for you at the International Games next summer. I want to see if you ever get better at painting trees! I want to sit beside you and hold Travis and Caroline’s daughter when she arrives. I want to do so much with you!” He took a deep breath. “No, I want to do everything with you. I love you, Marley.”
With shaking hands, Marley lifted her mask up to rest on her forehead. “I love you too, Dustin.”
“Then say yes, Mar.” His voice sounded a lit
tle pinched, because his nose was plugged by the mask. “Say you’ll be my wife. We can get married wherever or however you want.”
Slowly, she reached out and took the small box from him, cupping it in one hand as she used her other to sweep the water to keep herself upright. She peered down at the ring clamped on the prong.
Marriage. It was something they’d both talked about, but as a sort of far-off goal. Or maybe she’d been thinking that way, while he’d meant something a little more immediate.
And suddenly, the idea of being married to Dustin seemed perfect. She wanted to start building that house he’d talked about designing. She wanted to move out of her long-term lease hotel room and into his apartment. She wanted to adopt that cat they’d joked about, the one they’d name Lumbar, and start learning how to cook with Dustin.
Staring down at that ring, she smiled. “I want to get married in the Keys,” she finally said. “Beside the water at sunset.”
“So that’s a yes?”
He’d lifted his mask and sounded more normal now. But when she met his eyes, she saw worry in them.
“Yes, I’d love to marry you, Dustin,” she said with big grin.
“Then why haven’t you put on the ring?”
A chuckle escaped her then, although she felt bad when she saw how nervous he was. “Okay, first of all, I don’t want to drop it. Second, and this is more important, we’ve seen three choka barracuda cruising this reef, yeah? Well, those bad boys hunt by keeping an eye on the shiny flashes of scales as a school of fish change direction, and more than one diver wearing something sparkly like this has been attacked.”
She waved the box as she snapped it closed, then pulled it close to her chest.
“But,” she said softly, her expression softening, “I can’t wait to put it on. Think you could drag my numb butt back to the boat, Dr. McIver, so I can make you get down on one knee and do this properly?”
