by R. R. Banks
I walked toward her, and she took a few shuffling steps toward me. She reached up and placed one soft hand on either one of my cheeks.
"Now, Rose," Mr. McCrady said. "What are you doing? This here is a newcomer to Silver Lake. He's our new fire chief."
She shook her head.
"I was so scared that something happened to you," she said. "No one ever told us where you went."
I felt my heart beating faster.
"What are you talking about?" Mr. McCrady asked with the exasperated tone of a man who had dealt with the same eccentric woman for a lifetime.
"He might be the fire chief," Rose said, "but he isn't a newcomer." She pulled my face forward and touched a kiss to the middle of my forehead. "Welcome home," she whispered.
I felt emotion tighten in my throat and all I could do was smile at her. I straightened and reached for Gwendolyn.
"This is Gwendolyn," I told her.
"It's very nice to meet you," she said. "I would have known him anyway. You take care of him. He deserves it."
Gwendolyn nodded.
"I will," she said.
Rose backed up a few steps and then turned around to return to her husband’s side. She began leading him back down the sidewalk when she turned to look at me again.
"When you figure out what you're going to do with that house, you come over and see me. I'll make cookies and we'll talk."
"I promise," I said.
I turned Gwendolyn around and gathered her into my arms. I looked down into her face for a few seconds before kissing her. I felt more open and vulnerable than I ever had, but in that moment, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Nine months later…
I pulled the final piece of tape away from the wall and stepped back to look at the sharp line it created.
"How does it look?" Gwendolyn called in.
"Really good," I said. "I think this room is pretty much done except for the window treatments."
She walked in and let out a satisfied sigh as she eyed my painting work.
"It's perfect," she said. "You were right. The extra green note in this paint is even better for the room. It's very tranquil."
"Well, I hope not too tranquil. I wouldn't want the office to become the nap room."
She laughed and swatted me in the middle of the chest with one of the rubber gloves that she had pulled off her hands.
"Come on," she said. "Let me show you what I've been up to."
I followed her into the kitchen where she had spread a large cloth across the floor. It was covered in pieces of antique silver serving ware.
"What's all this?" I asked.
"I found it in a box in the corner of a shelf in the basement," she said. "I've been working on polishing it for what feels like hours."
I crouched down to get a better look at the silver. I touched a fingertip to the scroll pattern on the handle of a cake server.
"This was my grandmother's," I said. "I remember it from Thanksgiving when I was really little. At least, I think it was Thanksgiving. We had a big table out and were using this and crystal glasses. I can't really think of anything else that it would be. I thought that the antique dealers would have gotten their hands on this a long time ago."
She smiled at me and picked up the cake server.
"I guess it was waiting for us. This would be perfect for the wedding."
"So, you're sure you still want to marry me?"
"Are you kidding?" she asked, looking at her engagement ring fondly. "I'm marrying you just so I can take a day off from this place."
I laughed and scooped her up against me, looking down into her beautiful face.
"Just one day?" I asked. "So, you're going to make me go on our honeymoon by myself?"
"You're not getting rid of me that easily," she said. She tilted her face up to kiss me. "But that just means that we're going to have to work even harder if we want to keep up with the timeline."
"Maybe," I said. "But I think that we owe ourselves a little bit of a break."
I took the gloves from her hand and tossed them onto the floor before sweeping my arm behind her knees and around her back to scoop her up against my chest. I carried her, squealing, up the stairs toward the master bedroom where we had set up a sleeping bag and pillows for the late nights when we could work on the house, while Jason was at a friend’s house. It wasn't the most luxurious or comfortable of destinations, but it was just fine for my intentions.
Three weeks later I stood in the doorway of the small room that had been set aside for me and my groomsmen, looking out over the chairs that were slowly filling with my wedding guests. The door opened, and two more people came in, bundled up against the cold. I knew that the night outside was almost pitch black and bitter, the only extra light coming from the streetlamps reflecting off the fresh snow. I was surprised that so many people were there. When Gwendolyn picked out the wedding date, I had been hesitant. I didn't think that people would even consider making their way to our ceremony, much less the celebration after. It had meant so much to me when the RSVPs started coming in with people noting that they would be in attendance, but there was a part of me that didn't actually believe that most of them would make it. I had fully expected a scattering of guests throughout the chairs and a deluge of apology notes the next day. Soon, though, nearly every chair was filled, and I could hear the whispers of excited conversations coming over the music that was playing.
The door opened again, and I saw the McCradys walk in. I smiled widely as the usher took Rose by the elbow and led them up the aisle to the front row seats that I had reserved for them. Over the last several months I had spent a lot of time with them, rebuilding the relationship that we had once had. Mr. McCrady had finally come to terms with who I really was. He said that over the years he had comforted himself by pretending that I was still a little boy and was perfectly fine. He hadn't wanted to think that I had grown up with those memories, memories that he had many of himself. Now, other than Jason, they were the closest thing that I had to family and I was honored to have them sit there for my wedding.
Finally, I saw the officiant take his place. I had been relieved when Gwendolyn hadn't suggested that The Reverend or The Bishop act as our standing officiant. They were great cats, but I didn't know if they were approved for performing human rites and figured it was better to err on the side of caution and go for an actual officiant. Once he was looking out over the crowd, I walked out and took my place beside him. I suddenly felt a flicker of nerves in my belly, but I was also happier than I could ever remember being.
Music rose up louder around us and the bridal party started their way down the aisle. First Jason and Gwendolyn's cousin, then pairs of firefighters in suits and teachers in matching black velvet with bouquets of red roses made their way toward me, parted, and formed lines on either side of the altar. Each one was bringing me closer to Gwendolyn and finally, she appeared at the end of the aisle, her arm tucked around her father's as she smiled across the space at me. I wanted to run to her, but I forced myself to be patient as she took the slow, gliding walk along the flower petals sprinkled at her feet. She was indescribably gorgeous, and she deserved every second of the attention of that walk.
Her hand was trembling when she placed it in mine and we stepped in front of the officiant, turning toward each other. As we first stood there I could feel the eyes of the guests on us, but with every word of the ceremony the feeling faded until it was like she and I were the only ones who existed. I stared into her eyes as I repeated my vows and delicate tears slipped down her cheeks as she said hers. I saw the officiant's eyes flit down to the watch on his wrist as we finished and slipped the rings onto each other's hands. I knew why he was doing it. The timing of this moment was important, it was everything to Gwendolyn.
As he pronounced that we were married, our guests started chanting, counting down from ten as we continued to stare into each other's eyes, occasionally laughing. Finally, they reached one and we closed th
e space between us, kissing to blended shouts of "Congratulations!" and "Happy New Year!"
The guests pulled soundmakers and streamers out from under the seats and used them in celebration as we ran down the aisle and out into the night. The air was sharp and cold, but it felt good on my flushed cheeks as I swept her up into my arms and spun her around, lowering her back to her feet only so that I could kiss her again.
It was the first moments of a brand new year and I was beginning it with Gwendolyn as my wife.
Epilogue
Gwendolyn
School had only just let out for the year, but it already felt like it was the middle of summer, and when I pulled my car up in front of the house, I spent a few more seconds enjoying the chill of the air conditioner pumping through the vents in front of me before I turned the car off and reluctantly stepped out into the blistering temperature beyond. I opened the back door and reached in to pull the bags out of the back seat, musing that it wouldn't be long before that particular movement became a far more touch and go situation. I could only imagine trying to pull bags out of the car in September and getting stuck halfway through the bend, gravity trying to decide whether it was going to let me stand back up, or if it was going to choose my belly's side and pull me down into the car. Maybe that was going to be the determining factor of when I wasn't allowed to do the shopping anymore.
I juggled for a few seconds to strike a balance between the bags in each hand and bumped the door with my hip to close it. I tried to reach for the doorknob, but wasn't able to negotiate it and instead poked at the doorbell. I heard shuffling on the other side of the door and then it opened. It briefly seemed as though no one had opened the door, and then I realized that it had been Jason, and he had already made his way back into the living room to flop down onto the couch. He was wearing the teenage boy's summer uniform of gym shorts and socks and was gripping a video game controller as he stared at the screen. It looked as though he was having absolutely no trouble adjusting to the last summer break before his senior year.
He looked up at me and I noticed his eyes widened slightly as if he hadn't even thought about who might be on the other side of the door. That was only a little bit disheartening. I'm sure that if he had let an intruder in, in his video game induced stupor, The Reverend and The Bishop would have put up enough of a fuss to at least get his attention.
"Do you need some help?" he asked.
"That would be nice," I said.
He got up and took the bags from my hands.
"Where do they go?" he asked.
"Some go to the kitchen, some go to the nursery."
He looked at me blankly and I pointed toward the kitchen.
"We'll go there first," I said.
Jason ambled into the kitchen and stood patiently while I sifted through the bags and chose the ones that remained there, putting them on the counter so that I could put the groceries away in a few minutes. He then followed me back through the house and into the nursery. It wasn't too much of a nursery yet, but it was gradually filling with the tiny clothes, toys, books, and other things that Garrett and I picked up nearly every time we left the house. I ran my hand over my belly lovingly as I looked over the growing collection. It was only in the last few weeks that I really started to show, and I cherished even the little swell. There were still moments when I was struck with amazement that there was a baby, Garrett's baby, growing inside me. It wouldn't be long before I held her in my arms and dressed her in the sweet little outfits that were hanging in her closet or read her the books that were gradually filling the white shelf already sitting against the wall.
In the few moments that I had been standing there daydreaming about the new little one coming into the world in only a matter of months, Jason had managed to put the bags down and disappear back into the living room. I walked out to him and watched him play for a few seconds.
"Thank you for your help," I said.
"You're welcome," he said. "Is there anything else that I can do?"
I smiled. Even though he hadn't taken his eyes off the TV screen since I had walked in the room, the offer sounded completely genuine. We had melded easily into a family and I looked at him with a tremendous amount of pride. I knew that he deserved to relax in these first few days of summer. He had worked incredibly hard during his junior year, both on the baseball field and in the classroom, and his accomplishments were earning him attention from several schools. I didn't want to think about the fact that it would only be a year before he was leaving home and heading off to college. It was hard to think about him not being there with us if he chose to go to one of the schools that was too far away for him to live at home. I resisted the urge to ruffle his hair, reminding myself that even though I had been his teacher the year before, and was now his stepmother, I really wasn't that much older than him. When I looked at him, though, I felt like our existences were lifetimes apart. For the first time, though, that seemed like a good thing.
Blinking away the tears that had filled my eyes, I looked around.
"Do you know where your father is?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"Have the two of you been working on your project out in the garage today?"
"Yeah," he said. "I just came in here about half an hour before you got home."
"Did he come in with you?"
"Yes."
"Where did he go after he came in?"
He shrugged.
And there's the teenager.
"Do you think that he went back out to the garage?"
He shrugged.
I sighed.
"You know, your shoulders are for more than just shrugging."
Without taking his eyes off the screen he gave a few dramatic shimmies.
I laughed.
"Yes. Exactly what I was thinking."
The back door opened, and Garrett walked in. His face lit up when he saw me. He crossed the room to me and kissed me, then leaned down to kiss my belly. I knew that eventually, the priorities would shift, and I would come second in the line to receive kisses, but I was alright with that.
"What have you been up to?" I asked. "Been out in the garage again working on your mysterious project?"
He smiled.
"As a matter of fact, I just finished it up. Even though my loyal assistant did abandon me."
Jason waved over his head at his father.
We laughed, and Garrett took my hands in his.
"Do you want to come out and see?" he asked.
"I'd love to."
He led me out of the house and into the garage that he had converted into a workspace. There was something in the middle of the floor covered with a tarp and Garrett stood beside it.
"Do you remember when I was working on the gazebo and I noticed that a lot of the wood was damaged?"
"Yes," I said. "You said that you didn't know if you would be able to save the whole structure."
I knew that that had been hard for him. He had told me about the days that he had spent in that gazebo when he was a little boy and how much it meant to him. Knowing that he might have to tear it down had hurt him, and he had gone to great lengths to take it apart extremely carefully so that he could preserve as much of it as possible.
"The more that I worked with it," he said, "the more I realized that I didn't need to save the structure. At least, not as it was. The parts of the wood that were damaged made it so it couldn't be what it was anymore, but there was still enough of it left that it could be turned into something else. Something that I think might be even better."
He reached down and pulled the tarp away. I gasped, my hands coming up to cover my mouth when I saw the beautiful cradle he had revealed.
"Garrett," I said. "It's gorgeous. You made that?"
"Me and Jason," he said. "I took the wood from the gazebo and we built it together. I figured that the gazebo was where I was happiest and felt the safest when I was little. It protected me. Now it can protect my little princess, too."
&nbs
p; "It's incredible," I told him. I loved it. I stepped up to him and kissed him. "And I love you."
"I love you," he said. "And there's enough wood so I can build her a little playhouse when she gets a little bit older. We'll put it in the backyard."
I drew in a breath, shaking slightly with the rush of emotion that had filled me.
"Let's bring it inside," I said. "I want to put it in her nursery."
Garrett picked up the cradle that he had painted a soft pink and followed me back into the house. We went into the nursery and he set the cradle down in the corner. The sunlight coming through the window framed it perfectly and streamed through a carving he had added to the foot, creating an illuminated heart on the floor.
"We should probably get going," he said. "I want to make sure that we get this done today."
I nodded and gave him a tight squeeze around the waist with both arms, turning to kiss his chest right over his heart. We started out of the room, but he paused and reached into his pocket. I saw him pull something out.
"What's that?" I asked.
I looked closer and saw that it was a little green army man.
"Just something that I found in the Gazebo when I was dismantling it," he said. "I thought that it could watch over her."
We pulled up in front of the house and Garrett let out a long breath.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
We got out of the car and I walked through the newly repainted gate as Garrett walked around to the trunk of the car. He had chosen this date very specifically. When he had felt ready, we went through the archived newspapers at the library to find the exact date when his mother died. He wanted that date, as close to the very moment that he could, to the memory that he was about to create. He came and stood beside me and we looked up at the house. So much of our time, energy, and effort had gone into that house over the last year. We spent the majority of our engagement working to bring the house and its grounds back from the decades of neglect. It had been hard, but it had also been wonderful. The time that we spent together had drawn us closer and given us each the opportunity to release what we had held inside of us for too long, and finally, safe in each other's arms and consumed only by each other's love, to heal. This was exactly what Garrett needed, and the smile on his face as he looked at the fresh paint, the newly planted flowers, and the smooth green grass filled my heart with happiness.
