by Cory Mccoy
“Good afternoon, you two.” Johann said, as he stopped by later in the day. “I trust your recovery is coming along?”
“Yeah,” Connor said “Actually, I was able to move my legs a little.”
“That's incredible,” Johann exclaimed. “How did you figure that out?”
“Oh, ummm” he said as I elbowed him. “It's a secret...”
“A secret?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Connor said trying to keep a straight face. “Classified information, sorry.”
“I see,” Johann said. “Perhaps we should move you out of the hospital room in order to aid your clandestine operations.”
“Oh god, the two of you are just alike.” I said walking out of the room. “I'm going to go find Sombers for the commando here.”
“How much movement are we talking about?” I heard Johann ask
“Not a lot, but most of the upper muscles groups were responding.” He said.
“At the risk of sounding too forward, I would recommend that you keep up whatever is you were doing.”
“Oh, I certainly plan to.”
“Connor!” I yelled, “I can still hear you.”
I couldn't be too tough on him, it had been my idea after all. Not to mention, I wouldn't mind helping him with that kind of a secret mission any time he wanted. What a great stress relief sex could be, especially when I had all the control.
“Don't you look chipper today,” Sombers said as I was walking past Jeanine's porch. I hadn't even noticed him there.
“Oh hey,” I said twirling around, “I do, don’t I?”
“Jeanine just ran inside,” he said “Would you like me to fetch her?”
“No, I came to find you.” I said, “and here you are. Again. I'm watching you, mister.”
“I assure you, my intentions are pure.” He said. I didn't entirely believe him.
“Come on,” I said “Go grab Jeanine too, I need her help with something.”
“You're the boss,” he said and walked inside, reappearing a moment later with Jeanine.
“Liz, honey,” Jeanine said coming over to hug me, “I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks. You look so refreshed.”
“I'm feeling pretty good right now.” I said hooking her arm. “I need your help with something, but we have to drop Lt. Col. Tall, dark, and handsome off first.”
“He is handsome, isn’t he?” she whispered in my ear, Sombers pretending not to notice.
“Connor has a laundry list of requests to run by you.” I told Sombers.
“Well, he certainly doesn't slow down for anything does he?”
“Nope, god forbid he took a break and tried to heal or some nonsense like that.” I said laughing, “Can we borrow one of the guys if any of them are laying around?”
“Yes ma'am,” He said. “I believe Maddow is just running through paperwork.”
“Perfect.” I said
“What are we up to, anyways?” Jeanine asked.
“I can't tell you yet.” I replied, “I don't want Connor to know until we're done.”
“Oh, how exciting.” She said
“Ok, don't say anything while we're in here” I told her as we walked inside Johann's foyer. She acknowledged making a zipping motion across her mouth.
“Mr Jeffries,” Sombers said, as he entered Connor's room. “I'm told there are some matters you would like to discuss.”
“Yes sir,” Connor said in a business like tone. “If you're allowed to speak with me about such things, I'd like to discuss the defenses you have in place.”
“I've been told to allow you unrestricted access to all personnel, information, and equipment that you might need, sir.” Sombers said.
“You don't have to call me sir.” Connor told him.
“My apologies, it seems an appropriate way to address the leader of the largest free military force on the face of the earth.”
“So I’ve been told.” Connor replied, “I haven't quite reconciled it all yet.”
“Johann,” I said “Can we borrow you as well?”
“Of course dear,” he said, closing the door behind him.
“I want to do something for Connor,” I said as we walked outside.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Johann,” I asked grabbing his hand “I remember you telling me that Thomas' favorite thing in the world was sitting in the yard, watching the leaves change.”
“Yes,” He said with a glint in his eye, “I would take him out front in his wheelchair with a blanket or two wrapped around him and he would sit here for hours. He was always so peaceful here.”
“Do you still have that wheelchair?” I asked
“I have quite a few actually,” he said unsure of what I was getting at.
“Perfect,” I said clapping my hands “I want to make one that Connor can steer on his own, so that he feels less helpless and trapped inside all the time.”
“I don't have any powered chairs, though.” He said.
“That's ok,” I told him, “We're going to make one he can steer. Maddow is going to help.”
“Whether he likes it or not,” Jeanine said laughing.
“I'm sold,” Johann said. “It's a beautiful day, let's go get our hands dirty.”
“I'll believe that one when I see it.” Jeanine said teasing him.
“I'm a surgeon, darling.” he said “my hands are my finest asset.”
“Your nails are nicer than mine.” I said noticing for the first time.
“That's because of his little manicure sessions with JoAnne.”
“Well someone had to teach her to care for her hands.” he laughed “What with you constantly digging up that garden and Burt doing god awful things to his hands.”
“I swear,” Jeanine remarked, “you had to set a broken finger every week, after he started slowing down.”
“James as well,” he replied “but that was from all of those horrible hockey games.”
“That poor child,” she said “he was so bad at it.”
“Maddow,” Johann called from the lobby. “Where are you, son?”
“Here, sir” he said walking down the hall with a stack of papers.
“It's your lucky day.” Jeanine said. “Liz has decided you're going to do our heavy lifting.”
“Oh, thank god.” He said dropping the papers on a nearby desk.
“Don't you want to know what for?” I asked
“Nope, don't give a damn as long as it gets me away from that pile of crap.” he said grabbing his jacket.
“Ooook.” I said, “You might want to grab a tool box.”
We spent the next hour ripping apart the shed behind Johann's house, looking for a good chair and anything we could use. It was more fun than I had anticipated.
“I feel like we're at a flea market.” I said happily, playing with a large box of gears and pullies.
“I've been meaning to clean this out for years,” Johann said absently.
“So what's the plan?” Maddow asked.
“Well, he can only use him left arm right now.” I said explaining what I had in mind. “So he needs to be able to push with that and not spin in circles.”
“How's he going to steer it?” Jeanine asked.
“I haven't figured that part out yet,” I said “that's why I need all three of you.”
“What if,” Maddow said playing with the arm to a track light. “We rig this up on the right and he moves it just slightly to release the wheel, letting him turn?”
“See,” I said “That's why I pay you the big bucks.”
“Didn't realize I had gotten a raise.” he said laughing, rummaging through another box.
“Yup, now you can buy your girlfriend something pretty.”
“Actually,” he said stopping his search, “Can I ask you guys for some advice?”
“Of course you can,” Johann said, taking a seat on
an old metal bench. “We're all one big family now.”
“Well,” he said nervously, “that's kind of what I needed advice about.”
“He's going to propose!” Jeanine exclaimed.
“Ok, ok,” he said “keep it down, she's right inside.”
“Hmph,” Jeanine grumbled, throwing an old stuffed bear at him.
“Hey,” I said snatching the bear. “That's cute, give me that.”
“You were saying?” Johann prodded
“Err, yeah, it's just that,” he continued “well, this is a war and it's dangerous out there. People are dieing everywhere and we can't stay here forever. I just don't want to lose her when he get reassigned.”
“And it's because you love her more than anything?” Johann asked tenderly, “not just because you're feeling selfish and don't want to lose your rock in the midst of this storm?”
“I do,” He said “I love her more than I even thought was possible.”
“Then do it,” Johann said patting him on the shoulder, “You've already made up your mind, it's clear as day.”
“I want to,” he said “it's just so complicated. Where am I going to get a ring? How can we have a wedding when this town isn't supposed to exist? What about our families?”
“The details don't matter,” I said, remembering how my father had told me Connor had been waiting to propose. “Don't regret waiting too long. Life is to precious to take that kind of a chance right now.”
“I'll be right back.” Jeanine said running off.
“What's gotten into her?” Maddow asked.
“She's very excitable sometimes.” Johann sighed. “She gets a half baked scheme into her head and goes off in such a rush that you'd think she was being chased by a mountain lion.”
“Oh hey, look at this.” Maddow said, holding up a seat from a go-kart or something similar.
“I had to take that away,” Johann said “James kept trying to run Sophia over with his buggy so I took the seat and hid it, that must have been thirty years ago.”
“So you don't mind if it gets damaged?” Maddow asked.
“No, I'm past my days of dune buggying” he said
“Ok cool,” Maddow replied, taking his knife to the seat. “These are like the belts you find in race cars, five points, we can attach it to the chair. It'll keep him upright and let him adjust it.”
“Ok,” I said as Jeanine was running back with a small box in her hands. “we're ready to start building it. Oh and by we, I mean you.”
“Still better than paperwork,” he said laughing.
“Hold off just a second,” Jeanine said breathlessly. “Come over here and have a break.”
“I'm not tired,”
“Honey, just come here.” She said shaking her head at him “All you kids do is work, work, work around here.”
“Holy cow,” I said looking into the box as she opened it. “Jeanine, what is all that?”
“When Burt and I first got engaged,” She said “We decided it was better to spend our money building the house, than to waste it on some fancy ring.”
“I love this story,” Johann said playing, looking through the jewelry she had brought over.
“But it bothered him that he never got me a nice ring,” she continued. “So for our third anniversary, he bought me this whopper.”
“It's huge,” I said staring at the diamond ring, which was nearly a full carat.
“This was always my favorite,” she said holding up a much smaller ring. “It was the one he proposed with. But anyways, every three years he bought me a new ring. A different stone every time, James proposed to his wife with the one he gave me for our fifteenth anniversary. Sophia's husband, we gave the sapphire ring from our sixth. It was the year she was born, of course it was her favorite.”
“This one is my favorite,” Johann said showing us a diamond ring with a small ruby to each side of it, “I helped Burt pick it out.”
“He said he chose most of them,” She said wiping away a tear, “but I know it was always you or Thomas helping him. He got me so many that they just started collecting dust, I had to put them away after only a few years at a time.”
“Your life sounds like a fairy tale,” I said, still rifling through her jewelry. It was an impressive collection.
“It's always felt like one,” she said smiling, “but by far, what I cherish the most are the memories of life when it wasn't perfect. The little things that make you appreciate the good even more.”
“She's right,” Johann said pensively, “it's the hardships that highlight how good everything else is in comparison.”
“I'm and old woman now,” She said handing Maddow the jewelry box. “And I don't have a lot of big memories left to make, I’d like to help you make one of your own.”
“I don't know how I could ever repay you,” he said stunned by her offer.
“Honey,” she said “You don't repay a gift.”
“You two are going to make me cry,” I said, so happy for Maddow and Coffey.
“I've already started,” Johann said sniffling a bit.
After a few more hours we had constructed the oddest looking wheelchair any of us had ever seen. It looked like what you would use if NASCAR had a wheelchair class. Connor was ecstatic, but it took him a while to get the hang of it. His first shot out of the door he crashed into Johann's fence, scaring the life out of the birds nesting on a bath nearby. It was the first time I had seen him laugh since he had woken up.
We spent much of the rest of the day avoiding Maddow and Coffey, afraid we might ruin his surprise. Johann told her to take the day off early. Sombers had all but disappeared to work on Connor's list of requests, which he still hadn't fully explained to me.
That night, Maddow and Coffey took a walk along the edge of the lake as the sun began to set. As it began to dip below the pass he dropped to one knee and put a beautiful princess cut, pink diamond ring on her finger. We watched as they embraced for what seemed like an hour, while sitting at the picnic table in Johann's yard.
Chapter 26
