25
...And the princess looked at him and declared that she would have him and none other for her husband...

 

Hers

 

Shakespeare’s comedies, Rose knew, usually ended with a wedding song and dance, and his tragedies ended with funerals. She wasn’t quite sure how this story would end—as a comedy or a tragedy, or a mixture of both.

They had insisted on admitting her to the hospital. Even though it was further away, they had brought her to the Catholic hospital. She had seen Sister Genevieve again, and the nun had been as good as her own mother, examining her and agreeing with the assertion that Rose remain for observation.

 “After all, if you’ve been dosed with alternating quantities of Phenobarbital, Propofol and other drugs for months on end, you’re bound to have some after-effects,” she said gently. “I think your friend Paul was quite right to insist on you being admitted.”

“Oh, I know I’m having to be weaned off the drugs and things, but why do I have to stay in here? I feel fit as a fiddle,” Rose said restlessly. “Particularly compared with Fish. Are you sure he’s going to be okay? The main reason I don’t want any time spent on me is because he needs it so much more.”

“He’s a miracle of survival,” the nun said quietly. “We’re doing everything we can.”

After Sister Genevieve had left, Rose sank back into her hospital bed, looking out the window, her eyes moist. If he didn’t survive, she doubted that her heart would. And she knew that for once, she wasn’t being over-dramatic.

 

HIS

 

For a long time, he drifted in nothingness, barely aware of his continued existence. When he did become conscious of it, his first reaction was weary annoyance, and he decided not to pay attention to it.

Too much to do. That is, too much more sleeping to do. He wondered if he had finally given in and taken sleeping pills his doctor kept prescribing. Or perhaps the man had gone over his head and given him a dose when he was unaware. How like the medical profession, he thought. Over-prescribing, playing God, keeping people alive who should have just been allowed to die…or at least to sleep...

I’m not making sense. I should just stop thinking and go back to sleep, he told himself. What, are you still awake? You’re not thinking about that girl again, are you?

Rose. Rose Brier. She must have been the one responsible for this. He was sure it was probably all her fault somehow.

Now he was joking. He hoped she could see that. Smiling, he headed back to unconsciousness.

 

Hers

 

“When can I go and see him?” she asked her mother.

Mom, who hadn’t stopped smiling since she had first seen her again, said, tousling her hair, “Soon. I’ll ask the nurse. Oh, it’s so good to hear you talking.”

Rose put a hand to her throat to feel the stitches, where her breathing tube had been removed. “I’m glad to have my voice back too.”

“Not just your voice,” her mother said, her eyes bright.

Rose had to smile herself. It was awkward, because she kept forgetting how long it had been since she had been talking.

The nurse came in just then, and Rose repeated her question.

“As soon as the doctor says you can get up,” the nurse assured her. She was a friendly black girl, a few years older than Rose herself. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Rose had to smile at her mom. “Not exactly.”  She pondered. “Funny, on the one hand, it’s not as serious as that, and on the other hand, it’s far more serious.”

“I see,” the nurse said with a wink at them both. “Well, as far as I know, he hasn’t woken up yet. But he’s got some pretty heavy painkillers they’re giving him.”

“I’m glad,” Rose said. “I don’t really want to talk to him yet, but I do want to see him.”

When the nurse and her mother left, Rose gazed around the room at her personal garden—nearly a half-dozen flower arrangements, most of them roses of various colors. The cards were beside her bed—from the president of Mercy College, from Sacra Cor dorm, from Nanette, from Dr. Morris and family, from Professor Dawson and family, from the various branches of the Kovach family, from Bear and Blanche.

She picked up the vase from her bedside table and inhaled the fragrance of the three rich white roses from her godmothers, Sisters Maria, Carmen, and Therese. Their letter had made her cry with its poignancy. They had been interceding for her for so long, and at last it seemed the disaster that had hung over her had done its worst and passed by. She had already written back to them to thank them for their prayers, but that scarcely touched what they had really done for her, and for Fish.

Once again, she felt a mixture of sadness and pleasure at being alive once again. Life could go on, with its joys and pain coming piece by piece, sometimes together like a flood.

 

HIS

 

At last, grudgingly, he consented to wake up. Not that he had much of a choice. Bodies were like that. All at once, they got an idea in them and then there was no stopping them. Reluctantly, he blinked at the world around him, decided he didn’t think much of it, and that he preferred to go away again. He closed his eyes.

Granted, there was nothing particularly attractive about the ICU ward of a hospital, even if you were in perfect health, which he was sure he wasn’t, to put it mildly. After taking in the tubes, the monitors, and the medical paraphernalia around him, he decided he would rather not know, and forced himself back to sleep. Fortunately, it came again easily.

From time to time, he was aware of people talking around him, but he wasn’t yet interested in other people. He was still dealing with the idea of still being alive, and that was enough of a stretch.

I suppose I’ll just have to get used to it, he told himself. Somehow. Again.

 

Hers

 

Finally seeing him, the first shock was his black hair, which she had been told was dyed. With his face so pale, it seemed doubly unnatural.

“He looked quite convincing as a tough,” Kateri had said to her, recounting the story in vivid detail on the second morning of her hospital stay. “Donna did a great job on him. We should have taken a picture.”

The second shock was, of course, the IV and tubes, which surrounded him. But she was glad he was there, still existing, still in the body.

She reached a careful hand in and around the tubes and stroked his bruised face with a finger. He twitched and frowned, but didn’t respond further. Smiling, she sighed and withdrew her hand. Further waiting.

 

You can’t hurry love

No, you just have to wait.

 

…I charge you

my daughters,

by the gazelles,

by the hinds of the field,

 

not to stir up my love,

nor rouse him

until he choose

to awake.

 

HIS

 

At some point he became aware of a cool light above and to the right of him. For a long time, it failed to interest him, but at long last he tried to focus on it. He turned his head towards it, and opened his eyes. It was a dim, curtained light—sunlight?

Suddenly he became aware of the rest of his body, and the sensation wasn’t pleasant. While there wasn’t any sharp pain, he became aware that his feet and chest were almost completely immobile. Panicking suddenly, he tried to sit up and discovered his hands, at least, were free. Relieved, he sank back down into what he recognized must be a bed, and lifted up his hands to inspect them. The wrists were chafed, as he had expected, and there were several abrasions, but they moved easily and deftly. He massaged his wrists gratefully, happy that they at least seemed to be in working order. They had served him well.

As for his ankle—he glanced downwards and recognized the bulky shape of a cast. Well, that wasn’t unexpected. He sighed, and became aware of someone else in the room. He looked to the left, and saw a tall, dark-haired figure reading a book. The man looked up at him, and smiled. It was Bear. He looked as though he had aged, but he was smiling.

 “Well, little brother, you managed to shock everyone concerned by once again turning up alive.”

“Did I?” Fish asked, feeling his head, which he discovered, had a bandage on the back of it. “How did I manage that?”

“I’m not so sure. A compound fracture on your right ankle, severe bone trauma on the other, three broken ribs, first-degree burns, lung trauma from smoke inhalation, and a pretty good concussion. You’ve also got a black eye, multiple bruises, and quite a few abrasions. So what happened? You told me this would be a simple sting operation, and the worst that could happen to you was a hefty fine. But by the time I made it down, you were soaked with gasoline and being tossed into a blazing barn. You have a knack for making people extremely mad at you, don’t you?”

 Fish grinned at his brother’s teasing even as he grimaced at the list of his injuries. “Well, I can’t really blame them. I was, at that moment, a fairly large legal liability for them. They were already burning documents, and the thought occurred to them to add me to the pile.”

 “So I gathered,” Bear said. “Well, not all the timing was off. I went to Graceton Hall but on the way in, I was stopped by a blond girl who told me to get over to the barn and find you. So I drove out to the Brier’s old place and found the barn on fire. I saw them throwing you in and managed to jump in and get you out before that Prosser woman tackled me. Then she thought that maybe tackling me hadn’t been such a good idea, but I wasn’t about to let her go. So I kept after her until the police showed up a short time later. Which was good for you, as I wasn’t able to do much more for you except toss you on the grass and put out the flames by shoving you around.”

“Yes, I remember it wasn’t that pleasant getting rescued,” Fish winced at the memory. “If I weren’t so indebted to you for showing up in the first place, I very well might have sent you part of my doctor’s bill.” He noticed then that Bear’s hands were bandaged. “Sorry. That last joke was in bad taste, apparently.”

Bear chuckled, flexing his big hands. “Minor burns, nothing compared to your injuries. Don’t sweat it. I’m just glad you’re alive.”

“How is Rose?”  The normal talk with his brother had snapped him back fully into reality, and he remembered everything that had seemed disjointed or senseless for the past few days. Including Rose.

“She’s fine. That antidote—or whatever it was you got—worked: she survived the poisoning and she’s in the hospital right now for observation. Highly impatient and anxious to see you, I might add.”

He had to smile, even through the emotions that came over him abruptly. “I’d like to see her too,” he said, “when it’s time.”

“Look, I don’t want to tire you. The doctor said you really should be resting. She didn’t even want me to discuss your injuries with you, but I know you’d rather know.”

“That’s right,” he said, although he was exhausted again. “Well, I’m glad it worked. I wasn’t sure if it would. It’s like a miracle.”

“A lot of it happened because of you. I’m proud of you for taking it on.”

 “Well, I had to save Rose, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, I guess you did, didn’t you?” Bear looked at him with understanding. “Just like you had to be the one to investigate Father Raymond’s death. It was a calling, wasn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Fish murmured. “Didn’t Father say that was one of the tests of a genuine call from God—if you started to do it and circumstances yielded to you, the job was meant for you?”

“That’s right,” Bear said.

“But I still owe you my life—again.”  Fish tried to move himself, found he couldn’t and tried to relax into sleep again. “So why were you looking for me in the first place? Some wild intuition?”

“No,” And here Bear beamed with pleasure. “I just wanted to let you know that Benedict Michael had been born, and that Blanche wanted me to tell you he was named after you.”

“No kidding!” Fish stared, stupefied.

“Yep. Blanche and Ben are both doing fine. She can’t wait to come down and see you and Rose.”

“That’s terrific,” Fish blinked, and his eyelids refused stubbornly to remain open again.

“Well, I should let you get some rest. You need it.”

“Yeah,” Fish said, and was asleep almost instantly.

 

Hers

 

“Fish, are you still asleep?” she asked.

The young man who was still among the most frustrating persons she had ever known didn’t respond. Sighing, she put her hand on her chin and leaned over him, gazing at him.

He was looking better. His skin was a more normal color. The nurse had said he still hadn’t eaten anything, but probably would sometime today. If only they could get that awful black dye out of his hair. She missed his usual jumble of brown hair acutely.

Day. It was so good to see daylight. She still hadn’t tired of it—all the many shapes and colors, the sharp lines and fine details one could see when it was present. Now her eyes traveled slowly over his slightly altered profile and complexion—his nose seemed to be broken, and there was a dark bruise over his eye. Perhaps right now no one would describe him as handsome, except herself.

But then again, I am incorrigible, she reminded herself.

She sighed deeply, and humming her usual tune, a bit forlornly, turned back to her room.

 

I keep waiting.

I keep on waiting.

 

But it’s not easy.

 No, it’s not easy.

 

But love will come, she told herself. I know he will come.

 

HIS

 

He woke up next to the sound of muffled whispers all around him, and tensed unconsciously.

“You’ve done it now—you’ve woken him up,” Alex’s voice said.

Now he opened his eyes, blinking, and saw six faces looking at him. Donna, Kateri, James, Alex, Leroy, and Paul.

“Uh—hi,” Alex said. “How was your sleep?”

“I was enjoying it,” Fish said, swallowing his weary yawn.

“They only let us in here because we promised before God that we wouldn’t wake you,” Paul said.

“Foolish promise to make, if you couldn’t keep it,” Fish said. “Hi Donna, Hi Kateri.”

“Hello, Fish,” Kateri said, a broad smile on her face, coming forward and giving him a tender kiss on the cheek. She was wearing a long yellow dress with tiny blue flowers on it, her braids were wrapped with purple and blue thread, and she had a sunny, contented look on her face. She touched his cast gently. “How is your foot?”

 “That’s right, pick an injury, any injury, and ask me about it,” Fish tried to sit up a bit more. “I will be a walking conversation piece for months—once I get around to walking again. Where’s Rose?” 

“Also napping, actually,” Kateri said. “We didn’t wake her up.”

“We just wanted to see how you were recovering,” said Alex, who had some significant facial injuries of his own.

“It’s just as well you woke me up. I’ve been waiting for someone to tell me what happened at your end,” Fish said. “I see you guys all look a little worse for wear.”

Leroy made a face. “All my injuries came from being dragged down several flights of stairs while unconscious. My family’s thinking of suing the nurse. I actually managed to take out three guys without getting hurt beforehand.”

“Two guys,” Alex corrected him. “You actually didn’t get the third one out before you were stunned by the guard’s Taser gun.”

“I distinctly remember taking out three,” Leroy insisted.

James shook his head with a look to heaven. “Look, you two have been arguing about this for days. Why don’t we tell Ben everything that happened, in order?”

The group obediently sifted itself onto the two chairs in the room, Donna in one chair, Alex in the other. James sat on the floor in front of Donna, Leroy perched on an end table next to her, Paul leaned against the wall, and Kateri rather nonchalantly sat next to Alex and he held her hand in a way that Fish noted was surprisingly familiar. So...!

“All right, let’s hear the complete story,” he said, settling himself.

So he sat back and listened to the tale of the battle in the stairwell, complete with the Taser gunfight, Alex’s swordplay and fight with the remaining guards, and Donna’s impersonation of a nurse.

Donna, who was looking particularly pretty that day in a long flowered dress with her hair up in a ponytail, told Fish her part of the story, starting from when she had left him at the barn. “I got there before the police, but by that time the security guards were already blocking the stairwell and I knew I couldn’t get past them. There was a real argument going on between the staff and security. Some of the techs didn’t want to call the police, but the others did, and there was a lot of confusion and trying to get a hold of Dr. Murray, whom I knew was out at the barn. Finally, when Alex took out his sword, one tech ran and made the phone call to the police. I followed her into the receptionist’s office and when she left, I took a coat and ID, and called Sally at the TV station. When I saw your brother getting out of his car, I ran out and told him to go back to the barn to look for you. Then I saw Dr. Barnes having the male nurses take James down to the cellar in a mad rush and figured things were going to get bad. I hid in a patient’s room and did up my hair, and then when the police came, I tried to fake my way through. I was shaking the whole time.”

“You couldn’t tell at all,” Alex said. “Your acting was inspired.”

Donna blushed. “I’m glad it worked out. But I was worried about you, Fish. I didn’t know why you didn’t come after me, but I had driven off, like you said to.”

 “And we’re all very glad you did,” Fish said, feeling a deep sense of relief. “And I’m glad you’re all still alive.”

“Likewise,” Paul said, and the others all nodded emphatically.

“We actually came here with a specific purpose in mind,” Leroy said. “We have a presentation to make.”

“Oh?” Fish raised his eyebrows.

“Yes,” Alex said, turning to Paul, who solemnly brought out a long object swathed in blue cloth. “We doubt it’s allowed in a hospital, so we sort of snuck it in under Paul’s trench coat. But it’s for you, and if they won’t let you keep it here, we’ll bring it out with us.”

Paul set the long object on the bed, and unwrapped it. It was a long silver sword, about three feet long from the hilt to the point, with a cross handle and a large blue stone set in the middle. Alex ceremonially raised the sword in both hands.

“For a man who has shown valor, honor, and steadfastness, even in the face of death,” he said with formal candor. “This sword we give to you, as a sign of your induction into the brotherhood of the Knights of Sacra Cor, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” He nodded to Kateri. “My lady—”

With a faint smile at Alex, Kateri came forward holding out a scabbard, and said, “For a man who has proved himself worthy in every way. May you bear your sword in purity, with justice, and with mercy, in the name of Christ and His Holy Mother.”

“Amen,” the group responded. Alex set the sword across Fish’s lap, and Kateri laid the scabbard gently beside it.

They all grinned at his stunned expression.

“So, what do you think?” Paul wanted to know.

 “I’m from New York City. We don’t do these kind of sword things there,” he mumbled, his face red.

All the rest chuckled. He picked up the sword experimentally, and hefted it. It was well balanced, and fit in his hand easily. “I’m honored,” he said at last. “Thank you.”

He looked around at them. “But I’m not sure what I did to deserve knighthood. You guys were the ones who did all the actual fighting. All I did was get captured—twice in twelve hours—and beaten to a bloody pulp.”

Alex said, “Well, Ben, in our little circle, you don’t get knighted because you win battles, but because you bother to fight them at all.” He glanced at Kateri, who smiled back.

Fish shook his head dubiously. “Seems like you should raise your standard of membership at some point, to keep out the riffraff.” Then he sighed, attempting to be serious. “But all the same, I’m honored.” He raised the blade and looked at it again, testing it in his hand. Unsure, he set it down on his lap. “What do you do with a sword, when you’re not charging into battle?” he asked.

“You stay prepared to use it,” Alex said.

Paul added, “And you keep it where you can see it, to remind yourself of who you are.”

“Ah,” Fish murmured. To shift the attention from himself, he turned to Kateri. “So how are the charges the hospital brought against you for the protest?” he asked.

“Dropped,” Kateri said, her face tinted with mischief. “The hospital has enough on its hands right now to file any kind of charge against me, what with its director in jail for your attempted murder. And two of its surgeons—including the ubiquitous Dr. Barnes—being arrested for conspiring to mutilate patients. That’s what they’re calling the organ stealing. And Milton is awake!” her eyes lit up. “As of yesterday. He’s going to be released soon, and the college has offered him a job in the maintenance department if he’s up for it.”

“I’m very glad,” Fish said. “What about Dr. Murray?”

Kateri’s face grew solemn. “She’s not doing well. You probably know she had a physical collapse after she was arrested. She’s been admitted to the hospital for chest pains, and they’re keeping her under close surveillance. I don’t know. I hope she manages to get through it okay.”

“I do, too,” Fish said quietly. He had heard something about this already.

Just then a nurse came in, and seeing the crowd said, “Excuse me...?”  Everyone rose, and Alex said, “Hey, Ben, we’ll come and see you when you have a bit more rest, okay?”

“Okay,” Fish said. They each came by to shake his hand. Donna, who seemed happier than he had ever seen her, gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, “I’m praying for you.”

“Thanks. Thanks again for your help,” he said to her, with true sincerity.

“I’m glad I could do it,” she said, and with another smile, passed from the room.

The nurse caught sight of the sword after they had all left and said, “Goodness! Is that real?”

“A real what?” he asked innocently.

 “Well, just keep it out of sight of the doctor,” she said with a sigh, and Fish obediently slid it into the sheath and set it on the long heater by his bed, and pulled the curtains over it. Casting a last glance at it, he laid his head back down and went to sleep.

 

Hers

 

She had been released from the hospital that morning, but was waiting around because she was expecting her sister and new baby nephew to arrive soon. Bear had gone up yesterday to get them, since Blanche was insisting she was feeling up for the trip. Mom and her friends, including Paul, Alex, and Kateri, had offered to stay with her, but she wanted to be alone. With Fish. But he still slept on steadfastly.

It wasn’t fair. He had seen everyone else, practically, but hadn’t yet woken up when she was around. She was determined to wait him out.

Now, dressed in a cream colored dress and pink silk scarf she had borrowed from Kateri’s wardrobe, she sat in a chair by his bed, not reading T. S. Eliot, and watching him.

 “This is really getting ridiculous, Mr. Fish,” she said to him at last. “I’m starting to think you’re avoiding me again. I know I’m probably too emotional, and my expectations are too high, and I don’t blame you much for wanting to stay away.”

She sighed a deep sigh, and fluffed her hair. “Actually, if you’d rather stay away from me, from now on, I understand. You said you didn’t want any more adventures, and I’ve made you have another one, and now, looking at you, I think I can understand why you’re not as fond of them as I am.”

She wiped her eyes, but went on softly, “I can see I’ve been too hard on you, maybe. Maybe you’re right about me expecting too much. But I hope you can see now what everyone else sees—that you are capable of being a knight in shining armor, and slaying a dragon. Even just by enduring the fire.”

Her fingers knit into his. “I owe you so much,” she said simply. “There’s no way I could pay you back, ever. So I understand if you’d rather not be put into a position where you would have to bear my gratitude.”

Quite unexpectedly, his head turned towards hers, and he said sleepily, “I wish you could have heard all the one-way conversations I had with you when you were sleeping. But I suppose you didn’t?”

“Fish!” she said, chagrined. “You’re awake!”

He merely raised an eyebrow at her with a slight, crooked smile.

“That’s not fair. You should have warned me.”

“Why? So you could have censored your words? I prefer the unedited version.”

“I—I—” she stumbled.

He grinned at her and opened his brown eyes. “What?”

“I just talk too much. I ramble on and on. I’d rather hear you talk.”

His eyes grew serious. “No, remember, you haven’t been talking. And I’ve missed it. There have been too many months in my life recently where you were silent. I was just lying here enjoying hearing your voice. That’s why I didn’t respond.”

“Oh,” she said, taken aback. “Well, I suppose I should consider it only a temporary condition.”

He smiled again. “Perhaps. But I wouldn’t rush to that conclusion, necessarily.”

She noticed then, that somehow his hands had moved around hers so that she wasn’t merely holding his hands—his hands were holding hers. There was something new about that.

“Fish,” she said hesitantly. “How are you?”

“Wounded. But recovering. As usual.” He paused, reflectively. “It’s not quite so bad. I used to think that wholeness was impossible for someone like me, but I think I had the wrong idea of what it meant to be whole.”

“You mean, you thought it meant ‘unspoiled.’ ‘Untarnished.’”

“Yes, that’s right,” he said, with a touch of surprise. “Like purity. Once it’s gone, you can never get it back.”

“But that’s not how it is, is it? It’s something that’s created in you. By God.”

“Through fire,” he put in for her. Then abruptly he asked, “Speaking of fires, what would you think if I went to law school?”

She stared at him. Not because of the sudden change in his interest, but because he seemed to think she should have something to say about it.

“I think that would be wonderful,” she said. “If that’s what you want to do.”

He looked over towards the window meditatively. “There’s no difficulty with the money. I’ve been thrifty with my money since I wasn’t planning on getting a real job after I had my doctorate in literature. But as a lawyer, I might be pulling a pretty substantial salary, eventually, so I could make the investment. But it will be a long haul to get through law school.”

“Why do you want to do it?” she queried.

He heaved a sigh. “A sort of calling, I guess. A vocation I’ve been avoiding for a while. As I’ve been avoiding a lot of things I knew, deep inside, I should be doing.”

She licked her lips. “Ah. Hm.” And internally flailed around desperately, wondering if she had missed something, or...

“You know I can’t totally escape my past,” Fish went on. “I told you about some of my struggles, and I’m sure that they’re going to happen again. I don’t know if you can live with those, either.”

“Fish,” she said at last, attempting to follow him. “Fish, I don’t mind. You’re alive, and I couldn’t care what you do, compared with that. For me, the possibility I’ve been haunted by has been having to live without you. And I just couldn’t bear that.”

He glanced at his bandages and considered, looking over at her. “I suppose losing me was a pretty distinct possibility, wasn’t it?”

“And I don’t want to lose you, ever again. I think I’d die.” She dropped her eyes. “I’m sorry. This is all very forward of me. Not at all ladylike.”

“Rose, it’s OK. Your candor doesn’t bother me.”

She raised her eyes. “It doesn’t?”

“No.”

 

HIS

 

There was a pause, and he sensed that a moment was coming that he had missed before and shouldn’t miss again. But she beat him to it.

“Fish,” she asked timidly.

He squeezed her hand. “Yes, Rose?”

“Can I ask you something?”

She had that look on her face again. He flushed slightly, wondering what she would say next, and hoping she wouldn’t say something that he had hoped to say to her first. “What’s that?”

“You once said that if I ever thought,” she wasn’t looking at him, but at the wall. He saw her cheeks were rapidly getting red. “That if I ever thought—that you had kissed me—that I was dreaming.”

Now he understood, and chuckled deep in his chest. “Did I say that?” he inquired mildly.

“You did. I remember it distinctly. It made a very great impression on me at the time.” Her voice was slightly accusing.

“Oh, yes,” he said after a moment. “I think I remember that.” He knew what he would say to her now. But she went on, stopping him again.

“So, am I to understand—” She paused, and started again, “I mean, what I was wondering—when you came to me and I woke up—you didn’t happen to—”

She was stumbling, her cheeks flaming red.

 “You want to know if I kissed you?” he finished for her, raising an eyebrow and making her completely mortified.

“Uh—yes. Particularly since I had it on such good authority that such a thing would never, ever happen,” she reminded him. “Even in my dreams. And this dream was quite—vivid.”

“Was it?”

He looked up into her eyes. Her wavering eyes met his at last, and steadied. She nodded, and swallowed. But the fluster was gone from her face.

He put a hand to her face and drew it towards him. He said softly, “Rose, it wasn’t a dream.”

And then, without a hesitation or a doubt, he moved his lips to hers.

The kiss lingered between them, and when he finally moved away from her, she had her eyes closed blissfully, and he saw that she was savoring this moment. He couldn’t help grinning. That was one thing he loved the most about Rose Brier—her simple ability to live each present moment to its fullest.

“No, it wasn’t a dream,” she whispered. “It was a dream come true.” She sighed wondrously. “I’m so very, very glad.”