“I’m sorry. That’s my fault. The horses came back this week, and I was busy with other things. But I’ll make sure that we have therapy at least once a week, because I think the horses missed you guys too. Especially Cricket.” Summer spoke softly, knowing what she said was true. Cricket did really seem to be happy to see Larissa when she got off the trailer.
“If I save up my money, can I buy Cricket?”
“Yes,” Summer said before Gilbert could say anything.
“We’ll have to be careful. Summer might not be able to sell her therapy horses. She might need them to give other little girls therapy.”
“I have other horses, and maybe it’s about time that I buy another one and work on training it to be good with little girls. I think Cricket has almost earned her retirement from therapy, and she would like to be your horse forever.”
“How long do horses live?” Larissa asked, her voice slurring a bit.
“They can live to be in their twenties. Some horses even live to be thirty.”
“How old is Cricket?”
“The vet said she’s about 18 or so. It’s hard to tell for sure, and I didn’t have her when she was born, so I don’t know. Just like you can’t know how old I am by looking at me. You can make a guess, but unless you know my birthday, you don’t know for sure.”
Larissa’s deep breathing showed that she had fallen asleep while Summer was talking.
Summer met Gilbert’s eyes over the head of their little girl. They smiled at each other, and they sat on the swing for another few minutes until they were sure that she was asleep.
“I’ll be right back,” Gilbert said, picking her up and having Larissa stir a little before she snuggled into his arms, and he carried her into the house.
Summer had gotten up to hold the screen door so that it didn’t slam shut behind him.
The warm weather had held, and it was a beautiful night to be outside. A beautiful night to be with people she loved, a beautiful night to be alive. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever been happier in her life before.
It seemed like no time at all that Gilbert came back down, but instead of settling himself back on the swing, he knelt on one knee in front of her, holding a little box.
“I know I said I was going to wait, but I saw this in the window of the jewelry store when I was with Darla, and I sent her in for ice cream while I picked it out and paid for it. I…was still going to wait, but today was a perfect day for me. I couldn’t have said it better than Larissa. Being with you is so much better than being with Desire. I…don’t want to talk badly about her, and you know that, but I know that I’m older, and wiser, and I love you, and I’m messing this up terribly, but would you marry me?”
He was quiet after that, and Summer wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. He was so sweet, so perfect. Sure, he didn’t exactly have a great speech planned, and maybe he was doing this spur of the moment, but there was nothing she would rather have than a starry night, the warm satisfaction of spending time with family, eating good food, having good fellowship, and knowing that the man she loved loved her and wanted to marry her.
“Yes,” she said.
“Thank you. You’re giving me a heart attack there. I thought you were trying to figure out a nice way of letting me down.”
“Never. I was just thinking about how perfect this is.”
“That was the worst marriage proposal ever. I just…didn’t want to wait. I want to get married as soon as you are willing.”
“I think it would be sweet to have a small wedding, because I think Larissa would love being a bridesmaid, and I would love having her.”
“And how long do you think it’s going to take to put something like that together?” he asked, pulling the ring out of the box and sliding it onto her finger.
She admired it in the moonlight and shook her head. “No time at all. We don’t have to have anything fancy for it. Just…some flowers, I guess.”
“If you want a bigger wedding, we can do it. I know it’s my second wedding, but you only get one first wedding, and I want it to be everything you want.”
“I have dreams about Christmas. Dreams about having a big family together and enjoying all the hubbub and craziness that big families have on Christmas. But those are the only dreams I have. Christmas dreams. Not wedding dreams.”
“All right then. You name the day, and I’ll be there.”
“Two weeks?”
“That sounds good to me.”
She figured out what day that would be and what the date would be. A Thursday evening seemed perfect. “All right then. I’ll get everything together, and you just need to show up.”
