Mr.Moss was nearly ninety-four years old, and his daughter was in her mid-seventies.The two of them bickered and bitched at each other all the time.He didn’t know what either of them would do if one or the other were to pass away.He knew it would be hard on the two of them.As much as they talked bad about each other, they loved one another just as much.
After seeing to Mr.Moss’s needs, it was nearly noon.The man needed his prescriptions refilled, and in order to do that, he had to take blood samples.Since he was there, he told him that he was going to wait for the results, tying up a room for the rest of the morning.He didn’t mind so much.Mr.Moss, for all his bickering about things, was a good man, and he seemed to have a soft spot for him.
The rest of the afternoon and into well after three o’clock, he worked on things for his patients and thought that he was doing a good job keeping them happy.The wait might be a little longer than normal because he liked to spend as much time with them as they needed.He thought that was why he never heard of his patients complaining about how long they had to wait.They knew that he’d give them the same service as he’d given the people before them.He loved his job as a general doctor.
At a little after five, he was headed home.Mr.Moss had his renewals, and his blood work had come back fine.As fine as it could be for an elderly man anyway.After they left, his daughter was driving him to and from the appointments, he called to talk to Sharon.
“I’m fine.Are you off tomorrow?I thought that while I’m here by myself, I’d get us some appointments with a realtor.That way, she can show us what she has instead of us running around all over the place trying to find addresses.”He thought that was a great idea.“Good.I’ll get started on it right away.I’m not bored, but I need something to do to look forward to.I have a friend who says her husband takes her out to a restaurant when she sells a house.They can well afford it, but he always does that for her.”
After getting off the phone, he decided to get some appointments that were for later in the week finished up early.Calling a couple of his patients, he was thrilled when they could come in today and have him get them finished up.He was on his last patient when he got a call from Conri.
“Don’t freak out.”He rolled his eyes and asked him why he’d say that to him.“I just got off the phone with the newspaper.They put an article in tomorrow’s paper that another Valley man has been taken off the market.I didn’t do it, and neither did Cass.I think someone who works at the paper did it thinking they had a good story.”
“What does it say?”He read the entire article to him while he was standing in his office.“That’s not so bad, I guess.Did they at least spell our names right?I’d hate to have to sue them for spelling something wrong.”
“You’re not mad.”He said that he wasn’t, but Sharon hadn’t seen it yet; he didn’t think.“I should have called her first.I never thought about her being at home and getting the paper.I only thought that one of your patients might get an early addition and spill the beans.”
“No one has said anything to me.You might want to have Cass call Sharon.They seem to get along well.”He asked him what he was doing.“I’m nearly finished for the day and was going to be heading home soon.It’s really no big deal to me, but I don’t know what Sharon is going to say when she finds out.We’ve only just met one another, and that might freak her out a little bit.”
They talked about how it was coming out tomorrow and how he didn’t care.He said that he’d talk to Sharon when he got home and would let him know how she felt about the article.Conri was a good brother for giving him a heads up, and he told him so.
“Cass said that she’d murder someone if they did that to her.Just so you know.I don’t know that I’d not help her.It’s out there for people to read and speculate on, and now it’s right up in your face.”He said that he’d talk to Sharon about it and make sure that she was all right with things.“Tell her that I’m sorry that this is happening.Like you said, it’s not that big of a deal to most, but to her, just being a part of the family and all, it might be something that she’s not happy with.Let me know what she says.”
“I will, I promise.”Walking home, he wondered how he was going to tell her without getting her upset.The best way he figured was to just tell her.After that, they’d figure out what needs to be done, if anything.He thought about the ring that he’d had for her and decided that if she wasn’t too upset with the way things were going, he’d offer it to her so she’d have something to show people about their supposed marriage.He was going to screw this up; he just knew it.
“Honey, I’m home.”He could hear her laughter in another part of the house, so he didn’t assume that she was laughing at him.As he hung up his keys by the door, he thought about how much he was already regretting moving again.He’d forgotten how much work was involved, but also knew that it was something that he needed to do.If not for him, then for Sharon so that she could start out new with her own home.She was on the phone when he got into the kitchen, where she was.After kissing her on the top of her head, he got himself something to drink.
While she spoke to the person on the other end of the line, he assumed it was the realtor that she’d been talking about.He asked his cook what they were having for dinner.She told him that Sharon had decided on burgers on the grill and asked if that was all right with him.
“Anything she wants.”Nodding once, she went back to work on the potato salad she was making.He loved salads of any kind, but potato was his favorite.He usually ate it with chips crumbled up all over it for the extra crunch.He finally found himself a couple of oranges to eat to tide him over until dinner.It was still an hour away.When she got off the phone, she handed him a sheet of paperwith addresses on it.“This is great.I didn’t realize there were so many homes for sale in the area.”
“She told me that a couple of them aren’t even on the market yet, but will be soon.I’m going to take a guess that either someone has died in those houses or the market didn’t do so well for them.She was very quiet about what happened to have them on the market after sitting empty for so long.”She took a slice of his orange, and he smiled.“I heard from someone just before she called me, telling me that I’m married.Do you know anything about that?I think I would have remembered you asking me to marry you and saying yes.”
He told her what Conri told him about it.“They don’t know who did it, but it’s safe to say that it was someone in the pack.They work all over the city in different capacities that help us out when necessary.Nothing illegal, but sometimes it helps to have papers filed rather than going through the steps of doing it the old-fashioned way.That’s the way that Conri and Cass were married.Someone just put the paperwork in the right places, and they were finished with it.Would you like a large wedding?”
“No.I have no one who would be on my side.”He said his family would be there for both sides.“I guess so.So there’s nothing to worry about?You’re not mad that the two of us are married now?”
“I have a ring that I made when I was younger.I have it on me now.”He got down on his knees and smiled up at her.“Sharon Grace Taylor, will you marry me?I know we’ve sort of skipped a few steps, but I’m all right with that if you are.”
“This is so sudden, don’t you think?I mean, we’ve only known one another for about a week now.I’m all right with it if you are.”He told her that she wasn’t too romantic.“I don’t know how to be romantic.No one has ever proposed to me before.”
“And no one ever will so long as I have breath in my body.”He slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her finger.“It fits you like you were there when I made it.”She looked down at the ring, and he described how he’d made it.“I was just getting into gems and things when my mom suggested that I make some more simple things to sell.I started and stopped on this one so many times that I wasn’t sure I’d ever get it right.Then Conri found his first wife—we never say her name if we don’t have to—and I thought I was going to make something for my future wife when she came along.That was how I’d come up with that design.”
The band was made of a wide piece of silver that he’d made too.There were little wolves in the design that he had fallen in love with when he’d put them on the soft metal.Once he got them just right, the ring sort of worked out on its own, so that he came up with the design that she was now wearing.He asked her if she liked it.
“I love it.It’s just what I would have picked out for myself if I had the choice of any ring in the world.”She held it above her head and looked up at it.“I love the wolves.I saw you the other night while you were out playing with your brothers.”
“I wondered if you knew it was us.Rette called and said he needed a good run, so we decided to get together.We usually do it at night when there are fewer people around.”She looked at him.“Do you really like it?We can get you something else if you want.”
“No.This was made for me, and I intend to wear it for all time.It’s perfect.”He stood up and pulled her into his arms.“Are you going to kiss me now?I think that would be terribly romantic.I’m beginning to fall for you, Kendrick Valley.And when I do, it will be forever.So I hope you’re right in saying that you’ll never lie to me.I’d hate to have my heart broken after all of this.”
“I promise that I will love you for all time.And I do too.Love you, I mean.”She looked up at him when he lifted her chin up.“I’d like that kiss now if you don’t mind.As you said, it would be the perfect way to start out our lives together.”
She came into his embrace, and he pulled her tightly to his body.Brushing his lips over hers once, he was rewarded with her tongue coming out and licking them moist.Kissing her the second time, he deepened the kiss to the point of wanting her, but he never pushed her too far.She was beginning to trust him, and he wasn’t going to put her on guard again for a single kiss.They had all the time in the world, and he was going to earn her trust if it was the last thing he did in his life.
~*~
“Whatcha reading?”Rachel said the hometown paper where she’d grown up.“Why do you care what goes on there when you have this beautiful town that we live in?”
