Page 89 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“I’m not here to play fair, and, by your request, I’m not asking for a piece of paper. I’m only asking for you.” He shrugged, attempting to keep things light. “And maybe, when it’s just you and me in the quiet of our life, you’ll let me call you my wife.”
Lifting her head, she aimed her big brown eyes at him. Annabeth’s beauty held him in amazement every day, but at this moment, it nearly tore him in half. He had to have her promise of forever, or else he might go insane.
“If you want to do all that, me being afraid of a piece of paper seems pretty silly.”
He nodded as he pretended to think it over. “It does, but we’re not about to downplay your fears.”
With her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, she squeezed, catching him off guard. “Well, I guess I’ll have to think about it.”
“You do that,” he replied, slightly winded. “But remember, I haven’t asked you anything yet, so you still have time to change your mind.”
Chapter 19
2004
“Can you see him?”
Josie stood to the side of the open window in their bedroom, the sheer curtains billowing around her in the coastal breeze. “He’s fine.”
From her place on the bed, Miranda could only see a strip of the overcast North Carolina sky, and Josie wished they could figure out a way to get her into a more upright position, but nothing had worked.
“The waves might be too rough,” Miranda replied. “It looks stormy out there.”
“You worry too much.”
“It’s my job.”
Still hidden behind the curtain, Josie tracked the slow return of their son. “He’s on his way back, but it might take a minute. That pack of girls who’ve been eyeing him finally worked up the nerve to say hello.”
“Does he look interested?”
“He’s a teenage boy.” Josie chuckled as Samuel balanced the surfboard with one arm, trying to look cool in front of the girls. “Of course, he’s interested.”
Chuckling, Miranda's thin fingers absently smoothed the thick pile of blankets piled on top of her. She’d been complaining of the cold lately, and when she asked to have some fresh air, Josie had wanted to make sure her wife was warm.
Her wife.
Never in a hundred years—never in a thousand—did Josie think she ever would have the chance to stand on a mountaintop and claim Miranda as her own. It wasn’t legal, but it didn’t matter. The vows were made, and the pact eternally sealed. With their boy at their side, she and Miranda had seized their chance at happiness.
Back in March, the doctors had told them to hurry. They gave theirI’m sorrysandmake-the-most-of-it platitudes, but the message was clear. None of it would halt the inevitable from coming. Miranda’s body wouldn’t hold for one last battle, and if there was something she wanted to do, it needed to happen before April ended.
And so they lived.
Pulling Samuel from school, they lived. Every second, every day, with a kind of reckless joy. Small adventures stitched together into something beautiful—a winding trail hike through the mountains, a quick trip to New York so Miranda could show her son the sights of her childhood. They packed every moment they could into those first fragile weeks after the news.
But the grand finale had been so stunningly spectacular that nothing else could compare. Josie would owe Benjamin Fairweather until the end of time. And not just for that day, but for everything. He had made their lives possible. He had given them their boy. He had made them financially secure. He had accepted what she and Miranda were to each other long before anyone else dared.
And then, he threw them a wedding.
A real, honest-to-God wedding. For Samuel, more than anyone. He would need these moments to hold on to once Miranda was gone.
Samuel had been so awkward that day. He tried hard to get everything right, even though a recent growth spurt meant his suit no longer fit. His ankles showed, and his sleeves rode comically up his forearms. He hadn’t cared, too focused on making sure things went smoothly for his mom.
With his father’s help, of course. Ben arranged the whole thing. A female officiant so that they would feel comfortable. Miranda’s favorite flowers in the bouquets they carried. A helicopter—Samuel’s favorite part—to take them to the mid-point before they transferred to an off-road vehicle that would bring them to the mountaintop where they would say theirvows.
Just as Miranda wanted.
Ben had given them a place to speak openly of their love, leaving only God and the vast surrounding peaks to bear witness.
