Page 56 of Love Story
“Where do you want to begin?”
True.It was up to her where she began the story. She sat on the edge of the worktable. “Well... I guess I’d begin with you, of course. Our middle school days. When you wouldn’t stop liking me no matter how mean I was.”
“There was always only you for me, Ashley.” He leaned against the garage refrigerator a few feet away. “Then what?”
“I was stubborn and rebellious so I went to Paris. But the whole time you were back here in Bloomington praying for me. Thinking about me. Loving me.”
“Right.”
Ashley liked the story so far. “I made some terrible choices, things I can’t bring myself to think about, and next thing I knew I was pregnant.”
“Okay.” Landon’s expression was kind, encouraging her to continue. “You’re doing great.”
This wasn’t as hard as she thought. “God saved me and my unborn baby and we came back home, back to Indiana. And from the beginning I kept running into you.” She managed a smile. “Every time I did, I felt myself falling for you a little more. Then you were almost killed in that house fire. Saving the life of a little boy.”
“I still hear from him every now and then. He sends me emails at the station to let me know how he’s doing in school.” Landon looked all the way through to the depths of her heart. “What else, Ash?”
“I came to the hospital to see you but you were in a coma. So I sat at the edge of your bed and talked to you. I begged you not to die because you had never been too safe, the way I thought. You were a hero and there you were dying in that bed. That’s when I told you I loved you.” She smiled at him. “I didn’t think you heard me, but you did. When you woke up you told me.”
“Your words in that hospital room are always with me.” He came to her and took hold of her hands again. “See? The story’s not that hard.”
“It isn’t.” She kept her eyes locked on his. “I loved you way before I was willing to really admit it. And then 9/11 happened. Your friend Jalen was missing, so you went to New York City. You didn’t stop digging there at Ground Zero until you found him. And all that time... all that time I missed you with everything in me. I thought it was too late, that I’d messed things up forever by letting you go.”
“But I came back.”
“I was standing in the field outside this very house, painting.” She angled her face and let herself get lost in his eyes. “Remember?”
“Of course.” He released one hand and worked his fingers through her hair.
“You came up to me and asked me the same thing Irvel always asked me.” Ashley felt tears in her eyes again. Irvel had been her favorite patient when Ashley worked at the Sunset Hills Adult Care Home.
“You have the most beautiful hair.” Landon ran his hand over the back of her head. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Yes. Exactly.” Ashley made a sound that was part laugh, part cry. She loved the way this was playing out. “That’s what you said. And just like that we had a chance.” She looked deep into his eyes again. “You loved Cole from the first time you saw him, and once I let you into our lives you were amazing with him. Taking him to the park and reading himMike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.Wrestling with him and including him in our adventures every Saturday.”
Landon took a step back and dropped his hands to his sides. “And...?”
“And we got married months before my mom died of cancer. With Cole there to witness the whole thing.” Suddenly Ashley realized something. She felt her eyes grow wide. “Wait a minute...”
“I know, right?” He chuckled, clearly enjoying the way the reality was landing on her.
“That’s it! That’s my story.” She laughed, too. Standing still was no longer an option. She paced to the Goodwill pile and back, amazed. “My story isn’t about some married painter in Paris.” She ran to him, took his face in her hands and kissed him. “It’s about you! The story is about you, Landon.”
“Exactly.” His lips found hers and he grinned at her. “It’s about time you figured that out.”
They both laughed and kissed again. The work could wait. This was the revelation Ashley had been waiting for, the answer she’d been praying about since Cole first asked about his story. It was never about his biological father. Not at all. Cole’s story was rooted in the love between her and Landon. A love that wasn’t only breathtakingly beautiful. It was like so many precious things in life, just the way her mother had described the pitcher all those years ago.
Beautifully broken.
•••
WILSON GAGE WASrestless. He hadn’t been out of the house in two days and he needed a night out. But the Bingo Parlor was closed and he didn’t want to play pool at the bar. Easier to drink at home.
He grabbed another two beers from the fridge and flopped into his recliner. Where was the remote? He looked beneath a stack of newspapers and found it. A few clicks and the news came on. Wilson stared at it. The world had gotten crazy lately. Applauding people who desecrated the flag. Wilson was a liberal like the best of them. But ain’t no one got the right to shun the American flag.
Wilson drew the line there.
He popped the top on the beer and drank half of it. This was his fourth tonight. Fourth or fifth. Wilson wasn’t sure.
