I paced the aisle back and forth in my nervousness. Parker matched every move. Max walked into the tent set up for the day’s festivities filled with other loved ones of the students graduating this day. I had marked out three seats for me, Max and one other guest and guarded them jealously as Max drove to the airport to bring Meleyna’s surprise.

“Did she make it?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m here,” said Susan Harris, walking into the tent using a cane. “A lady could use some help to steady herself on this grass.”

“Of course,” I said, as I held out my arm.

“How is our girl doing?”

“You mean our Doctor of Veterinary Science? She will be so happy to see you. You should have seen her face when you told her you couldn’t come. She looked like I told her she couldn’t have a puppy.”

Susan waggled her finger at me. “You are an evil man, Matthew Rees. It was your idea.”

“But you took to it, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I do admit to wanting to tease my granddaughter some, especially since I’ve barely seen her for the past four years.”

“That’s your fault,” I said with a smile. “You told her to get a life, and she did.”

“And I’m glad. So when does this shebang start?”

Just then, a woman in professor’s robes stepped up the podium. “If everyone will be seated, we’ll get started and present to you our current graduating class.”

“There’s your answer,” I said.

We took our seats and waited for the procession to start. I made sure we got seats right at the edge of the aisle Meleyna would pass by. The solemn march blared over the speakers as the graduating class of her veterinary school filed into the tent. The robed graduates walked up the side to the end of the aisle. All heads turned as these new doctors of veterinary science marched down toward the front seats reserved for them. I hated ceremonies like this, but I was willing to do anything for my Meleyna.

In the past four years, we’d faced life’s challenges together. The first days were heady with sex and possibilities, and I had worried that once the glow wore off, Meleyna might find me a less appealing partner. But that never happened.

There were ups and downs with my business. I made some rookie mistakes, and there were challenges in getting funding for the service dogs I trained. Though clients were expected to come up with the hefty thirty thousand it took to create a trained service dog, I couldn’t let a veteran in need go without. As a result, Parker and I spent time on the road fundraising. This put a strain on Meleyna’s and my relationship, especially since she started at a veterinary school nearly an hour’s drive from Boise.

It meant long commutes on top of long hours studying, and both of us had to work very hard not to let our insane schedules interfere with the life we were building. Today, the sacrifices we both made seemed very much worth it. At least it would if she would agree to another plan I had put in motion.

I spotted Meleyna in the procession and waved to her.

“Wow,” Max said, “your woman is decorated.”

“What?”

“Look, see what’s she wearing.?”

“Yeah, that’s her hood. Means she got her DVM degree.”

“Yeah, but what’s that big gold ribbon hanging off her shoulders? No one else has that.”

“Oh, yeah.” I had no idea what that was, and I hadn’t seen it when Meleyna showed me her graduation gown.

“She looks good!” Mrs. Harris remarked.

At my feet in the cramped space, Parker watched the line of robed men and women walking by with little interest until his head snapped to Meleyna. He wagged his tail enthusiastically, thumping against my leg.

Meleyna finally reached us, and she looked at me and smiled, but then she found her grandmother’s face and busted out with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen. Her eyes came back to me, filled with happiness.

“I’ll get you back,” she mouthed to me with a smile.

“You do that,” I mouthed right back with a smart grin. In the four and a half years Meleyna and I had been together, through phone calls and brief visits, Susan Harris had become as much family to me as my own. I regretted that my dad and my stepmother couldn’t attend today, but there were only so many tickets a graduate could get at one time.

The ceremony continued with great fanfare. I was still wondering about that ribbon when the Chancellor of the school stood.

“One of our most popular students is also our valedictorian. There is a lot I can say about this special young lady, but as usual, she can speak for herself.”

The graduation class tittered at this, which appeared to be an inside joke.

“It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you Meleyna Margaret Harris, valedictorian of our graduating class.”

I was stunned at the announcement. I knew Meleyna got good grades. Heck, I had helped her so often quizzing her on material that I felt I could almost be a vet myself. But this honor was a secret that she had kept.

Meleyna cleared her throat and started her speech.

“I don’t have to tell any of you about the importance of the work we will continue as animal physicians. But I’d like to talk to today about the importance of the people who helped to get us here. Many of these people are in this tent with us today.

“Being a doctor to animals has been a dream of mine since I was a child in the backwoods of Arkansas. But it was a dream that would have gone unrealized except for three very special people and one terrific canine. And I will explain that in a minute. When you think about it, we have a whole community of people that help us reach a dream. Because the one person that helps us is helped by another, who is helped by another, stretching into a long net of people. None of us are ‘self-made’ though sometimes we think we are. First, I want to thank my Grandmother, who in addition to giving me the most loving home a girl could ask for, provided financially for me to go to school. Thank you, Grams, from the bottom of my heart. But even with that, I might not have followed through if not for one stubborn ex-Marine who shoved the application in my face. He wouldn’t let me get up from the table until I had filled it out. And this ex-Marine, sorry Marine, you’ll never stop being a Marine, Matthew Rees, wouldn’t have been able to meet me without the help of his PTSD support dog. Parker is a unique and loving individual in his own right. And Parker wouldn’t be here without the marvelous training of Max Roper, another stubborn Marine who wouldn’t let my Marine give up on himself.

“And because of these marvelous individuals, I can stand here today and receive this degree and hopefully help more people, their families, and their animals, and so continue the chain of growth and love that makes up our communities. And so, we all owe a debt of gratitude for the people who put us here. I charge my fellow graduates to pay forward in every act possible from now until the end of our days.”

No one clapped harder than me when Meleyna ended her speech, and I found myself wiping away tears from the corners of my eyes. But I didn’t feel bad about those tears because they were expressions of pride in the woman I loved.

Parker, Max, Susan and I waited for Meleyna to find us in the crowd milling outside the tent. And when she arrived beaming, she threw her arms around her grandmother.

“I knew you were a liar,” she groused. “You and Matthew got me good.”

“Well, now that you’ve graduated, you won’t have as many excuses not to visit.”

“You’re right,” I said. “In fact, Meleyna and I are taking you home personally and then spending a couple of weeks in a certain cabin for old time’s sake.”

“We are?” Meleyna asked.

“Yup. That’s one of the reasons I dragged Max’s ass from Florida.”

“Strategic thinking,” Max said. “Don’t waste your troop movements.”

“Gosh, that’s so terribly romantic,” Meleyna said.

“Hush, now, Doctor Harris,” Susan scolded.

“Hush?”

“Well, I wanted an excuse to say Doctor Harris,” she said. “Doctor Harris!” she said loudly. “We have a doctor in the family.”

We had a good laugh at Susan’s enthusiasm for her new status.

“Come on,” she said. “There is a reception for the new DVMs courtesy of the school.”

I met Meleyna’s classmates, many of whom I had heard of from her stories of her adventures at school. I saw how popular she was with her classmates as she laughed and joked with many of them.

“You’re a lucky man,” a voice said behind me.

I turned around to see a tall, dark haired man. “I’m Ted Walker.”

“Yeah, Meleyna mentioned you. And thanks. I think so too.”

“How did you two meet?” Walker asked. “Meleyna never said.”

“Well, I found her before I ever met her.”

“How’s that?”

“Meleyna, in her usual helpful way, signed up to send letters from home to those serving in war zones. She knew a kid in Iraq who was serving, as it turns out, at the same base as me, though not the same unit. Meleyna sent the kid a picture of herself, which I found fluttering in the sand while I was on a mission. That day, several of my buddies got injured, but I didn’t, and every day I kept the picture on me, I felt someone was watching over me, making sure I got home. When I returned, I tracked her down. You probably know the rest.”

“Wow. That’s a great story. Something to tell your kids someday.”

“Yeah. Someday.”

“But what about that soldier, the one Meleyna wrote to?”

“Sadly, he didn’t make it home.”

“Oh.”

“We send flowers to his family’s memorial for him every year. His sacrifice brought us together.”

“I can see what makes you so special to Meleyna. Someday, I hope to have what you two do.”

“I wish you luck.”

Meleyna wrapped her arm around me. “Getting to know my buddy, here?”

“Yeah. In fact, he reminded me of something I need to do.”

“What?”

I took a box out of my pocket.

“Showing people you are mine. And not with the impermanence of hickeys.”

“And how are you going to do that?” Meleyna said, quirking an eyebrow.

I got down on one knee, baring my heart to my love.

“Meleyna Harris, will you marry me?” I opened the box and showed her the engagement ring I had purchased, a simple gold band set with a quarter karat diamond.

“Let me see,” Meleyna squealed, reaching for the box. “I want to make sure you didn’t get that out of a Cracker Jack box.”

“No. Not until I get my answer.”

“Stubborn Marine. How do I know a real diamond is in that band?”

“It’s real,” I growled. “Parker here went without dog treats for a whole month, so I could buy this ring.”

“Wow, a whole month. Then surely it’s real.”

“It is with the way Parker gobbles treats. Everything about it, about us, is real. And I didn’t realize you were so mercenary. But you haven’t answered my question.”

“Should I marry him, Parker?” Meleyna asked.

Parker barked.

“I think that’s a yes,” I prodded.

“It’s hard to tell. But okay.”

“Okay? Is that the best you can do?”

“No.” Meleyna threw her arms around my neck and gave me a searing kiss that sparked tingles from the bottom of my toes to the tip of my spine.

“How that’s for an answer?”

“Hoorah!”