Five months later…
“WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD of French Park before now?” I asked Ollie as we strolled down one of the winding, wooded hiking paths. “It’s so green and lush in the springtime. Jack is dying to play in the creek,” I warned. “Those waterfalls would make perfect spots for taking pictures too.” Jack, our newly adopted German Shepherd, eyed the creek so pitifully.
“We’ll stop soon. There’s a shelter house a little way down this trail,” Ollie said, sounding distracted.
“What’s going on? You seem edgy,” I told him.
“Nope. I’m just hungry. I have fried chicken and all the trimmings inside this basket.”
“Then let’s get moving a little faster,” I said.
We came around a curve, and I was stunned to see Milo standing off to the side holding something in his hand. The elated joy on his face distracted me from seeing what he held in front of him. When I got closer, I realized he was holding one of Ollie’s illustrations. It was something he must’ve sketched from memory from the night we met. In the drawing, my eyes appeared to glitter with attraction, and a flirty smile teased my lips. I had wanted him so much.
I stopped to take the drawing, but Ollie squeezed my hand. “We’ll collect them later.”
“Them? There’s more? What’s going on?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” Milo said. He kissed me on the cheek then tucked in behind us to follow.
We walked quite a bit further before we came across Andy leaning against a tree, smiling ridiculously. “Love looks good on you, Arch,” he said, gesturing to the drawing he held in his hand like Vanna White. This one was a picture of the two of us kissing beside Ollie’s car in the bowling alley parking lot. Andy joined Milo, and I heard them exchange a smacking kiss.
The next person along the trail was Henry, and he held a drawing of Ollie and me at bingo. We stood behind the podium lost in our own little world. Henry too joined our entourage.
We came along Millie who held a picture of me sitting on the front pew on my first visit to his church. Millie took the arm Henry offered.
Then it was Esther who held up a picture of Ollie and me sharing a quiet cup of coffee together in her kitchen. We leaned into each other while I looked at the paper and Ollie looked at something on his tablet. Esther looped her arm through Millie’s, and we marched on to our final destination.
Mamma was waiting for us in the center of the shelter, and she held up a sketch of my favorite photo of us as a couple. It was taken the night of the museum gala. Archie and I sat on the stairs smiling at one another, and the love we felt for each other radiated off the page just as it did in the photo.
“My Archie,” Mamma said, coming forward and hugging me. She reached up and wiped away the tears spilling down my face. She kissed my cheek and hugged me tightly. “My Ollie.”
Andy took Jack’s leash, and Milo took the picnic basket. Our friends and family formed a half circle around us when I turned and faced Ollie. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something circular, but I didn’t have a chance to see it before he dropped to one knee.
“Archie, will you do me the greatest honor and be my husband?”
“I will,” I said eagerly. Ollie slid the band on my ring finger, and I got my first look at it. It was a dark, rugged-looking titanium metal inset with delicate pink diamonds. My man knew me so well. “It’s so beautiful.”
Ollie rose to his feet, and we exchanged our first kiss as an engaged couple while our family, biological and chosen, gathered around and cheered.
“How are you guys going to work out the names?” Milo asked. “I’m not sure hyphenating is going to work.”
“Why?” Henry asked.
“They’ll either be known as White-Knight or Knight-White,” Andy said. “One sounds like something out of a fairy tale and the other sounds like a kid trying to say night light.”
“Good point,” Henry said.
“We have plenty of time to decide that,” Ollie said. “Right now, I just want to celebrate this joyous occasion.”
“When are you fellas going to get married?” Millie asked. “I’m not getting any younger.”
“Soon,” Ollie said. “We’re not getting any younger either.”
The three ladies started up a conversation about the best months to get married while I looked into Ollie’s smiling eyes.
“I’m so happy you caught me, White Knight,” I whispered against his lips.
“I’m so happy you slowed down long enough for it to happen, Knight White.”
We burst into laughter, both of us knowing two things: there was no way we were hyphenating our names, and we both had new nicknames for each other. In my mind, there was no debate to be had. I would be honored to take his last name as my own. When I looked at Ollie, I didn’t see a man with a broken halo; I saw the best man I’d ever known. He would forever be my Golden Boy.
The End!
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