Chapter Thirty-Nine
Trethan
Even though I normally just walked inside John and Vanessa’s home, I paused on the porch that evening and knocked heavily on the wood. John pulled open the door, looking appraisingly at me. Then, he nodded at the silent question and let me inside.
“How have you been?” he asked, looking as though he didn’t really know what to do.
I smiled nervously at him, also feeling kind of at a loss. It wasn’t every day that something this big happened. I shook my head. “I’ve been nervous, actually,” I admitted. “This is nothing like riding a bull.”
John laughed and shook his head as well. “I should hope not, given the tumble you took at the end of that rodeo,” he said. He frowned. “You’re fully healed up, though, from what I hear. Vanessa was overjoyed to tell me the news.”
“Yeah, the doctor cleared me yesterday,” I said. “Means I can get back to work soon. If you’ll have me back.”
John rolled his eyes. “Well, of course I’m going to have you back,” he said. “Don’t be an idiot. Place has been doing fine without you, but I have to face up to the fact that I’m getting older, and I can’t do everything on my own anymore. Vanessa’s been helping out, of course; but with her gallery project starting to take off, it’s perfect timing for you to come back and take over around here again.”
I smiled at him. “Good.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s good to have you here,” he said, his tone serious. “I’m, of course, proud of you for asking me, but you must have known what my feelings were before you asked.”
I ducked my head. “Yeah,” I agreed. “But you’ve been like a father to me all these years. I wouldn’t have felt right if I didn’t ask you.”
“I appreciate that,” John said. He glanced up the stairs as Vanessa came down them. “You’re looking pretty tonight,” he told his daughter.
And Vanessa was looking pretty that night. She had on a soft pink dress with a light blue cardigan, given that we were reaching the tail end of warm days for now. She had her hair pulled back in a somewhat messy braid. Her face was practically glowing.
“All right, enough secrecy,” she said, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips. “Where exactly are you taking me tonight, mister?”
I shook my head. “It’s a secret; I told you that,” I said. “Come on.” I held out my arm to her. “I won’t keep her out too late,” I promised John, smirking at him.
“Good,” he said. There was something more to it than that, but the rest of his words went unspoken.
“Did you knock on the door before?” Vanessa asked as we walked onto the porch and down toward my truck. “You know you can just come inside. It’s not like you haven’t been here before.”
I smiled but didn’t answer her. We drove down to a cozy little seafood place on the lake that had just opened the previous week. “Oh, wow,” she said, looking around in surprise. “This place is nice.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling as I led her along to our table, which was right out by the water.
“So, what’s the occasion?”
“Does there have to be an occasion?”
She shook her head. “I know you, Trethan. We don’t do places like this normally. If you were trying to be romantic, normally you’d just invite me over to your place and we’d order pizza and watch a movie. So, unless it’s some anniversary that I’ve forgotten about, what is it?”
I laughed. “I just wanted to enjoy a nice meal with you, that’s it,” I told her, even though that was far from being the case. “Come on, we’ve been dating again for a few months now, and I think that deserves a celebration.” I lowered my voice and leaned in. “And the sex yesterday was incredible, don’t you think?” I laughed at the way she blushed and looked around to see if anyone could have overheard that.
“It is kind of nice to do this sometimes,” Vanessa said, looking down at her menu, a smile on her face.
I smiled back at her and opened my own menu, scanning through the dishes for one which jumped out at me. I wasn’t much of a seafood person normally, but I had to admit that the views here were something else, and I had the whole night planned out ahead of us.
“So how are things really going with the gallery?” I asked Vanessa as we worked our way through a bottle of wine. “Come on, don’t spare any details. I want to hear all about the business that I’ve invested in.”
She laughed. “It’s going well,” she said. “I think I’ve narrowed down the list of people to the ones that I’d like to feature. We’re doing an emphasis on home for this first set of installations. I think it works well, me coming back to my hometown to start this gallery, all with local art. And home is such a personal concept, don’t you think? It’s been interesting going through the different submissions and figuring out which ones will work.”
“Hmm,” I murmured, smiling at her over the rim of my wine glass. I loved seeing how excited she got about the place and the artwork that she would fill it with.
“I’m done with the painting finally, too,” she continued. “And that means that the installations can start in the next couple days. I hope to have everything ready to open by the end of the month. Need to get on marketing it, though. Julie’s helping out by designing flyers and the website and everything else, but we need to drum up interest in the place. Its opening will coincide with the annual Autumn Arts and Wine Festival, though, so that should help draw some people to the place. Everyone loves free wine samples, don’t they?”
“Especially while they’re looking at art,” I said seriously.
Vanessa shook her head. “I really don’t know how to thank you enough for helping me out with the place,” she said.
I put my hands over hers, where they rested on the table between us. “Don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling crookedly at her. “I’m glad that I can be involved in some way. Your passion is infectious.”
“I’m just glad you’re here to experience it all,” she told me, a dark shadow crossing her face for a moment. I felt another fleeting stab of guilt because I knew she was still beating herself up over the fact that I had almost gotten seriously injured — or worse — trying to win the rodeo competition.
“I’m fine,” I reminded her. “Takes more than that to hurt me.”
Vanessa shook her head, but there was a shaky smile on her face.
When we finished our meal, I suggested we take a little walk down to the lake. I took my coat off and draped it around her shoulders, knowing that she must be chilly given the temperature and the flimsy nature of her cardigan. She smiled her thanks back at me.
“So seriously, what’s the reason for all of this?” she asked quietly as we got down to the lake. “You and Dad were planning something, I could tell.”
I laughed and shook my head. But then, I took a step closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “The past couple months have really brought some things into focus for me,” I told her. “And, I’ve had plenty of time to think since I haven’t really been allowed to do much other than think for two whole months.”
She laughed. “I know how difficult that’s been for you!”
“The thing is, I’ve really enjoyed watching you get everything ready with your gallery,” I told her. “I never thought I’d see you this excited about something to do with White Bluff.” I paused. “When you left for college, I never thought I’d see you back in White Bluff for more than a quick visit around the holidays.”
She ducked her head. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
I waved away her apology. “That’s not what I’m looking for,” I told her. “Just, I got to thinking about you leaving. And, I thought of us being separated again. I really don’t like that feeling.”
“Well, the good thing is, unless my gallery goes belly up, it looks like I’m staying in White Bluff,” Vanessa said. Then, she frowned. “Although, I am still kind of worried that the gallery is going to flop. I’m doing everything I can to make sure that that doesn’t happen, but what if we can’t-”
I put a finger to her lips, silencing her for a moment. “The gallery is going to do great,” I told her firmly. “You just have to believe in yourself. But anyway, that’s not what I’m talking about. Or not exactly, anyway.” I sighed at the quizzical look she sent me.
“Vanessa, I hate the idea of spending even one more day away from you. With my accident, I think we both got a taste of how fleeting life can be. I don’t want to miss spending another day with you.”
Vanessa turned toward me, her mouth in a rounded ‘o’ shape, and I had a feeling she knew what was coming next.
I got down on one knee, pulling out the ring box that I had stashed in my pocket earlier that evening. “Vanessa Thomas, I know I haven’t always been the most reliable guy out there, and there’s a lot about me that I’m still working on changing, but you make me want to be a better man — the best man that I can be. And, there’s no one else that I want by my side in this life other than you. So, I was hoping that you’d do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
I popped open the ring box, watching Vanessa’s eyes sparkle with unshed tears. “I asked your dad for permission,” I told her. “And, he gave me the ring. It’s the same one that he used to propose to your mom, way back when.”
Vanessa’s hands were up covering her mouth by this point, and in the next moment, she sank down to her knees in the sand beside me. “Oh, Trethan,” she breathed. “Yes. Absolutely, yes.”
I slid the ring onto her shaking hand, watching as the brilliant stones sparkled in the light of the moon. She flung her arms around me. “There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with either,” she told me fiercely.
I snickered. “What if I developed amnesia after that fall, and I actually think I’m someone else?”
Vanessa yanked away. “Not funny,” she said, but I could tell from the way her eyes crinkled around the corners that she was more amused than she was letting on.
I looked around. “So, what do you say we make love right here on the edge of the lake?” I asked. “That would be romantic, right?”
She looked scandalized. “Anyone could walk down and see us,” she said.
I sighed. “Well, I still have some blankets in the back of my truck,” I said.
She snorted at that one. “Always prepared, and always thinking about sex,” she said fondly.
“I mean, with a fiancée who’s this hot, how could I not?” I asked her.
Vanessa smiled at that. “Fiancée,” she repeated. She tucked her head against my shoulder, staring out over the lake. “I like that.”
“I like that, too,” I told her, rubbing her arm. “I really like that, too.”