“I’m sure, but the only part of that I care about is the private part. Isn’t this a nice scene to make out to?” he asked.
It was indeed beautiful, a big old barn sitting in a crop of trees in the middle of a pasture on a wide, deep plateau. Mountains to the west, a valley to the east, a babbling brook just south of the structure. He put an arm along the back of the seat, around her. “You know, I’ve been in love with you since about the first day,” he said.
“When I brought Sully back to the crossing after his surgery?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Before that. When you were taking care of that old guy who was lost and confused. Then minutes later you were handling Sully’s emergency. Barking orders, taking charge, confident, powerful, and yet so gentle. I knew right then I’d never known anyone like you in my life.”
“I was a wreck that day,” she said.
“I wanted you right then.” He laughed a little. “You really gave me a hard time.”
“I didn’t trust you at all, California,” she said.
“I learned a few things in the last couple of years, Maggie. Or maybe I should say, I remembered a few things. Since I was a little kid I wanted to feel settled and safe. I wanted the respect of the people who knew me, I wanted a family I could devote myself to, I wanted to learn the kind of everyday wisdom Sully has. Being widowed screwed me up. I was too lonely. But that changes if you’ll marry me. I think we can do this, Maggie. I never thought I would know love like this—I never thought I could feel this kind of bone-deep passion, yet a sweet peace and steadiness. You changed my life. And it needed changing.”
“And can you have that if I keep doing what I do?” she asked. “Because what I do tends to have its complications. The majority of my cases are routine and require training and good hands, but there are times... You can’t dare to take brains and spinal columns into your hands with impunity. It’s risky. It’s stressful.”
“It’s admirable,” he said. “Maggie, I think you know yourself well, yet I’m not sure you realize just how amazing you are. It’s not a lack of confidence, not at all. It’s more that your focus is not on yourself when you act. You do exactly what you realize is within your scope, even when it takes a toll. I wouldn’t have another wife if she wasn’t you. I’m sure of it.”
“Can you be happy in a rumpus room?” she asked.
“For a year or so,” he said. “We’ll also be in Denver sometimes. But I’ll be here a lot. If it works for you.”
“Here?” she asked.
“See that barn? The barn and the land it sits on are for sale.”
“Huh,” she said, confused. “You going to get horses or something? Maybe bring in a double-wide we can live in?”
“Nope. That barn is going to make a fantastic house. With Tom’s help it’s going to be a big, spacious, family home with a view of the mountains and the valley. Come on,” he said, getting out of the car.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the barn and opened the big double doors. They stood in the center of an enormous space with the remnants of previous tenants all around—stalls, troughs that had once watered animals, ropes hanging from walls, even a harness and yoke that looked as old as the barn.
He pointed to one end. “Kitchen, mudroom, laundry, dining room.” He turned. “Great room, office. I’m happy taking clients at Sully’s but I don’t know how long he’ll be happy with that.” He pointed to the hayloft. “Master bedroom and bath, two rooms for kids.” He pointed to the other side. “Guest room.”
“Kids?” she asked.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“Are you ready?”
“I thought that ship had sailed, but then I met you and so many things became real again. All the things I thought were past became the future. I thought my one chance at happiness was behind me, and I found out I was wrong. Maggie, you’re a game changer—you’ll dangle on the end of a rope over a three-hundred-foot drop to save a kid’s life and you’ll trust a vagrant lawyer with a piece of your heart.” He pulled her into his arms. “Make a life with me, baby. I love you so much it blurs my vision.”
“It wasn’t just a piece of my heart,” she said. “You sneaked in there and took the whole damn thing.”
“Time to say yes, Maggie.”
“Are you kidding me? I feel like I’ve wanted you forever. And Calbert—I love the barn. I love it. I can’t fill it up with kids, there isn’t time. But I can put a couple of good ones in here and add pets.”
He laughed at her. “You’re a genius.”
“I love you, Cal. Like a house on fire. Will you marry me fast, before you change your mind?”
“I’m never going to change my mind, honey. You’re everything to me.”
This above all:
To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
—William Shakespeare
In the long run,
we only hit what we aim at.
—Henry David Thoreau
Epilogue