Page 72 of My Forbidden Boss

“Of course! How on earth could I forget that? Oh! Are you going to show it to me?!”

He nodded as we strolled into the clearing, his pace slowing to that of a meandering crawl.

“Yep, it’s just up ahead. But I wanted to finish the story first, just so you had an idea of why I want you to see it so badly.”

I watched and waited, letting him lead the way both in the path and in conversation.

“So, I told you that they started with two rows… one for Bradley and one for Samantha. I told you how they spent all that time nurturing their respective sides until they both joined together at the top and intertwined. What I didn’t tell you was that his side wasn’t his… and her side wasn’t hers.”

I tilted my head and looked sideways up at Hollis as he took and held my hand.

“They each had their own sides… but that wasn’t the one they worked on. It might seem trivial, but it means something special when you really think about it. They each specifically picked a side to be theirs at the beginning, planting their plants all in a row, but then left it abandoned, entrusting its care to their partner. ‘His’ row and ‘hers’ …They weren’t their own, but each other’s. Brad and Sam spent all those years, both of them taking care of the other and trusting in their love’s promise that their partner would do the same.”

I was speechless. Hollis had still more to say.

“For the whole picture – the pergola and all its purpose to come together in full, final form, each row had to be strong enough to support the other. Otherwise, the whole thing would completely collapse, no matter how strong each individual was on their own. They needed each other and, by promising to tend to the opposite side, turned that common need into a powerful union and trust.”

“That’s so beautiful!” I looked up, seeing the lovely vines for the first time.

Hollis nodded as we walked closer.

“So essentially, they spent their whole lives shaping each other with love. Day by day, each little extra moment led to a bigger whole, culminating in something beyond themselves, something with meaning that was meaningful and powerful. And as I see it, that actually made each stronger as individuals, solely because of how much they depended on the other’s love – knitting themselves together, holding one another up, until there was nobody apart from them alive who could have seen any place or point of distinction. They ignored their own needs, caring for and trusting in the other completely.”

We approached the tunnel opening, and I marveled. “It’s so beautiful… two separate branches of personalities, but intertwined in each other’s arms.”

Hollis shook his head. “It’s more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Sam and Bradley… They grafted the two rows together during their last few years living here. That means that each vine, starting from one side, then branching to the other, actually physically connects back into the opposite row where it used to end. Imagine two trees touching branches, then over time, those branches growing together into one continuous whole. That’s what you see here.”

My mouth hung open as we walked under the first twisting curves, my eyes unable to find a single place where any of the vines stopped instead of blending straight into the next.

“They’re all connected?”

Hollis nodded next to me. “Yeah. Believe me, I’ve checked. Once you start looking, it’s hard to stop. For some reason, it seems too hard to believe, to contemplate the power of it being so meticulously complete. The two sides that started as separate individuals have literally become one being, a single entity. Their roots are the only remaining evidence that they were ever apart.”

I shook my head in awe and looked down the aisle under the tunnel’s overhang. Three figures approaching from the other end caught my eye but were too distant for me to notice with any detail. I turned to Hollis, mesmerized by what he was sharing with me.

His eyes were intent, locked on mine without regard for anything else.

“Tisha, I don’t have to go to the offices. I asked you to come with me out here because I wanted you to see it, to hear the whole story. It was the only way I could think to tell you how I feel around you. All this…”

He gestured down the vines, his hand scanning from one of the nurtured rows to the other.

“…This has been all I could think about over the past year with you. It’s what I want, and I only want it with you. I meant what I said earlier… more years like this one would be all I could ever want, and it’s more than I could ever deserve… but I want to try. More than that, I’m ready to commit to that promise, to start building the same trust that brought all these vines beautifully together.”

I was floored by his compassion, my heart humming as each passing phrase was matched by my own flow of feelings.

Movement caught my eye, and again I glanced down to the figures, closer now under the branches. My mind shook.

What the…? Mom? Dad? … Brandon?

Hollis’s voice pulled me back before I could even begin to question.

“Tisha, I love you. There is nothing I want more than to spend the rest of my life by your side, spending our days building each other up and filling in one another’s missing pieces, growing old together like these branches, each moment growing a little closer than the one before it.”

My eyes widened, and I covered my mouth, watching as Hollis produced a little box from his pocket.

“Tisha, there is only one question in the world that interests me anymore. I love you with all my heart and have to know… Will you marry me?”

The hinges on the little box opened, revealing a dazzling diamond and silvery gold band. Shock took over, sending my eyes to my parents and friend watching with smiles bigger than I’d ever seen.

Breathlessly I turned back to Hollis, already jumping in his arms.

“Yes! Of course, yes!”