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He stared down at her, serious, his thumbs brushing over the backs of her fingers softly, like he didn’t even realize what he was doing.
Finally, he lowered onto one knee, and looked up into her face.
“I wanted more for you. Truly. But, we did wait a really long time. Almost a decade. The idea that you don’t care to wait until I get everything set up perfectly I think is a little more temptation than what I can handle. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, and I wanted to start as soon as possible. Eight years is long enough to wait. Will you marry me?”
She smiled, she couldn’t help herself, and she nodded her head, before she could clear her throat and say, “Yes. Yes.”
There weren’t any other words, and thankfully he didn’t seem to need them, as he stood back up, the glow on his face surely matching hers, as he grabbed her and held her close, pulling her against him and kissing her, a different kind of kiss than before. It was full of promises and hopes and dreams and the passion of eight long years of waiting.
“How soon?” He lifted his head after a while and breathed into her ear.
“Today?” she said, just as breathless and just as soft.
He laughed. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Forever. All of her life. Until she died. She would love this man.
She wanted to tell him all of that and more, but his phone started to ring, startling them, and she looked around, trying to figure out where the sound came from.
“What a time for a phone call.”
“It’s probably best. We ought to get back anyway. We have plans to make. And, who knows what’s going on with the children.”
“It’s Alaska. I’d better answer,” he said, as he looked at the screen of his phone.
Immediately a swirl of unease went through her. Fear tightened the skin on her neck, and she was grateful for Travis’s arm which was still around her.
“Hello?” Travis said, answering the phone and putting it on speaker so she could hear too.
“I have to go. You need to come back right now. I’ll leave the children here. I have to leave.”
“Relax. Is the house on fire?” Travis said, turning as he did so, like they needed to walk out of the pasture immediately.
“No.”
“Are the kids in danger?” he asked, his words fast, staccato.
“No. Not right now. But they will be if I stay.”
“Okay. Calm down. You don’t have to leave before we get back. But we're coming right away. We’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I can’t wait ten minutes!”
She started to cry.
“You have to. There’s no vehicle there for you anyway.”
“I’ll take Ellen’s car. I need to go. I shouldn’t have come to begin with. I just love my kids so much.”
“If you need to call the police. Do it.”
“He’s not here now. But he said he was going to find me. He said he would know where I was, had heard about my children, and that he was coming for me.”
Travis grabbed a hold of her hand and walked as fast as he could through the field toward where their car was parked. Ellen held on tight, and took a couple of jogging steps to keep up with him. She didn’t want anything to happen to the children. She didn’t know exactly what was going on with Alaska, but whatever it was, she didn’t want that to touch the kids.
Wait. Was she saying what it sounded like she was saying?
“Is this little boy yours too?” Ellen asked, and Travis’s eyes opened wide, as he glanced at her, never slowing his stride.
