“Oh, Ian…” She threw her arms around him and he held her off the ground. He kissed her soundly, to the cheers of their audience.
But then he put her on her feet and held her upper arms. “Listen, Abigail—there are some things you have to know. I have fourteen hundred and eleven dollars to my name and I need gas. No savings. I haven’t filed a tax return in four years. If I can’t pay the taxes on that mountain in the spring, it’ll just go away, and I can’t pay the taxes if I don’t find a job. I haven’t had a real job in a long time. And my father—I don’t have any illusions about it being a tearful reunion. He’ll probably just kick me to the curb. So go into this knowing it’s still a mess. Just because I sang out loud doesn’t mean—”
“You think I’m a wimp?” she asked, incredulous. “You think after everything I’m weak? Then why are you coming? I know how you hate weakness!”
“To see if there’s anything to us. Marcie, I wouldn’t hurt you for the world, so tell me you’re up to this if it all falls apart. Because going in, there’s a lot on the minus side, starting with me. I could be a huge disappointment to you in the end.”
“Did you return my library books?” she asked.
“I didn’t,” he said, shaking his head. “There were only so many things I could do if I was going to get to you before Christmas.”
She smiled up at him. “Well, I never did know quite where I was going. But there was this light…And I followed…I told you, I love you. Ian, I love you so much. I’ll start there and take everything else as it comes.”
“And I didn’t tell you,” Ian said. “I didn’t want to mess you up, let you down. But I can’t remember ever feeling this way before. I love you, Marcie. I’ll try anything.”
“Okay, then. Why don’t we just start with faith and we’ll go from there?”
He grinned at her. “Erin Elizabeth is going to be a little disgruntled when she sees me.”
She patted his cheek. “She won’t even recognize you for a couple of days, at least. You look so magnificent. Who’s going to feed Buck?”
“Buck’s on his own for now. We’ll catch up with him when the snow melts. Does that work for you?”
“Perfect,” she said. And she thought, if these mountains are beautiful in winter, they must be heart-stopping in spring with the promise of new life. Like hers.
Like his…
Like theirs…