"Where shall we go?" Elyria asked once they reached the bottom of the steps.
Everett let out a deep breath and closed his eyes, willing his leg to behave and not cramp up again like it kept threatening to do. "To the park?"
"Excellent choice," she smiled and reached out, taking his hand in hers.
He bit back a groan and started walking. Sweat broke out on his brow, but he didn't know if it came from discomfort or nerves. He'd thought long and hard over where he wanted to propose to her, including what he would say and whether he would get down on one knee.
"Is your leg bothering you?"
"Yes," he muttered, "I almost can't remember a time when it didn't." He'd have to forgo bending the knee. In his current state, he'd be lucky to stand back up.
She nodded and fell silent, giving his hand a sympathetic squeeze.
"Did you know Simon's entire office is covered in books from floor to ceiling?" He asked, trying to keep his mind busy.
Elyria turned to look at him. "No, I didn't... Daphne has talked about his book collection, but I didn't think it would be quite that extensive."
"I love to read; did I tell you that last night?"
She smiled. "No."
"My father hated that particular trait about me. Until the war, not a day went by when I didn't have at least two books with me at any given time."
She gave him a curious look, "Why two?"
He shrugged. "At first, simply because it drove him mad, and since I'd given up all attempts to please him, why not needle him instead? But then I started reading and took them with me so that I could start the other when I finished one."
"What do you enjoy most about reading?"
Everett pursed his lips before replying, "Probably what most everybody else reads a book for. The escapism... being able to be somewhere else, part of a life different from my own."
They crossed the street and entered the vacant park, and he immediately steered her toward her tree. It took only a handful of minutes before she turned to him and grinned. "My favorite spot is just up ahead."
"I know," he murmured, reaching in his pocket for assurance he still had the ring box.
"How?"
"A little birdie told me."
She laughed. "Does this little birdie go by the name of Anne, perchance?"
"Indeed, she does."
They walked in silence to the tree, and he swept the branches aside for Elyria to enter under the canopy.
She strolled to the bench and sat—as though it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do. And in a sense, Everett knew it must be.
An overwhelming fear she would refuse him took hold. Would she be willing to give up her life here, her home and friends, to spend the rest of her days with him in quiet Malad? Was it even fair to ask?
She'd lost so much; would it be cruel of him to rip her away from all she had left?
"You've gotten awful quiet," she said, looking right at him. "Is something wrong?"
Everett cleared his throat and limped to her, "No... just thinking."
She reached out for him. "What about?"
Taking her hand in his left, he reached into his pocket with his right and grasped the ring box. But instead of following his plan, he released the ring box and sat beside her on the bench. "How much I love you."
She blushed, but instead of trying to hide it, she turned and faced him.
"Elyria... I—"
"Did you hear that?" She murmured with a frown.
"What?"
Standing, she cocked her head to the side. "I could have sworn I heard someone screaming."
"Maybe it's just the wind through the tree," He murmured, hearing nothing.
Her frown deepened, but when the silence continued unbroken, she shook her head and moved to sit once more. "It must have been."
"HEELLLP!" came a loud, panicked cry.
She jolted forward into action, bursting through the shelter of the tree with him following close behind her. "Do you see who it is?"
Everett scanned the area for the source of the increasingly desperate cries and cursed when he turned to the river and spotted them. "The river... two kids—where are their parents?"
A little boy, who reminded him a great deal of his cousin Timothy, struggled to keep both his and another child's head above water while trying to swim against the current toward shore.
Another panicked scream drew his attention to a woman racing toward them from further up the park, but she would never make it in time. He and Elyria were the only ones close enough; if they didn't act fast, both children would be lost.
"We have to do something, Everett," Elyria gasped as she ran toward the river.
Muttering another curse, Everett ran at an awkward loping stride, but Elyria was faster—regardless of tripping twice. Before he could stop her, she dropped her walking stick and raced headlong into the water.
Everett's heart nearly stopped. A strangled cry tore from his throat, and for the next ten seconds, he was positive he would witness the love of his life die right before his eyes.
But despite the odds stacked against her, she proved to be a competent swimmer and quickly had a firm hold on both children. "EVERETT?" She cried out as the current moved them further downstream.
"HERE," He yelled, wading into the water toward her, "OVER HERE."
She rolled onto her back, cradling the children to her bosom like an otter with its favorite rock, and began kicking.
Everett swam to her. "I've got you," he panted, anchoring an arm around her and the children. "Keep a hold of them, and I'll swim us to shore."
By the time he touched bottom, a small crowd had gathered at the river's edge. Three young men rushed forward to help pull the children and Elyria to dry land, and Everett couldn't help but wonder where everybody had come from.
"Are they all right?" Elyria gasped, dripping wet. "Did we get to them in time?"
Everett wiped the water from his eyes and nodded, taking her by the hand, "Yes, you did."
The young woman he'd seen running moments earlier raced to the boys' side and sank to her knees. "How many times have I told you not to play so close to the river, Henry? William?" She pulled them both against her heaving bosom and closed her eyes, her face wet with tears as she cried brokenly, "I could have lost you."
"Sorry, Mama," the littlest boy, no older than five or six, softly cried. "I falled in, and Henry tried to save me."
The small gathering quickly dispersed once it became apparent all people involved were safe. A few bystanders cast disgruntled looks over their shoulders before they went their way, obviously disappointed over the less-than-dramatic ending.
Pulling back, the young mother wiped her children's faces and sniffled brokenly, "I'm never letting you two out of my sight again... now, let's get you home and dry."
With only a slight nod Everett's way, the woman with her two sons, stood and walked out of the park.
"Well, how do you like that?" Everett muttered. "Not even a 'thank you' for saving her kids."
Elyria grinned and pushed wet hair off her face. Looking up at him, she shrugged and said softly, "Such is the life of a hero."
He stared at her, stunned speechless as three realizations hit him all at once. First, Elyria was amazing and fearless. Regardless of what many people would have considered a severe limitation in such an instance, she hadn't even taken a moment to pause and wonder if there might be someone better able to help. She had simply acted.
Second, she was by far the most beautiful human being he'd ever known, inside and out. True, she may look more like a drowned squirrel than a Greek goddess, but at that moment—with the way the sunlight bathed her in its warm, cheery glow—he knew he would never meet another woman like her.
And third, he didn't want to live another day without her by his side. The rest of his life looked bleak if it meant spending even a second of it deprived of everything that made her who she was. He loved her so madly and deeply that it simultaneously scared and liberated him. "Marry me, Pegleg."
Her lips bent in a beatific smile, making his gut clench with need. "When?"
"Is that a yes?"
She nodded. "Yes."
Grinning like a fool, he took her in his arms, "Is today or tomorrow too soon?"
"How about tomorrow?" She laughed, resting her hands on his chest. "I need time for some preparations."
The warmth of her touch seeped through his wet shirt and sent pleasurable chills dancing across his skin.
"Tomorrow it is," he said huskily, tilting her chin. Then, with painstaking slowness to savor the moment, he touched his mouth to hers in a tender kiss and whispered, "Do you have any idea how much I love you?"
"I'm beginning to," she sighed, her arms stealing up around his neck. "I believe it's almost as much as I love you."
He kissed her and pulled away slightly, his lips curling in a devilish smile, "When did this become a competition?"
"It isn't. Now stop talking and kiss me," Elyria breathed, pressing his mouth firmly against hers in a deep kiss that left him counting down the seconds till tomorrow.