Down the Dirt Road (38 page)

   She should tell him, let him be angry if he wanted to.
He had the right to know.
      

“Michael McKee sent me the letters.”  She blurted the words, afraid that if she didn’t she would never be able to.

    “I know.  He told me this morning.  I passed his house on the way down the dirt road to see you.”

    “I didn’t hear a car.”

    “I walked.  I don’t drive much these days.  My equilibrium is still a little off and the doctors say I have a touch of what they called PTSD.”

     “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

     “That’s the one.”  He smiled widely then.  “So, did you read the letters?”

     She was almost ashamed but she answ
ered honestly. It still felt like she had done something wrong; like reading someone’s diary.  “Every last one.  T
hree times.”
    “Good.  My memory is a little spotty since the accident, I can’t remember exactly what they said but I am guessing that the gist of them all was the same?”

     “And that is?”  Jennie knew she was being coy but she wanted to know just how much Grayson remembered before she put her heart on her sleeve for the world to see.

    “Pretty much that I love you with all my heart and I want to spend every last day of forever with you showing you just how much love that is.”

  The tears threatened to come again but she pushed them back
and nodded
.

“That’s pretty much the gist of it.” She whispered unable to look up at the man in front of her.  She felt a finger under her chin, lifting her face until they were eye to eye.  “I didn’t lose that much of my memory, you know.  I never forgot that last kiss under the tree at the parade.”

     “It was our first kiss.
  I
prayed every night that it wouldn’t be the last.”

     He pulled her close then, held her tightly as he pressed his lips against hers ever so gently.  The kiss was as sweet as the first peaches of the summer season, fresh off the tree
and Jennie relished the feel of him holding her, protecting her, making her feel safe
for the first time in so long
.

    “Now that was a first kiss I will never forget.” He whispered in her ear as he pulled away ever so slightly.

    “That was our second kiss.”  She could
n’t
help but correct him, the first one all those months ago had helped her through many a dark moment.

     “No, that was our first kiss as a couple. The only one that counts.”

    “A couple? 
Did I miss something? 
When did we become a couple?”

    “Oh, wait, I told you my memory wasn’t what it used to be.  I seem to have forgotten something.”

    Jennie watched curiously as he dug around in his pockets, searching for something.  Her breath left her completely when he found what he was looking for and dropped to one knee in front of her, his hand extended with a diamond solitaire in the palm.

    “Jennie Marshall I love you.  The memory of you kept me alive in a war zone and brought me home when I didn’t even know my own name.  I can’t imagine another day on
this planet without you.  I am not the man I was. I am not even sure I will ever be able to go back to being a cop again but none of that matters
to me
if I have you.  Will you marry me?”

    She dropped to her knees in front of him and threw her arms around his neck.
  She let the tears flow freely-
for the first time in ages they were tears of joy.  “Yes!  Yes, I will marry you!  And I don’t care if you can’t ever be a cop again.  Police work is dangerous.  Have you ever thought about farming?”
  They laughed together as they clung to each other.  All the months apart just slipped away from them
like morning mist
.  Jennie’s heart swelled with a feeling she hadn’t felt in years- love.  True love. Not the stuff of fairy tales- theirs was not a fairy tale by any means but the sor
t of love Momma had for Daddy.  Strength, tenderness, understanding – they would need all of that if she was going to help Grayson down the long, winding, rutted path of recovery.  She understood PTSD well, he had a lot of things to deal with over the coming months and years but Daddy always said the best cure for what ails you is good, honest hard work. 

    “Come on.”  She stood up, pulled her new fiancé to his feet. 

    “Where are we going?”

    “I want to take a drive.”  She pulled him toward Old Blue.  “Hop in.  She’s got a bench seat so you can sit nice and close if want to.”

   Grayson smiled as he tugged one of her curls.  “You can bet on it!”

  She worked the old Ford up the pitted dirt road about a mile down the way before she turned it around and headed back to the house.

    Grayson looked confused.  “Is that as far as you want to go?”

    She patted the faded dash.  “You’re gonna want to brace yourself for this!”

   As the old pick up gained speed and hit the bump sending them air born
e
, Jennie was absolutely certain she saw her Daddy smiling down on her as she said to her fiancé, “The spring rains must have gotten to the road
this year
.” 

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