I Promise (16 page)

“Thank you, Grandma.” Christy gave her grandmother's cool hands a squeeze. “Do you have any advice for me? For us?”

Christy was remembering her grandparents' fiftieth wedding anniversary party when she had asked them how they had met and how they had known they were right for each other. Her grandfather had offered some advice about making sure they came from the same background. Grandma, however, had told Christy to wait until things were difficult and then to ask herself if she still wanted to spend the rest of her life with this person.

That thought had come back to Christy several times during the past week while she was mad at Todd. She knew she still wanted to spend the rest of her years with him. She just wanted to get along better with Todd.

“It goes very fast.” A tear glistened in Grandma's eye before finding its way down her wrinkled cheek. “It's over so soon. Keep short lists, honey. Learn to forgive quickly and go on because one day you'll wake up and find that somehow you got old when you weren't looking. Your lists won't matter at all then.”

Christy wrapped her arms around her sweet grandmother and held her close in a warm hug. She could feel her grandma shaking as she sobbed quietly into Christy's shoulder. Tears flooded Christy's eyes.

She blinked them away and noticed a photograph only a few inches away from her. The hallway in which they stood was one long family photo gallery. The photo in front of Christy was a picture of her parents' wedding. Her mom was wearing the dress that now had been dissected to create Christy's wedding dress. Her parents looked so young. Mom had rich brown hair that fell gracefully onto her shoulders, and Dad stood tall, strong, and straight. Beside her parents stood Christy's grandmother and grandfather, dressed in their finest and smiling wildly.

For the first time, it really struck her that her grandfather was gone. She drew her grandmother closer and cried her eyes out.

Several hours later, when Christy and Todd were in their seats and the airplane was taking off, Todd took Christy's hand in his. He drew it to his lips and tenderly kissed the back of her hand again and again. She leaned her head against his shoulder and cried some more.

For the first half of the flight, they didn't speak. Todd had lifted the armrest between them, and they sat as close as they could, with her head on his shoulder and his head resting on hers. She stopped counting the number of times he pressed his lips to her hair, showering her with tiny kisses like snowflakes that melted as soon as they touched her.

Christy studied Todd's hands. The wounds from his horrible car accident had healed, but the scars remained. For the rest of his life, Todd would bear the
marks of the places where the shattered glass had pierced his skin. Christy traced the scars with her fingers, as if her homework assignment were to memorize each wound.

When they finally spoke to each other, Todd's deep voice rumbled through her ear all the way to her heart. “I'm sorry,” he whispered.

Christy pulled up her head so she could face him. They were only inches apart as she whispered, “We're going to get old, Todd. We're going to get old together. Lord willing, we'll have fifty years or more like my grandparents did. When it comes to things that upset me, I promise to keep a short list. I'm determined to learn how to communicate with you in a way that allows me to express my opinion, but kindly. Love is patient and kind, right? I'm also determined to learn how to forgive you quickly. I don't ever want to hold as much against you as I have this week.”

Todd stroked her cheek. A funny little expression played across his eyes.

“What were you just thinking?” Christy asked.

Todd looked into her eyes. “I said I was sorry because I was thinking about your grandfather. I didn't realize you had been mad at me all week.”

Christy paused before answering. This was a good time for her to practice speaking the truth in love. “I was mad that you missed our counseling session. I'm not mad anymore.”

“What about the invitations?” Todd asked.

“What about them?”

“We missed our appointment to look at invitations this morning,” Todd said.

“We can look next week. Or I can look and tell you what I've found. Or you can look and tell me what you found. I have to learn to be more flexible.”

“And I have to learn to be more dependable.”

“Okay,” Christy said with a tender smile.

“Okay.” Todd returned the smile. His lips traveled the tiny distance that separated them, and he met her mouth with a warm kiss.

“Excuse me,” the flight attendant said, leaning toward them. “Did you want chicken or lasagna?”

Christy straightened herself and made a quick decision. “Chicken.”

“I'll have the same,” Todd echoed.

As they ate, they discussed their busy schedules and how they could find more time to be together. This semester was the fullest for Christy, and as she had predicted, Todd often worked more than fifty hours a week. They talked about what could be adjusted in both their schedules and ended up coming to the same conclusion. Every Saturday would be theirs. Their weekly schedules left them little time to see each other, so every Saturday between then and Saturday, May 22, would be set aside for them to do whatever they wanted or needed to do together.

“Do you realize,” Todd said, “that's only thirteen Saturdays? Or is it fourteen?” He moved his fingers as he recounted.

“It's not a lot, no matter how many it is,” Christy
said. “Whatever I can do without you, I'll try to do. I'll make certain I tell you all the details, though.”

“Are you sure that will be all right? Because I can try to adjust things if you want me to go along shopping or something.”

“No, it doesn't bother me now that I have a more realistic view. I was being sentimental, thinking we should do everything together and trying to make a memory out of every wedding detail. I've watched too many movies. This is reality. You're working fifty hours a week so we'll have enough money to eat after we're married; I'm finishing my toughest semester so far and working part time. We have to make adjustments.”

“Your mom and your aunt are dying to be involved and do more of the planning. Can you delegate some things to them?”

Christy handed her finished meal tray to the flight attendant and closed her tray table. Todd did the same.

“You're right,” Christy said. “I'll go down the list and delegate like crazy as soon as they get back from Wisconsin.”

“Good. Do we have plans already for what we're going to work on next Saturday?”

Christy wasn't sure how to answer that. It was the weekend before Todd's birthday, and she had been thinking about a party for him. Nothing had been arranged yet, but she wanted to have a big surprise party. “I'm not sure yet,” she answered. “I thought maybe you and I could go to the beach for the day. We could cook breakfast on the beach, and
I could try out the surfboard my dad gave me for Christmas.”

“It's February,” Christy said. “Won't it be cold?”

“Yes.”

She knew that was a poor excuse if she was trying to dissuade him. He hadn't been surfing for months, and she realized he was eager to get back in the water. They had cooked their breakfast on the beach in cold weather more than once. Christy decided to come right out with it.

“It's right before your birthday, and I—”

“I know. That's why I want to go. Just you and me. Breakfast on the beach. What do you say, Kilikina? That's all I want for my birthday.”

Christy decided not to mention the plans she had been formulating for his surprise party. Todd's idea of a memorable party obviously was a private affair.

“Sounds perfect,” Christy said. “I'll organize the food.”

“That's what I was counting on.” Todd reached for her hand, stroking her Forever ID bracelet with his thumb.

They were quiet a minute while Christy readjusted details in her mind. It could work. She could stay at her aunt and uncle's, and she and Todd could have an early breakfast. That would leave them the entire afternoon to look at wedding cakes and invitations and—

“Kilikina,” Todd murmured, breaking into her planning. He drew her hand to his lips and kissed her ring finger. “I just decided something.”

“What?”

Todd adjusted his position and reached into the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled out a wadded-up tissue and held it in his hand.

“I was going to do this on the way home from my graduation dinner, but neither of us was in a very good mood that night. Then I thought I'd take you to a fancy restaurant this weekend, but here we are on an airplane eating chicken. If I were a patient man, I'd wait till next Saturday on the beach or come up with a special plan for Valentine's Day. But I've waited too long, and I'm too eager for you to have this.”

Todd unfolded the wad of tissue, and there, in the crumpled nest in his hand, sat Christy's engagement ring.

“Marry me, Kilikina.” Todd slipped the ring on Christy's finger. “Marry me and grow old with me.”

At that moment, flying thirty thousand feet somewhere over Colorado, Christy knew more deeply and more profoundly than ever that she always would be in love with Todd Spencer. The intensity of her love for him at that second made it seem as if she hadn't even begun to love him until now.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I will marry you.”

They kissed a long, slow, promise-sealing kiss.

Christy glanced at her hand on which she now wore a glorious, one-of-a-kind engagement ring. “It's beautiful.”

“Yeah, I was real happy with how it turned out. It fits you perfectly.”

“Yes, it does. In every way.”

Even though they had been engaged before this moment, and even though Christy never had thought she needed a ring to prove she was promised to Todd, the ring seemed to change everything for her. It reminded her that one day very soon she and Todd would become man and wife. It also was evidence to everyone who noticed it that she was taken. She was going to be given in marriage very soon. She was loved and desired and waiting for her wedding day.

Christy jotted all those thoughts in her diary on Thursday night of that week. Katie still wasn't back from work, which was typical. Things still were moving along at a steady pace with Rick and Katie, and she seemed happier than ever.

With Katie gone so often and Todd not around on campus for Christy to meet in the cafeteria for meals, she found herself spending a lot of quiet time in her dorm room doing homework, working on her embroidery, and thinking.

At ten o'clock that night, Christy put away her embroidery and crawled into bed, full of thoughts. She pulled out her diary to record what Todd had said to the group of teenagers he had taught Sunday morning. He had told them about giving Christy her ring on the plane the night before and how her face had lit up.

Christy stopped writing for a moment and
thought about how clouds figured into the future of all Christians everywhere.

That's what's going to happen when Christ comes for His bride, isn't it? He's going to meet us in the clouds.

Her thoughts reminded her of a certain magnificent early morning, when she and Todd had met in the chapel and had walked in the meadow. She had felt as if the clouds had come to earth that morning.

Reaching for her Bible, Christy looked up all the references to clouds she could find. She remembered 1 Thessalonians 4:17 was the one about being caught up in the clouds and meeting the Lord in the air. A lump grew in her throat as she read the last part of the verse and underlined it. “And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

Christy grabbed her diary and wrote,

Todd was right about what he said to the teens. My brother was right about what he said to Aunt Marti after the funeral. My grandma was right, too. What we're doing here isn't about this life only. The real us, our souls, will last forever. God wants us to say yes to His Son so we can be with Him forever. It's the ultimate “I do.” The eternal “I promise.”