Laura's Big Win (30 page)

Laura was quick to read the hint that
time, and rolling over under the blanket slid up until she was
lying full length on top of Ryan, lips on his, arms around him
tight, heart pounding as hard as his. There was no question she
wanted this man and very badly, even if she knew in her own
experience that the rush would be mostly his. That didn’t
matter.

“Ryan, what I said about being yours, I
meant it. I’ve never….I can’t…..what I’m saying is I love you and
I’m willing to prove it if you want me to, but I’ve never initiated
anything like that and I’m scared; I don’t know what to do. Help
me, please?”

“You don’t have to prove anything. I
love and trust you, and if you say you love me, I believe it. As to
initiating anything, all you have to do is flit through my mind to
set off a wild flurry in me, but I do love you and I want all
things for us to be in due time. I think maybe this will have to do
for now. Okay?”

Ryan had wiggled one arm free enough to
reach into a pocket and retrieve a small jewelers box, offering it
to Laura. As though she were handling the most fragile thing in the
world, and even knowing what had to be in the box, she so carefully
opened it in the bright moonlight that the reflection off the
stones still nearly caught her by surprise. The impressive
arrangement glistened like the fire in her eyes, but could not
match the flow of hot tears of joy flooding down her
face.

“How did you do all this, how did you
know? I love it, and I love you even more, ring or not. It’s
beautiful. Can I…?”

“It’s yours. Of course you can wear it.
It should fit perfectly, if Alice is any sort of spy at
all.”

“Alice? She knows about
this?”

“Not exactly. Like me, she didn’t know
when this would happen, but she knew it would if I had anything to
do about it, and, she managed to get your ring size for me. But,
no, I picked out the ring myself. That’s not something I would ever
let someone else do. It looks great on you, but I’m sorry if that’s
not the highlight you were looking forward to. I just…..well…..I
guess I’m living in the last century or something when it comes to
us. Yes, I do want you, very much, but first of all, I want you as
my wife.”

“Ryan, I only said that because if that
was the only way I could hold you to me, that’s what I would be
willing to do. I want to wait too, so things will always be the way
they should be between us, the way you want, the way we both want.
I want so much to be everything you hope for. I know I can never
take Mary’s place, and I don’t want to. Somehow, I think she would
want this to happen, and if I can bear your children, I don’t think
I could ever be happier. Yes, I will marry you, as soon as you
want.”

“I know this may sound a little silly,
but I think we need to go back to the house now, before what I’m
feeling for you runs over my better sense. I can feel you against
me, and I so much want to feel that again, but where we have a
whole night or day or whatever ahead of us to explore each other,
enjoy ourselves. We’ll have that time, but for now, I don’t want
you to turn into a pumpkin, and besides, you probably need a refill
on tears. I have never seem a woman who could cry that much without
at least having a drink to refill.”

Laura giggled at the suggestion; “I
understand, and even if I don’t know much about making love, I want
it to be as great for you as it can be. If we wait, we wait, and
I’ll love you the more for it. How come you’re such a wonderful
man?”

“You bring out the best in me, what
there is of it.”

The two of them managed to stand up
enough to operate the boat, but remained touching each other in
some way, arm in arm, hand in hand, or lips to lips when they had a
moment. The sleek craft glided through the moonlight like a magic
carpet with the two lovers aboard, lost in their own world. Each
would remember the night in slightly different ways, but both knew
it was a major turning point in their lives, now to be joined as
one. In the ride back to Windmere, with feelings a little more in
check, they talked more about their future, and the realities of a
wedding. Leaving the car in its usual place, Ryan walked Laura back
to the cottage for a final embrace of the evening, and reveled in
the ardor of her kiss in response.

“Ryan, can I….is it all right…I mean,
do you want me to keep this secret for now? I’m so excited, I don’t
know what to do, but I just have to call my mother if it’s
okay.”

“Wife to be, you can do anything you
want, tell anyone you want, and show off your ring all you want,
but your mother may be just a little hostile at 2:30 in the
morning.”

“It’s that late? No wonder you
suggested Marie and Fernando’s for the kids.”

“Speaking of kids, how do we…I didn’t
ask you about adopting them legally, did I?”

“You did in all that ‘what if’ stuff we
went through, and I did say ‘yes’. I think they need to be told
what’s going on as soon as we can, the two of us together, but they
need to have some input. I know they’re under age and I have legal
control over their lives, but they’re people just like us, only a
little bit smaller. I think we need to give them a chance, don’t
you?”

“I do. Look, how about I come by for
breakfast at whatever time we manage to get up. I’ve done that
before and survived rather well; we could talk to them then.
Besides, as I recall, you can give Doris a real run with an omelet
pan. Deal?”

“Deal. See you mid-morning. Now, I need
your seal of approval, right here, so I don’t forget.”

After a final kiss, the betrothed
physically parted for the night but remained ever closer in
spirit..

The morning sun came a little early for
Laura, with two well rested kids bursting in the door. Alice
followed shortly, and her eyes immediately went to Laura’s left
hand. The look on her face said it all, and all she could think to
do was hug the young woman as a mother would hug a beloved
daughter. Laura really didn’t have many details to share, since her
engagement was now only hours old, but she promised Alice would
know everything and be involved in everything with the wedding,
that is, if Alice hadn’t disappeared with her new “friend” before
then. The two women chatted enough to bring each other up to date
on events, but with Ryan’s arrival, Alice excused herself, grinning
at him and being grinned at in return. If there was one thing Alice
had lived to see, it was to see this man happy in life again, and
there was no question that had come to pass. The kids were busy
watching morning cartoons for the most part and hadn’t noticed the
change in status of the two adults. Laura did a maximum effort
omelet for Ryan and watched him devour it with gusto. ‘I can do
this,’ she thought to herself; ‘I can take care of this man and
these kids; I may not know exactly how I got here, and I’m not real
sure of the future, but I’m going to love the ride.’

Ryan and Laura started the planning,
but not before she asked him if he was still so sure about his
proposal, wanting to hear one more time that it was all real..
Assured that it was for real, they started looking at dates,
guests, large or small, all the myriad of details weddings require,
but mostly about how to talk to the two children. The kids were
getting bored with cartoons and ready for something else to do,
when Ryan and Laura decided there was no better time than the
present.. They had agreed that Ryan would take the lead, since
Laura was their mother and more of an authority figure.

“Jack, Amanda, can we borrow you for a
minute? I know you want to get outside and see if the guys are
around this morning, but a deal has come up that I need to ask you
about. Okay?” Ryan moved to the footstool so he was more on a level
with the kids; Laura sat on the floor near him when she returned
with the refilled cups, leaning on him slightly so he could feel
her presence as well as see it..

“Yep” “Okay” The two kids came and sat
by the coffee table, enjoying cups of hot cocoa she had made for
them while pouring fresh cups of coffee for the adults.

“As I tell you about this deal, any
time you want to ask something, ask away, either me or your mother.
As the man would say, we’re all in this together, and I want you
two to understand things. First of all, your mother and I love each
other very much, and we will be married very soon. That means I
will be a permanent member of your family. That’s for your mother
and me to decide, and that’s what we want to do. Now, since you two
are her children, and she alone is responsible for you, I have
asked her if it is alright to talk to you about me adopting
you.”

“You mean you’d be our dad, right?”
Jack asked.

“Jack, it seems that simple, and mostly
it is. I would become one of your legal parents, but there’s a
little more to it than that. I’ve never been a dad before, and I
don’t know much about it. You kids would have to help me out.
Mostly, your mother would still be in charge, just like now, and
I’d learn as quick as I could. Moms and dads are different people
and sort of do things differently, at least my parents were that
way, and it sort of helps people understand things better later in
life. Anyway, that’s pretty much the deal. I would be around all
the time instead of just part of the time. You are both very safe
and very secure right now with your mother taking care of you; I’d
just be helping her out with that. It’s a very important job,
raising kids, and I think she deserves the help. Anyway, your
mother and I talked about this, and for now, it’s your choice. What
do you think?”

Jack seemed lost in thought for the
moment, and both Laura and Ryan wondered for a moment if the kids
really understood what they were being asked to decide for
themselves. It was, after all, a life changing decision, and maybe
just too much for their young minds; after all, picking a father
wasn’t exactly something they learned in school. Maybe Ryan and
Laura should have made the decision for the kids, and looking at
each other, each could see the other was having a case of nerves at
the moment. Amanda finally broke the silence.

“If you ‘dop us kids, do I have to call
you daddy?”

“No, you don’t if you don’t want to.
You can call me something else we can decide on. I know this will
take a while to get used to, me being around all the
time.”

“If mama wants you around, I guess
that’s okay. And I might call you daddy sometimes ‘cause it’s easy
to remember. Will you still read to us?”

“Yes, I will still read to you, and if
you call me daddy now and then, that’s okay too. So you think maybe
my adopting you would be okay?”

“Yep. I don’t want to see mama cry
anymore, and she smiles a lot more when you’re around. I think
being ‘dop’ed is okay.”

Ryan and Laura looked at each other,
realizing Amanda was well aware of a lot more than they thought.
And since they had always been rather guarded about a lot of
physical contact when around the kids, she must have picked up
subtle signs they were unaware of. But, she was on board. One to
go.

“Jack, you seem lost in thought.
Anything I can tell you, anything you want to ask?” Ryan was trying
to help but really didn’t know what to say or do. He had thought
Jack would be the tough sell since he was still in family protector
mode, but Ryan also thought the talk by the pond would have helped,
at least a bit. Finally, Jack looked at Ryan with the eyes of
someone a lot older than he really was, and broke his
silence.

“I remember the pond. Is this what that
was all about, the things you said?”

“Jack, it is. I didn’t know then how
things would work out between your mother and me. But what I told
you about loving people, and how each relationship doesn’t diminish
the others, that’s all true. Your mom and I love each other, but
that doesn’t mean she loves you any less. I could tell you I love
you like a son, but to tell the truth, I don’t have a son and I
really don’t know what that would be like; I do know I would do
anything to protect you, and your sister and your mother; the rest
of it........you’d just have to help me learn along the way. Make
sense?”

“I guess. Can I go to the
pond?”

“Either way, any time you want or need
to go to the pond, you can always go there. You know why I went,
and if you need to go there to think this over, then go. If you
want, I can go with you, or not. Your call.”

Jack was beginning to understand what
it was like to have the father he never had to talk to. This big
guy was laying it on the line, talking about things only the two of
them knew, and Jack wanted to know more. “You said taking care of a
family is a big job. I know you’re going to marry my mom anyway;
you gonna run things now?”

“I don’t…..know how to answer that.
Your mom does such a great job, I think she deserves a vacation now
and then from having to do everything, sort of like relying on a
partner to do their share. Run things? You make that sound pretty
bad. Tell you what, as I learn things dads are supposed to do, I’ll
do that, and you do things kids are supposed to do. That work for
you?”

“You said at the pond I could be a kid
again. I’m not sure what that means, but did you mean
it?”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean you can
run wild. Your mom still has the say.”