Donners Bend (39 page)

Jamie gulped, “Hello,
Ellie
!”

“Hello, Jamie,” she called back rather quietly
. 
There was a moment of silence before
Ellie
disrupted it asking, “What are you doing he-?”

Before she could finish, he interrupted, shouting out loud and clear, “I love you,
Ellie
!” As he said it, a huge weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders and he repeated, “I love you and I always will love you
,
no matter what you say or do
! 
There’s no changing that!”

Ellie
didn’t know what to say, so she uttered the first words that came to her lips, “But what about
Sarah
?”

“She-” Jamie began, but this time
Ellie
interrupted:

“What about the wedding, Jamie?” she shouted out
. 
They both had to practically scream their words if they wanted to be heard over the thundering sound of the rain.

Jamie shook his head, “It’s not going to happen and it never will
. 
Sarah
called it off.”

Ellie
couldn’t hide the little smile forming upon her face.

Jamie smiled as well, “I don’t blame her
. 
Do you?”

Ellie
shook her head.

There was another silence
. 
Of course, it wasn’t really silence because of the rain, but neither Jamie nor
Ellie
spoke
. 
She stood on the dry porch near the house’s warmth
;
and he stood in the
middle of her yard, getting wetter and wetter by the minute
;
but
by this time
he was so wet he couldn’t really get any wetter.

“So what now?”
Ellie
finally called out.

Before he knew what he was saying, Jamie shouted, “Marry me,
Ellie
!” But once he’d said it he didn’t regret it.

Ellie
didn’t know what to say
. 
She really was completely and utterly speechless.

Jamie faltered a little in his stance and repeated, “Marry me,
Eliana
Mae
Henderson
!” One could see by now that he was beginning to grow a little worried
. 
What man wouldn’t?

Ellie
finally answered, with tears in her eyes, “You’ve already asked me this once, Jamie.”

“I know and I’m asking you again.”

“But I told you no.”

“I know that too,” Jamie sighed, “But I also know that you didn’t really mean it
. 
I mean, you meant it when you said it
;
but
if you really thought about it,
you’d change your mind.”

Ellie
shook her head, brushing away a tear quickly and trying to hide it from Jamie, “I don’t understand.”

“You love me,
Ellie
! 
You know you do!” Jamie shouted, taking a bigger chance than he ever had in his life, “Don’t you remember how happy we were
? 
Don’t you remember playing pirates
? 
And Peter Pan
? 
Don’t you remember the night you camped out with us in the parlor?”

Ellie
shook her head, the tears flowing freely now.

“Don’t you remember the lake,
Ellie
? 
And the kiss
? 
What about Christmas
? 
Don’t you remember Christmas,
Ellie
? 
The pearl
earrings
? 
How you said you hated me when we both knew it wasn’t true?”

“Stop it, Jamie, stop,”
Ellie
whispered, though she didn’t know why.

“Don’t you remember when you were sick in bed with pneumonia
? 
And you thought that it was
Jon
who cared about you the most
? 
Everyone thought it was
Jon
, the whole town did
;
but
it wasn’t,
Ellie
! 
It was me
! 
I was here the whole time, though you may not have known it
! 
Do you know how worried I was
? 
I thought you were going to die,
Ellie
, and I didn’t know what I’d ever do without you
. 
Do you know how many sleepless nights I’ve spent over you
? 
Do you,
Ellie
? 
Do you?”

Ellie
shook her head and wiped away some tears.

“Tell me you don’t remember those times,
Ellie
! 
Tell me!”

“I remember,”
Ellie
admitted in a whisper.

“And I know I may not seem like I’d be a perfect husband at times
! 
I know about all the schools I’ve been kicked out of
,
and how my father has no faith in me
! 
I know that sometimes I swear too much when I’m not in a good mood
! 
I know I need to cut out some of my smoking and I know that I’m certainly, by no means, perfect!” his voice suddenly cracked as he said, “But I love you
. 
I love you with all my heart,
Ellie
, and I’ll love you till the end of time no matter what happens to either of us.”

“
I
…
I
,”
Ellie
began, but she didn’t know what to say
. 
All the memories he’d brought up seemed to swirl around in her head as she recalled how many wonderful moments they’d shared together
, but
she just didn’t know if it was enough
. 

“Don’t say anything!” Jamie called back up to her, running a hand through his sopping hair, “Not yet, at least
! 
I know you’re probably confused right now, and I’m not surprised,” he paused
and explained, “We never courted, and I’m sure that’s what you’re thinking about right now.”

He was right.

“But I don’t think that really matters,” Jamie went on, “People make up all these silly rules in our society nowadays that don’t really even make true sense
. 
Why should a man have to be a woman’s beau before he asks for her hand
? 
It’s nonsense
! 
I love you and I don’t need to go through months of courtship to know that!”

Ellie
brushed away some more tears, still not finding her voice.

“Tell me you don’t love me
,
and I’ll go away and leave you be
. 
If you can honestly speak those words to me, I’ll trust you
, but
just know that no matter what you say and
no matter how far apart we may be
through the years, I’ll never stop loving you,
Ellie
!”

Ellie
couldn’t deny that she love
d
him, though she’d been able to when he first proposed
. 
No matter how hard she tried, the words just wouldn’t come
. 
It was in that moment, she believed later, that things changed
. 
It was in that moment that her previous mistake became apparent
,
and she knew how she really felt about James
Robert
Rhodes
.

“So, I suppose this is the last time I’ll ever ask this,” Jamie said, getting down upon one knee, and in doing so completely ruining his suit pants and covering them in mud
. 
Without any faltering or hesitation in his voice, he called over the pouring rain, “Will you marry me,
Eliana
Henderson
?”

As she looked down into his earnest eyes,
Ellie
knew what her answer would be
. 
She slowly nodded and took a step forward, holding onto the porch rail for support
,
for she still felt quite weak
.

“Yes,”
Ellie
whispered
. 
Tears ran down her cheeks as she repeated in a shout, “Yes, Jamie
! 
Yes!”

No words can describe the bright smile that came over Jamie’s soaked face as he rose from the ground
. 
All within a moment, he ran up the front steps and wrapped her in his arms, lifting her off the porch and down onto the grass with him
. 
Encircled in his wet arms and standing beneath the pouring rain,
Ellie
became soaked almost instantly as well
. 
Both were
smiling
and laughing uncontrollably, and Jamie continually covered
Ellie
in kisses
. 
He kissed her cheeks, her forehead, her eyes, her hands, and finally, her lips
. 

It was t
here they stood, in the middle of the muddy yard, during one of the happiest moments of their lives, on yet another rainy day in
Donners Bend
.

S
o, that was the beginning of the many, many years Jamie and
Ellie
would spend together
. 
They wed not long after that day in a small, simple ceremony out in the fresh air like Jamie wanted, instead of stuffed into a little church
. 
They moved into a nice and fairly expensive, yet modest, house Jamie ordered to be built on the other side of the
Rhodes
’
Orchard
. 
There, they invited over Gracie, Leah, Demi, and Wesley each day so
Ellie
could teach them and act as their nanny once more
, a
nd in due time, Jamie and
Ellie
had children of their own: three, to be exact
.

Jamie ran the orchard’s affairs, just as he said he would, and
although
times were tough at first, with Jamie’s brain and a little luck, business was flourishing within a few years
. 
After
Robert
and
Louise
passed away, Jamie,
Ellie
, and their children moved into the large house left behind
, a
nd they lived there happily until the end of their days
.

Benjamin
and
Marcelle
Fanning, always a very conceited pair, lived in wealth and comfort till the end of their days
. 
Since
Benjamin
had already become quite rich by the time
Marcelle
and he married, they were able to spend most of their time trave
ling
abroad and exploring the world together
. 
They never
had any children though;
Marcelle
didn’t want to ruin her figure and
Benjamin
didn’t care much for kids
, but
they lived a wonderful life, nonetheless
. 

Sarah
Walsh’s infatuation with Jamie ended after that day at the church
. 
Although she spent a few more lonesome years by
herself, she soon found a man who
loved her as much as she loved him
,
and they married soon after
.