Nora Ray (Ray Trilogy) (17 page)

“
My dad was very ill for a long time.”

“
Thing of it is, that technology is so new, he was probably too weak to have the operation by the time it was in use,” Ruby explained hoping to comfort her somewhat.

Turning to lean back
against the nurse’s station, Nora wondered about her dad.
Could he have been saved?

Guessing Nora
’s thoughts she continued, “Wasn’t he sent to St. Johns Hospital, too?”

Nora nodded.

“I think I remember hearing some talk from the emergency room about him, a Mr. Ray. When he came in he was very weak. Weren’t you away at college at that time?”

Nora nodded.

“I believe the nurse said that they were afraid he might be too weak to make it to Tulsa.” Ruby paused and said softly, “Honey, it could be that he was waiting on you to come say goodbye.”

Putting her hands on her face, Nora wiped the tears from her eyes. “
I need to wash my face.”

After work, Nora found Jeremy at his Mom
’s flower shop. As soon as he saw her he stopped what he was doing and asked, “What happened?”

She just looked at him.

“Never mind, let’s go for a ride,” he amended.

“
Jeremy, I want to go someplace where you can hold me for a while,” she sniffed.

He thought frantically of where to go, when he remembered Nora
’s rock.
This is why we need to be married and have our own house
he told himself.
It’s time
he decided
to buy an engagement ring.

He hoped that the man who now owned the Ray homestead wouldn
’t care if they borrowed their rock for a short while. When they reached the rock, Nora stepped into his arms and held tight drawing his strength into her. She breathed in the manly scent of his body. His strong arms around her gave her comfort she had been craving all day. He laid his cheek to the top of her head.

They stood th
ere holding each other until finally Nora lifted her face to him and he kissed her. She kissed him gently at first and then she hungrily kissed him seemingly unable to get enough.

He felt her need and his body quickly responded. He questioned what he shoul
d do. Many times they had come together with desire but nothing he wasn’t able to assuage and get a grip on the situation. Having sex was a need but also a decision. Once done it might not be easy to step back next time. He had no condoms in his car, they hadn’t let themselves get this far before. All these thoughts ran through his mind in almost a split second.

He pulled back and took her by the hand to lead her to the edge of the rock. “
Let’s sit down and you tell me what has happened for you to be so sad,” he suggested.

After sitting down, he put his arm around her and pulled her close. “
Now, I’m listening.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder and told him about her day.

Afterwards, he kissed her. “I’m sorry that we had to go back to school right after the funeral. I would have loved to be there for you. Maybe this is a delayed reaction.”

“
Jeremy, I have good days and bad days, I think I will miss him forever.”

“
I think you are probably right. You will always miss him.” Jeremy spoke brushing the hair away from her face, “From what I hear, it will not be so acute after a while.”

He looked at her face upturned so trusting to him. He wanted to always be there for her. She was so blond with fair skin and big blue eyes that w
ere red and her skin was blotched with red spots all along her neck and cheeks. He couldn’t love her more, he felt. To him she was beautiful, no matter what.

He put his hand under her chin and kissed her tenderly, “
Nora, this may not be the most appropriate time and place, but I am ready to ask you anyway.”

He kissed her
hand, “My beautiful Nora, will you marry me?”

She took in a deep breath, held it a minute, and let it out. “
Jeremy, my handsome knight, I would be honored to marry you.”

Jeremy let out a wh
oop and laughed. “Nora, you have never let me down.”

They stood up and
he properly embraced her hoping she could feel all the love that he had for her seep from his body to hers. He smothered kisses all over her face and then deeply kissed her.

By the tim
e Jeremy finished kissing her, Nora’s knees felt so weak that she was glad he was still embracing her because she wasn’t sure she could stand up on her own.

“
I hope you aren’t disappointed that I didn’t take you out to a fancy restaurant to propose to you and already have a ring to put on your finger. At least this way we can choose it together.”

“
No, Jeremy. I’m not disappointed. The restaurant scene is so conventional. Today has been very tender and loving. It could not have been more special or in a place more special to me.”

“
May I take you out to dinner tonight?” Jeremy asked. “If you are as hungry as I am, we could eat a whole bear between the two of us.”

Nora laughed, “
I am hungry, but not for bear.”

They headed back to town in much happier moods tha
n when they left.

After being seated, and placing their orders, Jeremy reached across the table and took both of her hands. “
I love you, my fair, beautiful Nora.”

She responded with, “
I love you, my incorrigible knight.” She laughed.

He feigned shock and h
urt.

She giggled again.

He rubbed his thumb over her ring finger where he would place the engagement ring, “On your next day off, we will go to the jewelry store and choose your ring.”

“
I hope your Dad is okay with this,” she said biting on her lip.

“
Nora, this is our life. We have to live it the best way we see fit to do so.” Jeremy looked around to ensure their privacy, “I love you so much. While ago, out on that cliff, I almost lost it. I am a man whether my father accepts the fact or not.” He looked at her intently, “Do you understand my meaning?”

She nodded, “
I understand, you are trying to protect me.”

“
We have a lot at stake here. Both of us are working on serious degrees with lots of work ahead. If we fulfill our dreams and become successful in them, we can’t afford to make mistakes here,” he told her.

“
Yes, I totally agree,” Nora agreed. “I appreciate that you’ve thought this through.”

Jeremy grinned, “
That’s my job, my lady, to protect and defend you.”

She bowed her head to him, “
Thank you, my Lord.”

Saturday morning, he drove her to the jewelry store to choose their wedding rings.
They chose a sensible sized engagement ring with a diamond set in the middle and with two tiny sapphires on each side of the diamond. Next, they chose matching wedding rings one for each of them. They tried to be conservative because Jeremy wanted to pay for them out of his own money.

Neither one had told anybody about their engagement. Now with the ring on her hand, they wanted to announce the engagement together.

They wanted to show Laura first because she would be happy for them and not cause a fuss.

She almost cried when Nora showed her the engagement ring. She gave
them both a hug and said, “We should celebrate!”

Danny came in and wondering what all the hoopla w
as about. Nora showed Danny the ring and immediately he danced a jig. Now I have a brother. “Yeah!”

Laura turned on the record player to Elvis singing,
‘
You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog.
’ All four of them danced and laughed, trading partners every minute or two.

Eventually they all calmed down and Nora and Jeremy knew it was time to face his parents. Jeremy told her on the way, “
Don’t worry. I have been dealing with my dad my entire life and I’ve made it this far.”

He twisted his head and stretched his sh
oulder muscles.

Samantha was sitting in the living room reading a book. When she saw them come in she looked up and smiled, “
Hi, come in and have a chair.”

They went over and sat on the couch next to each other looking at her with
grins on their faces.

“
Okay. What’s up with you two?”

Nora held out her left hand.

“Oh! My God! Oh! My God!” she came up from her chair and came over for a close look. She sat down on the coffee table in front of them. She gave them both a hug. “I wondered how long you two would wait.”

The Labrad
oodles heard the commotion and wanted in on the action. The dogs ran bouncing into the living room yipping, smiling, and wanting to be part of the action.

Samantha knelt down in the floor with a dog on each side of her, an arm around
each dog. “Have you told your father yet?”

“
No, we haven’t seen him,” Jeremy said, “We thought he would be home.”

“
He went golfing with one of his lawyer buddies. I was having a quiet day at home reading.”

“
Oh,” Nora said regretfully, “I’m sorry we interrupted your peaceful day.”

“
Please,” Samantha held up her hands, “I couldn’t be happier. Finally I’m getting my daughter that I always wanted. It’s not every day that a son gets engaged.”

Jeremy jumped up from the couch feeling energized now that he didn
’t have to face his dad right now, he reached for Nora’s hand and said, “Come on, Nora, let’s go do something fun!”

After they got in his car, he kissed her cheek and nuzzled her neck, then kissed her ear.

She slapped at him and said, “Stop that, Jeremy.” She put her hand over her ear and shuddered.

He laughed and said, “
How about miniature golf?”

Chapter Fifteen

Jeremy worked on his Science project every night after work. By mid-July, Donald realized that Jeffrey was doing the law work. He remembered that Samantha had told him at the beginning of the summer that Jeremy was working at night on a science project. He decided it was time he checked out what his son was doing.

That evening at meal time all the boys were home except Jeremy, as usual. Donald told Samantha that he had an errand he needed to run and would be home in an hour. He drove to the flower shop and saw Jeremy
’s car parked in front of the portable building Samantha had told him she built.

When he opened the door, he saw Jeremy looking at some specimen under this large microscope.
That must have cost a pretty penny
he thought. There were four folding tables lining the walls covered with papers filled with notes. Several reference books scattered about. Some of them lying open, others with several paper markers sticking out the top. In the corners between the tables were potted vegetable plants. Florescent bulbs lighted the room, and a small air conditioner blew cool air in the window.

Startled Jeremy
lifted his head up from the microscope and said, “Hi, Dad.”

Donald stood there spellbound. He wasn
’t sure what he expected but this wasn’t it. “I see, you are busy,” he said lamely.

“
Yes, did you want something?”

“
I think I am mostly curious. Do you mind telling me what you are working so hard on? I think your mother said something about a science project.”

“
Yes, sort of,” Jeremy began. “I had an idea about something that I wanted to follow through to see if it would work.”

“
You’ve made quite a work shop for yourself here,” Donald commented looking around.

“
Actually, Mom fixed it up for me. I’ll never be able to thank her enough for the help she has given me.” Jeremy sighed, thinking of the expense that she put into it. “Especially if I can get my idea to work and I can prove that it does.”

“
I’m interested. Do you mind explaining some of it to me?” Donald asked again.

“
Okay, Dad, have a seat. This might take a while.” Jeremy began, “You know I have always enjoyed working down here at the flower shop helping Mom. Mostly what I did was landscaping and planting. I enjoyed digging in the dirt, essentially making something uncomely become beautiful. There is something fulfilling in that.”

So during this last year I had the o
pportunity to take some electives, so I thought why not. I would take a couple of fun classes, so I took biochemistry and horticultural science. Some of the things there blew my mind, it was fascinating to me.” Jeremy laughed, “So, I’m a little crazy. They worked in my schedule.”