Under Alaskan Skies (26 page)

She tried to say something but her throat was too dry.

“I’m not going to be a plastic surgeon.”

“What?”

He gave her a rueful smile. “That’s exactly what my father said… ‘What?’”

“What happened?” she said when she finally found her voice.

He waited a long moment while he looked at the graves around him. “I came up here a little while ago, to the town, to this cemetery, and it caused me to think about my future. For some time I’ve pretended that plastic surgery was what I wanted. Maybe because I wanted to want it. Maybe because my father wanted it for me.

“But also it was the time I spent here and then the time I spent in Mystic with you. Small town, general medicine. It’s the kind of medicine I like and the way of life I want. There’s just one thing missing. You.”

She was stunned. She couldn’t believe it. “Me?” Her voice cracked on that one little word.

“I know, I know. You have your own life, your own house, your town. You don’t need me. But think about me. Think about how much I need you. I thought I could get along without you. I thought I could forget you. But I can’t. I don’t know what I can say to persuade you to give up everything you
have, to marry me and live here with me and raise our children here.”

Her mind spun around. She was dizzy, delirious.
Marry me, raise our children
… Did he really say those words or had she just imagined them? “How about ‘I love you’?” she asked breathlessly and to the point.

“That’s it?” he asked, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her in the air. “Just ‘I love you’?”

She laughed out loud with joy and relief in the clear, quiet air. “That’s it,” she said, “Just ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.”’

Epilogue

The wedding was held in Carrie’s house in Mystic. The whole village was invited and most of them came, crowding into the living room, the kitchen and filling the hallway. There was even a large crowd who had to stand on the front porch. Carrie watched them all arrive from her bedroom window upstairs. When she saw Donny walk slowly up the front steps with his family, she breathed a prayer of thanks. He’d made a miraculous recovery since returning from San Francisco. The new nurse was there, too, the one who’d answered the ad they put in the nursing magazine. She was a hardy, adventurous soul who was looking forward to life in the village and who would rent Carrie’s house and boat from her. Carrie had sold the business to a man in Nome who’d come down to get her plane next week. Signing the papers hadn’t been easy, but she thought her father would understand. He’d raised her to think for herself and make her own decisions. He knew they wouldn’t all be easy.

Carrie’s father’s best friend, Russ, was in the living room rehearsing his lines so he could perform the
ceremony by the power invested in him by the State of Alaska, just as he’d assured her father he would.

Matt’s parents were there. She’d flown them in from Juneau yesterday, and they were staying with Merry and her husband until tomorrow. They’d been such good sports, hiding their surprise when they saw how small and primitive the town was. They called it charming and rustic. They’d actually been amazingly kind to her, from the moment Matt broke the news to them, considering they’d had other plans for their son that didn’t include her or his change in career.

Carrie wore a white dress she’d bought in San Francisco with Matt’s mother’s help. She walked down the stairs while the wedding march was played on a fiddle by an old-timer who’d learned from his father.

Matt stood in front of the fireplace waiting for her. He watched her walk slowly toward him, her gaze locked on his and his heart filled with joy. Tears stung her eyes, tears of joy. Her only regret was that her father couldn’t be there to give her away. She knew he’d be happy to know about her wedding, about Matt and about how much she loved him. Maybe he did know. Maybe he was rejoicing somewhere.

It was a short, traditional ceremony, and afterward everyone went to the school gym for the reception. It was a bit like her birthday party, only this time she was prepared and dressed for the occasion. The high school band played, and everyone danced, old and young. The newlyweds were the first couple on the floor to start the dancing. Matt held her in his arms and led her around the polished floor of the basketball court.

“Did you ever think that day we were running back and forth on these boards that one day we’d be dancing on the same floor?” she asked.

He shook his head and held her close. “Dancing with you was the farthest thing from my mind,” he said. “But marrying you? That was something I wanted to do from the first moment I saw you. I just never thought it would happen. You said you were never lonely.”

“I wasn’t, until I met you.”

“I heard you were completely self-sufficient.”

“I was, until I met you.”

“No regrets about leaving all this behind, selling the plane and giving up your career?” He knew the answer. He just wanted to hear it again.

“It wasn’t my career, it was my dad’s. Just like plastic surgery wasn’t yours, either. We both found what we wanted.”

“I wanted you,” he murmured in her ear.

“You have me,” she answered softly. “For as long as we both shall live.”

ISBN: 978-1-4603-1108-0

UNDER ALASKAN SKIES

Copyright © 2003 by Carol Culver.

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