am forever thankful… for you, Tommy Baxter. I don’t think… I really don’t think I could’ve survived all this without you.”
Where they were standing couldn’t be seen from the house. They hadn’t kissed since the time they walked the canal. There had never been a good moment, what with her being so sick and tired.
But here… with the late November cold on their faces and hope flooding their hearts, Tommy couldn’t take another breath until they did. He stepped closer and took her face in his hands. “Can I kiss you, Annalee?”
She answered him by touching her lips to his, by kissing him in a way that took his breath. “Didn’t you know, Tommy?” Her words were breathy, little more than a whisper.
“Know what?” He kissed her again and another time.
“This…” She kissed him once more and the moment lasted longer than before. When it ended, her smile took up her whole face. “This… is why I agreed to come today.”
“Oh, it is?” He kissed her a final time and then brought her back to his side, his arm around her. There were lines they didn’t want to cross, which meant it was time for a break. He caught his breath. “Wow. I guess I know what I’m thankful for.”
“Tommy!” She giggled. “You wouldn’t dare say that in front of our families!”
“No.” He laughed and ran his hand along her arm. “But I am thankful.”
They were quiet for a while, until Annalee broke the silence. “What else? What are you thankful for, Tommy?”
“For today.” He turned to her and took both her hands in his. “Thankful you’re standing here and looking like a vision of health. I thought God wasn’t hearing my prayers. But that wasn’t true.” He sighed. “So I’m thankful for everything He is doing. In your life and mine. And in my parents’ lives. And I’m thankful for you, love. Every minute with you.”
Tommy couldn’t help himself. He kissed her once more and then he took her hand. “Dinner’s probably ready.”
“Oh, that.” She laughed again and the sound stayed with him. “I almost forgot.”
For now Tommy respected her wishes and didn’t ask how she was feeling or if the cold was getting to her. He didn’t talk about any of it. Not the remaining treatments or the fact that she would return to the hospital again in four days. He didn’t mention that he was praying hourly that the chemo and every other drug would actually work. That the cancer would be gone.
Instead he had simply made a date with her. A walk to the stream. In the spring.
For now, that said it all.
* * *
NEARLY EVERYONE HAD gone home now, including the Millers. It was just Reagan and Ashley finishing the last of the pans. Their kids were outside with their grandpa John and grandma Elaine, and Luke and Landon were watching football in the family room.
Everyone had helped with the clean up, but Reagan wanted to handle the last of the dishes alone. With Ashley. They hadn’t talked in person since before 9/11. Before Annalee’s cancer treatment began, and before Tommy’s decision to be a police officer.
“She looks wonderful.” Ashley was at the sink washing.
“Yes.” Reagan stood next to her, towel in hand. “So pretty.” She thought about the day, how Annalee had held up through dinner and during the conversation and dessert that followed. “It was like God gave her a day’s break. A respite from all she’s been through.”
Ashley scrubbed a pie dish. “Life is hard… but days like today, when we’re all together… laughing, sharing a meal. Being thankful. The good times are so much brighter.”
No one understood better than this family the meaning of hard times. Reagan took the clean dish from Ashley and dried it. “I look at Amy, growing up. All these years since losing her family.” Reagan smiled. “Watching her tonight, it was like she’d never been through any of that.”
“Thank you.” Ashley wiped her wrist across her forehead. “Just hearing that brings me so much joy, Reagan.”
For a minute, neither of them spoke. After the accident, after Ashley and Landon took Amy in, there had been seasons of sorrow. But Amy had adjusted, and new life had blossomed for all of them. The same had been true after Ashley’s mother died of cancer not long after Ashley and Landon married, and when Ashley gave birth to a baby girl who barely lived long enough to be held by her family.
Every season, every tragedy God had brought them