leaves on the trees changing color. They changed in Chicago but they were just so many here. It’s like being surrounded by a blanket of fall colors.”
They were pretty spectacular. After spending several autumns in either the desert or the jungle, I also had come to appreciate the changing of the leaves from green to orange and gold.
I kept one hand intertwined with hers. And the other in my pocket holding onto the ring box tight.
My mother had left a box with a blanket, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, two plastic champagne glasses, all in a box at the end of the maze.
Ava was so busy admiring the vivid fall colors that she didn’t notice we were alone in the maze. Typically there would have been a horde of screaming elementary school kids racing through with their faces painted and their hands sticky from the caramel apples.
When we got to the end of the maze I turned to face her. I took both of her hands in mine and held onto them. “Ava Elizabeth Ackland, when you walked into my office just a few months ago, asking for a job, I had no idea how much my life would change. But it’s been a better change than I could have ever hoped for. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
I dropped down to one knee, still holding onto her hand. “Will you marry me?” I let go with one hand and dug into my pocket pulling out the little box. With my thumb and forefinger, I popped the lid to the box open.
Before I pulled my grandmother’s ring out, I needed to hear her answer.
Her mouth was open. Her pretty eyes were wide. “Tyler. I had no idea. I can’t believe you’re asking me to marry you.”
“Is your disbelief a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s a good thing. This all happened so fast, I thought we’d move a little slower.”
My heart sank. “Is that what you want?”
She must have read my face. “No, not at all. I’m just shocked.” She dropped down on her knees and threw her arms around my neck. “I know that you’re the man of my dreams. I would love nothing more than to marry you.”
“So that’s a yes”.
“Yes! That is an absolute yes.”
I took the ring from its box. “This was my grandmother‘s ring. My mother gave it to me. She’s so excited to welcome you into the family. And before you ask about Abigail, she wants you to have it too. She can’t wait to have you as a sister-in-law.”
She held out her hand and I slipped the ring over her finger.
“You’ve worked so hard on this fall festival, I thought you might like a minute to relax.” I pulled the blanket out of the box and spread it out on the ground. I took her hand in mine and helped her sit down on the blanket. She exhaled. “Oh, it does feel good to sit down.”
She held up her hand and admired her ring finger. “I love that this is your grandmother‘s ring. I’ve never really fantasized about getting engaged, but this connection to your family is perfect. It’s exactly what I would have wanted if I chose it myself.”
“So you were really surprised?” Her being surprised was a shock to me. The fact that my sister had kept this a secret was a miracle all by itself.
“Yes. I never brought up marriage. I knew that we could raise our baby without being married. But I have to say, I like the idea of us being a married couple as well as a family.”
I poured her a glass of the sparkling grape juice. We tapped our glasses together. “To becoming a family,” I said.
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “To getting engaged.” She took a sip. “Do you want a wedding?”
“I’d be fine at the county courthouse.”
“Me too. Maybe we can have something small at your house, with your mom and sister, and Barrett. And my father can come, if he can get permission to leave Illinois.”
“Our house,” I corrected. “It’s our house now.”
She grinned at me. “Our house.”
Epilogue
Tyler
Ava had jumped into life in Pine Hills in ways I hadn’t expected. I shouldn’t have been surprised though -- this was the woman who’d transformed herself so she could walk the streets of Chicago to expose a crime ring.
She still wrote for the local paper, but she’d also gotten involved in fundraising. There