was saying. They had talked about the fact that his grandfather was not his biological grandfather, though Tom had been much younger. Maxie thought it imperative that he hear that from her before he heard it in town or at school, surprised he hadn’t already. He had only asked one question—was he his father’s biological son. And Maxie had said, “There is absolutely no question—you are his twin. We’ll go through pictures any time you like.” Apparently he had heard that, accepted it and was at peace. The biology dating back to his grandfather and great-grandfather was so far removed in his young mind, it didn’t matter.
* * *
When Tom pulled up to that small house in town that held almost all his hopes and dreams, her father’s car was there. He took a deep breath. Probably just as well.
When he knocked at the door, she said, “Come in.” And he thought, I have no flowers, no ring, nothing.
He opened the door and saw that Jed was sitting on the sofa, reading a picture book to the little girls. Berry looked up, gave him a little smile and her version of a wave. Tom approached Jed and stuck out a hand. “Don’t get up, Jed,” he said. “I’m just going to talk to Nora for a couple of minutes.”
Jed just shook quickly, smiled and gave a nod before going back to his reading. Nora had a cardboard box open on the table and seemed to be filling it with folded clothes. Already? “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked.
“Sure,” she said. “I’m right here.”
He walked through the very small living room and faced her. “Alone?”
“Where?” she asked. “The bathroom?”
“Maybe we could, um, go sit in the truck?” he said, but even as he said it, it sounded so dumb. And not exactly the way he wanted her to remember a marriage proposal. But then, neither was this.
She leaned toward him and whispered, “If it’s about last night, there’s nothing to talk about. Everything was fine. Lovely and perfect. Shhh.”
He whispered back. “I want to marry you.”
She almost broke her neck, it snapped up so fast. “What?” she said.
He looked over his shoulder uncomfortably. Jed was peering at him over his reading glasses.
“I love you,” Tom said quietly. “I want to marry you.”
She frowned and leaned toward him. “Are you drunk?” she whispered.
“No! I’ve never been more sober! Way too sober. Marry me. You’ll learn to love me, I promise.”
Nora swallowed. “Tom, this is very sudden.”
“So is you packing boxes. Listen, don’t go. Let me take care of you, let me—”
She was shaking her head. She couldn’t be saying no already! “You can’t possibly have had time to think this through.”
“Hours,” he said. “I haven’t slept a night through in days.”
“You’re probably just hallucinating. You don’t get married just because you—” She leaned to look around Tom to her dad. “You should give yourself more time to think about this.”
“I have thought about it. I don’t need more time, I need you.”
“But you were concerned about making sure things, you know, didn’t get serious.”
“Yeah, because I’m an idiot—I was falling in love with you and it scared me to death. I’ve never been in love before, but I am now. I want you. You and the girls. If you need more time, fine—but don’t leave town. I love you.”
Jed cleared his throat. They both glanced at him.
“This is too fast,” she whispered. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“It’ll work,” he said. “It has to work because I haven’t ever felt like this before. In fact, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to feel like this, but here it is—Nora, I swear I’ll be a good husband. And father. We have Maxie to kick me around if I make stupid mistakes—she loves that job.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to cross that line, and it has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I’m crazy about you. But I—”
“I’d bet everything on us,” he said. “But if you need more time, I’ll show up at the auction and buy this house. Then you can take your time, give it some thought. If you want to go back to school, I’ll make sure you get to.” He lifted one brow. “We do have colleges here, you know.”
She laughed at him. “You can’t buy a house!”
“Yes, I can. I can buy three houses and a truck. I’m not