He jumped up and grabbed her arm.
She whirled around to face him. His unmasked face lay barren for her to read a mix of pain, joy, apprehension, pleading and concern in the lines she found there.
“Gwen, have I messed up my chance with you? All the way home, I prayed that you’d still be here, and the Lord would see fit to provide me one last miracle. You are my perfect mate, sent to me for more than the care you provided to bring about His healing to my mind and body.” He clasped both of her hands in his. “I stand before you a broken man, fearful that the trip to appease my guilty conscience has spoiled my chance to court you. Will you be mine, Gwendolyn Peters, or will I wallow in bachelorhood for the remainder of my days?”
“Your lonely view of the future sounds similar to the one I have lived these past weeks. I have pronounced myself a spinster till the day I die. For, surely, one cannot love this deeply twice in a lifetime.”
Daniel pulled her into his embrace, his arms wrapped around her back. She rested her head on his chest and found his heart racing as fast as hers.
Was she dreaming?
She snuggled in to confirm her right to be there. “I love you, Daniel McAlister and have missed you, dearly.”
He lifted her chin, and she stared into his smoky, blue eyes. “Oh, Gwen—how I’ve longed to hear you say that. I fell in love with you the first time you stood your ground, stubborn as a mule, and it only intensified as you rose to every challenge I threw your way. You are, indeed, a woman of value and worth brought to the doorstep of a foolish, depressed man. When I could not contain another ounce of love inside, I chanced to kiss you that day at the picnic. It was the day that started and ended all things, good and bad.”
“God’s timing is perfect, Daniel. After all the loose ends have been tied in a neat bow, things are now as they should be.”
Daniel bent close to within an inch of her lips and groaned, “How can I ever thank God enough for you? You make my insides go crazy.”
“Perhaps you should kiss me again, and the craziness will subside,” Gwen said.
“You do not have to ask me twice.”
He lowered his lips and touched hers softly with them. It felt like the brush of a passing wind and toyed with her senses until she pushed in closer.
Daniel answered her plea with a kiss that sealed their love and commitment in a way neither of them had ever dreamed possible.
Epilogue
Three months later, when the colored leaves covered the earth like a thick carpet, and the soft autumn winds added a fresh crispness to the air, the couple gathered in the church to exchange their vows. The day was perfect. The entire congregation was present – both whites and colored—the former hostility of the two under the same roof absent during the special event. Gwen’s parents had traveled to Kentucky to watch their daughter marry, and Mother and Father McAlister, stood in the front pew, each of them holding one of Jake’s hands.
Daniel could not get enough of his bride. One fairer could not be found anywhere in the world. Her face reflected the sparkle of the afternoon sun, igniting a glitter of magic in her eyes like a child at Christmas.
Ah, yes—he’d celebrate with his entire family this coming Thanksgiving and Christmas season, unlike the last one that he’d barely endured alone in his chalet. Family was something he would never again take for granted as long as he lived.
Gone was the nurse’s cap that Gwen wore daily at the clinic, replaced with a silver tiara to hold the blonde curls back under the nettled veil. Her dress had been designed to have all the right angles, enough to cause his senses to crumble at the perfection of her form, and the preacher declared that all of her was his, to have and to hold. More importantly, she offered her entire self unconditionally and without reservations in this one act of commitment.
When she clearly spoke the words, “I do,” his heart felt near to bursting, and when the preacher pronounced the new couple as Mr. and Mrs. Daniel McAlister to the waiting crowd, he clung to Gwen’s hand and swore never to let go. Joy filled his heart to overflowing.
A quick glance at Jake found the boy’s feet dancing on the floor. His eyes lit up at the sight of his father and mother. The added bonus, that his dear wife would love this mistaken-miracle-child that had landed on his doorstep, was more than he deserved—the woman was a godsend.
Gwen stared at the man next to her, scarcely able to breathe. Her delight knew no bounds, and it helped that her parents were in total acceptance of this man God had given to her. Daniel’s black suit was flawless, with the tip of a white hankie peeking out from his front breast pocket. He wore the lines of victory over the many tests and trials life had thrown his way on his face, regally.
Recalling his past had come at a cost. On occasion, he’d shared with her the memories of war-time that now tortured his mind and attempted to steal his sanity—the vivid back-flashes he suffered during his daytime hours—and it hurt her to hear them recited. But voicing them seemed to help him, so, she’d vow to console and listen patiently whenever he needed her for the rest of her life.
His hair shone
