Just then, the light shone on the man sitting in the center of the stage, his fingers immediately picking at the strings of the guitar and pouring out music the likes of which she had never heard before. Her jaw dropped, and she looked over at Shane and caught sight of his big grin. “You knew?”
He nodded. “He got the invite a couple weeks ago. He was going to come alone and was trying to arrange with Dani a way to get here. We decided that, if we support them at Hathaway House, we’ll support them in town too. And, once we got word out that he was coming to play, we all wanted to come and see him. Look around,” he said, as he pointed out about two dozen other Hathaway residents, thoroughly enjoying the outing.
But her gaze was stuck on Lance. With his head back and his throat full, he sang songs that she’d never heard come from him before. When he substituted a trumpet for the guitar and lit into another blues number, everybody crying and cheering, she had tears streaming down her face. “Oh, my God,” she said. “He is so incredibly talented.”
“He is,” Shane said. “And, up until now, I think he was just a broken soul. He’d walked away from all this to serve his country, and now he’s at a whole new place in his life where this can be his new world.”
And to see him up there without his wheelchair, only then to realize she saw no crutches … “How did he get on the stage?” she marveled.
Shane reached across, tapped her hand gently, and whispered, “He walked. Just like he’s been walking everywhere recently. Haven’t you seen him?”
She nodded, yet frowned. “Sure, but it’s been so crazy again lately that I’ve been late coming to see him at lunch or just stopping in his room, so I haven’t really seen him walking on his own,” she whispered. “That is incredible.” As she looked over at the other Hathaway House people, she saw Dani sitting there with Dennis, who caught her gaze, and he lifted his drink.
“Oh, my God, even Dennis is here.”
“Are you kidding?” Shane said. “Everybody wanted to come, but we only had so many vans.” And she knew why. Because, when this man makes music, he makes everybody’s heart sing. And she sat back to watch the rest of the evening. When it finally came to an end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. As his fingers slowed, and the music drifted over their heads on the last refrain, the place erupted as everybody stood to cheer. She knew that, of all the things he planned on doing, this was his return to the world, and she had just watched him making his first mark as a smashing success.
Lance listened to the applause, feeling his heart settle and his soul relax. He realized that this was the thing he’d always wanted to do in the back of his mind. God and country came first, and then his music. And now it was time. When everybody stood, stomping and cheering for an encore, he lifted a hand, and immediately there was silence. He said, “I do have one more song. It’s not exactly a blues song,” he said, “but I’d like to sing it and to dedicate it to one person who’s been a guiding light at my side for the last many months, as I’ve made the journey from being a fully broken-down man to the partly broken-down man you see before you now. She’s been there giving me confidence, pushing me when I didn’t want to be pushed, and walking away when I needed to be left alone. She is here in the audience tonight,” he said, “so this song is for her.”
And he started singing “Sweet Caroline.” And the audience loved it.
Everybody turned to see where Jessica sat. Beside Shane, she smiled with tears in her eyes, the tears slowly dripping down her cheeks, as Lance said that the song was just for her.
When it was over and done, there was a moment of silence, and then Lance whispered through the mic, “You’ll always be in my heart, honey. And I hope one day to make you mine.”
The place erupted as she burst from her chair, raced to the stage, and was beside him in two seconds flat to wrap her arms around him. As soon as he saw her coming, he stood, opened his arms, and held her close.
She was bawling in his arms, but he knew that they were happy tears, and he just held her close.
“I didn’t tell you,” he whispered against her hair, “because I wanted to surprise you. I’ve always been the one hanging back, the one taking his own sweet time, while you were out there pumping and jumping, ready to go. I wanted to show you that this time I was ready too.” And he tilted up her chin, looked down, and kissed her. And even he couldn’t hear the sounds of the noise around them. He only heard her words.
“I love you so much,” Jessica whispered to him.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
More than ready for the future standing in front of him.
Epilogue
At times in Melissa’s life, she’d made rash decisions. Most of them had turned out okay. Sometimes not. Then sometimes she deliberated for so long that the opportunities passed her by.
She stared down at the crumpled letter in her lap. Not just crumpled but also tearstained. Her one and only friend had gone to the trouble to track her down, even after years of silence. Then Dani
