Phoenix Heart (34 page)

“You…” I blinked, shook my head. The clothes dropped out of
my hands. My purse thumped on the floor at our feet. “You love me?”

Andrew reached out with his other hand and gently brought my
injured hand to his lips. He kissed the tips of my fingers where they came from
the bandage. “You are the bravest most amazing woman I’ve ever met. Yes I love
you.” He was looking directly at me, and I could see myself reflected in his
eyes. He smiled. Everything he was feeling came out in that smile, and it
seemed to fill the air, spreading out to engulf me and pull me in.

“I love you, too,” I said. “I love you, too.” And I began to
smile and then to laugh…

…and we were in each other’s arms, pulling each other
tighter, unable to get close enough. He kissed my hair, my face, my neck, and I
his. We couldn’t seem to touch enough, kiss enough. He grabbed me suddenly
around the waist and lifted me in the air.

“Andrew, your side!” I cried.

“Forget my side,” he laughed. “You love me!”

I laughed out loud. “Yes! Yes, I do.”

He set me back down and took my face in both his hands. His
thumb stroked my lips gently, then he lowered his mouth to mine and as our lips
touched I felt myself whirling up, as if I’d been caught up like Dorothy in the
twister in the Wizard of Oz.

We parted and I smiled up at him. “I don’t think we’re in
Kansas anymore.”

He laughed and hugged me, and then he pulled me over to the
mattress and we sank down against the pillows. I lay on my back, Andrew on his
side next to me, raised up on one elbow. He reached over and gently brushed the
hair away from my eyes. “I’ve got one more thing to ask,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked, my heart once again knocking in my
throat.

“You think you could stand being married to an old banged-up
college professor like me?”

I laughed out loud and reached up to pull his face down to
mine. “I think I could stand that just fine,” I whispered, and kissed him.

We were married three months later.

Maggie and Brian were there, and Andrew’s dad, and Uncle
Marley and his wife, and Chuck, and Mr. Jackson from the bank, and of course
Cheryl who, as maid of honor, did get to wear her pink silk dress.

It was Cheryl, too, who brought what turned out to be my
favorite wedding present. It was a small needle point pillow. In the center
were stitched the words,
I Told You So
.