No Shadow (Prodigal Sons of Cane) (15 page)

Her mouth
dropped open. “Do I look disappointed?”

He couldn’t
help but laugh. “Not exactly.” Unable to resist, he reached out to brush a
strand of blonde hair that had fallen down as she’d run. “You look radiant.”

“That’s how I
feel,” she admitted, her voice barely more than a whisper. She looked shy all
of a sudden, but he could see the resolve in her face. “I know you did it…the manuscript
and everything…for me. And I’ll never be able to tell you how much that means
to me. And it’s totally fine if you’re not ready to say anything yet. Or if
you’re not entirely sure of what you want. Or even if you changed your mind.”
Her cheeks flushed deeply and she looked painfully embarrassed for a moment.
But she pressed on. “I’m not expecting anything so you don’t have to feel any
pressure. I just want you to know that I’ve never—in all my life—believed
anyone would do something like that…I mean, I always thought I was kind of
overl— What I’m trying to say is that it means so much to me—“

“Helen,” he
interrupted, unable to hold back anymore and not wanting her to go on feeling
so uncertain. “I know what you mean. And I still can’t believe any man would be
so idiotic as to overlook you. When you’re the most beautiful, loving, irresistible
woman I’ve ever known.”

She blushed
even more deeply, but her face relaxed into a glow of tender joy. “Oh.”

He laughed
softly but raised both of his hands to cup her face. “Helen, what could
possibly have given you the impression that I wasn’t sure of what I wanted or that
I might decide to change my mind?”

“Well,” she
said, her voice breaking slightly. “It had been a week, and you hadn’t said
anything.”

“Did you think
I was going to just blurt it out at the very first moment like some kind of
impatient boy?” That was exactly how he’d felt—how he still felt right now—but
he was trying to do things right with Helen, since she deserved the best.

“Oh,” she said
again, clearly taken aback. Then her face changed, “So you were planning some
big romantic gesture?”

Andrew twisted
his mouth, torn between blissful amusement and ironic embarrassment. “Certainly
not.”

“You were!” She
reached up to twine her arms around his neck. Pulled him into another hug.
“That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Returning the
hug and overwhelmed with tenderness, Andrew still managed to grumble, “Well,
let’s not make a big deal about it.”

She was
giggling as she pulled away. “What were you planning?”

“You don’t
think I’m going to tell you now, do you?”

“Why not? You
have
to tell me!”

He shook his
head, trying to suppress a smile. “I’ll save it for later.”

“What? You mean
you really aren’t going to tell me what you’d planned?”

“I told you—I’m
going to save it for later. Eventually, I’m sure I’ll have the need for another
big, romantic gesture.”

“Oh.” This
appeared to appease her and her scowl changed to another smile. “So what were
you going to tell me?”

Andrew shifted
briefly from foot to foot. Despite everything, despite the ways he’d changed in
the last two months, despite the depth of his feelings for her, he still felt a
little uncomfortable opening up so completely.

Helen just
waited patiently, her expression soft and fond.

He wondered how
it was possible that she understood him so completely. The thought pushed him
into speech. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow night.”

She burst into
ripples of laughter. “I would love to. Thank you for asking.”

“Good.”

“Anything else
you wanted to say?”

Unable to
resist any longer, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against her mouth. He
heard her quick intake of breath and felt a wave of hot tenderness overwhelm
him. “I’m well on my way to falling in love with you,” he murmured against her
lips.

“Oh.” She
closed the distance between them again, giving him a little kiss of her own.
“I’m glad it’s not just me.”

Andrew had no
idea what he might have said next—probably any number of silly, fatuous
confessions. But an interruption came in the form of a window opening from the
top floor of the house.

“Everything all
right with you two?” Melissa called down.

Both Helen and Andrew
looked up to see his sister’s grinning face peering down at them. Helen
dissolved into giggles, and Andrew yelled back up to her, “We were having a
private moment here.”

“Well, next
time, you might not have it in the middle of the yard. But I’m glad you finally
figured things out. Don’t forget to make sure Rat does his business.” Melissa
pulled the window shut with a bang.

Helen was still
laughing as Andrew took her hand and led her back over to where Rat was still
sniffing at trees. But Andrew was suddenly overcome with a different kind of
thanksgiving.

“What is it?”
Helen asked, obviously sensing his shift in mood.

“That’s the
first time Melissa has opened a window in her room.”

“What?’ Her
fingers tightened on his in excitement.

 “She’s never
before opened a window in a room she considers her safe place. This is the
first time.”

“She’s making
progress. She’s going to get better, Andrew. I just know it.” Absently, she
smoothed out in the wrinkles she’d made earlier in his shirt. “God is good, Andrew.
I think she’s going to get better.”

“I think so
too,” he said, for the first time in ten years actually believing it might be
true. He covered her hand on his chest. “I know God is good. He’s given me
you.”

“Andrew,” Helen complained,
trying to keep up with his long strides in front of her. The woodland trail was
angling upward, and she couldn’t help but admire Andrew’s powerful motion and
confident footing. “If I’d known we were going to take a hike, I would have
worn better shoes.”

He stopped and
looked back at her, his gray eyes momentarily concerned. “Are you all right? I
told you not to dress up.”

She gave him a
little scowl. “Well, you were acting like tonight would be special so I wanted
to look pretty.” She looked down at her black pants and pink silk sweater.
They’d gone out to dinner earlier that evening, and she’d felt happy with her
choice of attire. But now she was a little uncertain. Her black leather loafers
were comfortable, but not made for a climb up a mountain.

“You do look pretty,”
he said. “And we don’t have very far to go.”

After dinner, Andrew
had driven them up a mountain road near Cane. She’d gotten disoriented on the
twists and turns, so she wasn’t exactly sure where they were. Andrew seemed to
know where they were going, however, so she accepted his hand and let him pull
her up the trail behind him.

They walked in
silence, as the sun lowered in the sky. It was early fall now, but the days
were still long and the temperature was fresh and mild. It really was a
beautiful evening, and she had no complaints as long as they got to their
destination fairly soon.

They’d been
dating for six months. They’d had to do it long-distance to a certain extent,
since Andrew’s life had been in D.C. Just recently, however, he’d completed the
process of selling out his share of his web-design company. With the
profits—which were large—he was starting to set up a new company in Cane. It
would be the same kind of business, only on a much smaller scale and with much
less stress and responsibility for Andrew. She’d been worried for a while that
selling out of the company he’d worked so hard on would be too great a
sacrifice for him. But it had been his idea from the beginning, and she was
finally convinced that the transition made him happy.

She, of course,
was thrilled, since it meant she wouldn’t have to move away from Cane—as she’d
vaguely been expecting to do in the future.

They’d been
walking for just over five minutes when she heard a familiar noise. “What’s
that?” she asked, looking around and trying to see if she recognized any of her
surroundings. It was all trees and mountain trail—none of it distinguishable
from any other part of the surrounding mountains.

Andrew smiled.
“You’ll see.”

He was still
holding her hand when they crossed through a barrier of trees and entered a grassy
clearing that she couldn’t help but recognize. She saw the rock face and the
waterfall cascading down it.

“Oh!” she
gasped, clasping her hands together. “You tricked me! We came from a different
direction.”

“That was the
point. I didn’t want my big romantic gesture spoiled before we got here.”

Her heart
lurched as she stared up at him, recognizing tenderness, amusement, and
something like ironic embarrassment on his face. “Andrew?”

“I told you I’d
save it for later.”

She gazed
around her, melting at the beauty of their surroundings in the dappled light of
the setting sun and in the significance of Andrew’s taking her here. His
favorite spot in the world. “And now is later?” she asked, somewhat foolishly.

“It is.” He
looked down at her—handsome and masculine in all black, like he’d been wearing
that day more than six months ago when he’d carried his unconscious sister out
of the woods.

He cleared his
throat and rubbed the back of his neck, and she could tell he was working
himself up to do something.

Helen
practically hugged herself as she suddenly realized what was about to happen.

He reached into
his shirt pocket and pulled out a velvet pouch. Then pulled from the pouch a
ring—intricately engraved platinum with a lovely diamond solitaire.

He offered the
ring to her.

She stared down
at it speechlessly.

“Well?” he
prompted after a minute.

“Don’t you have
anything to say?” she demanded, her hands shaking at her sides as she did her
best not to beam. “I would have thought you’d have prepared a speech.”

“I did,” he
admitted. “I can’t remember it.”

A rippling
laugh escaped her lips.

“I love you,
Helen Walton,” Andrew said, as if the words had burst out of him. “I love you
and your irrepressible laugh and your blush and the way you always look away
from me when you feel shy. I love your devotion to God and your sense of
commitment and the way you always try to hide how much you’re feeling. I love
you and your passionate, generous heart. And I want more than anything to be
your husband. If you…if you would like to be my wife.”

She gaped at
him, feeling like she might just faint away from pure bliss. “Was that your
speech?” she asked hoarsely.

“No.” A dry
smile flickered on his lips. “I just made that one up on the spur of the
moment. Too sappy?”

She launched
herself at him, nearly knocking him down with her hug and her absolute joy.

He returned her
embrace, holding her against him like she was precious. “Was that a yes?”

“Definitely a
yes.”

They stayed
near the waterfall for a long time, sitting on the grass in the clearing, in
the last light of the sun. Neither one of them was young enough to still
believe in perfectly happy endings, romantic or otherwise.

But Helen
knew—she
knew
—that they’d left the deepest of the shadows behind.

About the Author

S.N. Clemens has been writing Christian romances since she was
twelve. She loves to tell stories of love and hope that are fun and romantic
but also true to human experience.

She loves writing and literature so much
she pursued it as a career. She has a PhD in English and teaches at a Christian
college.

Visit her at her website:
http://snclemens.com
.