by Cathy Quinn
"Oh."
"Remember?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, well, I think I kind of wouldn’t mind being that guy."
"Oh, Gabriel."
She leaned her head against his chest, and he stroked away a tear with his thumb. "Aw, don’t get all weepy on me, Alice. You know I hate it when you do that. It makes me feel so helpless..."
She sniffed. "This is so sweet, Gabriel." She gestured at the bed of thistles. "And the thistles... I mean, your neighbors are going to hate you when they start fornicating and their offspring appear all over the place, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll chase them off with a shovel." She sighed. "You say I love you in such special ways."
"Well, will you?"
"Be buried next to you?"
Gabriel sighed. "You’re doing this on purpose. Well, yeah, that too."
"With a single tombstone?"
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Yup. Single tombstone."
"You mean, an inscription that says something like "J. Gabriel Johnston and Alice Rose Brockman. RIP"?
"Well, no, not quite like that."
"Then what?"
Gabriel shuffled his feet. "I was kind of thinking of a single surname."
Alice put her arms around him and stared up into his face. This was too good to be true. Wasn’t it? No. It was true. He loved her – she loved him. And nothing could take that away from them. "Gabriel, what are you trying to say? I don’t want to jump to any premature conclusions here. So spit it out."
He squirmed. And scowled. And she loved him for it. "Well, will you?"
"Will I what?"
He mumbled something about torture.
She kissed his chin. "You have to say it, Gabriel. I refuse to jump to any more conclusions. And it’s not nearly as scary as saying I love you."
"How would you know?"
"Isn’t it obvious? You see, I’m going to want you to tell me you love me every day, but you only have to do this once in our lifetime. Go ahead. It’ll be over before you know it, and won’t hurt a bit."
"I know that line. My dentist uses it all the time."
Alice took his hands and ran them over all her pockets. "See? No hidden dental drills. Promise. Want to strip search me?"
"Maybe later." Gabriel laughed, and they kissed forever, and when they broke for air he mumbled something that sounded like "Mrrme?"
It was good enough, especially as he was looking into her eyes and there was a smile there, one that was pulling ever so slightly at his lips too.
"Yes." She kissed him. "I’ll "mrr" you, and I want that tombstone. There. It’s over. Now you never have to do that again as long as we live."
"Good."
"Except if we want to renew out vows in fifty years or so."
Gabriel groaned.
She relented. "But maybe then it’ll be my turn to do the proposing."
"Good."
"I love you."
"I know." He paused. "I love you too.
"I know."
"I’m afraid I’ll hurt you."
"You won’t hurt me... " She saw the look in his face. "You’re still afraid you’ll hit me?"
He shrugged. "I don’t know. Nobody knows what the future will bring. I’m my father’s son, after all."
"You’re you. You’re Gabriel. Besides," she added with a smile. "I’ve taken self-defense lessons from a terrific teacher. You wouldn’t dare take me on. I can blind you, stun you, trip you and generally maim you. And that’s when I’m trying to seduce you."
"I love you, Alice."
She smiled and felt tears well in her eyes. She’d never known before how words could warm her, wrap around her like a cozy blanket. "Does saying that get any easier?"
"I think it does."
"Good." She dragged him down on the grass next to where the sun shone on her pretty thistles, and got down to some serious cuddling. "We’ll practice."
==The End==