Fighting Fate

by Hope, Amity

  Sarah nodded as Gretchen disappeared into the hallway. Sarah hoisted herself out of bed and headed downstairs. As she made her way to the front door, she caught sight of Cole through the sidelight. He had a cardboard box in his arms. Her brow furrowed at the sight of it.

  “Hey,” he said as she swung the door open. “How are you? Did you get any sleep last night?”

  “Not really,” she admitted. She sliced a look at the box in his arms. The frantic, high-pitched meowing coming from inside was impossible to ignore. It was already grating on her tattered nerves.

  “Cole,” she said on a sigh as the unfamiliar meowing seemed to intensify. She wasn’t sure how to put it politely. While the thought was sweet, she just wasn’t ready for another cat. She wished he would’ve asked her first because now she wasn’t sure what to do with this one.

  He stepped into the house and closed the door before placing the box on the ground.

  “This is for you.”

  < the hallm" align="justify">“I don’t think…I don’t know if I’m ready for another kitten,” she admitted. Maybe he would just have to take this one back to the shelter. Besides, luckily Suzanne was at work because this kitten could not stay here.

  Ignoring her, he worked the flaps of the box open.

  What was he doing? Was he going to try to make her fall in love with the kitten anyway? Did he think that would make her forget about Penelope?

  “Come here,” he muttered. “Come on out.” He reached into the box and was met by angry hissing. He quickly jerked his hand back. He glanced sheepishly up at Sarah, and then crooked a finger at her. “You come down here and give it a try.”

  Not only had he gotten her a new kitten—possibly one of Penelope’s litter mates—but he’d chosen an aggressive one as well.

  She shook her head. While the thought of one of Penelope’s siblings was mildly enticing, it just wasn’t enough. “I can’t.”

  He wasn’t willing to accept that answer. He reached up and tugged on her wrist, gently pulling her to the ground next to him. He was grinning at her, like all was right in the world.

  “I can’t get her to come out, but take a peek inside Sarah. Just be careful, she’s not herself. She’s a little feisty today.”

  When Sarah hesitated, Cole pulled the flaps open again.

  Familiar green eyes, surrounded by familiar puffy gray fur peered back at her. The frantic meow from before was replaced by a more pitiful, heartbreaking one as the kitten saw Sarah.

  “Penelope!” Sarah whimpered as her hands flew into the box. The usually soft fur felt matted and gritty as she carefully lifted the kitten out and into her arms.

  “I knew the guy Tom recommended to you was out at the farmhouse today writing up an estimate for cleanup. I decided to go out there in case he had any questions. We were walking around and we heard her,” he explained. “I could tell she was somewhere near the cellar door. She must’ve been down there when the fire started. I’m guessing it didn’t spread that far? She’d clawed her way back up again but she was stuck. He helped me move some debris.”

  “Why didn’t she come out the other morning when we were there?” Sarah wondered.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say she was too scared. She was probably hiding. Even after we cleared her way, she scampered off. He happened to have his lunch in a cooler in the truck. He took the ham off his sandwich and that got her moving again,” Cole said with a laugh. “I managed to catch her. She’s still pretty skittish. And I’m sure she’s still plenty hungry.”

  Sarah murmured nonsensical things as she snuggled the kitten in her arms. She was acutely aware that for once, Penelope wasn’t purring. But he was probably right. She was probably traumatized.

  “She ate all of the ham and cheese and we gave her sowe uld tell me water,” Cole said. “She looks like she could use a bath but I thought she might handle it better if you do that. Maybe after she’s calmed down a bit.”

  It took Sarah a moment to realize a tear had trickled down her cheek. She anxiously swiped it away.

  “I can’t believe you found her,” she said. Her voice was thick with tears. For the first time in days, they were tears of relief.

  “Well, I had help. It’s a good thing we never got around to fixing that door. If she hadn’t gotten herself down to the cellar…” He trailed off because they both knew what he meant.

  She reached over, still kneeling on the floor and gave him an awkward hug. “Thank you anyway. And thank you for bringing her to me.”

  When she released him, he got to his feet and pulled Sarah up with him. Her knees felt weak, shaky with emotion. She realized her hands were trembling but she didn’t release her hold on Penelope.

  “Is Suzanne around?” he asked as he eyed up the kitten.

  “No, but she’ll be home soon.” Sarah nibbled her bottom lip as Penelope finally began to grind out a gentle purr under Sarah’s constant petting.

  “I can keep her at my apartment,” Cole said as he guessed what was troubling her. “I called on my way over here. I just have to put down a pretty hefty damage deposit but I’ll get it back. I can take her home with me right now, if you want.”

  She felt a smile tug at her lips. “You’re willing to let my cat live with you?”

  He nodded, but he wasn’t smiling. “Yes. I was hoping my girlfriend would maybe want to live with me too?”

  Sarah blinked at him, surprised by the offer. Or was it a request? He sounded so serious and it had come out sounding like a question.

  Her parents had made it clear she was welcome to stay with them for as long as she wanted. While the circumstances weren’t exactly typical, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to live with her parents at this point in her life. It had been a long time since she’d lived at home for any length of time greater than a visit.

  But living with Cole?

  When she didn’t respond, he gave her a reassuring smile.

  “I’ll take her either way, if you want. I know with Suzanne’s allergies, you can’t keep her here. Unless you had somewhere else in mind?”

  She shook her head. She had no idea what she would do with the kitten if Cole didn’t take her home.

  “Are you sure? I have no idea what I’m going to be doing yet.” She had only started tossing around the idea of rebuilding. But there was a lot that needed to be dealt with before the building could even start. If ten ng hat’s the route she decided to take, it would be a long process. “She might be with you for a while.”

  Cole grinned at her. “Well, I was kind of hoping she would be. The little rascal has kind of grown on me. I know that if you decide to rebuild, it probably won’t be ready until next spring. It’ll be weeks before the site is even cleared off.”

  She nodded, internally cringing at the thought of living with her parents that long. She could always buy a new house. Or rent. But the problem was she didn’t know which one of those options she preferred either. Staying with her parents seemed like the logical choice until she knew what she was going to do.

  “If you decide at anytime that you want to stay with us,” he said as he scratched the kitten’s head, “the offer stands.”

  “I’ll be fine here.”

  He stopped scratching the kitten and raised his eyebrows at her. “You know that’s not really the point, right?”

  “What is the point?”

  “The point is that I love you. I feel like I have always loved you. One of these days…” He hesitated, as if wondering if he should say it. “One of these days, I intend to marry you.”

  Now her eyebrows twitched up and she fought to keep the smile off of her face. “Oh you do, do you?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “And when do you think that will be?” she asked curiously.

  “Whenever you let me know you’re ready. I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. Over this past month, I’ve been happier than I can remember being in a long time. But I know you’ve had a rocky couple of years. I understand not rushing
things. But I’m not going anywhere either. I just want you to know that.”

  *****

  Three weeks ago, Cole had told Sarah that his door was always open. At the time, she just wasn’t sure that either of them were ready. The weeks leading up to his offer had been so emotional. First the crazy high of finding each other after so many years. Then the low of losing her home to the fire.

  But now, nearly a month had passed. Summer was coming to an end. She had stayed with Cole each weekend. Finally, things had started to feel…normal.

  She had decided she liked normal a whole lot.

  So the next time Cole had given her the reminder that she was always welcome, she’d given it some serious thought.

  When she knocked on his door, he answered a few moments later.

  He swung it open swupan>

  “What’s going on?” he asked as he took the luggage from her.

  “Sadly, all of my worldly possessions fit in that suitcase,” she said. It was more or less the truth but she managed to paste on a smile when she said it. “And I was kind of hoping I could keep them here. Indefinitely.”

  Penelope came trotting across the room when she heard Sarah’s voice, meowing excitedly with each step she took. Sarah knelt down to scratch her behind the ears.

  Cole was grinning when he finally spoke again. “Just to clarify, you want to move in?”

  She bit her lip, rising to her feet again before saying, “I do.”

  He dropped her suitcase and picked her up instead. She squealed as he lifted her off of her feet in an enormous hug.

  “I hope that means you’re okay with it?” she asked with a laugh.

  “You don’t even have to ask,” he said as he placed her back onto her feet. He leaned in for a quick kiss and then took off to his bedroom with her suitcase.

  Sarah was cuddling with Penelope in the entryway when he returned.

  “Your timing is perfect,” he said as he took her hand.

  “Why is that?” she asked as he pulled her toward the dining room table.

  It was covered with large sheets of paper, a ruler, an eraser, and a pencil.

  “This isn’t really my specialty,” Cole said as he stopped in front of his project. “But since you’ve been talking about rebuilding, I thought I’d try to come up with some kind of floor plan for Tom to work with.” He kept an anxious eye on her. “I hope you don’t mind. You don’t have to use it, of course. But I thought it might be nice to have it ready just in case.”

  She ran her fingers over the page. It wasn’t a traditional floor plan, she was sure. Instead, it was a sketch that Cole had given meticulous care too. Every room seemed to have been drawn to proportion. Every closet, cabinet and doorway seemed to be in just the right place.

  She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. When his arms slid around her in return, she knew that there wasn’t a better feeling in the whole world.

  “I hope I’m not overstepping any boundaries,” he said worriedly.

  She smiled as she looked up at him. “I love that you’re doing this. I think this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

  Epilogue

  Eight months later…

  “It’s beautiful!” Sarah said as she wandered through the house.

  Tom had done an amazing job. He’d used Cole’s floor plan sketches as a starting point for his blue prir hnt>

  At first, Sarah had insisted she wanted the house the same. Exactly the same. As the weeks went by and the ache of the loss of the farmhouse lessened, she’d decided a change here or there might not be a bad idea.

  So now the house was nearly identical to the original. Only better. Each room was a bit larger. There was a little more closet space. An entryway had been added onto the living room because Sarah had never really liked that company had to enter though the kitchen. An actual finished basement replaced the cellar. Sarah and Cole thought it would make a perfect game or movie watching room.

  Some new furniture had been purchased and had been delivered that morning.

  “Do you think Cora would approve?” Cole asked.

  Sarah ran her fingers over the gleaming oak banister. Her heart ached just a little as she remembered her grandmother. “Yes,” she said. “I think she’d love it.”

  Cole had been right in guessing that the fire had not spread to the cellar. While many of the items stored in cardboard boxes were ruined by water damage, several had been stored in plastic bins. Some of her grandmother’s handmade quilts and doilies had been salvaged. Another box that contained holiday ornaments, and knickknacks made by her grandfather had come through relatively unscathed. A final box with photos had to be sorted out but Sarah was thrilled some pictures survived. Overall, relatively little had made it through but she was grateful for every little item that had.

  Melinda was serving time for arson. She had insisted that she had known for a fact that Sarah was not home. She claimed she’d been watching Cole’s apartment building because she had assumed the two of them would show up there together eventually. Cole wasn’t sure that he believed her. But she would be locked up for a while. He’d never pushed the matter because Sarah was already struggling enough with the malice that Melinda had shown.

  Sarah eventually had her rings returned to her. That same day, she carefully packaged up the ring from Aaron. She had contemplated delivering it to his parents in person. In the end, she decided it would probably be easier on everyone if she did not. Instead, she’d written them a note explaining why it had taken her so long to return it and she’d had it delivered. She hadn’t heard from Brynn again and neither had Liz. For that, she was grateful.

  Toby, who had claimed to have turned his life around, had been fired earlier in the spring. Alex had heard through Laurel’s gossip chain that he’d been caught stealing money out of the register. Cole figured Toby was lucky if getting fired was the worst thing he had to face for his pilfering.

  So far, the school year had gone smoothly. Because the new school was so big, Sarah and Cole rarely saw each other at work. The history wing was at the opposite end from the library and their lunch breaks didn’t match up. Both thought this was just as well because they saw each other plenty outside of work.

  “Comee="on. on,” Cole said. “I have one last thing to show you.”

  Tom had just finished putting up the last of the trim, the last project before they could move in. Cole had shown up that morning to help and also to supervise the delivery of the furniture. They had ordered a new bedroom set, office furniture and a living room set. The other rooms would be filled later in the day with furniture Alex was helping him move over from his apartment.

  Sarah had come out to visit periodically while the house was being built. But the past few weeks, when it was in the final stages, Cole had talked her into staying away. He was happy with the house and he wanted her to be surprised with the final project.

  He took her hand in his and led her upstairs to the master bedroom. Sarah spun slowly, taking in the room. The ceilings were still slanted but the floor was carpeted. It felt soft and plush beneath her feet. The bedroom set she and Cole had picked out was new. She had searched for months to find something similar to the antique set that was in the room before.

  She stopped when something on her new dresser caught her attention.

  “Cole?” she asked as she darted a glance his way. He nodded, smiling nervously as she crossed the room. Her fingers skimmed across the old jewelry box. “How…?”

  “I’d like to say I fixed it myself but I didn’t. I brought it to a guy I know.” His eyes darted to the wooden box as well. “He had to completely take it apart. Unfortunately, this piece had to be replaced,” he said, pointing to one side. “The top piece was cracked but luckily it went with the grain. He was able to glue it back together. Then he sanded it all down, refinished it, bought new hinges and put it back together again.”

  Sarah’s hand floated to her mouth, covering her lips, holding in a surpr
ised sob. She had known Cole had taken the box but she’d assumed that he’d tossed it. “Thank you,” she finally whispered. “My grandpa made it for my grandma.”

  “I know,” Cole said quietly.

  “I feel like it holds a piece of each of them.”

  She ran her finger along the decorative carving on the edge of the lid. She glanced at Cole, he smiled at her nervously.

  “What?” she asked with a little laugh.

  “Maybe you should open it,” he said. “See if the hinges work.”

  She quirked an eyebrow at his odd request but complied. The tiny hinges were silent as she lifted the lid upward. The inside was lined with the same familiar blue velvet lining that it had always been lined in. She was used to seeing her grandmother’s simple ring resting in its little black box against the blue velvet. It was absent, of course, because it was currently stored with the rest of her things, boxed up at Cole’s apartment until later in the day, when they officially made the move.

  However, there was a tiny box. This one was burgundy. Her face crumpled in confusion and her eyes darted to Cole again.

  “I suppose I should take that,” he said. Sarah was sure she heard a slight tremble in his voice but before she could reason out why, he had reached inside.

  With the small burgundy box in his hand, he dropped down to one knee.

  Earlier that morning, Sarah had thought this day was already going to be among the most exciting, most memorable of her life. But now as Cole knelt before her, she felt her heart take off. It was dancing wildly in her chest as both hands flew to her mouth.

  He carefully cracked open the small box. Inside was a large oval diamond on a simple gold band. It was simple but elegant and absolutely perfect.

  He took a deep breath as he finally looked up at her. “Sarah—”

  “Yes,” she said as her hands fell from her mouth.

  Cole raised his eyebrows at her. “Yes?”

  She nodded as she felt the first tingle of happy tears spark to life.

  “But…I had a whole speech prepared,” he said, sounding a little dumbfounded.