by Miley Maine
Hearing that marriage wasn’t an automatic solution to her took me a minute to process.
I wasn’t going to pressure her, but I sure did want to be clear that marriage was most definitely an option.
I also wanted to let her know that I wanted to be with her, as her husband, and not just the baby’s father. I didn’t want her to think I was approaching this proposal out of an antiquated sense of duty, or obligation. I wanted to show her that I loved her, as Ava Elizabeth, and not just someone who was having my child.
And I was going to do it correctly. The popular proposal seemed to be pretty flashy, with lots of people watching and someone taking a video. Ava was hardly a typical young woman, and I didn’t think she’d go for flashy. It was a huge contrast from the life she’d grown in living in elite Chicago society, but she seemed to relish the small town part of life that we led in Pine Hills. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t want a good proposal.
I imagined she’d want a proposal that related to our current lives.
The Pine Hills Fall Festival was coming up. Ava had been working non-stop to help get the whole thing organized, so that was a possible time and location.
I needed to talk to my mother and my sister. It would be easier if I did it together, but the excitement they’d generate would be through the roof.
As soon as I told them, my mother disappeared for a minute. “This was your grandmother’s ring. I want you to have it.”
I looked over at Abigail. She shook her head. “I want you to have it. I love Ava, and you guys are already together. And you’re giving me a little niece of a nephew.
I didn’t know much about rings, but I could tell this was an antique. It looked white-gold, with a single solitaire diamond in the middle. It looked perfect for Ava. She didn’t wear much jewelry, but when she did, she had a simple necklace with one round diamond that her father had given her for her sixteenth birthday.
I could still remember my grandmother wearing it. I wasn’t normally sentimental about stuff. I’d gotten rid of nearly all of my belongings when I’d been accepted into the SEALs, and I hadn’t missed any of the stuff I’d donated.
But I was touched that my mother had offered my grandmother’s ring to me.
“Thank you. Ava will appreciate the meaning behind it.” She often commented on the strong ties I had to my family, and how she wanted the same thing for our child.
Both my mom and sister were crying now, so I let them both hug me for as long as they wanted.
On November 30th, the Fall Festival was in full swing.
True to her word, Ava had created a schedule that was easy to read and easy to understand. She'd had it printed copies delivered to every business and every residence. It was posted in the paper as well as on the Facebook page and the town's Twitter feed.
She had run a sign up sheet for events as well. I'd been a little worried about long-term residents becoming resentful of a newcomer stepping in to their tradition. But from what I could tell everyone was so glad not to have overlapping events that no one grumbled.
In the past, the chili cook-off and the bread making contest might be at the same time. But now, thanks to Ava’s organizational skills, no two contests overlapped.
I was one of the judges of the pie baking contest, and we strolled toward the tent hand-in-hand. As part of a fundraiser, I’d also agreed to let the winner of the pie contest throw a pie in my face.
As we passed the kids’ section on the way to the pie contest, one of the Pine Hills cheerleaders waved us over. “Sheriff Whittaker. Miss Ava!”
Ava paused. “We have to stop. I'm the one who suggested the face painting booth.”
I looked at my watch as we got into line behind all the wiggling kids currently waiting to get their faces painted.
Ava had also suggested grouping all the kids’ activities together in one place, which was a hit. “We didn’t have one before?” I asked.
“No. The committee said they didn’t have enough volunteers. So I suggested finding a teen group. The cheerleaders were thrilled. They've been practicing all week. The volleyball team is running the ball toss booth, and the soccer team is handling the sack races.”
“What about the football players?”
“They’re in charge of the corn maze and the pumpkin painting.”
“Wow. Great idea mobilizing the teens.” I actually already knew who was in charge of the corn maze, because that’s where I planned to propose. I figured that it would make a good story, and being a journalist, Ava loved a good story.
“They were happy to help,” she said.
That was true enough. I’d seen that enough in my work as sheriff. For the most part the teeangers wanted to play an active role in their community.
“How’d you know it was going to work out so well?”
She smiled up at me. “I didn’t. I took a chance.”
That was my Ava. She was practical, but also a natural risk taker. “The kids like the responsibility,” I said.
“They absolutely do,” she said.
Finally it was our turn. The cheerleader in front of me jumped up and down. “Sheriff! My little brother heard you speak to his class a few months ago, and he hasn’t stopped talking about it yet.”
“That’s great to hear.” I’d wondered if I was wasting my time going to speak at the schools so often, since hanging around with little kids didn’t come naturally to me. But I was going to have to get over that, now that I had my own on the way.
The girl shoved a cardboard paper in front of me. “What painting would you like on your face?” The girl was so excited she was practically vibrating.
I looked each one over. “I’ll take the Pine Hills painting.” The painting was fairly sophisticated. It was a pine tree in front of the outline of a hill.
“We knew you’d like that one,” she said.
Next to me, Ava pressed her lips together to suppress a smile. She’d chosen a harvest pumpkin.
“All done,” the girl exclaimed. She held up a mirror, and I was surprised at her skill. “That looks amazing.” Each painting was only $1, but I put a five dollar bill in the jar. All the proceeds went to buy new playground equipment for the school.
“Thanks sheriff.”
Ava’s harvest pumpkin looked great too. It was clear that the kids had taken this seriously and practiced their skills. I was encouraged at the kids Pine Hills was raising.
Once we were back on our way to the pie tent, Ava snaked her arm around my waist. “In fourteen or so years, we’ll be the parents here.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Good Lord. You’re right.”
“Does that scare you?”
“Not when I look around all see all these kids joining in and helping their community.” I leaned down and kissed her on the nose. “And our baby will have you as a mother.”
She blushed. She was so tough, and so confident, so I loved that I could still make her blush like that.
I’d considered proposing right before the pie was tossed. Later tonight, the whole town would show up to see someone throw a meringue pie at my face. But I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on her. She would be put on the spot, having an entire town video recording her while the sheriff was down on one knee with his grandmother’s ring in his hand.
So I’d decided that we’d go on a private hayride, but I’d nixed that -- the trailer was too bumpy.
The petting zoo, while cute, smelled at times.
I almost gave up and went for the obvious proposal on the front porch of our house, but in the end, the Fall Festival was important to both of us, and I was actually trying to be romantic in a way she’d appreciate.
So we were going to walk through the corn maze. And if she said yes, I would text my sister to let her know, and then everyone was going to show up and celebrate with us. At that point, I didn’t mind if every single person in town pulled out their phone and started recording.
I judged the pie eating contest. The flavors
were varied. We had blackberry cobbler raspberry cobbler peach pie cherry pie chocolate pie and everything you could imagine. I tried to do my best, but honestly, it was a blur. I was starting to sweat.
Yes, I was apprehensive about proposing to the mother of my child.
Barrett, who was also one of the pie contest judges, knew about my plan.
He looked me up and down and then started chuckling. “Are you nervous?”
“Yes, I’m fucking nervous,” I said under my breath.
Barrett shook his head. “I saw you face down unbelievable odds with machine gun ammo whizzing by your head. I saw your crazy ass jump off the roof of a building into a waiting ambush. But proposing to one tiny spitfire woman has you sweating bullets.”
That was different. I’d been fighting an enemy, and defending my country. I didn’t have time to overthink it. I’d relied on my training. There was no training for proposing to the only woman I’d ever loved. But I’d never have the words to explain that to Barrett. “You should shut your mouth. We’ll see how you do when it’s your turn.”
“There’s one big difference between you and me. I ain’t gettin’ married.”
We laughed some more, and that helped distract me from what I was about to do. The pie winner was announced, and the blur continued. Then my sister picked up the microphone. Her voice booked over the loudspeaker.
“Make sure you're all back over here by six p.m. That's when we'll have my brother, the respectable Sheriff Whittaker, stand up here on stage and let the winner of the pie contest toss a meringue pie right in his face.”
The crowd cheered.
She looked at me and winked. My sister was not subtle. I wiped my hand over my jeans and then took Ava’s hand in mine. “I promised one of the football players that we’d check out the corn maze. Are you up for that?” Over the last few weeks, the morning sickness, which turned out to be all day sickness, had come and gone seemingly at random. But so far today, she seemed fine.
“Of course.”
I texted her sister, who was going to alert the football team to keep the maze clear for a few minutes.
We walked along, with the fresh smell of fresh hay floating around us. The wind breezed over us.
“What a perfect fall day,” she said. “I can’t get enough of all the leaves on the trees changing color. They changed in Chicago but they were just so many here. It’s like being surrounded by a blanket of fall colors.”
They were pretty spectacular. After spending several autumns in either the desert or the jungle, I also had come to appreciate the changing of the leaves from green to orange and gold.
I kept one hand intertwined with hers. And the other in my pocket holding onto the ring box tight.
My mother had left a box with a blanket, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, two plastic champagne glasses, all in a box at the end of the maze.
Ava was so busy admiring the vivid fall colors that she didn’t notice we were alone in the maze. Typically there would have been a horde of screaming elementary school kids racing through with their faces painted and their hands sticky from the caramel apples.
When we got to the end of the maze I turned to face her. I took both of her hands in mine and held onto them. “Ava Elizabeth Ackland, when you walked into my office just a few months ago, asking for a job, I had no idea how much my life would change. But it’s been a better change than I could have ever hoped for. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
I dropped down to one knee, still holding onto her hand. “Will you marry me?” I let go with one hand and dug into my pocket pulling out the little box. With my thumb and forefinger, I popped the lid to the box open.
Before I pulled my grandmother’s ring out, I needed to hear her answer.
Her mouth was open. Her pretty eyes were wide. “Tyler. I had no idea. I can’t believe you’re asking me to marry you.”
“Is your disbelief a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s a good thing. This all happened so fast, I thought we’d move a little slower.”
My heart sank. “Is that what you want?”
She must have read my face. “No, not at all. I’m just shocked.” She dropped down on her knees and threw her arms around my neck. “I know that you’re the man of my dreams. I would love nothing more than to marry you.”
“So that’s a yes”.
“Yes! That is an absolute yes.”
I took the ring from its box. “This was my grandmother‘s ring. My mother gave it to me. She’s so excited to welcome you into the family. And before you ask about Abigail, she wants you to have it too. She can’t wait to have you as a sister-in-law.”
She held out her hand and I slipped the ring over her finger.
“You’ve worked so hard on this fall festival, I thought you might like a minute to relax.” I pulled the blanket out of the box and spread it out on the ground. I took her hand in mine and helped her sit down on the blanket. She exhaled. “Oh, it does feel good to sit down.”
She held up her hand and admired her ring finger. “I love that this is your grandmother‘s ring. I’ve never really fantasized about getting engaged, but this connection to your family is perfect. It’s exactly what I would have wanted if I chose it myself.”
“So you were really surprised?” Her being surprised was a shock to me. The fact that my sister had kept this a secret was a miracle all by itself.
“Yes. I never brought up marriage. I knew that we could raise our baby without being married. But I have to say, I like the idea of us being a married couple as well as a family.”
I poured her a glass of the sparkling grape juice. We tapped our glasses together. “To becoming a family,” I said.
She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. “To getting engaged.” She took a sip. “Do you want a wedding?”
“I’d be fine at the county courthouse.”
“Me too. Maybe we can have something small at your house, with your mom and sister, and Barrett. And my father can come, if he can get permission to leave Illinois.”
“Our house,” I corrected. “It’s our house now.”
She grinned at me. “Our house.”
Epilogue
Tyler
Ava had jumped into life in Pine Hills in ways I hadn’t expected. I shouldn’t have been surprised though -- this was the woman who’d transformed herself so she could walk the streets of Chicago to expose a crime ring.
She still wrote for the local paper, but she’d also gotten involved in fundraising. There wasn’t much of a crime ring in our county, but we had some real problems with drug addiction, just like people in the cities died. So she had jumped headfirst into helping with that issue. I think watching Jenny struggle had really been eye-opening for all of us.
When she’d found out there was no type of shelter available in Pine Hills, or even in our county, she set to work. I knew, just from the experience of living in a small town, that most of the residents would be against creating housing for recovering drug addicts. But Ava didn’t let that mindset stop her.
“Not helping them find housing doesn't mean they don’t exist. It just means we’re ignoring the problem,” she said over and over.
I really liked watching her get fired up.
She’d brought the issue to one of the city board meetings, and when one of the farmers in town stood up and said, “Listen, miss, you need to take your big city ways back up north,” I’d been ready to haul him out on his ass, and then punch him in the face for good measure. Losing my badge would be more than worth it.
But Ava had merely stared at the farmer. “I understand that you’re afraid,” she’d said, which left him sputtering. Then she’d called the high school principal up, who shocked up all by telling his own battle with addiction.
“So there you just saw a perfect example of how the right support can help someone survive drug addiction,” she’d said to her captivated audience.
No one had complained openly afte
r that.
Surprisingly, she found quite a few residents who had struggled with drugs themselves, and they all banded together to convince the rest of the town. The shelter wasn’t even going to be in Pine Hills, but was going to be in the neighboring town.
Some of the money Ava had inherited from her mother’s family had not been seized by the FBI. She put some aside, and the rest she put into her charity work.
She’d helped raise the funds, she’d applied for non-profit status through the IRS, and she’d finished all the paperwork.
The residents would mostly be self-sufficient, but there would be a full-time social worker who lived in the shelter with them.
Jenny had been integral in helping Ava decide what worked and what didn’t. She was one month out of rehab, and living in a half-way house in Chicago.
Now at nine months pregnant, I wanted Ava to take it easy. I had finally talked her into taking a mini-vacation with me, just two weeks before her due date.
We rented a cabin on Table Rock Lake, near Branson, Missouri, and most of the activities were out of the question. Water skiing obviously wasn't an option, and I didn't want her going into labor while we were kayaking. Even a bumpy ski boat seemed too much. I did rent a pontoon boat so we could very slowly cruise around in the water.
She had invited my mother and sister along, which thrilled both of them.
She’s feisty,” my mother said,
“I hope you’re baby’s just as feisty,” my sister said.
“You say that now but you might change your mind once you’re babysitting overnight and she’s up at three a.m.”
“Oh she’ll never do that,” Abigail said, putting her hand on Ava’s stomach. Ava had encouraged my sister to interact with the baby from day one. She’d read that the baby would learn to recognize voices even before she was born. I wasn’t sure about that, but I acted as if I was. I spoke to the baby frequently, but my sister did it almost as much as I did.