“I don’t know yet,” she said evasively. “Would you like to meet him?”
Brian shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
She reached out and touched his arm. “Don’t worry, you’ll like him.” Brian nodded. “You coming, Daddy?”
“In a minute. Your mother wants me to find some of the extra serving bowls.
They’re in a box in the pantry somewhere.”
Sarah and Brian left the kitchen and headed to the living room, though she didn’t see Miles or Jonah. Her grandmother said that Miles had gone outside for a minute, but when she stepped out the front door, she still didn’t see him. “He must be around back…”
As they turned the corner of the house, Sarah finally spotted them. Jonah had found a small mound of dirt and was pushing the Matchbox cars along imaginary roads.
“So what’s this guy do? Is he a teacher?”
“No, but that’s how I met him. His son is in my class. Actually, he’s a deputy sheriff. Hey, Miles!” she called out. “Jonah!” When they turned, Sarah nodded in her brother’s direction. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” When Jonah stood up from the dirt, Sarah saw that the knees of his pants were circled with brown. He and Miles met them halfway.
“This is my brother, Brian. And Brian, this is Miles and his son, Jonah.”
Miles held out his hand. “How are you doing? Miles Ryan. Nice to meet you.”
Brian held his hand out stiffly. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“I hear you’re in college.”
Brian nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Sarah laughed. “You don’t have to be so formal. He’s only a couple of years older than I am.” Brian smiled weakly but didn’t say anything, and Jonah looked up at him. Brian took a small step backward, as if uncertain how to address a young child.
“Hi,” Jonah said.
“Hi,” Brian answered.
“You’re Miss Andrews’s brother?”
Brian nodded.
“She’s my teacher.”
“I know. She told me.”
“Oh…” Jonah looked suddenly bored and started fiddling with the cars in his hands. For a long moment, none of them said anything.
“I wasn’t hiding from your family,” Miles said a few minutes later. “Jonah asked if I’d come out here with him to see if I thought it would be okay to play here. I said it probably was-I hope that’s okay.”
“That’s fine,” Sarah said. “As long as he’s having fun.” Larry had come around the corner as the four of them were talking and asked Brian if he could look in the garage for the serving dishes he’d been unable to find. Brian wandered off in that direction, then disappeared from view.
Larry, too, was quiet, though in a more speculative way than Brian. He seemed to
regard Miles with a studying eye, as if watching his expressions would reveal
more than the words Miles was saying as they covered the basics about each
other. That feeling quickly passed as they found common interests, like the
upcoming football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins. Within
a few minutes, they were talking easily. Larry finally made his way back to the house, leaving Sarah alone with Miles and Jonah. Jonah went back to the mound of dirt.
“Your father’s quite a character. I had the strangest feeling that when we first met, he was trying to figure out whether we’d slept together.” Sarah laughed. “He probably was. I am his baby girl, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. How long’s he been married to your mom?”
“Almost thirty-five years.”
“That’s a long time.”
“Sometimes I think he should be sainted.”
“Now, now… don’t be so hard on your mom. I liked her, too.” “I think the feeling was mutual. For a while there, I thought she was going to offer to adopt you.”
“Like you said, she just wants you to be happy.”
“Say that to her, and I don’t think she’ll ever let you leave. She needs someone to take care of, now that Brian’s off at college. Oh, listen-don’t take Brian’s shyness personally. He’s really reserved when it comes to meeting people. Once he gets to know you, he’ll come out of his shell.”
Miles shook his head, dismissing her worries. “He was fine. Besides, he kind of reminds me of how I was at that age. Believe it or not, there are times when I don’t know what to say, either.”
Sarah’s eyes went wide. “No… really? And here I thought you were the smoothest talker I’d ever met. Why, you practically swept me off my feet.” “Do you honestly believe that sarcasm is the right tone to take on a day like today? A day to be with family and offer thanks for all our blessings?” “Of course.”
He put his arms around her. “Well, in my defense, then, whatever I did seemed to work, didn’t it?”
She sighed. “I suppose.”
“You suppose?”
“What do you want? A medal?”
“For starters. A trophy would be nice, too.”
She smiled. “What do you think you’re holding right now?”
The rest of the afternoon passed uneventfully. After the meal was cleared away, some of the family went to watch the game, others went to the kitchen to help store the mountains of leftovers. The afternoon was unhurried, and after stuffing himself with two pieces of pie, even Jonah seemed to find the atmosphere soothing. Larry and Miles chatted about New Bern, Larry quizzing Miles about local history. Sarah wandered from the kitchen, where her mother repeated (and repeated) the fact that Miles seemed like a wonderful young man, back to the living room to make sure that Miles and Jonah didn’t feel as if she’d abandoned them. Brian, dutifully, spent most of his time in the kitchen, washing and drying the china that his mother had used for dinner. A half hour before Miles had to head home to get dressed for work, Miles, Sarah, and Jonah went for a walk, just as Miles had promised. They headed toward the end of the block and into the wooded area that fronted the development. Jonah grabbed Sarah’s hand and led her through the woods, laughing as he did so, and it was while watching them weave their way among the trees that it gradually dawned on Miles where all this might lead. While he knew he loved Sarah, he’d been touched that she had chosen to share her family with him. He liked the feeling of closeness, the holiday atmosphere, the casual way her relatives had seemed to respond to him, and he was certain that he didn’t want this to be an isolated invitation.
It was then that he first thought of asking Sarah to marry him, and once the idea came to him, he found it nearly impossible to dismiss. Up ahead, Sarah and Jonah were tossing stones in a small creek, one after the next. Jonah then hopped over it, and Sarah followed.
“C’mon!” she shouted. “We’re exploring!”
“Yeah, Dad, hurry up!”
“I’m coming-you don’t have to wait! I’ll catch up.”
He didn’t rush to do so. Instead, he was lost in his thoughts as they continued to move farther and farther away, eventually vanishing behind a thick grove. Miles pushed his hands into his pockets.
Marriage.
It was still early in their relationship, of course, and he had no intention of dropping to his knees here and now to pop the question. At the same time, he suddenly knew that there would come a moment when he would. She was right for him; of that he was certain. And she was wonderful with Jonah. Jonah seemed to love her, and that, too, was important, because if Jonah hadn’t liked her, he wouldn’t even be considering what a future with Sarah might bring. And with that, something inside clicked, a key fitting neatly into a lock. Though he wasn’t even consciously aware of it, the question of “if” had become a question of “when.”
With this decision, he unconsciously felt himself relax. He couldn’t see Sarah or Jonah as he crossed over the creek, but he followed the direction he’d last seen them going. A minute later he spotted them, and as he closed the distance between them, he realized he hadn’t been this happy in years.