The Outer Edge of Heaven (30 page)
She emphasized the last part with a marked drawl and a slight raise in volume and Luke was hard put not to crack a grin, in spite of the anger he could feel emanating from her father.
Surprisingly, her mother seemed to visibly wilt. She appeared to age years as the tough old bird in her became a weathered chicken. Luke wasn't sure what caused the change and what to expect, but he caught an inkling as she said, "You're wise beyond your years, Charlie. I wish I'd had the chance at your age to make a choice like that. We'll go. You're right. We have no right to interfere. And it would appear you're perfectly capable of being decisive, finally." She turned to Luke. “Please be good to her, Luke. She’s a wonderful girl. But I’m sure you already know that.”
Norma Evans turned back towards the Hummer parked in the gravel drive and Charlie's father glowered as he looked at his wife. "Now wait a minute here, Norma. What do you mean, we'll go? You're not just going to let her get away with this, are you?"
“She loves him, Keith. That should be obvious.”
“Love isn’t the issue here. Don’t be ridiculous!”
The tough old bird was back as she faced her husband. "We’re not going to lose a daughter over this, Keith. She loves him. Look at her. And she’s right. She's old enough to choose and she’s obviously finally learned to make decision. She’s an intelligent girl. And it is what the prophets counsel, after all. If they can afford it, she should stay with her kids. She'll never wish she'd spent more time with her children the way I do. And we’re
not
going to lose a daughter over this."
She turned back and walked to Charlie. "Oh, and we heard a news story as we drove. A local woman was attacked and nearly abducted and killed as she jogged somewhere nearby. I know you like to jog occasionally. Be careful. It appears to be quite lawless out here. Goodbye, honey.” She leaned to hug Charlie for a long moment and said, “We truly do love you. Please stay in touch."
With that, she walked to the big military vehicle and let herself into the passenger seat as her husband nearly stomped after her saying, "Norma Jean Evans, don't you dare give up that easily." He got into the Hummer beside her and Luke and Charlie tried not to watch as they had an obviously controversial discussion for several minutes before her father started up the engine and drove out with a little kick of gravel flying off the back wheels.
Charlie and Luke sat in silence for a minute or two before Charlie finally said, "I can hardly even believe it. She respected my will. That’s amazing.” She shook her head in wonder and then went on softly. “I knew she'd worked to put him through med school, but I never dreamed for all these years she'd had regrets. Who would ever have guessed that?"
"She had to have had, didn't she? She's not stupid. She knew you hated day care. And you yourself said she was a wonderful Christian woman. Maybe all of this hype has only been to rationalize the choices they've regretted all these years. At any rate, I think they honestly are going this time."
Charlie turned and looked up at him earnestly. "You know. I probably truly owe you some huge apologies. Not only did I let you muddle through all of this beside me, but I also said some things to them I didn't have the right to say, since you and I haven't honestly discussed them all that thoroughly. I'm grateful for your help with my parents, but please forgive me for taking advantage of your willingness to convince them."
"What are you talking about, Charlie?"
"Mmm, well, I've said a lot of things to them that I feel strongly about, but in light of our lightning fast engagement, I didn't actually clear any of it with you first. Take for instance insinuating that we truly are going to be married and have a family and have me be an at-home mom for years. That wasn't very fair to say when we've never talked about it."
"You know how I feel about wanting to be married to you. And you know how I feel about children needing to be mothered. If you truly can be happy without an outside career, you know that's in the best interest of our family. None of that's a problem, is it?"
She hesitated. "It's just that I feel I took advantage of your willingness to rescue me at the spur of the moment, Luke. If you recall, it was only early yesterday morning that you were still very allergic to me."
He thought about that for several minutes and then asked, "Charlie, tell me something, honestly. Did you mean what you said about knowing you were where your Heavenly Father wanted you, with who you were supposed to be with?" He looked into her eyes and waited for her to answer.
He could feel the tension build in her and then she looked away and nodded her head. Her voice was low and so quiet, he almost didn't hear her when she finally said, "Yeah. I did."
"And do you believe me when I tell you I'm in love with you and want to be with you forever and ever?" Again she nodded. "Then give me the ring."
Her eyes flew to his as her fingers settled around the ring on her left hand almost defensively. "What?"
He smiled. "We need to settle this once and for all then. Give me the ring."
"What are you saying, Luke?'
He stood up and pulled her to her feet. "I'm saying that I want to be officially engaged without you questioning whether I truly want to be that way. Don't I need to go through this big charade of taking it back, and then planning some incredibly involved and intricate scheme to propose to you to make you know my intentions are honorable and eternal?"
She hesitated again, still watching his eyes and then asked, "Haven't we just gone to great lengths to convince my parents we aren't interested in charades?"
"Yes."
"You're not going to change your mind about me anytime soon are you?"
"Not for eighty or ninety million years, at least. Why?"
She smiled shyly at him. "Well, do you think we could settle for some middle ground and just meet back in the pantry to do this?"
Luke couldn't help himself and laughed and said, "I believe I could handle that. Do we have to wait any certain period of time?"
"No. Definitely not."
"Good." He took her hand and together they set off down the path toward his dad's house.
He had to laugh again when she asked, "Luke, do you think that after we get unequivocally engaged, we could eat some Oreos in the pantry? Because I'm starving."
Nodding with a grin, he said, "Absolutely. After all, they are the fifth food group."
The End
Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth, and hearing her children laugh. She and her extremely attractive husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.
To learn more about Jaclyn, visit,
www.jaclynmhawkes.com
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