After dinner, they changed into more comfortable clothes, and she transferred from her chair to the sofa, sitting next to Bert. He hadn’t found a movie for them. Instead, he’d been fiddling with the remote. She was patient… he would speak when ready.
“Mary,” Bert finally said, his voice taking on a quality that made her turn to look at him more closely.
He looked nervous, but she couldn’t imagine why. “What’s wrong?” Mary asked, concerned.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he rushed. “Everything is very right, actually.” Bert took a breath, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
Mary’s heart stopped. Then started again, beating so hard she could feel it in her throat.
“I had this whole speech planned,” Bert said, opening the box to reveal a simple and elegant ring, with a single diamond that caught the fading light and sparkled. “About how you’ve changed my life, how you’ve made me braver and better, how I can’t imagine spending another day without you. But sitting here right now, all I can think is that I love you. I love you so much it terrifies me sometimes. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you, if you’ll let me.”
Mary felt tears streaming down her cheeks, but she was smiling so hard her face hurt. “Bert?—”
“I know we’ve only been living together for a few weeks,” Bert continued, the words coming faster now like he needed to get them all out before his courage failed. “I know some people would say we’re rushing. But Mary, I’ve loved you for over a year. I’ve watched you work, watched you laugh, watched you fight your way through challenges that would have broken most people. I’ve seen you at your strongest and your most vulnerable. And I want all of it. I want every day, every challenge, every moment of joy and frustration and everything in between.”
He shifted, moving from the sofa to kneel in front of her, the ring box held carefully in his hand. “Mary Smithwick, will you marry me?”
Her hands shook as she reached out to cup his face, feeling the slight stubble on his jaw, the warmth of his skin, the absolute solidity of him. This man, who saw her… truly saw her every single day and chose her anyway.
“Yes,” she said, her voice thick with tears of joy. “Yes, absolutely yes. I love you, Bert. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you and build something beautiful together.”
Bert’s smile transformed his whole face as he carefully took the ring from the box and slid it onto Mary’s finger. It fit perfectly because he paid attention to details like that. The diamond caught the starlight, sparkling on her hand like a promise.
Then he shifted back onto the sofa and pulled her close, careful to drape her legs over his lap so she was comfortable. They kissed, deep and thorough and full of love and relief and joy.
“I love you,” Mary said, kissing him again because she could, because they were engaged now, because this man was going to be her husband. “You make me feel seen in a way no one else ever has. You adapted your whole life to include me without making it feel like an accommodation. You learned to dance with me in my wheelchair because you wanted to give me that experience.”
“I’d do anything for you. Anything that would make you happy, anything that would make your life easier or better or more full of joy. That’s what love is, Mary. Wanting someone else’s happiness as much as your own.”
They sat on the sofa for a long time, wrapped around each other and talking about their future. Mary kept looking at the ring on her finger, still not quite able to believe it was real. She was engaged. To Bert Tomlinson. The man who’d seen past her wheelchair from the very beginning.
“What are you thinking?” Bert asked, watching her with those blue eyes that saw everything.
“That I’m happy,” Mary said simply. “That a year ago, I would have told you this wasn’t possible for me. That no one would want to deal with the complications of loving someone in a wheelchair. But you proved me wrong, Bert. You showed me that love isn’t about finding someone without complications. It’s about finding someone whose complications you’re willing to navigate together.”
“You’re not a complication,” Bert said firmly. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Mary Smithwick had survived a car accident, rebuilt her life, learned to thrive in a wheelchair, fought off a murderer, and found love with a man who saw all of her and chose her anyway. She’d learned that having limitations didn’t mean having less. It just meant having something different. And different could be beautiful when you had the right partner by your side.
She was a Keeper. She was engaged. She was home. And she’d never been happier in her entire life.
38
Three months later
Bert stood at the front of the small church in town, his hands clasped in front of him to keep them from shaking, and wondered if it was possible for a heart to actually burst from happiness.
The church was perfect… a historic stone building that had stood at the edge of town for over a hundred years, with tall windows letting in sunlight and wooden pews worn smooth by generations of worshippers. Outside, the mountains rose in the distance like sentinels blessing the day. Inside, the church was filled with everyone who mattered.
Frazier stood beside Bert as best man, his usually serious face softened with a smile. The rest of the LSIMT team filled the front rows on both sides. Logan with Vivian beside him, Sisco with Lenore and their daughter, Evie. Landon with Noel, Devlin with Mia. Todd and Sadie. Tyler and Justice. Casper and Willow. Timothy, Dalton, Cole, and Cory filled another pew.
Bert’s brother Michael sat in the second row with his wife and their two boys, who were fidgeting in their seats but trying to be good. Michael had flown in from Tennessee with his family, and seeing him here meant more to Bert than he could express. Keeping up over the years wasn’t easy, but both were making more of an effort to see each other when they could.
On the other side, Mary’s mother sat in the front row, already dabbing at tears though the ceremony hadn’t even started. Her siblings’ families filled the rows behind her. Bert had spent more time with them over the past months and had been welcomed into the family with the kind of warmth that still made his throat tight.
And there, in the third row to the side, sat Diane Sutherland, elegant as ever. She’d made the trip from Halifax specifically for the wedding, accompanied by George, who’d become her constant companion and protector. Seeing her there, healthy, alert, and free from Frank’s manipulation made everything they’d gone through worth it.
The music shifted, a signal that the ceremony was about to begin. Bert’s heart rate kicked up another notch, and Frazier leaned over to murmur, “Breathe, man. She’s not going to leave you at the altar.”