Over the River and Through the Woods

He glanced at Alice who was smiling as she said, "For what it's worth, you've got my vote."

"Gee, looks like it's unanimous," Wade said as though it was some kind of death sentence. "Guess I'm stuck with you then."

"Wade!" Colby said the way teenagers do when something like happens. "You tease too much!"

"Sorry. It'll never happen again," he said.

"I see your fingers crossed!" Emma called out as she pointed to them.

"Dang! I am SO busted!" Wade said before bending down and giving the little girl a big hug. "So it's okay if I'm your mom's boyfriend?"

"Duh!" she said as though he were the child.

"Okay. Boyfriend it is!" he said as they all got back in the car.

There was almost no time the new couple wasn't together after that, unless, of course, Wade was working, and even then Colby came by to have lunch with him each day. She was feeling guilty about him spending so much money on her, and a week or so later told him she was going to get a job.

"That's up to you, but I love spending my money on you," he told her.

"I'm glad, but I need money of my own. Living rent-free is nice, but I have a daughter to feed and clothe and bills to pay. I'm month-to-month on my apartment in Los Angeles, so that was paid through the end of November. I called this morning to tell them I won't be back, and let them know they can keep the crappy furniture and whatever else is left. I brought what little jewelry and nicer things we have with us, so...that's behind me."

"Well, I got a call this morning and I heard the paperwork you need is ready to be picked up, so we can go to the bank anytime you like. And you could, of course, use some of that money to tide you over until you have income of your own."

Colby was so smitten with this younger man she barely heard what he said. She did smile, though, and tell him she thought he was wonderful.

"Or...you could come to work at the store so my mom can go back to being home which is what she'd prefer even though she'd never admit it."

"So...you'd be my boss?" Colby asked with a smile.

"Um...I prefer to say I'd be your employer," he told her.

"You wouldn't get sick of seeing me all day?"

"Uh-uh. Not a chance."

"Are there any...benefits...that come with this job?" she asked, trying not to smile.

"Oh, yes. Lots of them. Healthcare, dental, and um...much, much more."

"I like the 'much more' part. A lot," she told him.

"How much more is up to you, of course," Wade said.

"I don't like limiting benefits. I mean, who would, right?" she said as she reached for his hand.

"So maybe we could get away for a day or two? We could...go to the city...and you could um, collect some of those benefits."

"I thought you didn't like the city?" Colby teased, as her brain flooded her body with pleasant feelings.

"Well, not to live in. But say, a weekend in Portland maybe? I think I could handle that."

Colby snuggled up close, kissed him softly then said, "I'm all yours."

Alice was beyond thrilled to watch Emma for the weekend, and she and Susan had plans to get together and sew, something both of them loved to do. Emma was excited about learning how, and each of them was looking forward to those two-plus days for very different reasons.

Before they left town, Colby transferred the title of the house into her name, but held off on taking the loan.

"At least until after the New Year," she told Mr. Sinclair who didn't ask why. Nor did Wade who was with her the entire time.

The house was the last thing on their minds that weekend as they spent nearly all of it in bed in the four-star hotel they stayed in. Although Colby was initially concerned about the kinds of things any woman would worry about, Wade didn't care about them. He told her the faded stretch marks on her tummy were beautiful. He assured her her lack of anything much 'upstairs' not only didn't matter but that he found her perfect just the way she was.

By the time they left she let herself believe every word he said and reveled in the amazing body of the younger man who loved her the way she'd longed to be loved for so very long.

They were having brunch around 10am before they headed back to John Day, and as they were eating and talking about what a wonderful time they had, Wade got very serious.

"What? What is it?" Colby asked.

"I know you'll think I've lost my mind, but if I don't say this, my head's going to explode."

"Say what?" she asked praying he hadn't had a change of heart that was causing him to want to slow things down or...worse.

He reached across the table for her hand then more seriously than he'd ever been with her, he said, "Colby? I love you. And...I'm...in love...with you. Crazy in..."

Before he could finish speaking, she slid out of her chair and onto his lap and kissed him, causing heads to turn.

"I love you, too!" she told him as tears filled her eyes. "I love you like...crazy."

"So I'm not the only one who's lost his mind?" Wade asked as she looked down into his eyes.

"No. I'm right there with you," she told him.

"I think I fell in love with you the moment you...accused me of stealing," he told her, trying not to smile.

"Oh! Don't you dare bring that up again!" she said playfully pretending to be angry.

"Well, you did do that," he reminded her.

"But you still love me, right?" she asked, again like a much younger girl would.

"With all my heart...honey," he told her as he kissed her again.

On the drive home, Wade said, "Christmas is just two weeks away. Can you believe it?"

"Right. Yes, I've been thinking about that a lot. And wondering how I'm going to buy presents for everyone. Guess I should go back and take that loan, huh?"

"That's up to you, but I want you to know I have everything I could ever want for Christmas, Colby."

He looked over at her, smiled, then said, "Between you and Emma, I couldn't possibly ask for anything more."

Colby teared up again as she reached for his hand.

"I feel exactly the very same way, sweetheart. I am so happy it seems like some kind of dream. My mom is back in my life, I'm staying in a place that's safe, and the most amazing man in the world loves me."

"And your daughter," Wade told her with a smile.

"What more could I want?" she asked, her heart full and her life back.

Wade convinced her to let him foot the bill for Christmas presents, but Colby insisted she'd pay him back—along with the cost of the thermostat, of course. What she didn't know was that Wade had no intention of taking any money from her. In fact, he had something else in mind.

All of them were together for the first time on Christmas Eve at the Orr home, and after the women spent the day baking and cooking, they had an amazing dinner together where everyone felt like family that had known each other forever.

The next morning, they were all up early so Emma could open the half dozen gifts sitting under the tree at her great-grandmother's house. The adults agreed just one present per adult with everything else going to Emma, and they sat back and watched her excitement grow each time she opened something up.

She unfailingly hugged every person after every gift, and when the last one was opened, she said, "Mom. Open yours."

Wade suggested everyone else go first, and that's when Colby's heart began pounding in her chest.

Susan opened her gift. Then Alice opened hers.

Wade opened his and found a lace heart on a piece of paper that said:

To Wade Orr. The man with the funny name. The man I love. I'm too poor to buy you anything nice, but this is my way of showing you my heart belongs to you. I love you, sweetheart, and I always will. With all my love, Colby.

It got very quiet when they saw Wade blinking fast.

"That furnace must be on the blink again," he said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Mom? Why is Mr. Funny Name crying?" Emma asked innocently.

Wade smiled then answered for her.

"I'm not crying, honey. I'm just happy. Happier than I've been," he told Emma as he smiled at her.

Colby smiled at him and mouthed the words, "I love you!"

"Emma? Can you sit down by your mom and help her open her gift, please?" Wade asked.

"Okay!" she eagerly agreed.

"It's big!" Emma said as they opened it. But there was another smaller box inside the big box.

"Hey! What gives?" Emma asked.

When they opened it and found another, Colby's heart was on the verge of exploding. When they got to the last one, a very small one, Wade got on one knee between them and said, "Go ahead. Open it."

Colby's hands were shaking so badly she told Emma, "You open it, okay, honey?"

When she did, there was a small, white box.

"What's this?" Emma asked.

"Oh, my..." Colby said as her daughter opened it.

"I think it's for you, Mom," she said as she moved her toward her mother.

"May I?" Wade asked.

Emma handed it to him and Wade removed the ring.

"Colby? I may be setting some kind of record for moving too fast in a relationship, but..."

Colby was openly crying, and Emma put her arms around her just as Susan and Alice came over and set on either side of them. The two women were all smiles as Wade continued.

"My whole life changed the day I first saw you. You know, when you..."

"Don't you dare!" Colby tried to say as she choked back tears.

Wade laughed then finished.

"I love you more than I've ever loved anyone."

He looked at Emma then said, "And Mr. Funny Name loves you, too, sweetie."

"So...if you two will have me, I would be honored to be your husband and stand-in dad."

Wade looked into the teary eyes of the woman he loved, smiled, then asked, "Colby Sellars? Will you marry me?"

Colby nearly kicked the man she loved as her feet did a 'pepper step' dance on the floor as she choked out the word, "YES!"

Wade asked Emma to help him, and together, they slid the ring on her mother's finger.

Colby held it out for everyone to see, and at that moment everyone had the same idea.

"Group hug!"

There were tears all around as this new family forged a bond of love that lasted for the rest of their lives.

*****

Colby never did go to work for her fiancé. She also didn't take the loan on the house. She did, however, offer it to her mother who was thrilled to take it 'as is'. She wouldn't own the house to avoid paying a gift tax, but she was able to live there for free as long as she paid for any maintenance costs.

After the first of the year Wade got a loan himself, and with the money he'd saved, began building a house for his new family. Colby helped him plan it, and in the end, it was a modest-but-beautiful place that was finished the following summer.

Colby's father came back to John Day with his new wife when Wade married the love of his life the next month, and for a few days, Colby's world was as close to what it had once been as it had been in over a decade.

And a year later, they welcomed another member of the family when a healthy baby boy they named Benjamin Paul was born to his beautiful, 40-year old mother, Colby Orr.

As they spent their first Christmas together, someone mentioned 'grandmother's house' and without further prompting, Emma and her mom and new dad all start singing, "Over the river and through the woods..." the way they'd done before they ever dreamed they would one day become a happy, loving family.

When Benjamin made happy baby noises as though he were singing along, the other three all looked at him and then at each other and smiled. No one needed to say a word because the way they looked at one another with so much love said it all.