Page 68 of My Vows Are Sealed

She giggled quietly as she pulled on one of the ends of the sloppy bow to untie the twine and took the top off the box, then covered a gasp with one of her hands as she pulled the thin silver chain out and looked at a much more feminine version of my nail cross necklace. Knowing how much she loved the one I wore, I’d paid my aunt to make this one for her, and she’d done an amazing job. Darla’s necklace was made with small silver nails, like you’d hang a picture with, and there was a peridot stone, which was her birthstone, in the middle.

“I remembered you saying how much you liked the necklace my aunt made me, so I had her make you one too,” I explained.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I love it. Thank you.”

She unfastened the clasp and went to put it on, but she couldn’t quite manage to re-fasten it, so I took it from her and did the honors, kissing her shoulder. And that was when I realized that she’d have to find a way to explain it to her dad. Damn it. Maybe giving her something like this wasn’t the best idea.

“What are you going to tell your dad if he asks about it?” I asked her.

“I’ll just tell him it was part of our Secret Santa thing in youth group. I can hide it for another day, since we’re doing the gift exchange this Sunday,” she said with a smile.

“Who’d you get?” I wondered.

“Alex. What Iwantedto do was give him a gift card to a restaurant and tell him to ask Naomi out already, but I didn’t.”

I laughed quietly. I’d also kind of been wondering why he didn’t just admit he had a thing for Naomi and stop tap-dancing around it. He’d been laying it on pretty thick in youth group, and apparently he was more interested in talking to her than his actual date when the gang ran into him at the movie theater this afternoon.

But, then again, this was Alex. He never dated a girl for longer than a couple of months because the second it got too real, he’d break it off. So, if his feelings for Naomi were even half as strong as my feelings for Darla, it probably scared the hell out of him. I had a feeling it’d happen eventually, but it’d take a little while for him to accept the idea.

“So, what’d you get him?” I asked her.

“I’ll tell you after you open your present. Because it’s kind of similar,” she chuckled as she handed me the box.

As quietly as possible, I untied the ribbon, then tried to un-tape the wrapping paper instead of ripping it to minimize the possibility of her parents hearing anything. I found a plain cardboard box taped shut with Scotch tape, so I opened it, and what I found completely blew me away.

Darla had taken big, thick, cast-iron nails and wrapped them together with heavy-duty wire to form the letters B and N, then wrapped the two letters together. She’d even somehow managed to bend the nails to form the curves of the B. And she’d put a small hook on the back so it could be hung or mounted on something.

“I figured you guys could put that on your cabinet when you’re done painting it,” she told me. “It was kind of inspired by your necklace, actually.”

“It’s amazing, baby.” I set it back in the box and turned her head for a kiss. “I love it, and Nate will too. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She scooted closer to me and hugged my arm as she rested her head on my shoulder. “So, I made Alex a football with the same materials. I ended up with atonof extra nails and wire, so it was super easy to do. Except his is mounted on a bigger frame with a bar going across the middle because I needed something to attach the laces to.”

“He’ll love that,” I told her.

She sighed. “I just…I wish we didn’t have to do this in secret. I wish I didn’t have to lie to my dad about where this necklace came from. I wish you didn’t have to sneak in my window at night just so we can spend time together. That’s all I really want for Christmas, and it can never happen.”

My heart squeezed, and after the emotional day I’d already had, I had to blink back more tears. I felt her pain more than she knew, because I hated this too. But the one thing that gave me hope and kept me going was knowing that this was only temporary.

“It’s not forever, Dar,” I whispered, pulling away from her so I could look into her eyes. “I’m not going to lie and say the next few years are going to be easy, because they aren’t. But you know what?”

“What?” she mumbled.

“We’ll get through it,” I vowed. “Together. And in the end, it’ll all be worth it. I promise you, we’ll get our happy ending, no matter how much we have to fight for it. Because I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.”

Part II

When the Mountains Fall

May-August 2001

Chapter 19

Brendan

Love Only Knows

“Ready to head out?” Alex asked me as he removed his hardhat and gloves.

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