"Can't do what?"

"This. This reliving of what happened. It isn't going to change anything, and it's not going to bring her back. You said so yourself at the beach that nothing would bring her back, and it's as if you have moved on and just left me behind to be the only one remembering her. Bringing it all up again isn't going to help me feel better".

"Nobody has left you behind. But we have to find a happy medium. We have to remember her but we have to be happy too".

"Yeah, well, since you are disgusted by my scar from the incision where we lost her, I don't see that happening".

"I am not disgusted by anything about you, honest. If I was, do you think I would have asked you to marry me?"

"You rolled away from me, after you asked me to marry you, and after I said yes".

"Because you were upset and I didn't want to make it worse".

"Look, this is precisely why I said I didn't want to talk about it. We aren't getting anywhere at all".

"I promise you, I wasn't trying to be insensitive, and I'm sorry you thought I was. I love you, babe, you know that. I would never hurt you, not for anything".

She nodded. "I know you wouldn't purposely hurt me".

She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Can I ask you something else?"

She nodded.

"What upset you at the overlook?"

She sat up and dug out her camera.

"This".

She showed him the picture of the plaque that said Charlotte's Pass.

"And then I got out of the car and tried to tell you to come on. You're right, that was insensitive. I'm sorry".

"It's ok. I needed to get out of there, I just didn't want to, because I don't know when I'll go back. And in that one spot, there was lily of the valley and her name."

He didn't know what to say so he just held her and occasionally kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry I ruined our engagement night by getting mad at you".

"You didn't ruin anything".

"I don't want to tell you that we can't talk about her. I don't think that's the right approach. But then when we do talk about her, or I see a reminder of her, it's like a knife to the stomach every single time. So, I'm not ok with always talking about her and I'm not ok with not talking about her ever because she deserves to be remembered".

"That's why I said we needed to find a balance."

"How do we do that?"

"We are going to have to enlist a professional for that".

She nodded.

She laced her fingers through his and sat there staring straight ahead.

She finally turned to him.

"When do you want to get married?"

"Whenever you do. How long do you want to wait?"

"I don't know. Whenever it comes together, I suppose. All I know is that I want us to get married in a unique place, not necessarily exotic, but just not a plain setting".

"Whatever you want, is what we will do".

She turned to him and smiled.

"I love you".

"There's that gorgeous smile. I've missed that".

She kissed him.

"Are things busy at the office right now?"

"Not terribly, why?"
"Because, I was thinking we could take a trip somewhere, if you wanted".

"We can definitely do that".

She squeezed his hand and looked at him.

"You have done so much for me and planned so much for us. Let me plan this for us, ok?"

"Sure".

"So, just tell me how long you can get away from the office, and I'll go from there".

"I could do a Wednesday thru Sunday right now".

"Perfect".

She got up and went to the bathroom, and then decided to lay down.

"Are you feeling ok?"
"I have a slight headache, that's all".

He went and laid down with her and rubbed her back for her till she fell asleep.

She was able to sleep for about an hour, and then Jonathan woke her up because they were about to land.

"Feeling any better?"

"A little."

"Good. Because we have an evening of surprises ahead of us".

"More surprises? You are something else".

She leaned forward and kissed him.

He helped her get her stuff together, and they deplaned, and went to the car Max left for them.

He opened the door for her and after she got settled, he went and got in on his side.

"Ok darling, blindfold time".

He slipped a blindfold on her and then held her hand as he drove them towards the surprise.

She was trying to figure it out as they drove.

"So, I'm assuming we landed in Los Angeles. So, that means we could be going to dinner….or the opera…..or a game of some kind, or maybe a concert….Darling, squeeze my hand if I'm on the right track".

"No hints, babe."

"Can you tell me what time it is?"

"No, I'm sorry. That might give it away".

She kept thinking as they drove and then she felt the car slow down.

He parked, and leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"No peeking".

He came around and helped her out of the car, and then led her to where he had planned for her to see the surprise.

"Ok, just a minute and it will be ready".

He walked away from her, and then walked back.

He took the blindfold off.

"Ok, open your eyes".

She looked around and saw that they were in a house. Some of the furniture she recognized from his house, and some looked like hers.

"Is this our house?"

He nodded.

He walked over and turned off the Christmas lights and turned on the real ones, and she realized they were standing in the Willow Pond house.

"How did you…?"

"I kept upping my offer till they accepted".

"But honey, you liked the other one better".

"I did. But Jennifer, I remember the day we came and looked at the houses, and the look on your face when you saw this house in no way compared to the look on your face when you saw the other house. You fell in love with this house, and I like it too, so I kept offering on this one".

"You did that for me?"

He nodded.

"I did it for us".

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him.

"And the best part is….we can stay here tonight, because it's officially ours. All we have to do is go to Kelly's office tomorrow so you can sign the papers."

"That's all?"

"Well, that and finish the pool."

"Thank you".

They shared several sweet kisses, and then he led her to the kitchen.

He had hired a private chef to cook them dinner, which he had left for them on the stove. They were going to eat by candlelight, out on the patio.

He turned to her.

"So, I hired a moving company to unpack for us and to work with the decorator to arrange the house as best they could. They also brought everything from the hotel that was ours, so it's all upstairs. If you want, we can put on our pajamas and then eat".

"Oh, perfect idea".

He held her hand as they walked upstairs and discovered where their clothes were. They both changed into some pajamas and then went back downstairs.

"Is Max here?"

"He went to Santa Clarita for the races. He'll be back in a couple days".

They took everything to the patio table and he opened them a bottle of wine.

"Looks like the chef made us steak, lobster and shrimp skewers with basmati rice, and a marinated chopped salad".

"Smells amazing".

They had a very romantic dinner and then did the dishes together. Just like always, he washed and she dried. They chose together where to put things away.

After they were finished, he took her hand and led her to the living room.

He put the blindfold back on her.

"Time for the next surprise".

He picked her up and carried her all around the house before finally bringing her back to the same place and then leading her into the office.

He turned on the office light, and then he took the blindfold off.

She looked around in amazement.

"So, I contacted someone at the LA Times, and asked them what they would need to fully work from their home if they wanted to. And, well, all of what they said is here. Everything is top of the line. I even put you in a separate phone line in case you needed it. You have a computer, printer, word processing machine, and typewriter. This whole office is all yours".

She had tears streaming down her face.

"What is it, isn't this what you would need?"

"It's perfect. Nobody else has ever done anything like this for me, honey. Any of it. I mean, you took me on a hot air balloon ride to propose to me, and you bought a house for us just because I love it, and you furnished an office for me so that I can work from home, and the truth is, I don't deserve any of it. I'm so blessed to have you".

She leaned forward and kissed him and then hugged him for a long time.

"So, the decorator is coming tomorrow, and she wants to do a walk-through with you room by room, so that you can decide if something needs to be moved or changed or whatever you want".

She nodded.

"And now it's time for the last surprise".

He took her hand and led her to the kitchen, and out the side door.

"Close your eyes".

She did, and he led her around to the carport.

After he had her in the perfect position, he kissed her on the cheek.

"Open your eyes".

She opened her eyes to find a gorgeous cranberry red BMW convertible with a big bow on it.

"For me?"

He nodded.

"Max is going to take you to the DMV when he gets home, so that you can get your license switched over. And then once we are married, your license plate can say 'Mrs. H.' if you want it to".

"Thank you, Mr. H."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You are going to make me spoiled, Mr. H."

"My pleasure".

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her through the house.

"Where are we going?"

"Upstairs, babe".

He carried her up the stairs and gently laid her down on the bed.

She looked around the room.

"No skylight. That's good".

"The roof also passed inspection by two different inspectors".

"Wonderful. Maybe, just maybe, we have put all of that past us".

He laid down next to her.

"Thank goodness you didn't run screaming for the hills when the roof collapsed".

"It never crossed my mind. Although I was thinking about taking you to a hospital".

He moved to lay down beside her and she nestled herself onto his shoulder.

"Honey, we need to go visit my father and talk to him about the wedding".

"We can definitely do that".

She started kissing his neck.

"And then we have to take that trip that I'm going to plan".

"We can definitely do that too".

She moved her kisses to his chest and started playing with his chest hair while she was kissing him.

"And we should probably christen this bed here in our new house".

"No, we can't do that".

She looked at him sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"Just seeing if you are paying attention".

He rolled her onto her back, and swung a leg over top of hers.

She played with his hair a minute while he stared into her eyes.

"I adore you".

He kissed her tenderly, and then ran his hands up under her pajama shirt.

She started unbuttoning his pajama top and shrugged it off his shoulders.

He got her pajama top unbuttoned and focused his attention on her breasts.

After a few minutes he moved back up to her neck, and kissed her in that one spot near her ear that he knew she loved.

He peeled her pink lace panties off her and she started pushing his pajama pants down his legs. He finished taking them off and then returned to focusing on her.

He held her tight as he kissed her with fervid passion, and she rubbed her hands up and down his back.

She framed his face with her hands as they kissed, and he used his knee to separate her legs.

She threw one of her legs over his hip, as he roughly joined their bodies together. He wound her hair through his fingers as he thrust in and out of her.

"Jona….than….."

"Ok, baby".

He quickly led them to mutual release, and then satisfied her again.

They laid there cuddling afterwards, his head on her chest.

She scratched his back and kissed his forehead.

"Honey, can you grab the covers?"

"Certainly".

He pulled the covers up over them, and they snuggled up and fell asleep together.

***The next morning***

Jonathan woke up before Jennifer, and quietly slipped out of the bed. She woke up as he was coming back in the room with breakfast in bed for them.

"Morning".

"Morning. Hungry?"

She nodded.

"Wonderful. I made us waffles and bacon and sliced fruit, and coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice".

"You're the best".

She leaned over and kissed him and then they started eating.

"Honey, are you going to the office today?"

"Just for a little bit. Decorator is coming at 10, and then I will be home by 3 so that we can go to Kelly's office so you can sign the papers".

"Perfect".

After they were finished with breakfast, he got in the shower and she took one right after him.

She walked him to the door, and kissed him goodbye.

"I love you, have a great day".

"Love you more, honey. See you this afternoon".

She went to the office and got it set up like she wanted it.

Before she knew it, the decorator was there.

It took them a few hours, but they got most of the house the way she wanted it. She only changed a few things and she ordered some curtains for each of their rooms.

After the decorator left, she started planning the trip she and Jonathan were going to take.

She selected the dates for the trip, and booked it.

She couldn't wait to tell him where they were going.

He got home at 3, and they headed to Kelly's office to sign the papers.

After that was done, they came back to the house, and she made them both a cocktail.

"I planned our trip today, honey".

"Where are we going?"

"Uh uh, it's a surprise."

"When do we leave?"

"In a week".

"Great. I bought you something today".