Blair decided to continue living in Oklahoma, after all, and soon began dating Grace's brother, Joe Hanadarko. "I never dreamed I could be attracted to someone like him," she told Jo. "He's so totally different from the kind of guy I usually go for."

"It pays to have an open mind," Jo told her friend.

The day before Valentine's Day, Jo found herself wandering around the mall, searching for just the right gift for Doug. A year ago, we barely even knew each other, she reflected. Glancing down at Bethany's sleeping face in her stroller, it occurred to her once again how quickly things could change in a relatively short time.

Strolling into the music store, she remembered how Doug had told her that he was part Seminole. She found a CD of Native American flute music that she thought he might like and bought it. It wasn't exactly romantic, she thought, but it was rather unique. She decided she'd look for a really romantic card to go with it.

The following morning, she awakened at the usual time to feed Bethany and get Doug off to work and Clay and Jamie off to school. Right before Doug left, she handed him the card and the CD, which she'd wrapped in red wrapping paper. "Happy Valentine's Day!" she said.

Doug smiled and opened the card first. "Aw, ain't that sweet!" he exclaimed. Next he opened the CD. "Wow, nobody's ever got me anything like this before!" he exclaimed.

"Do you like it?" Jo asked anxiously.

"I like it!" he replied. "Thanks!" He gave her a quick hug and kiss. "I got you somethin', too," he added. "I'll give it to you this evening, after dinner."

Why not now? Jo wondered, but she didn't say anything. All morning long she wondered what it was that Doug hadn't been able to give her that morning, but by the time he'd returned home that evening, she'd all but forgotten about it.

After dinner, Doug picked up his guitar. "Ready for your Valentine's Day present?" he asked Jo. She nodded. "Here it is," he said. He began to strum his guitar and sing.

There's a woman who means the world to me
Her smile sets my heart aglow
I know our love was meant to be
I want the whole wide world to know

I love you, Jo
I love you, Jo
I love you, Jo

The song had several more verses. When it was finished, Doug put his guitar down and smiled at Jo. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Jo hugged him and kissed his cheek. "It's beautiful! Thank you!"

"You're very welcome." Doug beamed.

"Wow, that was so original!" Jo exclaimed. "Way more so than what I got you."

"What you got me was fine, darlin'," Doug replied. Even so, Jo wished that she could do something creative for him as well. She lay in bed that night thinking about it until an idea came to her.

The following day, she drove to the hobby shop and bought painting supplies. She returned home with them, found her favorite photograph of her husband and herself together, and went to work.

She soon discovered that painting wasn't nearly as easy as it looked on television. A morning and half an afternoon's work resulted in only a badly smudged and slightly lopsided portrayal of herself and Doug. Frustrated, she threw the painting into the trash and went to start dinner.

Doug arrived home at the usual time, kissed his wife, and asked how her day had been. "Oh, busy as usual, you know." Jo tried to sound as casual and nonchalant as she could.

"Is that a fleck of brown paint on your nose?" asked Doug.

Jo shrugged noncommittally.

His suspicion aroused, her husband glanced around the room and noticed that the trash can's lid was slightly awry. "Hey, what's this?" He reached in and pulled out Jo's discarded painting.

"I wanted to do something really special for you, since you wrote a song for me." Jo began to cry. "As you can see, I kind of made a mess of it...I'm s-sorry..."

"Aw, it ain't so bad!" Doug laid the painting down, then went to his wife and held and comforted her. "It was really sweet of you to do that for me, hon. And like I said, it really ain't that bad, not for a first painting."

"You're just trying to be nice," Jo mumbled into the front of his shirt.

"No, I really mean it," Doug insisted. "I'm gonna hang it up in our bedroom."

"You really think it's good enough for that?"

"Heck, yeah! So what if it ain't perfect? It's the thought that counts."

Jo felt a sudden rush of love for her husband. She was happier than ever that she'd met him.