Star
"Darling, what on earth are you doing out here? It's freezing, and it's starting to snow again."
Trish zipped up her coat and stepped out on the porch where her son was leaning against the railing, gazing off into the distant night sky. She saw him snap a small black box closed between his fingers and quickly slip it into his pocket.
"Just…thinking, Mom."
"About?"
Harm didn't answer, but it wasn't hard for Trish to guess.
"Your father?" she asked.
The pained look on his face told her that she had guessed correctly. She moved to her son's side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"Mom, sometimes I just wonder," Harm began quietly, "if he were still here…what it would be like to talk to him."
Trish sighed. "I wonder the same thing, darling."
She squeezed his arm gently and rested her head against his shoulder. Mother and son stood in silence for a moment, both lost in memories of the man they had loved so much.
"Darling, how long have you been carrying around that ring?"
"What?"
Trish smiled devilishly.
"A while now," Harm admitted. "Guess that's kind of what I wanted to talk to Dad about."
"Oh, darling," Trish breathed. She grabbed both of her son's arms and turned him towards her. "If you want to ask Mac to marry you, there is no one who would be happier for you than your father. Except for maybe your mother."
She had expected him to laugh at her eagerness to marry him off, but instead his eyes clouded over, and he turned away silently, torn between wanting to believe his mother and wishing he could hear the actual words from his father.
The snow was barely falling now, a quiet winter stillness overtaking the endless black sky, when a sudden flash of light streaked through the darkness.
"Mom, I think that was a shooting star."
Trish hugged her son tightly. "No, darling, I think that was your father's blessing."
