He took her hand, and together, they walked to the lake. The sky was a beautiful cornflower blue, and birds were chirping as he led her to a fallen log and they sat down together.

"Something happened to me in Vietnam," said Stephen, after working up the courage. "A grenade blew up in my chest. For a long time, they didn't know whether or not I'd even live."

"Oh, my God!" Laura cried. "I had no idea! Well, I sure am glad you lived!"

"I am, too - I suppose." He couldn't meet her eyes.

"You suppose?" Laura frowned. "Aren't you glad to be alive?"

"In a way, yes. But - " He sighed. "I've been dreading this moment ever since I woke up. You see - I have some pretty bad scars from my injury. Could you ever love - this?"

He unbuttoned his shirt and removed it, exposing the uneven skin underneath. Gone was the formerly smooth texture of the skin of his chest. In its place were the long, worm-like scars of healed lacerations, the pits and valleys of puncture wounds.

Laura gasped as tears filled her eyes.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked.

"Not really. It itches sometimes, but I know how bad it looks. I was afraid - well, I was afraid of what you'd think when you saw it."

"It must have hurt awful bad when it happened."

"I don't remember. I was unconscious for a long time, but it did hurt like the dickens when I finally woke up."

"I'll bet it did!" said Laura. "I'm sure glad you're better now!"

"Thanks. So am I." They were silent for a long time, just sitting there, listening to the chirping birds and watching the butterflies dart about, until at last Stephen spoke again.

"So do you think you could love me, even with my chest all scarred up?"

"Of course I could!" Laura replied. "You're still the same person you were before you left for Vietnam. You got hurt doing a very brave thing, and I respect you for that. I love you just as much as I did before, if not even more!"

"Thanks, Laura." Stephen grinned as relief swept over him. "I was so hoping you'd say that. I love you, too." He slipped to one knee. "Will you marry me?"

"Oh, yes!" They were the words she'd been waiting to hear for two years.


Stephen and Laura were married beside the lake, underneath the same shade tree Matthias and Ginny had wed beneath seven years before. The sun shone bright, and Reverend March was there to perform the ceremony again.

Tears rolled down Elizabeth's face as she watched Paul lead his daughter to Stephen, standing across from the minister. He returned to his wife's side and grasped her hand as the ceremony began.

Stephen lifted Laura's veil and kissed her, and the young couple turned around to face their families and friends. As they walked to Stephen's car, everyone threw rice at them.

"I just can't believe my baby's all grown up and married now!" Elizabeth cried.

"It seems only yesterday she was learning to walk, doesn't it?" Paul remarked.

"And Jakob starts school in the fall," Elizabeth continued. "Time just goes by so fast!"

"It sure does," Paul agreed.

"You will be all right, won't you?" she asked Max, who would be spending his first night alone in the duplex tonight.

"Of course I will," he replied. "Don't worry about me, Mom."

Elizabeth couldn't help the flicker of worry that crossed her face as she kissed her older son's cheek.

"He'll be fine," said Paul, but she noticed how he watched Max for an extra few seconds before taking her hand and heading home.

"Laura's going to spend the night with Stephen tonight, isn't she, Mama?" asked Jakob.

"Yes," Elizabeth told him. "They're going to Tennessee for their honeymoon, and then they'll come back and live together in their own house. That's what people do after they get married."

"Hm." Jakob's brow creased. "So you're gonna be the only girl in the family from now on, huh, Mama?"

Paul and Elizabeth laughed.

"Yes, I'm the only girl from now on," Elizabeth told her son.

"Won't you be lonely?" he asked.

"Why would I be lonely with you and Amon and your Dad around?" she replied.

She accidentally set an extra plate at dinner that night, and later, Paul found her staring forlornly at the closed door of Laura's empty room. He went to her and hugged her from behind.

"Is the only girl in the family feeling lonely?" he asked as he kissed her neck.

"Not anymore," she replied as she turned to meet his lips.