A/N: Thanks to those who are still reading and reviewing. I'll keep on going, whether I'm just doing it for a couple of people or only me or whatever. I love this fic too much to quit on it ;)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9

"What kinda cake is this again?"

Wade stopped tidying up his father's shack long enough to look over at Earl, who was staring at the piece of wedding cake with a wary eye.

"Chocolate," he told him plainly, though they both knew that wasn't what his dad had meant. "Shape-wise, it was Yoda. That's a character from the Star Wars movies."

"Ah, the little green fella with the ears," said Earl, nodding his head. "Talked kinda backwards."

"That'd be him," Wade agreed, resisting the urge to say that the alien Jedi and his father had that in common sometimes.

Not that he would mean anything much by it, but he figured best not to go in with the smart-alec remarks when he was here looking for help. Maybe help was the wrong word. Maybe advice would be closer to the mark. Maybe Wade was a huge fool for thinking he was going to hear anything at all useful from a man who spent the larger part of his time pickled in whiskey these days, a habit he had been keeping up for years now, but honestly, he had no idea who else to turn to when it came to something like this.

"I will say the bride looked beautiful. Tom Long is one lucky young man, that's for certain," Earl declared then, abandoning the Tupperware container of cake onto the coffee table for now, leaning back in his chair and looking thoughtful. "Last time I saw a bride as pretty was... was your momma."

Wade let out a sigh, certain now that he knew where this conversation was headed. Some place no good, he figured, though a quick glance around the room proved there was no bottle of any kind to hand. Maybe they'd get lucky. Maybe it was one of those rare days when Earl could reminisce about the happier times instead of getting maudlin about how they had come to an end.

"Hey, I got a question about that," said Wade, figuring it was as good a place to start as any.

"What kind of a question?" asked Earl, looking curiously at his son when he dropped down onto the couch beside him.

"About you and Momma, back before you was ever married or anything," he said, trying to gauge if this was a good time to delve deep or not. "I was just thinkin'... how'd you know? I mean, how did you come to be so sure about what the two o' you had, that you went ahead and asked her to marry you?"

The expression on his father's face then was absolutely unreadable. Wade had expected a nostalgic smile or maybe pain and tears. Earl tended to run the gamut from one end of the spectrum to the other, dependent on his mood and how much he had to drink. Today, he seemed on the right side of sober and okay with looking back at the good times at least. Of course, that didn't explain the really weird look on his face.

"Well, here's the thing, son," he said then, strange expression giving way to a smile as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "It wasn't so much me that decided to propose to your momma. It was Jackie that asked me."

Wade was hardly aware his mouth had dropped wide open until his father told him so.

"Okay, you gotta explain that to me," he said then, shaking his head.

Earl settled back against the sofa cushions, eyes fixed on some spot on the far wall, or so it seemed. Wade had a notion he wasn't looking at anything in the room as such, only the past and the day he started to describe in perfect detail.

"They was havin' a cook-out in town's square. Don't remember exactly what it was for, but I was proud as punch to be there with my Jackie on my arm. It'd been a while by then that we was seein' each other, but every day I felt amazed that she wanted to be with me. She was the prettiest, smartest, nicest girl in town, and she had a spark about her that I never saw in another person my whole life. How she come to be in love with the likes o' me, I will never know, but she was, and I couldn'ta loved her more if I tried. 'Course, I was just waitin' for something to go wrong, for her to up and realise she could do better.

"Anyhow, this one day, we spent the whole afternoon in town, with my folks and her folks and friends of ours and all, and then, later on, she puts her hand in mine and she says, 'Maybe we could take a walk someplace else, by ourselves?' Off we went together, on this long walk to no place in particular. Ended up sat down by the water in the tall grass, just my girl and me, watchin' the sunset.

"Then all of a sudden, she turns to me and she says, 'Earl Kinsella, when are you ever gonna get around to asking me to marry you?' Well, you coulda knocked me down with a feather. I never did expect her to say such a thing, not to me. 'Course, I woulda married her in a second, and I told her so. I said, 'Jacqueline Adams, I would marry you tomorrow, if I thought you'd have me.' And she smiled real wide at me and she said, 'Maybe if you asked me, you'd find out that I would.' So, I asked her. Got up on my knee and said, 'Will you marry me, Jackie?' and of course, she said, 'Yes.' The very next day, I took her to the store and we picked her out a ring..."

Getting up from the couch without another word, Earl crossed to the bookshelf on the far wall, picking up an old jewellery box that looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. Wade knew it probably hadn't. It was his momma's own, he knew it well enough, and so, it was no surprise when Earl returned with something he had picked out of it and showed Wade the very engagement ring he just talked about.

"Yes, sir, proudest day of my life when your momma let me put that ring onto her finger," said Earl, swallowing hard as he proffered the same ring in Wade's direction.

He took it because he didn't know what else to do, staring into the cluster of tiny sparkling stones, as Earl let him know he had only three other days when he felt as proud as the day of his engagement. One was his wedding day and the two after that were the days when each of his boys were born.

"It's a real nice ring, Dad," said Wade, finding he had to clear his throat pretty hard before he could go on. "Nice story too. I don't think you ever told it to me before."

"Probably not," Earl agreed. "Most days, I start out remembering the good times, and then..."

"I know." Wade nodded in understanding, his hand on his father's shoulders. "But she would want us to focus on the good memories instead o' the bad. I know that much."

"Yes, she would."

Wade smiled as he looked back down into the glinting stones of the ring. "You know, it's the weirdest thing, but I actually got to thinking..."

He didn't know how to say it, or maybe he did but felt dumb about making the confession that hovered on his tongue yet. Had he seriously considered asking Zoe Hart to marry him? Wade supposed that he had, but he could barely make sense of it himself. They hadn't even known each other two years, hadn't been properly dating for more than a few months. Still, he knew what he felt about her, that it was more than he ever felt for any other person he had ever known.

"Somethin' makes me think that ring will look real nice on the hand of a certain pretty doctor someday soon."

Earl's words startled him from his deep thoughts and Wade looked up at his father very fast. "Hey, I never said..."

"You didn't have to say anythin', son." Earl smiled at him knowingly. "A father knows these things. Even a father who drinks more than he should sometimes," he added awkwardly.

Wade shook his head. "Zoe doesn't even believe in marriage. At least, that's what she always said. I don't know, at Tom and Wanda's wedding, she seemed like maybe she could feel differently about things. She was real happy at the reception, saying how beautiful it all was, how in love the bride and groom were, and how happy she was for 'em both." He heaved a sigh. "I can't ask her. How dumb would I have to be to ask her?" he asked, not really looking for an answer, though he probably should've known he would get one anyway.

"Maybe it's a might early yet, 'specially if she's not the biggest fan o' marriage," Earl considered, "but people change, Wade. Every one of us. Change our minds, change our opinions. There's every chance that the good doctor will come to find she likes the idea of marriage some day. Maybe even some day real soon, now you and she are as close as you are."

He would like to believe that, Wade truly would, even though the whole concept of him even wanting to get married still stretched the mind a bit.

"I did it before," he realised aloud, finding it strange that he had almost forgotten. "If me and Zoe ever went the whole hog like that, wouldn't be my first-time bein' married."

"Oh, hogwash!" Earl all but exploded. "What you had with Tansy, that weren't a marriage. Now, you know I love the girl to death, she has always been a sweetheart, but the two o' you never shoulda got hitched like you did. That was no more a marriage than the moon is a ball o' cheese!"

Wade smiled at the way he said it, unable to keep from doing anything else, but he knew what Earl said was true. When he and Tansy got wed, it was way more about being drunk and crazy than it was about love. True enough that he did love her, in his own way, but not in the way a person should love someone to marry them. Nothing like the way he loved Zoe.

"Seems to me you oughta hold onto that," said Earl then, nodding towards the ring still held in Wade's hand yet. "The pretty doctor may not be ready for it now, and like as not, you ain't quite ready to give it to her, but some day..." he trailed off, no more to say because there was no more that needed to be said, Wade knew.

True enough that if he did ever propose to Zoe, he would love to do it with his momma's ring. Of course, it was also true that now was probably way too soon. Probably. Maybe.

"Thanks, Dad," he said, looking to Earl then. "I mean that. Thank you."

The two of them shared a smile and that was all. Everything that needed to be said certainly had been. There was nothing more to share.

"Oh, good, you're home!" Zoe was so excited to see Wade she could hardly contain herself, leaping up from the gatehouse steps before he was barely out of the car. "You have no idea how hard it has been to sit here and wait for you."

"Well, hell, doc, if I had known you were this desperate to have me home, I'd've come along a whole lot sooner," he told her with that salacious smile that never failed to make her toes curl and her insides flip.

"I wasn't waiting for that," she told him, though she didn't object at all when he pulled her right into his arms and kissed her long and hard on the lips. "I have a surprise for you."

"Okay." Wade nodded, looking equal parts nervous and amused somehow. "What kinda surprise?"

"Come inside and see," she urged him, grabbing a hold of his hand and pulling him up the remainder of the steps and into the gatehouse. "Right there."

She pointed to the table, on which the gift she had got for him sat, covered over by a spare sheet she had brought from her place. Poor Wade looked genuinely confused as he glanced between the table and her, all expectant and yet unsure what to expect, she supposed.

"Okay, ready?" she asked, waiting for him to nod once, before carefully whipping away the sheet and simultaneously hitting the switch.

Standing back then, she watched Wade's expression closely as he took in the specially made neon sign on the table, declaring 'Wade's Place' in bright electric blue letters, with a glass of beer right alongside it.

"Zoe, this is..." he started to say, trailing off right after as he ran one hand over his face.

"Please tell me this is happy stunned and not any other kind," she asked nervously then, unsure what to make of the expression on his face. "Wade?"

"I'm sorry, baby," he told her then, shaking himself out of a daze and finally smiling. "This is great, I mean real great. How did you...?"

"I traced the logo you had drawn in your notebook and took it over to this guy in Mobile who makes this stuff. He's a friend of a friend of a patient. Anyway, I commissioned this a few days ago, paid him a little extra to get it done fast, because once you won Battle of the Bands, I knew for sure the bar was happening, so I really wanted to have it as soon as possible. You do love it, right?"

Suddenly, she had a horrible feeling that she had gone too far, done the wrong thing maybe. Was this putting too much pressure on Wade? Was he mad that she had been poking around in his notebook again? Zoe was sure she didn't breathe for a whole minute at least, until suddenly Wade looked to her and smiled a wide smile.

"C'mere," he urged her, reaching out to pull her into his arms and hug her so tight. "You are just incredible, Zoe Hart. You know that, right?" he asked her, clearly not needing an answer as he immediately continued on. "Thank you so much for this. Seriously, I love it, and I love you," he said as he pulled back to look at her, tucking her hair behind her ear and smiling at her with such affection, she stopped breathing all over again.

"You're welcome," she managed to tell him at last, "and I love you too, you know that. I'm just so happy to know you like the sign."

"Like I said, I love it," he assured her, kissing her temple as they both turned to look at the sign some more, their arms still around each other.

"Then it was worth all the effort," she said definitely, "and honestly, I kind of enjoyed the excuse to go to Mobile and pick it up today. Don't get me wrong, you know I love Tom and Wanda. I am so happy for them, and I totally enjoyed their wedding, but it's as if nobody in this town can talk about anything else! All I've heard for a couple of days now is wedding, marriage, wedding, marriage! It's enough to drive a sane person crazy."

She was laughing when she said it, because it had become sort of ridiculous. That laughter died in Zoe's throat when she looked at Wade then and saw how very serious he looked.

"Oh. Um, are you having second thoughts? About the sign? Because it's no big deal if you changed your mind about the design. I can get another one made, or you could. It's really okay if you just keep this for you and don't ever actually use it at the bar or anything, I don't-"

"Zoe?" he cut in, pulling her around to face him one more time. "Do me one favour?"

"What?" she asked, unsure what was coming next.

"Shut up and kiss me?"

"I can do that," she said happily, pushing herself further into his arms and placing her lips on his own without pause. "Happy now?" she asked when they parted a moment later.

"I'm with you, doc," he said, smiling fondly at her one more time. "'Course I'm happy."

To Be Continued...