The Bouquets

Shane Gray and Katie Cook were friends the first time they met in junior high. He was awkward, yet funny, with a round face of squishy cheeks and a slight double chin. She was shy beyond belief, but once she came out of her shell, the room lit up with her high-voltage smile and laugh like wind chimes in a soft breeze. Her hair was soft and strawberry blonde, and it framed her face in perfect ringlets when she wasn’t trying to hide behind it.

Of course, the first few years contained no romantic connection between the two of them. Most afternoons they went to Shane’s house and Mrs. Gray made them cookies while Katie helped him through the math homework; Katie was exceptionally bright at math. The problem certainly wasn’t that Shane didn’t understand; he just didn’t care enough to write out all his work. So, he would lose an x, a four, or some other value, and, without any work, it was extremely difficult for his mother, the teacher, or anyone besides Katie to help him. In the same way that only Katie understood his math, only Shane understood Katie’s deepest thoughts because only he took the time to listen. He saw past her shyness and realized that she had a lot to say, but needed someone to encourage her to use her voice, since she didn’t get much attention from her foster parents or the other foster children in her house. By the beginning of junior high, she’d lived in eight different foster homes before being placed in a stable, but overcrowded one. It wasn’t ideal, but she’d lived in worse places. She did all she could to stay in that one home after meeting Shane.

They survived junior high and started high school as nothing more than friends, but by junior year Shane’s compassion had yielded a noticeable change in Katie’s confidence. One day, when she walked into the cafeteria, Shane noticed heads turn to watch her pass. He was struck with an immense jealousy he could not explain. For some reason, he hated the boys who watched her float across the room. He didn’t think any of them would treat her like the princess she was, and he realized that his feelings had morphed from friendship to love.

Katie had a similar moment the same day in the locker room after gym. A few of the girls were whispering about how attractive Shane had become over the summer, and suddenly Katie realized that Shane’s double chin and round cheeks had melted away in the last two months because of soccer conditioning and a sudden growth spurt. She hated their lilting voices, talking about him like he was an object to be admired and then thrown away when a better version came out. The more she thought about what they were saying, she began to wonder why she had never thought of him as a future boyfriend.

They walked to Shane’s house that afternoon in silence, both wrestling with these new feelings that had suddenly bubbled up while trying to act normal. In the middle of their math homework, Shane leaned over and kissed Katie’s cheek. She was shocked at first but kissed his cheek too, and then he turned just enough for them to kiss softly. They both sat back suddenly, shocked by how quickly things had changed. The silence seemed to last for an eternity, neither wanting to reveal how overjoyed they were. Shane was the one who broke the silence.

“So,” he whispered, “do you want to be my girlfriend?” Breathless, Katie simply nodded.

It was a surprisingly simple transition for them. They’d already been close friends, and everyone at school had already suspected they were a couple. Now, there was just romance and flirting involved: Shane treated Katie like a princess, and she flourished from the attention of her Prince Charming. Shane even brought her flowers for her locker every Monday morning.

“You deserve to have something to brighten your day the way you brighten mine,” he would tell her when she playfully protested. She returned the favor by making him snacks once a week. They dated for the rest of high school, and they were voted cutest couple for their senior class.

Two days after they graduated, Katie turned eighteen, and her foster parents made her move out; Shane and his parents set up an apartment over their garage for her to use until she could get her own apartment. For college, Katie stayed local because she couldn’t afford anything other than the state school without any parental help. Plus, Shane’s parents offered to let her stay in the garage apartment to avoid paying for room and board on the college campus. Because she loved working with children, she was getting a degree in education, concentrating in math for junior high and high school. Meanwhile, Shane went off to college, three hours away. He was studying political science and planned to attend law school after his undergraduate work. They called each other every evening and would talk for hours on end. Most nights Katie wouldn’t get to sleep until after midnight, and Shane would stay up even later because unlike Katie, who was a master at multitasking, he put off his evening homework until he’d hung up with Katie. Despite the hardships of distance, they maintained their relationship, and every summer they went for a week to Shane’s grandma’s cottage and relaxed by the lake. They stargazed on the shore and listened to the sounds of the waves lapping against the rocks. It was beautiful and peaceful when college was a hurricane that tried to tear them apart.

After college, Katie began renting her own apartment, and she was starting a job teaching math in the same junior high where she’d met Shane. Shane planned to start law school closer to home. They spent the summer together, but this year they visited New York City. While they were there, Shane proposed in Times Square under all the lights. She, of course, accepted and began to look for a job closer to where Shane went to school. They set a wedding date for the next summer but did not foresee how much their lives would change in January.

Katie’s half-sister and her husband died in a car accident on January 3rd. Their will stated that their three-year-old, Fiona, would be in Katie’s care if anything happened to them. So one chilly January morning, Katie entered the courthouse as an aunt and left a legal guardian.

She wrote Shane a letter; she couldn’t bear hearing him break-up with her over the phone. Although she knew Shane loved her, she’d always struggled to trust that he wouldn’t leave her because of all the foster homes she had been shuttled into and out of before meeting him. Now, with this sudden change, she was terrified of what he would do.

Dear Shane,

You knew my sister and brother-in-law named me as Fiona’s legal guardian in their will, but I was officially appointed this morning. I am responsible for a three-year-old. This will throw our whole world upside down, but you know I would never want her to go through foster-care like I did. If you don’t want to move forward with the wedding plans, I completely understand. Being my husband now will make you an automatic dad. If you’re not ready, I don’t want you to feel pressured to go through with anything. Let me know what you decide.

Love always,

Katie

The next three days were agonizing because she knew he hadn’t received the letter yet. She was withdrawn during their nightly phone calls, even when Shane would ask what was bothering her. She was also adjusting to taking care of a little child. She had to get a booster seat for her car, and she moved Fiona’s bed, toys, and a few other objects into her already tiny bedroom.

On the fourth day, the phone rang earlier than usual, and her caller ID said it was Shane. She picked up hesitantly, worried that this would be too much for him to handle.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Katie, I got your letter,” he paused. “And the only thing that’s hard for me to handle is the fact that you thought I might even consider booting you out of my life just because of something we weren’t expecting.”

Katie’s eyes filled with tears as she let out a sigh of relief.

“No one… else...ever...stayed,” she bawled, suddenly remembering how loyal he’d been with the weekly flowers in high school. She felt so stupid for doubting him now.

“Honey, no one else ever really loved you like I do,” he whispered. “I promise you I won’t walk away. I wouldn’t have proposed if I wasn’t fully ready to make that commitment to you.”

Tears of relief streamed down Katie’s face; she had never felt so loved in her life.

“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” That was all she could get out because of her tears.

“And Katie,” he finished “I’m coming home this weekend. I think it would be good for you, me, and Fiona, to go somewhere together because we’ll all have to adjust to this new dynamic.”

That Saturday, Katie bundled Fiona in a purple snowsuit and drove to the Gray’s house. Shane’s yard was small, but it did have a hill covered in snow from an overnight flurry. Shane had pulled out his old sled. Katie got out and kissed him, and then she walked slowly around to the door where Fiona’s car seat was.

“Now, Shane, she’s always been shy, but even more so after the accident. It may take her some time to get used to you. Don’t be offended,” she warned.

Shane nodded and rubbed his gloved hands nervously together. He wanted Fiona to like him. His marriage literally depended on it. Katie opened the door and unbuckled Fiona from her car seat and helped her down to stand in the driveway. Two strawberry blonde ringlets, almost identical to Katie’s, poked out from underneath Fiona’s bunny hat. Her cheeks were bright red and chubby, and she smiled timidly at Shane before hiding behind Katie’s legs and wrapping her little mittened hands around Katie’s knees. Katie laughed, untangled herself, and knelt down to Fiona’s level.

“Fiona,” she whispered, “this is Aunt Katie’s fiancé, Shane. He’s not scary, ok?”

Fiona hesitated but then nodded.

“Do you want to play on the sled he found for you?”

Another nod, this one much faster.

“Alright, let’s go,” Shane said.

He dragged the sled up to the top of the hill, and Katie carried Fiona. At the top, Katie crawled on the sled and clung to Fiona as Shane pushed the sled. Fiona screamed and giggled all the way to the bottom, where she cried “‘gain, ‘gain”. On Fiona’s fifth ride down the hill, Katie asked if Shane could ride down with her, and Fiona nodded, but just as Katie pushed, Fiona started crying. Shane took it in stride and started making rocket noises as he and Fiona sailed down the hill. By the time they reached the bottom, she was all giggles again. She even asked Shane to ride with her again because Aunt Katie didn’t make funny noises.

An hour later, they went inside to eat lunch. Afterwards, Shane took Fiona into the living room and turned on the television to watch a soccer game. Within five minutes Fiona fell asleep curled on his lap. When Katie came in with a bag of popcorn, she sat next to Shane and whispered, “I think we’ll make it through.”