Free Mending Hearts by Brenda Kennedy

the boat and I give Emma her
first lesson in sailing. We sail some before we anchor for the
night. We watch the sunset and make love under the stars. Emma
sleeps and I hold her close.
    We watch the sunrise and have our coffee on
the upper deck. The fish jump and the gators swim lazily in the
water. After breakfast we take turns getting cleaned up in the
small bathroom. We have a light breakfast and lunch. It’s a
leisurely day as Emma reads and sunbathes, while I fish. Emma sails
or tries to and I try hard not to laugh at her attempt.
    I look at my watch; it is 6:00 p.m. “I have
another surprise for you. Do you want it now?” 
    “ Alec, I think this is
enough.” 
    “ It’s already done. The
question is, do you want it now?” 
    She smiles and wraps her arms around my
neck. “Yes, of course,” she says before kissing me. 
    “ We’ll need to head back to
shore.” I turn the boat around to head in the direction of the
house.
    “ Alec, look.”
    I look at Emma — she is pointing at a small
boat that appears to be stranded.
    “ Do they need
help?” 
    I guide our boat in their direction, “Let’s
see if there is a problem,” I say. We learn that the motor quit
working and the stranded boat is waiting on Seatow to arrive to tow
them to their house. We also learn they live a few houses down from
ours. “We are heading in that direction if you want to cancel
Seatow.” 
    “ Are you sure? We don’t want
to put you and your wife out,” the young couple says.
    “ It’s no problem. Besides,
we are already here. Might as well save your money.”
    “ Good point, thank you.” The
guy tosses a rope to me while his wife cancels Seatow. Emma and the
girl talk some while I tow their small boat to the dock of their
house.
    “ Thank you, so much. We
really appreciate it,” the guy says as I toss him his rope. “We
will pay this forward.” 
    “ No problem, have a good
night,” I say as I pull off away from their dock.
    I say to Emma,
“ Pay It Forward was
a very good book and an OK movie that popularized — or maybe even
created — the idea of paying a good deed forward rather than back,
but have you ever seen Bill and Ted’s
Excellent Adventure , starring Alex Winter
and Keanu Reeves?” 
    “ Is that the one that
popularized the saying ‘Party on, dudes’?” 
    “ Yes, but a better saying it
popularized was ‘Be excellent to each other.’” 
    “ One time when we were
living in Fort Drum, New York, Brooke and I went to the commissary
to get some things, and as we were loading up the car we saw an
obese woman crying. We walked over to her and saw that she parked
in a parking spot and the cars on both sides of her car were parked
way too close for her to get into her car. I was pregnant, but
Brooke scooted in between the cars and backed her car up for her so
she was able to get in.” 
    “ Brooke plays like she’s
hard, but I knew she had a soft spot.”
    “ Brooke has a very big
heart, and she hates bullies.” 
    “ Are you ready for your
surprise, Baby?” 
    “ I almost forgot about that.
I’m ready, although you didn’t have to do anything else. This
weekend was enough. I had a great time, thank
you.” 
    “ You’re welcome.”
    Emma stands close to me as I steer our boat
into the dock. Once it is secured, I reach for her hand and walk
towards the house. When we reach the gazebo, she stops and turns
around to look at the lake.
    “ It really is beautiful and
peaceful out here,” she says, looking at the sun beginning to set.
“I’m going to like living here.” 
    I smile and hold her close and say, “Me,
too. I think we should get married here.” 
    She turns and looks at me. “Alec, I think
that is a great idea. It’s certainly big enough.” 
    “ Good, when?” I
ask. 
    “ Um, I don’t know. We
haven’t set a date yet.” 
    “ I know, I think we should.”
I walk Emma to the bench under the gazebo and we both sit down. I
have been thinking about this for awhile