After a few minutes, they reached the largest of the fountains that decorated a vast green area near the back of the property. It was a simple design, an immense bowl with the statue of a little girl protruding from the middle, a sweet grin on her face, standing on a pillar topped with clouds, pouring out the contents of a watering can into the basin below. Cadence had never really paid any attention to it before, but now that she was standing next to it, she wondered what, if anything, it was supposed to represent.
"This is Aarolyn," he explained, gesturing at the cherub faced child. "Elliott designed this fountain for me several years ago as a birthday present. He commissioned the sculpture and everything."
Cadence looked up in wonder, putting the pieces together. "She's your little girl?" she asked, noticing that, despite the fact that her face was made of concrete, she looked a lot like Aaron.
"Yes," he said quietly. "He said she would serve as a reminder that, even though sometimes rain may fall, there was always someone looking down on me, watching over."
"But I didn't think Elliott knew..." she began, confused.
"He didn't. I mean, he didn't know everything. He didn't know I killed my wife and my unborn child. In forty some years, I never found a reason or a way to share that story with him. But he knew I had lost a little girl. When he asked me what her name was, I told him the name her mother had picked out for her," he explained.
"She wanted to name her after you," Cadence replied, nodding.
"Yes, and Elliott wanted me to have a way to remember her," he confirmed, releasing her hand but only so he could slip his arm around her waist as they continued to glance up at the small child gleefully making it rain.
After a few moments, Cadence said, "Well, you certainly can't say he wasn't thoughtful." She turned to Aaron and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for bringing me here," she said quietly.
"Cadence," he said, turning to face her and pulling her around so that he had both of her hands again, "I've given enough speeches for one day, and I don't even begin to know how to express to you how much you mean to me."
She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but his expression made her realize he wasn't done, so she closed it and continued to listen.
"I've been alive for a long time, and thanks to you, I'll be alive a lot longer. In all of that time, I've never met anyone I cared about half as much as I care about you. I can honestly say that--with no exceptions. I've tried being without you, and it doesn't work. You and I are meant to be together; I am certain of that now. I guess, what I'm trying to say is..."
Cadence's eyes widened as he let go of her right hand, and dropping on one knee, produced a small black box out of his pocket. "Will you marry me?"
"Oh, my God! Oh, my God. OH, MY GOD!" She wasn't exactly sure how many times she repeated the statement before she realized she hadn't said yes. Frantically nodding, she finally managed to say, "Yes, of course!"
He slipped the ring on her finger, as she pulled him up and threw herself at him, kissing him in the process. "I love you," he managed to get out before she kissed him again.
"I love you, too," she said, finally looking at the ring while simultaneously jumping up and down. "I can't believe you... I had no idea..."
He said nothing, just grinned at her, as she continued to stare at the ring on her hand.
After a few moments, Cadence began to regain her composure, and a few thoughts occurred to her. "That's why my dad was crying!" she said, hitting him in the shoulder a little harder than she intended to.
"Careful there," he warned her. "You can do whatever you want to, to me, but take it easy on the ring."
"It's huge," she mumbled before remembering her other revelation. "And is that where you went this morning?"
"Yes," he admitted. "That's a fine jewelry store across from the donut shop on Shenandoah's main drag."
"Apparently," she agreed, looking at the size of the ring again. It had to be at least four carats. She wouldn't have cared if he had given her a cubic zirconium, though. However, the more she thought about it, the more unsure of herself she became before she actually asked him, "Are you sure about this? You didn't have a lot of time to think about it."
"I didn't?" he asked shocked at her question. "Like, I don't know, five years or something?"
"I mean, since we got back together," she explained, stepping forward and grabbing ahold of his bicep, admiring how nice her ring looked in the process.
"Believe me, I had plenty of time to think about it," he assured her, wrapping her in his arms again. "Did you?"
"Oh, yes," she replied without hesitation. "The whole time you were dead it was all I could think about." The sarcasm was there, but the ring of truth was certainly present as well.
He snickered at her before leaning in, pausing a few millimeters from her lips. With the utmost sincerity, he whispered, "I love you."
"I love you, too," she responded before accepting his passionate kiss, the truth of her words evident in her response.
By the time they returned to the chapel, many of the attendees had cleared out, leaving just the core members of the LIGHTS team, Cadence's family, and Meagan's parents who had also come to be with their daughter during this traumatic time. "Where did everyone go?" Cadence asked, wondering if they had really been gone that long.
"We are having a light luncheon at the main building in a few minutes," Hannah explained as she approached. "Everything all right?"
"Yes, fine. Why?" Cadence asked as Aaron patted her gently on the back and then went over to talk to Jamie, Shane, and Christian.