Aunt Linda

A good month into me moving to Louisiana and she and I were still like honeymooners, very affectionate, very much in love, and still making love one to two times a day. One night over dinner at Gaston's, she said, "We need to have a talk."

"Sure," I said. "Go ahead."

"I want you to marry me," she said.

I had half-committed to a forkful of asparagus, but now my fork just hung in the air as my mouth remained agape. I finally managed, "What?"

She pushed a small clamshell container toward me. I opened it to find a very expensive man's wedding band. "Linda ... What?"

"You love me, and I love you," she said. "I think we can agree that we are who and what's best for each other. I love you, and I want us to be married."

I thought it over for a solid minute, taking in everything she had just said. It was the truth. I would never find anyone else like her, someone with whom I was so comfortable that I could share anything. I smiled, then said, "Yes, I'll marry you."

A smile came to her lips. "One other thing. I'm pregnant."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"After Amelia died, Tom and I tried to have another kid," she began in explaining. "Needless to say, we weren't successful. I just assumed that I was unable to have anymore, which is why I didn't take any precautions whenever you and I had sex."

"Do you know what this means?"

"What?" she asked a bit fearfully.

"It means that we both can finally have the family we've wanted for so long," I said, and she burst into tears.

"Oh, Stevie. You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that."

I moved to her side, took her in my arms, and kissed her.

Two weeks later and Linda and I were married.

It has been seven years, and never have I loved Linda more than I do today. Katarin, our daughter, is the apple of my eye. She is a prodigy when it comes to any musical instrument, and academically speaking she is three full grades ahead of other kids her age.

It is said that when one door closes, another opens. It took my mother's death for me to find the love of my life, and I haven't regretted a single moment of it.