"You do? Wait -- I'm sorry. That sounded ...."
Fabian laughed.
"I understand. I've thrown a lot at you tonight. The most promising interview I had was here, Lisa. I start September 6. I'm the new gym teacher at the elementary school."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her close. "Where will you live?"
"My vardo, for now." Lisa opened her mouth to protest and Fabian lightly put his fingers on her lips, smiling at her. "Your dad, your boss, and your brother all offered me other places to stay. The vardo has been my home for four years and it can be my home for a little longer." He started them walking again. "Don't worry about me, sweetheart. I'll be fine." He kissed the top of her head and she leaned against him. The katydids and crickets finally began to drown out the sounds of the carnival.
"How did you do all of this? The ring; the carousel...."
"I actually had the idea to propose on the carousel the first time we rode it together. Dave and I planned the details and actually started working on it the day you caught us when you were going to pick raspberries. It took a few weeks to get it exactly right.
"As for the job, every place I interviewed was within commuting distance of here. I never intended to leave. Even the interview I had in July that made me miss the parade was in Oxbow."
"We weren't together then." She looked at him, surprised.
"I know. But I couldn't leave. We weren't together, but I knew we weren't finished, either. Somehow I knew that."
"Where did you get the ring?"
"Kendall's."
"No way. It would be all over town and I would have heard about it. It's impossible to surprise someone with an engagement ring here."
"Yet I did," Fabian grinned. "I had accomplices. I took Greg to lunch and explained what I wanted to do."
"Oh, so lunch can be a guy-thing?" She raised an eyebrow at him, and he laughed.
"It can, if you want to surprise the love of your life. Greg and I arranged to meet after the store closed one night. Amy was in on it, too. She passed along your ring size and helped me pick out something that she knew you'd like. I talked to your dad and brother the day I found you up in the peach tree. I knew I had to walk by your place, so I bought a few things at the farmer's market. That place is awesome and you'd better believe I'll be going back."
"You are sneaky, Fabian DiSanti!" Lisa laughed.
"It was important to me to surprise you."
"You did! Are you walking me home already?" she asked, recognizing familiar landmarks in the moonlight.
"I have an ulterior motive."
"Which is?"
"May I use your bathroom?" Lisa burst out laughing.
"Absolutely," she said.
Leo. His name was Leo.
He followed her up the steps to the tidy deck still full of blooming potted plants and comfortable looking outdoor furniture. Lisa unlocked her door and flipped on a light in the efficiency apartment. Buster scrambled over to the door, barking happily.
"Hi, baby boy!" Lisa told the puppy, then looked at Fabian. "The bath is hard to miss -- I don't have a lot of walls. It's straight across from here. I'll take Buster down to do his business while you do yours. I'll meet you on the deck, then."
Fabian kissed her and went over to the bathroom. It smelled of sweet cinnamon like Lisa herself. It was old fashioned -- a pedestal sink and a tub on clawed feet, and a toilet that was modern but still looked old. Lisa had decorated with lots of brightly colored towels, a braided rug, and pictures of bright tropical fish on the walls. He finished, washed his hands, dried them on a yellow hand towel by the sink. The doorknob was on his right and the door opened outward, so he found himself facing Lisa's bedroom area. The bed looked old -- a very simple painted wrought iron double bed. There was a chenille bedspread over the bed and a patchwork quilt folded over a quilt stand nearby. He thought he saw something up at the pillows in a place of honor and walked toward the bed. He felt his face grow pale.
It was a stuffed lion, made of tan felt with a mane of dark brown faux fur. It had been well taken care of, but was obviously old and very much loved. Fabian knew that lion. He had owned that lion. He reached over and picked it up and again was in that dream that had so plagued him all summer -- the rocking of canoes, oars splashing, children laughing. The gazebo looming closer and closer. "Lisa! No! Not yet! Sit down!" A chorus of screams and warnings. The feeling of cloth on his hands. A large splash. Bubbles; a cloud of red blood and brown hair beneath the surface of the lake. Green, cool water all around him .... Lisa?
Lisa came in.
"Fabian? What are you doing?" She sounded both nervous and annoyed, and he supposed he couldn't blame her. It really did look like he'd proposed to her and made a thin excuse to get into her apartment to seduce her.
"I'm sorry, Lisa, but ... where did you get this?" He showed her the lion.
"I've had it since I was really little," she said, confused.
"Do you remember where it came from?"
"Fabian, what's wrong?"
"Please, sweetheart. It's important. You have no idea how much."
"Can we at least get out of my bedroom?"
"Of course. I'm sorry." He followed her out onto the deck. She had lit a lantern and a citronella candle and there were two glasses of iced tea on her picnic table. There was a gate at the top of the steps and the puppy was stretched out in a small deck chair. Fabian realized he was still holding the lion and set it on the table.
"I only know what I've been told," she cautioned. "I don't remember this very well at all -- probably for a variety of reasons. When I was about four, we had a boy come to stay with us. He'd just been very ill. I'm not sure why his parents sent him to us -- maybe they lived in a city or something. We had a number of kids come for summers for various reasons when I was growing up. Anyway, he wasn't allowed to do a lot of things, and I think he got stuck with me a lot. I know he wasn't allowed to swim...." He relaxed into her voice, letting it fade in his mind. Up until now he'd been fighting the memory; suppressing it because he was afraid of it. It was time to face it now. He couldn't move ahead until he'd dealt with whatever this was. He stared off over her shoulder and allowed the memory to roar back in full.