Within a Man's Heart (12 page)

For a moment I said nothing. Thinking about the last thing Gina said, and what
I
should say next, I only nodded. And as my head bobbed and I searched for the right words, I came to realize that I was the luckiest man on earth. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also one of the finest human beings I had ever met. And as we sat there in the silence, with that revelation finally in place, I heard a bird call out from somewhere deep in the woods.
Sweet-sweet, chew-chew
, it sung. It was the Indigo Bunting. And at that moment I knew that everything was going to be alright.

A small a smile rose on my face then. And as it did, the words I’d been trying so hard to find seemed to come out on their own. I heard myself say, “I love you, Gina, and I always will. Come here
. . . I want to kiss you.”

And I did.