Page 351 of 5+Us Makes Seven

“She never told me you were in the CIA.”

“I never told her,” he said. “Maybe I should have, but I wanted to protect her.”

“I’ve got to ask you something.”

“Yeah?”

“I’d like to ask your daughter to marry me. Can I have your blessing?”

“When she came to me about you and Max, I did some digging on both of you. That’s when I realized just how dirty Max was and how hard you were trying to protect Jade. If that’s not worthy of my blessing, I don’t know what is.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Quit calling me sir. Makes me feel old. And don’t call me dad yet either. We’ll see what she says first.”

“She’ll say yes. We’re in love. It’s what brought us back to Afghanistan. We are in this together and for the long haul.”

“She told me about you saving her. I never thanked you for that, so thanks.”

I turned to him.

“Just doing my duty. You know how it is…”

He nodded.

We both turned our attention back to Jade, still soundly sleeping.

“She snores,” he said out of nowhere.

“You don’t need to tell me.”

I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye, but I stared straight ahead, not ashamed of the truth. In that moment, sitting with her father, I vowed to spend the rest of my life with Jade, building our love on a foundation of honesty and trust. She had done so much for me, and she deserved nothing short of the best.

FORTY

Cooper

I stood next to Logan in the luxurious room of St. Cathy’s Cathedral downtown. Organ music floated through the air, bouncing off the ornate walls of the historic place of worship.

“This is it, bro. You ready?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I am.”

He laughed.

“It’s not a time to be thinking.”

“No, no, I’m sure. We’ve been through so much.”

“You found a good woman, Cooper. She’s as strong as you and will be fine.”

“She’s stronger than me,” I admitted, knowing full well just how special Jade was and how lucky I was that she chose to spend her life with me.

I felt his hand pat me on the back.

“That very well could be.”

We both laughed, mine filled with nervousness and excitement, an odd mix of perfect proportions. The rest of my life was about to begin. As I stared at one of the stained-glass windows in the room, I relaxed.