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My hand was warm in Abraham’s, and I kept sneaking looks at him.
He smiled at me. “What?”
“Thank you for bringing me here. ”
We slowed to a stop behind a majestic weeping willow, whose branches swept the snow gracefully. Abe slid his hand around my cheek, his palm heated against my chilled flesh.
He kissed me.
And with the mist billowing around us, I started to believe in magic again.
* * *
In the morning, we rolled out of bed past ten and joined the other desultory guests in the breakfast area, a large room with larger windows. We ate fresh waffles and strawberry compote and maple syrup and mimosas. The fire crackled before us, all charred logs that somehow resisted crumbling to pieces. Orange-white flames licked the air, while between the logs, coals glowed deep umber. Christmas carols played softly, and poinsettias sat on either side of the mantel.
I snuggled into Abe’s side, and the woman sitting at the nearest table smiled at us. “Newlyweds?”
Abe grinned back at her. “Yes, ma’am. ”
I kissed his cheek and felt undeservedly proud.
Later, I told Abe that the woman had had to guess that we were newlyweds. The question could conveniently be asked with one word, as opposed to “Are you dating?” which also hardly had any oomph. Besides, asking if people were newlyweds implied love and sweetness and so was almost universally flattering, whether to a new couple on vacation or a married one.
But it still made me happy.
“What do you want to do this afternoon?” I asked as we lay in bed, naked and sated. “I think there’s a little theater nearby that might be fun. ”
“Sounds fun,” Abe agreed. “But I actually had something else planned. A surprise. ”
I rolled over to see him better. “A good surprise?”
He regarded me for so long, and with such an odd spark, that I started to feel uneasy. Then he leaned forward to kiss me. “An interesting surprise. ”
I smoothed my hand over the hard contours of his back. “Do we have a few minutes before this surprise?”
His eyes glinted wickedly. “Oh, more than a few, I’m sure. ”
* * *
When we stepped out of the car two hours later, we were greeted by a field of bright panels of color.
When I saw them rising high before me, my stomach took off in the same direction, but with greater velocity and rougher turbulence. “That’s a balloon. ”
Abe cut the engine and smiled at me with a quiet watchfulness. “Yes. ”
“A giant balloon. ”
“Yes. ”
I looked back through the windshield at the globes of color against the endless rolling white. Today, bright blue domed the world, streaked with faraway clouds empty of color. “I hope you brought me here to watch the incredibly dramatic liftoff from our safe location here on the ground. ”
He reached out to caress my cheek, but in a fit of pique, I turned my head away. Still, there was no avoiding the warmth and conviction in his voice. “You are the most courageous person I know. What can possibly scare you?”
I frowned. “I don’t think I’m brave. ”
“You published an article that exposed the truth even though you knew what it would put you through. ”
“That wasn’t courage through bravery, but through necessity. ”
“They’re the same thing. ”
“Well, there’s nothing necessary about this. What’s the point?”
“To prove you can. ”
“And if I don’t feel the need to prove anything?”
His gaze softened, and his fingers laced through mine. My heart thumped loudly. “Do you remember our vacation to Seattle when we were fifteen?”
Of course. Camping, with one day in the city. “Yeah. ”
“Do you remember how all of us went up the Space Needle, and you waited at the bottom?”
Just the memory made me feel like a pathetic failure. “Yes. ”
His eyes seared mine. “I remember your face when we came back down. You were so wistful. You wanted to come up there with us. Why didn’t you?”
“I just don’t, okay? And it’s not something that can be magically fixed. I don’t even see what the big deal is. It doesn’t constrain my life. ”
He leaned closer to me. “Who cares about organizations and battles and money and pride? That is all so little. It’s not the world. ”
“And you think I can only know that by flying up away from all safety?”
He smiled his slow smile, the one that seduced me to his will. “Don’t you trust me?”
“Ha!” I pointed a finger at him rudely. “I’m on to you. You can’t turn this into a living metaphor about trust. I do trust you. However, you’re not the engineer. Or nature. So my trust will not keep that machine of death aloft. ”
“Tell me you’re not interested. Tell me you don’t want to soar through the skies. Tell me you’re not tired of being afraid, and we’ll go to Christopher’s, ten minutes away. I got us reservations. ”
It was the reservations that got to me. “You didn’t think I’d be able to do it?”
He met my gaze. “I don’t ever want you to do anything you’re not comfortable doing. ”
“That doesn’t make sense. You know I’m not comfortable doing this. ”
He shrugged. “I also know that when we had to do reports on quotes by famous people, you did the Eleanor Roosevelt one. ”
And of course I instantly knew exactly which one he meant. Do one thing every day that scares you. It was right up there with my favorite quotes, along with If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. That used to hang in my history teacher’s classroom in eleventh grade, and I hated it because it made me feel guilty.
Which was why I remembered both those quotes, I supposed. They made me uncomfortable. They motivated. They made me want to be a better person—both for other people, and for myself.
“Okay. Let’s do it. ”
* * *
Lake George was actually known as a ballooning destination, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. Clearly plenty of people came here to ride through the sky; even today, in the midst of winter, crowds crossed over the fields, conversing and laughing in puffy coats. But Abe had hired us our own private balloon.
It was enormous, and just viewing the size made my feet flood with fear like the land had already fallen away. But the colors made me laugh, the vivid crimson that darkened Abe’s helmet, the lines of black and streaks of gold. “I hope you didn’t commission an entire balloon on the off chance I would say yes. ”
“I didn’t think it was an off chance. ”
The balloonist’s name was Henry, and he was a solid-looking man in his forties, with deep brown eyes like the earth and a smile like the sun.
I stepped into the small basket and my pulse immediately ratcheted up.
The land dropped away below us, and it became more difficult to breathe.
I wrapped my arms around Abe, clinging to him. We were going to die; I was sure of it. If people were supposed to leave the land, we would have evolved with wings. Oh, God. Oh, God, what was I doing?
I buried my face in Abe’s chest. His mouth came down to my ear, and his words came out worried. “Are you okay?” He smoothed one hand over my hair.