Kelly Brackett, physician and surgeon, surveyed the cozy, yet spacious ranch property that had been in his family for five generations from its kitchen window. The house was nestled comfortably at the foot of a Northern California mountain range, complete with horse stables and babbling brook. It had been the setting for many happy memories, family reunions, and especially Christmas. Kel often brought his father and his nephew Charlie--now age seven--here. And although all were cowboys at heart, sharing a kindred bond, the others were not in attendance this time for this special occasion that heralded a new chapter in the life of this "Brackett Boy".

He finished his banana with the enthusiasm of a small child instructed to clean up his plate. The butterflies in his belly were fluttering so rampantly, he was certain they were audible, even by the horses in the stable about thirty yards away. For what he was about to do was so entirely out of character that it indeed caused him to wonder just where he had left his common sense. However, he deduced that it had probably been relinquished to the same fate as the rest of his rational faculties…tucked away in the heart of a certain lovely lady; one nurse--Dixie McCall.

Keeping this in mind, he forged ahead with his plot, tossing the peel into the sink, and employing the disposal to its dual purpose briefly…ever so briefly…just enough to digest the morsel it had been fed.

He removed a small, but precious object from his pocket that would be the token of his offering to Dixie. He held it, smiling, looking up to the ceiling then, to God for a blessing, drew a deep breath, kissed it, and dropped it down the sink as well.

“Dix?!” Kelly called. To his confusion, there was no immediate answer. He'd thought for certain she was within earshot. “Dix?" he repeated with his best attempt at thespian-in-distress.

“Yeah?” She popped her curious head in the doorway of the adequate ranch kitchen. “What’s up?”

“Well…the disposal’s jammed. I can’t get at the whatever is causing the problem because my hand doesn’t quite fit down the hole.”

“And you want me to…?” she followed through, pointing at the sink--understanding her mission. Kel silently pleaded affirmatively, while desperately attempting to mask his feelings of culpability. "I hate to ask you to do this but…would you mind?”

She had always been overjoyed at any rare chance to rescue him from whatever distress, however… even though this didn’t qualify as glamorous, she shrugged, donned her bravery, and offered a, “No problem!” Rolling up her sleeve, she dug in. To her pleasant surprise…it didn’t feel too awfully disgusting. “Aha!! Here’s your culprit!” She triumphantly handed him a peel.

“You can’t put these things down there…they’ll jam the works every time!” she gleefully and proudly educated him.

Kel looked perplexed, dismayed, and a little revolted.

"Are you sure?" he questioned. “I thought I heard something klinking.”

"Well sometimes the dirt and grit makes a kind of popping or pinging…” she offered in explanation.

Kel nodded negatively. "Klinking….definitely, loud, klinking."

"Klinking..?”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” he insisted, almost defensively. “Klinking.” He bit his lip and took a gamble. “If you don’t want to…I understand… Manuel and I can rip the sink apart…it'll probably only take us a couple of hours...” he bluffed.

“No. No. No. I get the picture,” she answered with a stern look of disbelief. "You know you really need practice at manipulation….you need to be more subtle. You’re just plain pitiful…handsome…but pitiful!” She re-rolled her sleeve--which had by now fallen down, looked out the window, and concentrated her efforts on the task just beyond her fingertips.

Although he was sweating bullets, Kel enjoyed watching the facial gestures accompanying Dixie’s focused salvage attempt.

"Uhhh-huh! Yeah! I feel it!" she said, reaching deeper. “Just a little deeper.”

He let out a chuckle.

“Something amusing?”

“I’m sorry, Dix. It’s just that I only wanted you to remove a piece of garbage from the sink…I should have known you would manage to arouse me at the same time."

She returned a scolding glance, of which he had been the recipient on numerous occasions. "Got it! It’s a bottle cap…or something."

Bottle cap? That’s impossible!! I even checked… I irrigated... What the hell else is down there? This was such a bad idea, Kel. He thought to himself. His hand went to his forehead messaging the tension from his forehead. Patience, Kel. Patience.

“A pull tab maybe?”

Patience, Kel. Patience.

" --No…wait a minute…Got it!"

What’s she gonna pull up this time?

“…it’s a metal ring… of …some…sort.” Her jaw dropped in disbelief, as she inspected her spoils. “It’s a ring.” She said, gasping clumsily, then realizing her comments plumbed the depths of the obvious. As tears began to cloud her sight, her vision of the future came sharply into view. She blinked them away, that she might focus on Kel’s face for conformation.

His smile greeted her.

“Oh, Kel….it’s beautiful…it’s ….it’s…”

“It’s yours," he said somewhat to his relief and yet the knots were building… praying his assessment of her readiness to accept was accurate. “If you’ll have it.” His hand lifted her slightly quivering chin to his. “If you’ll have me,” he pursued, raising his eyebrows with his petition. He waited for her response.

Contemplating the sweet joke of which she had just been the mark, Dixie bit her bottom lip in a way that absolutely melted Kelly Brackett almost into a puddle…every time. Was that which was about to happen next….really going to happen? Is this really happening or is this some sort of dream? “What am I gonna do with you?” she asked.

Kel took advantage of the opening. He shrugged not so innocently. “Well…how ‘bout…marry me?”

She desperately tried to blink away the tears in an effort to commit as much of this moment to memory as possible.

“Marry me, Dixie," he repeated as he swallowed hard, barely choking the words beyond the lump entrenched in his throat. “Please?” he added with a hopeful smile crossing his lips.

Her smile widened through her tears, which now were streaming. Kel’s smile was battling the tide as well. He hadn’t expected to be this disarmed.

“I love you so very much, Dix.” He was amazed at how easily the words poured from his lips. “You know that--don’t you?”

“Yes. I sure do.” She sniffed. “And I love you, Kelly Brackett!…I would be honored…to be your wife.” She too was having difficulty speaking above the level of a shouted whisper. Her gaze returned to the multi-carat, multi-faceted, multi-diamonded promise still in her fingertips. "It’s beautiful…it’s absolutely breath-taking!!” she cried.

"I wanted something that would match your smile. This is as close as I could come.”

“May I?” He took it from her grasp and placed it on her ring finger.

How does he always manage to find a way to leave me breathless? Does he realize the countless times I’ve fallen in love with him….over and over again?

Neither were certain whether it was Kel’s smile or his arms that lifted Dixie onto the countertop! As he pressed her to his heart, the kiss that followed could easily have stopped time’s chase into eternity were it not for the grind of the garbage disposal in response to their increasingly reckless passion. Regardless…

“...We were born before the wind…”