“What’s with all the secrecy? Where are you taking me, Montgomery?” Katherine asked him with a delighted laugh as he blindfolded her during one stop along the highway before driving on, glad to be with him again after almost eleven months apart.
“Stop being so nosy, Megrath – you’re going to ruin the surprise.”
After he had recovered from his bout with pneumonia, Katherine and Zachary hardly had a chance to spend any time together until they both had to go on their separate training assignments before graduation; he back with the elite Galactic Stealth Corps, she with the Space Exploratory division training further in small fighter craft maneuvers. Despite Zachary’s illness, he was so far ahead that still managed to hold on to his number one spot in the batch, as well as earning a medal of courage from Galaxy Garrison and a promotion to the rank of Captain for his gallant rescue of Seigel on Khylo.
After one month of summer break together, they both had to go their separate ways once again. Although Katherine had been recruited by the Stealth Corps as a trainee in covert mission spacecraft piloting and was fast building a reputation in that area, Zach was often assigned to more advanced missions where trainees were not used as pilots. Nonetheless, they had continued to correspond with one another, leaving long, loving letters with the Garrison messenger service before flying off on another mission and promising to take their first leave the next Christmas to spend it together.
The vehicle had finally stopped, and Katherine turned back towards Zach's general direction, head tipped to one side in askance. “Are we there yet?”
He didn’t reply, but she heard his door swish up as the cold winter air hit her face, and took that as her answer. Before she could begin complaining about the cold, the door on her side also swished up and she plucked off her seat by a pair of strong, warm arms.
“What are you doing!” she exclaimed, laughing and putting her arms around his neck to keep from falling. She could hear the scrunch of snow beneath her and squealed as he playfully tossed her up. “Montgomery, if you drop me in a snowdrift, I’m going to make you really, really sorry!”
“Playing the screaming termagant again, Megrath?” he asked wickedly dipping her down to the chorus of her shrieks. She stopped shouting suddenly when she heard the sound of a door being opened and a waft of warm, welcoming air coming from within – a house? He heard him stomping off snow from his boots before clearing a threshold and gently placing her down on a thickly carpeted floor. He left her standing for a moment as he shut the door, then led her further inside. Finally, he stopped, walked back behind her and gently kissed the top of her head as he took of her blindfold.
She gasped at the sight of quaint, homey beauty she beheld.
A pile of firewood lay at the hearth, just waiting for someone to stoke it into a roaring fire. The wide windows facing the garden were frosted over and outside the snow was falling fast and thick, washing the landscape with white. The tree, standing proud and tall in one corner of the room, was alit with a thousand stars, and the angel on top was smiling benevolently over the scene. Several gaily-wrapped packages sat under the tree and were merely waiting for someone’s happy hands to tear them open. Looking around, she saw a glimpse of the dining room, where two places had been set and a Christmas feast was laid upon the table, with two slender red candles just waiting to be lit.
A soft, sweet love song that Katherine loved was playing over a muted sound system, just slow enough to waltz to. Despite the lack of a fire, the room was warm because the heater had evidently been left running before their arrival. What was odd was that all the furniture in the room had been pushed to one side, and the middle of the cozy room was clear.
“Like it?” he whispered by her ear, and she spun around to look at him, wonder shining in her eyes. “I know you told me you’ve never had a real Christmas before, and I thought this would be good idea for our first real date.”
She felt tears fill her eyes at the sweet gesture. “Where are we?” she asked, holding his gaze.
He smiled sheepishly. “Actually – we’re at my house,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. “I… uh… over the past year, I’ve used my salary to have this old girl refinished and decorated in preparation for… today.” She continued to gaze at him steadily, knowing instinctively that there was more to this surprise. He squirmed under her scrutiny and continued, ”And – uh – I didn’t really get back from my last mission just this morning, right before you did. My leave began – um – three days ago, and I’ve spent that time getting everything and cooking and –“ He spread his hands out in a helpless gesture, looking at Katherine uncertainly. “Merry Christmas, Katherine.”
She rushed into his arms and held him tight, and he embraced her back. “Merry Christmas, Zachary,” she whispered, the tears finally spilling over as she realized how blessed she was to have been given the chance to love and be loved by such a wonderful man. “And thank you.”
He tipped her chin up towards him and kissed her gently, wiping her tears away with his fingers. “Wait – don’t cry yet. You’re going to have more to cry about when you see the rest of my surprise,” he said with a soft chuckle.
Her eyes widened. “You mean there’s more?” she asked, not knowing what else he could have prepared to top off this wonderful gift.
He nodded solemnly, then stepped away from her. “Commander Katherine Megrath, would you do me the honor of having this dance?” He bowed towards her, looking more as if he were bowing on a martial arts training mat than formally asking a woman to dance. Stunned, she took his offered hand and stepped into his arms, only to be held in a stiff, awkward manner. She looked up at him and saw he had a strained look on his face, and it was all she could do not to laugh.
He led her, and they moved together for a few moments, waltzing in a fashion, but totally offbeat to the song that was playing. Katherine leaned her head on his chest and hid her smile, not wanting to hurt his feelings, then tried to suppress a small gasp as one of his large feet stepped on her booted one.
“I’m sorry,” he said stiffly, looking down at her with an endearing flush on his cheeks. “My teacher said I was the most hopeless student she had ever taught. Said I had absolutely no sense of rhythm whatsoever,” he muttered in self-disgust.
Teacher? “You took dance lessons?” she asked, halting completely, searching his eyes, and forcing him to stop as well. “Why?”
“Because you told me you wouldn’t go out with me until I knew how to dance,” he said with another sheepish grin. “So I took lessons for almost a year but didn’t get past the basic waltz –“ But he didn’t get to finish before she hauled herself up against him by clinging to the lapels of his jacket and kissed him soundly. When she let go, she was laughing and crying at the same time.
“Zach, I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m sure glad I did it,” she said, chuckling and laying her cheek back against his chest. “I love you so much.”
He pulled away from her, looked at her face to gauge her mood, then reluctantly reached into his pocket. “This part of the surprise was supposed to come much later,” he said, withdrawing a small, blue velvet covered box that fit within the cradle of his palm. “But… this seems to be the right time for it.” He handed it to her with an uncertain glance, then watched the play of emotions on her face as she flipped the lid open.
On the dark velvet pillow, an emerald the color of her eyes surrounded by several smaller diamonds winked at her. She looked up at him, an expression of total shock on her face. “This is… this is…” she trailed off, too overwhelmed to go on.
“I love you, Katherine. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” he asked, searching her face for a reaction. She continued to stare at him with the stunned look on her face. “We don’t have to get married so soon if you don’t want to,” he pointed out hastily, remembering her misgivings and her life plan. She had just begun building a reputation for herself as one of the best new covert operation pilots in Galaxy Garrison, and he didn’t want to deprive her of that. He cupped her face in one of his hands and turned her face towards him. “I… I just want to know that you’ll be willing to make that promise someday –“
She put one finger to his lips, and he realized that she was holding out the ring to him. He took it, shaken, thinking she was saying no, until he saw her holding out her left hand towards him, wordlessly asking him to put it on. Holding her gaze, he slipped it on her ring finger, and it slid into place perfectly. When he had finished, he pulled her back into arms and held her close within his embrace, standing still for a long, long time and almost never wanting to let go.
“Are you sure?” she finally said in a shaky voice. “You’re going to be getting a short-tempered, stubborn, impatient termagant who doesn’t know how to cook.” When he didn’t reply, she went on, “So, when do you want to do it? What do you think about next month?”
He looked down at her, his turn to be incredulous. “Are you serious?”
She grinned up at him, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks. “ Do you think I’m not serious? Zachary Montgomery, I’ve never cried half as much in my entire life as much as I’ve cried in the time we’ve known each other, and I would like to stop feeling like an emotional faucet. And if it’s going to take marrying you as soon as possible to do it, I’m all for it!” she said crisply, earning an uncertain smile from him. Her grin faded. “Or is that too soon for you?” she asked softly.
“Soon? Tonight wouldn’t be too soon for me,” he replied. “It’s you I’m worried about – what about your plans and your piloting –“
She shook her head sheepishly. “Zach, you know I’ve always dreamed about flying among the stars, and for the past months, I’ve done that,” she said quietly, lifting her hands to cup his face. “And you know what was so funny? All the time I was doing what I had dreamed of doing for almost a lifetime, all I could think of was it was just one more day I could scratch off waiting to be with you.” She grinned up at him. “I don’t want to wait anymore.”
He lifted her up and spun her around exuberantly, earning a laugh from her. “So,” he said, his heart in his eyes. “What do you feel about tonight?”
She nodded. “If you can find someone to marry us, I’d love to,” she said, eyes glowing with happiness. Suddenly she frowned. “You’ve given me so much tonight, and I didn’t even have time to get you anything!” she exclaimed.
This time he put a finger to her lips to shush
her. “You've given me the best gift of all, my Kat,” he said solemnly,
moving her back into the dance, for the first time in his life finding
the right rhythm. “You.”
And in the dim light of the setting winter
sun, the silhouette of two figures melding into one as they waltzed together
could be seen through the large, frosted windows, the last bars of the
song fading even as it continued to move to a music that was its own.
A Christmas Waltz -- Little Faithful