He’d talked it all over with his best friends. Max in New York, and then Rod at school. It was a secret. They’d spit on their palms to seal it. “You like my dad, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. I like him very much.”

“And you like kids. Like me?”

“I like kids. I especially like you.” She draped an arm around him, rubbed his shoulder. “We’re friends.”

“Dad and I like you, too. A whole lot. So I was wondering…” He looked up at her, his eyes so young, so earnest. “Will you marry us?”

“Oh.” Her heart stumbled, then fell with a splat. “Oh, Jack.”

“If you did, you could come live in our house. Dad’s fixing it up good. And we have a yard and everything, and we’re going to plant a garden soon. In the mornings you could have breakfast with us, then drive to your school and teach people how to dance. Then you could drive home. It’s not real far.”

Staggered, she laid her cheek on the top of his head. “Oh, boy.”

“Dad’s really nice,” Jack rushed on. “He hardly ever yells. He doesn’t have a wife anymore, because she had to go to heaven. I wish she didn’t, but she did.”

“I know. Oh, baby.”

“Maybe Dad’s afraid to ask you in case you go to heaven, too. That’s what Rod thinks. Maybe. But you won’t, will you?”

“Jack.” She fought back tears and cupped his face. “I plan to stay here for a very long time. Have you talked to your father about this?”

“Nuh-uh, ’cause you’re supposed to ask the girl. That’s what Max said. The boy has to ask the girl. Me and Dad’ll buy you a ring, ’cause girls need to have one. I won’t mind if you kiss me, and I’ll be really good. You and Dad can make babies like people do when they get married. I’d rather have a brother, but if it’s a sister, that’s okay. We’ll love each other and everything. So will you please marry us?”

In all her dreams and fantasies, she’d never imagined being proposed to by a six-year-old boy, while sitting on a wall on an afternoon in early spring. Nothing could have been more touching, she thought. More lovely.

“Jack, I’m going to tell you a secret. I already love you.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I do. I already love your dad, too. I’m going to think really hard about everything you said. Really hard. That way, if I say yes, you’re going to know, absolutely, that it’s what I want more than anything else in the whole world. If I say yes you wouldn’t just be your dad’s little boy anymore. You’d be mine, too. Do you understand that?”

He nodded, all eyes. “You’d be my mom, right?”

“Yes, I’d be your mom.”

“Okay. Would you?”

“I’m going to think about it.” She pressed her lips to his forehead, then hopped down.

“Will it take a long time to think?”