Rowdy laughed. “It didn’t work. Norah didn’t believe I loved her, and I can’t say I blame her, since I didn’t know it myself. All I knew was that I couldn’t imagine my life without her. You led me on quite a merry chase—but I wouldn’t have had it any different.”

“Are you trying to bribe my daughter this time?” David asked.

Rowdy shook his head. “Nope. I have everything I need.”

The shrimp appetizer was followed by a heart-of-palm salad. Norah turned to Sherry. “How’s everything going with you and Cody?”

Sherry shrugged, unsure how much she should say. “Better, I guess.”

“I have to tell you, I got a kick out of your last e-mail. He actually proposed to you by saying he wanted to cut to the chase?”

“Sounds like a man who knows what he wants,” Rowdy commented.

“Cody’s come a long way since then. He’s trying to understand what I want, but I don’t think he’s quite figured it out.” She lowered her gaze and sighed. “Currently he’s suffering from the effects of poison ivy. He ran into a patch of it while picking wildflowers for me.”

“Well, as you say, he’s certainly trying hard.”

“I wish now I’d been more specific,” Sherry said, smoothing her napkin. “I love Cody and I want romance, yes, but more than that, I want him to share himself with me, his thoughts and ideas, his dreams for the future. What worries him most is the fear that if he loves me he’ll lose his identity. He says he isn’t willing to let any woman put a collar around his neck.”

“Sounds reasonable,” David said.

“He’s really a darling.” Sherry wanted to be sure everyone understood her feelings.

“You love him?”

Sherry nodded. “I did almost from the first.”

“Let me talk to him,” Rowdy offered.

“It wouldn’t do any good,” Sherry said. “His best friend, who’s happily married, already tried, and Cody just thinks Luke’s lost his marbles.”

“He’ll feel differently once he’s married himself.”

“Didn’t you tell me Cody has a twelve-year-old daughter?” Norah asked.

Sherry nodded. “I don’t know a lot about his marriage, just enough to know they were both pretty immature. His wife was killed in a car accident years ago.”

“And he’s never thought about marrying again until now?” David inquired.

“Heather had a lot to do with his proposal, but—” She stopped, remembering how Cody had told her that the first time he’d asked her to marry him had been for Heather’s sake, but now it was for his own. “With time, I believe he’ll understand it isn’t flowers that interest me or serenading me in the dead of night—it’s trusting and sharing. It’s a sense of belonging to each other.”

“It’s sitting up together with a sick baby,” Norah murmured.

“And loving your partner enough to allow him to be himself,” Rowdy continued. “And vice versa.”

“And looking back over the years you were together, knowing they were the best ones of your life,” David added thoughtfully.