Brave

Chapter 30: Sledding, Take Two

I have one more personal hurdle to cross.

Ethan has been encouraging me, but it's something I want to prove to myself that, I can overcome my fear. I'm getting back on the horse.

We're going sledding.

It's a Friday afternoon, and Ethan took time off of work to do this with me. We decide not to go to the same hill where I had my accident. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back there. We go to a hill closer to his house, not as steep and not very close to any roadway.

We get out of his car, fetch the sleds from his trunk, and we start to trudge up the hill. My new knee with the microprocessor is quite helpful in the endeavor, although it's still a bit of a struggle to get it to cooperate on this steep incline. Ethan is patient, talking me through it while I maneuver up the hill.

When we get to the top, he asks, "Are you sure you're ready?"

"Yeah," I say with a deep breath. "I think so."

He sits down on a sled and I sit down on the one next to him. But then I look over and tell him, "I don't want to go alone." He pats his lap so I crawl over onto the sled with him. He wraps his arms around me and pushes us off slowly. I don't feel anything, really, as we get started. But as we pick up speed, I have a few very brief moments of panic, just not enjoying the feeling of not being in control. By the time we stop at the bottom, I'm laughing and crying, mostly from sheer joy at the fact that I finally did it.

We sit in the sled at the bottom for a while. Ethan whispers, his breath warm against my cold cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, Sarah."

"Thank you. For everything, for saving my life, for being here with me today."

"I wouldn't be anywhere else," he whispers and we sit a while longer, enjoying the silence of the flakes of snow falling around us.

We go down the hill two or three more times, but that's enough to prove our point. We'll come back later in the winter and go sledding with our friends, or maybe with his siblings. For now, we climb back into his car and get the heat running so we can warm up.

"I'd like to go somewhere else, if you don't mind," Ethan suggests as we drive away from the hill.

"Sure."

I'm quite surprised when Ethan drives into Frances Park. One road is plowed, so we go through as far as we can, and then we get out and walk through the snow. It's getting dark, since it's mid-December, and there are lights strung along some of the pillars and draped over the pergola. Once again, we're knee deep in snow, since this path hasn't been shoveled or plowed since the last snow.

When we arrive at the top of the lookout, Ethan kisses me, which is something I always enjoy.

"Sarah," Ethan says seriously. "Do you remember Patrick's wedding, when I told you that I've never more proud of anything in my whole life than to be able to call you my girlfriend?"

I nod, remembering his sweet remark.

"I wasn't telling the whole truth. There's something that would make me more proud. In fact, it would make me the happiest man in the world."

My eyes widen and my heart starts racing. I think I know what he's going to say. "What's that?" I ask in barely a whisper.

"I hope you don't think I'm crazy, since we haven't even known each other for a year, but I don't need any more time to know that I love you more than I could ever love anyone else. You don't even have to answer me tonight, but I want you to know that I'm ready to love you forever."