"Hey, hey, hey," I say, standing. "Me first."
Redford nods. "Exactly. The lady goes first."
I already have my slackline ready between the two trees behind Red. He helped me put it up earlier today. "Okay, I'm a little nervous," I say, walking to the tree to the left. The line is about twelve feet in the air, and Red helps me with a ladder.
I climb it and Bartlett immediately begins to shake his head. "You can't go up there."
"I can," I say. "In fact, I could do this about 30 feet in the air. The show must go on, Bart! This is Plum’s circus."
Plum smiles. "Can you really tightrope walk?"
"Sure thing, kiddo," I say.
I begin to walk across the slackline between the two tall trees. Red is beneath me. I know he's doing it in a fatherly way, thinking he'll catch me if I fall. And Bartlett is suddenly underneath me too, though his shoulder is still bandaged from the bullet he took for me.
And honestly, I'm not going to tell them that if I fall from here, it's going to be so fast that they won't have time to catch me. Right now, Bartlett just wants to believe he would, and that is enough.
The thing is, I'm not going to fall. I can do this.
I walk the slackline once and then twice, and then I jump off of it, landing in a headstand. Then I do four cartwheels toward Plum, landing in a perfect split. Then I do a backhanded jump. I land in a handspring, place a few more cartwheels, and then I do a pirouette right in front of her.
"Happy Circus Day," I tell her, and everyone stands, giving me an ovation I do not deserve. "Stop it," I say, blushing.
Fig is gobsmacked. "Abby, you said you were a gymnast. You are freaking amazing."
Annie nods in agreement. "You really are incredible. Have you ever thought of opening a gymnastics studio? The kids in Home would love something like that. You know, there's an open building right next to the toy store."
"I've been there," I say. "Bartlett took me to Home Grown for dinner."
"Ooh, fancy," Annie says. “I’m impressed, Bart.”
"But yeah, that would be pretty incredible to have a little studio," I say, remembering the leotards hanging in the sports store that day when I met Harold and I got my phone charger. I smile, an idea coming to me. "Actually, I could call it Rough and Tumble. What do you think?"
The family all laughs, smiling in agreement. "That would be perfect," Bartlett says. "I mean, if you were a Rough."
There's an awkward silence, and I realize I may have just put my foot in my mouth, claiming the Rough name when I'm not a Rough at all.
But then Bartlett gives me a grin. "Hey Dad, is it time for my act?"
"Of course, son. I think it's the perfect time."
"Well, you mentioned Rough and Tumble, right? And then I said that awkward thing there about you not being a Rough," Bart says, grinning sheepishly.
"Right," I say, cringing. "I'm kind of mortified actually."
"Well, the thing is, I was hoping you would be. Not mortified. A Rough."
"What do you mean?" I ask, looking around at his whole family. They're all watching. Plum is right by my side. Her eyes, they still sparkle. Fig and Lemon, there's tears in theirs that they're blinking back. Annie’s too. "What's going on?" I ask.
And then Bartlett is on one knee and I see that everyone is in on this.
This whole moment? It was made for me.
"I love you, Abracadabra. And I want to be your husband. I know you came to this town when you were a little girl and it meant something to you then. And you came back here because you were looking for that feeling. You were looking for that memory. And the thing is, I'm so happy you did because you coming Home means I found my home. I may have grown up here with this perfect family and this perfect life, but what if I had grown old without you?
“Marry me. Be my family. Be my forever. And have that studio called Rough and Tumble. And I'm guessing we'll have some rough and tumble times. But Abby, I think we can get through them, any of them, together. What do you say?" he asks, pulling out a diamond ring and offering it to me. "Will you be my wife?"
Tears fall down my cheeks; my heart bursts with devotion. My whole body hums with hope. "I love you, Bartlett. I didn't think a girl like me could ever be paired with a man like you, but somehow you proved me wrong. You won me over, and you made me yours."
"Is that a yes?" Annie asks on behalf of her whole family.
"That's a yes," I say as Bartlett slides the ring on my finger and stands, wrapping me up in his arms and kissing me hard on the lips.