Later that night, as Amy and I were cuddled together in bed, Amy said, “You have found yourself. Haven’t you?”

“I have.”, I replied. “Thanks to grandma, mom, Naainish, and you.”

“Me?”

“Honey. Without you, I’d be nothing. You’ve believed in me. You’ve stood beside me. You’ve guided and walked with me down the path. Without you, I wouldn’t exist.”

“You’re going to make me cry.”

“It’s the truth.”

She rolled over and kissed me. Then she said, “Tommy. I feel the same about you. I lived to come back here to you and only you. When I left here, I knew who my soul mate was. And I knew that I’d do whatever it took to be with you.”

And we kissed for a long time.

Then Amy asked, “You liked having Kai back. Didn’t you?”

“Of course.”, I replied. “I could feel her, and she was happy to be here.”

“And you were glad that she was here. Weren’t you?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“But I felt that something was wrong.”

“Nothing's wrong, but I don’t think Kai is going to be around that much.”

Amy looked at me in complete shock, and asked, “What! Why?”

“How does Kai like to dress?”, I replied.

“I guess like a typical Navajo girl.”

“Okay. Now how does Tammy like to dress?”

“Like a typical college coed.”

“Okay. How do you think Kai would feel here?

“Maybe a little out of place. But couldn’t Kai dress as a coed?”

“Maybe. But is Kai a coed? Or is she a native girl that would feel out of place here?”

“You did feel out of place tonight. Didn’t you?

“No. Not around you, mom, and dad. The three of you are my comfort zone.”

“But if Kai went out, she’d feel uncomfortable. Wouldn’t she?”

“She would feel well out of her comfort zone.”

“Was your female spirit out of her comfort zone in New Mexico?”

“Only when she was dressed as a native girl and didn’t look like one. But once she could look like a native girl, things were good. And flying back home in Tammy’s clothes and looking more like a native girl then Tammy, was a little strange for her.”

“Are Kai and Tammy the same spirit?”

“You know they are. Remember Naainish said that he thought that the Navajo girl would take a back seat to Tammy once we were back home. But there would be times that she’d want to be here and that I’d know when that is.

“I just know that my female spirit felt more at home in New Mexico.”

“So Kai and I will never be able to go out together?”

“I wouldn’t say, never. There may be a time that Kai would be happy to go out with you. And she may want to be around you from time to time.”

“You know what your dad said about you being a part of a study and throwing the statistics way out of kilter is probably very true. And I think you should take part in one.”

I looked at her like she was crazy, and trying to change the subject, I said, “Now, about your clinicals.”

I don’t think she wanted to talk about those just yet. She looked at me with those magic blue eyes of hers, gave me her sexy smile, kissed me. And ...

Wednesday morning, as I was pulling out of the hospital parking lot after dropping Amy off this morning, it hit me. Today is Amy’s birthday. And I’d forgotten to wish her happy birthday. On my lunch break, I went out and picked up the nicest, sweetest, prettiest card that I could find. And I made arrangements to pick up something else on the way home.

I worked till four at the store, and made a quick stop on the way to the hospital, to pick up something that I’d ordered, and I put in the trunk of the car. Then I picked up Amy at the hospital, and as she sat in the car, I handed her the card. She opened it, read the card, and said, “Tommy. This is so sweet.”

“Only the best for my best girl.”, I replied.

And we shared a kiss.

When we were home and started walking into the house, I said, “Oops. I forgot something in the car. Go on in, and I'll be right there.”

Amy went into the house. And I ran to the car and retrieved what I’d earlier put in the trunk. I knew that she wasn’t expecting anything since we were celebrating her birthday on Saturday at her parents. I walked into the house, and Amy and my mom were in the kitchen talking. And I said, “Amy. Someone left this in the car for you.”

Amy turned, looked at me, looked at what I was carrying, and said, “You brat. You didn’t have to do this.”

“Yes, I did. It’s your birthday.” And I thought, ‘And I’d almost forgotten.’

When my dad came home, his first comment was, “Who’s roses?”

“They’re mine, daddy.”. Amy replied.

“Why? What’s so special about today?”

“Today’s my birthday.”

“Well! Happy birthday!” And he gave her a big hug.

Amy received all sorts of phone calls that evening. Her parents called, her brother called, Maria and Kelly called. And, surprise, surprise, even my Grandmother Devereux called, and they talked for over a half an hour.

Thursday was a typical day. Drop Amy off at the hospital, drive to my uncle’s store, work all day, pick up Amy, and drive home. And on the way home, Amy said, “Patty stopped in to see me today.”

“Oh.”, I replied. “Why?”

“She wanted to talk to me about the last two weeks of my clinicals.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I guess I made an impression in the emergency room. Patty said that they saw something in me that they look for in emergency room nurses. I suppose it was how quickly I picked up on things, followed instructions, and did things without being told.”

“I can understand that.”

“Yeah. Patty also told me, that the doctors and nurses that I’d worked with in the emergency room hoped that I’d come back.”

“Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.”

“Tell me about it. And I have to make up my mind by tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning! I thought that you had another week of rotation before you had to make a decision?”

“Yeah. I should. But the emergency room folks figured that I’d be bored on the medical floor, and they want to keep my interest. So, they want me for three weeks.”

“Three weeks!?”

“Yeah. Starting on Monday.”

“So you have to make up your mind tonight.”

“Yeah. To either finish with the rotation or go to the emergency room. And I don’t know what to do.”

“Want to go for a walk after dinner?”

A little while after cleaning up the dinner dishes, Amy and I were sitting on the new version of our bench by the lake. This bench was built the same way the old one was, but it was all new. I think it’s more the place than the bench that’s important to us because it felt like we were at our special spot. We cuddled together, and sat in silence, and just watched the ducks and geese for a short time. But the Eagles were missing.

At one point I glanced at Amy. Her eyes were closed, but I didn’t think she was sleeping. I figured that she was thinking and trying to shut out some of the outside stimulus.

We’d been sitting there for about fifteen minutes, when Amy sat up straight, looked at me, smiled, and said, “I love you.”

“Well. I love you too.”, I replied.

“You know. Just sitting here with you helped me so much. It’s like we were thinking as one.”

“So you’ve made up your mind?”

“Uh huh.”

“So?”

“I’m going to do the three weeks in the emergency room.”

“The emergency room! After what you went through there.”

“That was traumatic, but it helped me grow. Everything you do in a hospital helps people. But in the emergency room, it’s more of an in your face type thing. They hand you a problem that you have to solve quickly. Of course, it can happen anywhere. You have to know your job and do it quickly and accurately. Or someone could die. Of course, surgery is the same way, but it's not as intense.”

She cuddled back against me. And we sat there for a little while longer. Then she said, “You know. It felt like someone was guiding me down a path to this decision. I was sitting there with my eyes closed, cuddled close to you. And I could feel myself walking down a path with someone, and they were guiding me.”

“Who?”, I asked.

“I never saw them. The whole thing was just a feeling.”

When we were back home, my mom was in the den, and my dad was in his workshop. Amy went to talk to my mom, and I went down the basement to check on something.

Friday morning, on the way to the hospital, I asked Amy, “Still going to do the emergency room?”

“Yes. I think it will be a good experience.”

“You know best.”

“No. We know best. You helped me decide.”

I’m not sure what I did, but if she thinks that I helped her, so be it.

Later that day when I picked Amy up, she was her usual bubbly self. I asked her, “So did you give them your decision?”

“Of course.”, she replied. “And they were pleased with it.”

“Does Patty know your decision?”

“Yes. She wants me to work with her again.”

“So you’ll be working evenings again?”

“Yeah. I know. We won’t see each other much. But it will only be for three weeks, and we’ll have weekends together.”

“I guess.”

“I don't like it either, but we’ll make the most of it.”

Later that evening, Amy and I were cuddled up on the porch, and she said, “You know that apartment building that is right behind the school of nursing?”

“Sure.”, I said. “The one the university bought and hasn’t done anything with.”

“Yeah. That’s the one. They’ve started working on them. And I heard that the university is going to open them up to married students.”

“That so?”

“Yeah. And they're going to give married nursing students first choice. And I thought that maybe we might get one.”

“You’re ready. Aren’t you?”

“Sort of.”

“Think we should put our name in for one.”

“Already have.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I figured that we needed to be towards the top of the list. Then later if we decided we didn’t want it, we could just turn it down. And I think we should tell your mom and dad what we’re thinking of doing.”

“We should. And I’d like to take a look at them.”

A few minutes later we found my parents in the den, and as we sat down, I said, “Mom and dad. We need to talk to you.”

“Sure honey.”, my mother replied. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothings wrong. It’s just that the university is opening up some more married student apartments, and we’re thinking about taking one.”

“Oh. ... Okay.”

I could sense some sadness in her voice.

Then my dad said, “Are you just thinking or are you going to do it?”

“Amy’s put our name on the list for them.”, I replied. “But we want to look at them first.”

“Good idea. Would you be able to stay in them between quarters and over the summer?”

Amy and I looked at each other, then Amy said, “I don’t know daddy. I guess that’s one thing we need at ask them.”

Then my mom asked, “Would Tammy be able to be around?”

“Why wouldn’t she?”, I asked.

“If she just stayed in the apartment, you wouldn't have a problem. But you like to go out, and you might raise suspicion with your neighbors. They’d see Tom go in with Amy and Tammy, or maybe even Kai, come out with Amy.”

That night, as we cuddled in bed, Amy said, “I’m having second thoughts about the apartment.”

“Why?”, I asked.

“Tammy.”

“Tammy?”

“Uh huh. Like your mom said, I think that she could run into problems that wouldn’t be good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I could see her getting into situations that might turn out being bad.”

“You might be right. Naainish did caution us.”

“And you have a lot of freedom here that you wouldn’t have there.”

“Let's sleep on it and talk more in the morning.”

Saturday morning I was up early, and my parents were up and eating breakfast. After saying our good mornings, I asked my dad, “Did you have a chance to finish the project?”

“Yes.”, my dad replied. “It turned out better than I thought it would.”

“What project?”, my mother asked.

“Something for Amy.”

“Not going to tell me. Are you?”

“No. You’ll find out when Amy does.”

My mom frowned at dad, and just said, “Hmm.”

And Amy, as she walked into the kitchen, asked, “When Amy does what?”

“Oh, nothing.”, I replied.

She just frowned at me.

Later that afternoon the four of us were in my parent's car heading to Amy’s parent's house for her birthday party. On the way, Amy said, “Oh. Mom and dad. Don’t say anything to my parents about the apartment.”

“Sure honey.”, my mother replied. “But why?”

“Well ... We ... Ah ... We decided not to take it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“We talked it over and just decided to not do it.”

My mother let it drop with that, but I had a feeling that she and Amy would talk later.

The six of us had dinner at Amy’s parent’s house. It was a barbecue out by the pool. And it brought back memories of our last day in New Mexico.

After we had eaten and had cake and ice cream, Amy opened her presents. And she received some great gifts from both sets of our parents. After she'd finished opening her gifts, I ran out to my dad’s car and retrieved a box from the trunk.

When I was back I set the box down in front of Amy, and she asked, “What’s this?”

“Not a present. That’s coming later.”, I replied. “But, it’s something that I thought you’d like. It will help you remember a special place and a special time.”

Amy just looked at me.

Then I said, “Go on and open it.”

She slowly unwrapped the box and opened it. As she looked in the box, the smile on her face was precious. She reached into the box and took out a framed diorama of our old bench, with two figures sitting on it. A boy and girl.

She looked at me and asked, “Where did you get this? It looks just our bench. And the two Eagles are there.”

I smiled, and said, “The day after the bench was destroyed, I happened to be walking past the spot, and there was a crew working on removing it. I had an idea, so I asked if I could have some of the wood, and they gave it to me.

“Then I talked to dad about it. And we conspired to make this for you.”

Amy looked at my dad, walked over to him, and gave him a big hug. Then she said, “Daddy Young. I love it. Thank you. I know you enjoy woodworking, but not doing things like this.”

“Amy.”, my dad said. “I also love making miniatures. And when Tom gave me the challenge, I had fun making it. I’m glad that you had some good pictures of that area. The base, the frame, as well as the bench, are all made from the wood that Tom gave me from the destroyed bench. The two figures, rocks, trees, and other things are from the hobby shop. The two Eagles were the hardest to find. We had to order them, and they almost didn’t make it in time.”

“Daddy. The wood is from our bench! I'll cherish this forever.”

“It was Tom’s idea.”

Looking at me with a sparkle in her eyes and a grin, Amy said, “I know. And I’ll thank him later.”

I won’t bore you with details of Amy’s three weeks in the Emergency Room. It was basically like the first week that she spent there. During the week we didn’t see much of each other, except me taking her to the hospital and picking her up, and of course on weekends. Amy did have some traumatic things happen, but we always talked about them, and I think she and Patty also talked about them. And I know that Amy grew stronger as a person for her experiences. And she admitted to me that she enjoyed working in the ER more than any other department in the hospital.

I also turned twenty during that three weeks, and I also had a nice party. We also met up with our friends and had some fun times. And yes Tammy was around every weekend, but nothing much happened.

You probably noticed that I didn’t give Amy a present for her birthday. But I’m planning on doing something special.

One day, while Amy was at the hospital, I talked with my mom and dad to see if what I wanted to do was doable. When I talked to my uncle, he wasn’t happy about me taking a week off, but when I explained about the clinicals that Amy had gone thru and that we had never had a honeymoon he was understanding.