All of Me

“Honestly, babe, I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Marty said softly. When he saw her downtrodden expression, he explained. “Listen, I like the idea of an amphitheater, but I think it will change too much of the landscape. A person who truly wants to run a vineyard won’t care about the aesthetics around the gazebo. He or she will care about the integrity of the vines. Creating a circle as wide as you’re thinking could have consequences we can’t imagine because we know nothing about it.”

A silence fell after his statement. After a moment, Rena rose and smiled at both of them. “I’m going to leave you two alone. This discussion doesn’t involve me.” She put her hand on Diana’s shoulder. “Whatever the two of you decide, we can make it work.” She excused herself and left, walking through the house to the front door and out.

Marty watched Diana’s face. She hadn’t looked at him again, so he had no idea what she was thinking. He hoped she saw his point. After several minutes of silence broken only by the two of them sipping their coffee and some birds chattering in the tree close by, Marty rose and walked to the sofa to sit next to his wife.

“Diana, I want you to have the wedding you’ve always wished for, but not at the expense of our home,” Marty murmured reasonably.

“The wedding I wanted has been denied, twice. This is my third option,” she said sadly. She turned to him. “Can we discuss the amphitheater thing?”

Marty sighed. “I’ll make you a deal on that. Bring in an expert, someone who can assure me the integrity of the vineyard won’t be stripped if we clear the area, and I’ll agree.”

Diana nodded, a small smile on her face. “I think that’s fair. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I liked the original idea, the aisle from the storage building. Are you still having it renovated?”

“Yes, but just minor things. Mostly clearing it out and cleaning it so I can walk down from there,” Diana told him. She lifted a sketch pad and flipped to a specific page, holding her finger in a separate page. “This is a sketch of the original plan.” He leaned closer and looked at it, nodding his head. “And this is the sketch of the amphitheater idea.”

Marty held out his hand for the book, holding the two pages so he could find them quickly. Internally, he admitted he like the amphitheater much better than the aisle, but his concern had to lie with the ability to sell the vineyard and house when they were ready to relocate. To create the amphitheater around the gazebo, seven different sections of vines would be affected, which equaled nearly ten feet per section. He couldn’t, in good conscience and without expert opinion, destroy that much of the vineyard.

With a sigh, he admitted it to her as well. “I do like the amphitheater. Get the expert, and if that person agrees, I’ll agree.”

Diana smiled at him. “If it bothers you that much, we can do the aisle.”

He put his arm around her. “Always willing to compromise. That’s why we work so well.” He kissed her forehead. “I want you to be happy. Let’s at least see if we can find an expert. How much time do you need to get it done?”

“A month, I think,” Diana answered, “which should be fine. The wedding is still three months away.” She snuggled against him and moaned despairingly.

“What? Is that not enough time?”

“For either the amphitheater or aisle, it’s plenty,” she declared. “But I still haven’t found a dress! I have been terribly unlucky.”

“I hate that you weren’t able to go because of that fu*ker,” Marty growled.

“Cameron told me he spoke to him, explained that I was on the verge of getting a restraining order. He won’t bother me anymore,” Diana assured him.

“I really don’t want to go to prison,” Marty grumbled.

“Yeah, I agree. You wouldn’t do well there,” Diana teased. “That cute ass would draw every criminal in there.”

“You are disgusting. I can’t believe I’m marrying you.” Their laughter startled the birds who had been content in the tree close to them. They flew away, fluttering their wings loudly.