Oh, Kathy, I adore this story!!! It's the other Kathy's - Kathy Brown's The One That Got Away.
Recognised it instantly!
And this is one which, brief as it is, always makes me want to cry:
He nodded. "I talked to Tom."
"About...?"
"He said that since I was leaving, I could do this." He bent and kissed her, slowly, tenderly, with all the feeling his heart had for her. When he stepped back, there were tears in her eyes. "Never forget I love you."
The tears spilled. "I won't. I love you, too."
And then the voices, and the sight of the family -- her family, now -- coming through the trees.
Lois dashed away the tears and waited beside him until the little procession reached them.
Wendy
