Chapter 26 #2
"Small communities like Shkalnik help," the doctor said.
"A lot of wilderness around it, not many people, and those who are in the know help to protect the shifters.
You should have seen the shenanigans around the mayoral race in town a few years back.
But I understand how you feel," she concluded.
"It's unfair. I just don't know if we can ever fix it. "
Pete smiled. It was good to have people thinking about these things.
The fact that they did offered a glimmer of hope for someday, maybe.
But the truth was, "Shifters have always hidden.
It's part of our way of life, and we all know that.
It is harder than it used to be. Harder than when I was a kid, even.
But I don't think most of us feel actively unsafe in our day to day lives.
Frustrated, sometimes, yeah, but…it's okay," he told them both.
"All anybody can ever do is try to leave the world a little better for their children, right?
And with people like you and Shanti helping us, that's what we're doing. "
Carlson’s eyes sparkled. "Children?"
Both Peter and Shanti blushed, and Shanti stuttered, "Not any time soon. I just got a new job, I don't want to go on maternity leave from it right away!"
The doctor laughed and stood to shake their hands again.
"Well, here's to someday, if that's what you decide.
In the meantime, I'm glad to have met you, and I'll do anything I can to help you getting the support you need for your shifter patients at the clinic.
Somebody from GLUM will reach out to you next week, if you want? "
Shanti laughed too. "GLUM. What a name. Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Carlson."
"Please, call me Sue. It's my pleasure." She waved them out, and they left the building with Shanti still smiling.
"She's very nice and I'm so glad someone knows how I should approach this. Peter, this is…it's good," she finished, sounding embarrassed. "I'm excited. I know I said it already, but it's starting to feel like it's setting in. I really can make a real difference here. Thank you."
"Thank me?" he asked, astonished. "You're the amazing one!"
"I'm just me," she protested, and Peter gathered her in his arms, even if they were in the veterinarian's parking lot.
"'Just you' is amazing," he murmured into her hair.
"For one thing, I don't think you appreciate how hard it is to get medical professionals out here on the edge of the world.
For another, a nurse who can be trusted with the town's shifters is beyond valuable.
You have no idea how amazing you are, for both this community and to me personally. "
"Says the man who helped me actually do the thing I've been dreaming about for months.
Years, in a way." Shanti sighed and leaned against him, clearly enjoying his warmth as she murmured, "I suppose on some level I obviously knew caring for my grandparents would come to an end someday.
When the town voted to bring the train back, I remember thinking even then, I'll take the first train out that I can, but I didn't know then that it might be the actual first train, you know?
And then when they died so close together, before the train line came in…
I started telling myself I'd be on that actual first train, but Peter, I don't think I would have been without you.
I know I would have come back, and felt like a failure for it, without you.
Now I can go back to finish the things I need to do there, but I have a reason to leave again. I'm not stuck anymore."
She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly shining and bright. "I'm not stuck anymore," she repeated. "You have no idea how good that feels."
"No," he said thoughtfully. "I probably don't. But I've got a reason to come home now, too.
I'm still going to go Outside to work on railroads," he said wryly.
"Because there just aren't enough in Alaska to keep me employed.
But I've spent my whole adult life looking away from Shkalnik, because as much as I love it, there's never been anything holding me here.
I feel grounded now in a way I never have. "
"It's almost like we're good for each other," Shanti said, then took a sudden, unexpected deep breath and stepped back. "This isn't even slightly how I was thinking of doing this, but I don't know that I had a better plan, either, so…"
To Pete's complete astonishment, she knelt right there in the icy, cold parking lot and took a little black velvet box from her pocket.
Pete's jaw dropped and she beamed up at him, her cheeks warm with nervous excitement.
"Last time I asked you to marry me I didn't have an engagement ring, so I thought I'd do it right this time. "
Pete wheezed and waved his hands feebly as Shanti almost fumbled the box as she tried to open it. After a second try, she succeeded, displaying a slender gold ring with an inset red-and-gold stone. Shanti, smiling with hopeful nervousness, said, "Peter Baranov, will you marry me?"
Peter croaked, "Yes. Yeah, yes, of course," and scooped her up from the ice into what could only be called a bear hug.
She laughed into his shoulder, hugging back hard, and was bright-eyed with tears when he set her back on her feet.
Her hands trembled as she tried, fumbled again, then managed to get the ring on his finger.
He gaped at it, at her, and picked her up again for another hug. "How…?"
She giggled, a shy thrilled sound. "I got Nan to go ring shopping with me. She knew your ring size and I wanted something with a local stone, so it's some kind of jasper-agate mix, and it had to be smooth enough to let you work on the railroad with it if you wanted to but you don't have to—"
Her rush of words ended as he kissed her, then murmured, "It's perfect. You're perfect," against her mouth. "I love you. Let's go live happily ever after?"
Shanti whispered, "Okay," and they did.