Last Chance Proposal by Barbara Deleo

kite back.
    Cy nodded, then turned to Ellie and threw her a wink that flew straight into her heart. “Why don’t we let Jonty and Ellie hold the kite up and then you and I can do the pulling? If we turn around this way so we have the wind ready to help us lift it, we might get it to work.”
    “Yeah, cool.”
    Jonty took the kite from Louis and handed it to Ellie. His cheeks were pink from running and the scarf lay loose around his neck like a fighter pilot’s.
    Cy took the reel, and together, he and Louis walked away until there was a long stretch of string between them.
    “Do you want me to hold the kite?” Ellie said.
    Jonty nodded.
    “Okay, we’re ready,” she called on the wind. “On three we’ll run. One, two, three!”
    They began to jog along the sand, Ellie with the kite held high, Jonty beside her, his arms pumping as he tried to keep up. Ahead of them, Cy and Louis had their backs turned, their hair whipping in the wind.
    “Nearly ready,” Ellie called to Jonty as she began to feel the wind beneath the kite’s light material. “Ready, set, go!” And as she slowed her steps and Jonty drew up beside her, they tipped their faces skyward and watched the bright yellow smudge dancing against brilliant blue.
    …
    “What do you think, Jonty?” Cy knelt in front of his son later that afternoon. Louis jumped up and down as if he was about to burst and Jonty looked from Ellie to Louis and back again, his face shining. Fleur waited to take the boys to pageant practice. If he agreed. The connection with Ellie had been so strong today and the prospect of being alone with her for an hour or two sent an unbidden thrill through him.
    He brushed sand from the front of his little boy’s T-shirt, perplexed at how this plan had come about. When they’d been heading home on the yacht, Louis had asked if Jonty could go to the practice and to his amazement, Jonty had nodded furiously in agreement. He cleared his throat and looked in his son’s expectant face. “Are you sure you want to go with Fleur and Louis? I could come too so we can see what it’s like together if you like.”
    Jonty shook his head. Contradiction warred within Cy, wanting to keep his little boy safe and wanting to be alone with Ellie. It was one thing Jonty having new experiences, but was he ready to let his son go off with other people who might not recognize the signs of a panic attack was another.
    “Hang on a minute.” He indicated to Ellie and Fleur that he needed to speak to them, and they walked out of the boys’ earshot. Jonty was pointing out paua shells in the steps to Louis.
    Cy rubbed his hand across his chin and turned to Fleur. “Are you sure you’re okay to take him? You’d need to look for any signs that he’s stressed, keep him with you at all times, and send someone to get me if anything goes wrong. He hasn’t been around lots of kids in a long time.”
    Fleur nodded. “He seems good when he’s with Louis, but come if you want to.”
    Ellie laid a hand on his arm. “They’ll be fine, Cy. It’s only down the beach and you saw how excited both boys were when Louis asked about it. Maybe a little independence will be good for J. Look how well he did when he was alone on the boat with me. Good things are happening for him.”
    He looked at Ellie, and she squeezed his arm as he looked into her smiling eyes. “Katie Newport will be there,” she said. “Fleur can send her straight down here if something goes wrong.”
    “Okay.” He pushed away the memory of Jonty’s reaction at the glowworms, and the guilt that he was putting his needs before his son’s. “Thanks for doing this, Fleur.
    When he’d waved his son good-bye, Cy watched him follow Louis like a little shadow down the beach, ducking in and out of driftwood piles. When Cy looked at Ellie, a smile touched her face and he knew that wanting to be alone with her wasn’t wrong.
    “I understand that’s a big step, letting him go like that.” Her voice was