Specter of romance takes shape at last

“True love is like a ghost, which everyone talks about and few have seen.”

— Francois de la Rochefoucauld

When the courthouse bell finished tolling, we would begin our ghost tour of Columbia’s downtown. I always thought I would see a ghost before I found true love on one of these tours.

However, one night, standing on the lawn of the courthouse listening to my story, stood my true love.

She might as well have been a ghost the first night I saw her. She was a beautiful apparition that appeared to me momentarily before vanishing into the darkness. All that lingered was her perfume and a sweet memory.

Over the next couple of months, I would see this same apparition time and time again as we crossed paths and, just as if I had seen a ghost, she left me shaky and short of breath each time. Finally, she became very real to me as we danced together at the Athenaeum. We shared a stare and a smile before she disappeared once again, becoming my Cinderella.

My heart would not let me rest until I had found her. Like I’ve said before, I put prized bloodhounds to shame, tracking her down as fast as I did. Pretty soon thereafter, we were having lunch together — our first date. Being a hopeless sentimental, I chose a downtown restaurant for this first date so that we would have the courthouse — the site of our first encounter — as a backdrop.

Almost a year after this first date, I was sitting nervously in her parents’ living room, asking for the hand of my darling Kayla Keeton. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t order me out of their house, but, instead, gave me the green light. I then had the daunting task of finding a ring and, more importantly, figuring out the best way to pop the question.

With the ring tucked in my pocket, I knew exactly what I was going to do. We were dressed in our 1860s attire this night, headed to the Athenaeum Girls’ School ball. Kayla believed me when I told her we were going to swing by the courthouse so someone could take a few pictures of us dressed up. I thought I had it all figured out and everything would go according to my plan. As usual, I was wrong.

The first part of my plan to go awry was the presence of an audience. Any other Friday night, the square would have been deserted. On this night, however, people were swarming around every corner. With Kayla being dressed in a hoopskirt and myself in a Confederate uniform, it goes without saying that we drew some attention.

As soon as we got out of the truck, a woman screamed, “Are y’all re-enactors?” Before I could answer, she was coming towards us at a full gallop. I was so busy pondering how I could break away from the woman to propose to Kayla, I practically turned a deaf ear to everything this stranger said.

Politely, we excused ourselves from the woman and walked around to the other side of the courthouse. We were finally alone and, with one side of the courthouse being just as good as the other, I thought I would go ahead and fish the ring out of my pocket. Just about the time I worked up the nerve to propose, someone pulled over, jumped out of their car, and came over to talk to me. I felt like screaming.

Kayla and I walked back to our original spot on the courthouse lawn only to find that same woman standing there as if she had been waiting on us to come back all along. She picked up her conversation as if we had never left. Somewhere in the exchange between re-enacting and war memorials, Kayla slipped off to a bench and left me stranded with this woman as she talked and talked. When she finally ran out of things to say, she strolled off. I still don’t know what the conversation was about.

Kayla was never as beautiful as she was on the bench that night. With those remarkable brown eyes of hers, she looked up at me and asked, “When are they going to show up to take those pictures?”

“Well, I lied,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed. I knew I had to act quickly. I pulled the ring box from my pocket and opened it in front of her as I hit one knee.

She said yes!

We have a few locations in mind, but we haven’t set a date yet. Kayla is enrolled in a dental hygiene program in Alabama, so we will have a two-year engagement while she finishes up.

Now, Monday through Friday, while my body is here in Maury County, my heart is somewhere I never thought it would be ... Alabama!

Named a Tennessee colonel by Gov. Phil Bredesen, Adam Southern is resident of Culleoka and can be followed at http://colonelsouthern.blogspot.com