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Her gorgeous shadow vaults, spins, leaps, and falls through every spotlight on the stage and weaves in, and through, every beat of the music. The song is coming to a two-beat swift close. As the lyric tells us, something always brings me, or her, back. It never takes too long.
Before I know it, the two-minute roller coaster is nearly over. It’s two beats. She stops on the first to face me, and on thesecond she covers her face in gasping sobs, lowering to her knees. Now I can be in it with her. My feet carry me to her where I lower myself down to the floor and crawl a couple of feet to pull her into my arms.
The instant we connect, and she melts into my arms, her once silent audience erupts into appreciation and applause for what we all just witnessed, which is a triumphant return.
“Jesus, Eli. Someone’s here.”
“There are many people.” Lining just behind the orchestra pit railing is Hayley flanked by Wes, my parents, and my grandparents. All six of them in a row. The seventh guest is making her way up the stairs before Dylan can comprehend what’s happening.
“Mr. Sawyer. I’m Jill Wallace. Hello again, Dylan. I think we were supposed to meet the other day.”
“Oh my God. Ms. Wallace, what are you doing here?”
“Giving you something I don’t often give. A rain check. You have a very persuasive boyfriend, Ms. Cooper. This was your reintroduction to dance. I’m going to show the film of today, along with my analysis of your senior performance, to our committee. You’ll be hearing from us after graduation, requesting a more formal audition. If all goes how I think it will, we just might be seeing a great deal of each other. Congratulations.”
Wes hauls off with a whistle over and above all the claps and shouts of congratulations. Dylan sits stunned in my arms. If I were to breathe too hard, she would likely fall over. “Dylan? Hey. Did you hear what she said?”
“How did this happen?” It finally registers. “What did you do?”
“The day I came home from the hospital, my father told me you skipped your audition. I didn’t remember you even had it. I wasn’t going to let that go. You worked too long and too hard tojust walk away from it. So after a few phone calls, I got a hold of Jill.”
“But you’re back, Eli. You need me. Your recovery is first.”
“Viper, I’ll still recover. I will. Do you see all of them? They’re behind us.Bothof us. We’re not alone, you’re not alone, and if I have a damn thing to say about it, you never will be again.” I reach inside the pocket of my leather jacket to pull out a small black velvet pouch. “Hold out your hand.”
Her fingers pull away from her lips and shakily lower near her lap. I rise to one knee and cup my hand under hers to help hold it still. Out of the pouch falls a vintage ring. It has a diamond-influenced, oval-shaped appearance with six small diamonds on each side in the channel. In the center is a one-carat round with matching half carats above and below. It’s ornate, delicate, and extremely unique, just like Dylan.
“This ring belonged to my great-grandmother, Pops’s mother. Gigi was an amazing lady. She was tenacious, fun-loving, stubborn, and had a spirit like no other. She would have loved you. I know I do.”
“Get to the question, would ya?!” Wes hollers a millisecond before Hayley punches him in the chest.
Dylan is staring at the ring in her hand like if it moves it will burn her. She looks at it, then looks back at me, and starts shaking her head. “Tell me you don’t love me, Dylan. Tell me you don’t.”
“I can’t. But I also can’t have everything.”
“Why not? You’re the one who taught meIcan. I can be who I am in every part of my life. I’m living againtwicebecause of you. You asked me once if I could get married again. I told you to the right person I could. That person is you. Look out there. Look at all of those faces. Those people are your family. They didn’t come here today for me. Well, I mean they did, and they didn’t.
“They knew what was going to happen, or I hope will happen, and they wanted to witness it. Do we have it all figured out right now? Not even close. That would be boring. All I know is I choose you. Viper, be my permanent wingman. Dylan Elizabeth Cooper, would you please do me the extraordinary honor of being my wife?”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m fucking positive. Be my wife.” Her left hand shakes as she extends her fingers out to me. With what I’m sure is the smile of my life, I slide the ring on and over her knuckle. It’s a perfect fit. “Say the word. I need to hear the word.”
“Yes.”
“Yes. So it’s a yes, yes?” She nods quickly and wraps her arms around my neck. Without thinking, I stand up and whirl her around in circle after circle in my arms across the stage. Each time we spin, I see something different. A thumbs-up from Pops. A blown kiss from Gran. My parents hugging each other. Hayley jumping up and down applauding. Wes trying to hide a tear in his eye.I fucking knew it. Marshmallow.
“Stop. Eli, stop. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
I whirl a couple of times back in the other direction to right us again. “I can’t hurt. Not anymore.” I whisper in her ear a quote from my man Bono,“The soul needs beauty for a soulmate. When the soul wants, the soul waits.”
I waited a long time to be this happy. She waited a long time to feel this loved. Thereisno more waiting.
The End
