"I did. But I'll wait for your answer. If you..."
"Yes, I'll marry you," Rico said. Then he let out a shaky laugh as tears started to fill his eyes. "Of course I'll marry you. I love you." He practically sobbed the words as he threw himself into Mitch's arms.
Mitch kissed him hard then stared at him while smiling and mussing his hair. "Fuck, you make me so happy. You're incredible."
"No, you are. You're always surprising the hell out of me. I love you so damn much, but one thing," Rico said as he sat so he straddled Mitch's legs. He sniffled and wiped his ones then he got serious. "When we tell the story of how you proposed, I'm not crying, OK. You proposed, and I was totally chill about it, like, 'Cool idea, bro. Let's do this thing.' And I punched your arm. No crying. That's the version we're telling."
Mitch nodded. "Whatever you say. " He gave Rico an ironic, blue-eyed look before he kissed him again.
His future husband was kissing him, and the thought of it was just too much. In the next second, Rico was shaky again and leaning heavily against Mitch just trying to breathe. "I feel like I'm going to fall apart."
"This is too soon?" Mitch asked worriedly as he rubbed his back.
"No," Rico said quickly like he was afraid Mitch would take it back. He sat up and reassured Mitch. "I'm happy. You just shocked the hell out of me. You do that a lot, you know. And I love it. I love you. God, I love you so much."
"Maybe I did rush a little," Mitch said. "But I couldn't stand the thought of losing you. I had this idea that I had a better shot at getting a yes today than any other day."
"Because I was still in a post wedding swoon. You're crafty," Rico told him, but he was thrilled at the thought that Mitch wanted him like that.
"I didn't know how you would feel about getting married, but I had to take a chance," Mitch said, looking into his eyes while his hands smoothed down Rico's back and locked around his waist.
"A yes was guaranteed. I'm all yours till the end of time," Rico told him and angled his head for a sweet, long kiss.
"I'm glad I finally got up enough courage to tell you how I feel," Mitch told him with their lips only inches apart as they shared small kisses and caressed each other in the fading light of the sunset.
"I had things to confess too," Rico told him. "Like how I'm crazy about you and want to be with you more than anything. But there's no rush. I have my whole life to tell you that. That's how long we're going to be together."
"Yes, we will. Forever," Mitch said and kissed him deep and hard.
Rico didn't know how long they kissed until he noticed how dark it was and that the stars were already out. They were lying together, wrapped up in each other.
"All this time I was afraid that some day soon you would decide to leave town, and I kind of had this crazy idea of going wherever you went," Rico said.
"I wish I had known. Every time I thought about leaving, it hurt so much because I didn't know if I could get you to come with us," Mitch told him.
"I would have gone anywhere. I still will if you want me to," Rico told him.
"This is the right place for us as long as you're here," Mitch told him. The back of Rico's head cradled in the crook of his arm, Mitch leaned in and kissed him.
There had been plenty of daylight left when they came, but now they had to use their phones to light their way back. Arriving at Grandmother's place, they found Sammy bustling around the table on the veranda, placing napkins decorated with flowers at each plate.
"Let me guess. We're eating wedding food," Rico said to her while Mitch gave her a hug.
"Yes!" Sammy said. "And all the desserts too."
"Not all the desserts," Mitch said a little alarmed.
Rico wasn't sure when they would be telling her they were engaged, but then Mitch gave him a nod. He got on one knee in front of Sammy and told her. "I have some news. Enrico and I are going to get married because I love him very much."
Sammy gasped. "Another wedding," she said. Then she looked startled. "Daddy!" she squealed and looked like she would cry. "That means Rico is gonna be with us forever and ever and ever."
"Yes, it does," Mitch told her and now he looked a little teary eyed too.
"I'm gonna cry like DJ because I'm too happy," she said with a pout as she blinked at Mitch and at Rico.
"You're not crying," Rico told her and got down to hug her. "You're a grown up lady, and we love you."
"Rico, we're gonna have a wedding too!" she told him excitedly, like he might not have realized.
