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The bass drum echoes from the tunnel, the other drums joining in. Our alma mater marching band kicks in, filling the stadium with music. Marching between us to the end of the field and then looping behind me, it’s quite the production, but she’s worth it.
With her hands over her mouth, she bends over in laughter.
She shakes her pom-poms like old times, enjoying every minute. With a fifty-piece marching band backing me, I take a deep breath and exhale slowly.
I’m nervous. I shouldn’t be, but I realize that this isn’t about second chances. We already have that. Tonight is about righting wrongs.
Dragging my tongue over my bottom lip, I fix my eyes on her and start walking. I glance up to see Shelby next to Billy in that booth. And I know if they weren’t making out right now, they’d totally be cheering us on as well.
Delilah. The name alone means delicate, but she’s anything but fragile. Her inner strength fortifies how strong she is outward. Smart, she’s running her farm better than most of the neighbors in this county. Adapting as needed and cleverly creating a new financial plan when the other wasn’t working. When she had no one, she survived to create a new life. She’s the sun to my revolving world. And I don’t want to live a day with her light shadowed.
She shifts her weight from foot to foot, nervous like me. For some reason, that makes me feel better knowing we’re both invested as deeply in each other. Not that I didn’t know that already, but her reaction gives me reassurance. Then I focus on my target—a blond with big blue eyes, wearing her heart on her sleeve and a number patch near the hem of her skirt.
I take the helmet off and carry it by the face guard at my side. Just ten feet separate us when the world comes back into color—vivid and electric. And there in the center of my universe stands the only girl my heart ever recognized as its own. She’s as gorgeous as she always was, that uniform a fantasy come to life. Again. Damn, she knows how to work her assets to her advantage. Shapely legs and that top all filled out. My mind goes to the gutter instead of the speech I had prepared. Shit. I’m blank. I walk right to her and wrap my arms around her waist, picking her up. Her legs wrap around my middle and her laughter fills the air right before the marching band begins to play again. Bending down, she kisses me.
This is how that night should have gone.
“You’re all I ever wanted, Delilah Rae Noelle.”
As I set her down, her laughter is replaced with glassy eyes as she struggles to hold her tears back. “Me too. You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Jason Koster.”
I drop down to my knee and take her hand. “Three thousand fans crowded into this stadium every Friday night to watch our team play and hopefully win. We usually did.”
She reaches out to touch my chin before taking her pom-poms in both hands again. “You were named MVP all four years in school.”
“But it’s not the trophies or the accolades I remember. When I look back on my life, my highlights reel plays our love story.”
“Oh, Jason,” she sighs with a gentle smile, her body leaning toward me as if keeping the distance is torture for her.
“I remember everything about you—from the purple shirt and denim skirt you were wearing the first time I saw you to the kiss you blew me from atop of the parade float junior year. No victory was ever won without looking for you in the crowd. Your approval. Your support. Your love. That’s all I needed, so although life may have taken us in different directions and knocked us off course along the way, it still carried me right back to your door. This is our chance to put us back the way we were always supposed to be. Delilah Rae Noelle, marry me. Travel the world with me. Have babies with me. Hold my hand even when you’re mad at me. And I promise I’ll kiss you even after we fight. I’ll take the middle-of-the-night feedings, so you can sleep. I’ll protect you. Always. But . . .”
I get choked up. It was bound to happen when you feel this deeply about something or someone. “I’ll love you in this life and the next. I’ll give you the world and the universe, the stars above, and will make love to your body and your heart. Will you marry me?”
Throwing her arms around my neck, her pom-poms are dropped behind me as she sits on my bended knee with her head tucked into the nook of my neck. Her cries are soft but shake her shoulders, but when she lifts up, she says, “Yes. A thousand yeses, Jason. I want to be your wife, partner, the mother of your children, and your forever.”
