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I bite my lip and want to yell at him to take the dang check. Is he crazy? That’s a lot of money.
“I appreciate your humility,” Larry continues, “but our company is rooted in Japanese ethos. It would be very, very offensive if you didn’t take our gift. As a matter of fact, I’d have to return back to our offices this afternoon and commit harakiri if you don’t.”
A tear starts to shed as I study Larry’s face. I’m not sure if he’s using a joke to get his point across or not. But Sam reaches out and takes the small piece of paper from his hands and in a display I never would have suspected, he gives him a hug.
“Thank you, Mr. Winters. This will help my fiancée and me a lot. It will give us a better life.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sparks, for saving our lives. Together, we all win. Good day,” he says, and with that, the man is gone.
Sam turns to me and holds the check out, moving his hands in opposite directions so the paper makes a snapping sound.
“Don’t! You’re going to rip it,” I say, running to him and wrapping him up in a big hug. “What an amazing surprise,” I add.
“The best. Man, we can really use this.”
“You sure it’s the best surprise?” I tease.
“Well, nothing will ever top meeting you. That was the surprise of a lifetime. We don’t need money to enjoy life together, only each other.”
“Each other is about to take a different meaning.”
I climb down from him and holding both of his hands I look up at him, seeing him struggling with my cryptic message until finally it clicks.
“You’re not…?”
I nod and he drops to his knees, putting his face to my stomach, worshiping my belly.
“This is…I never could have…I’m not the kind of guy—“
“You’re the perfect man for this,” I say, lifting him up just like I did the last time when he was on his knees, when he proposed to me.
We kiss hard and hold tight.
I think back to how there were so many red flags around Sam, but I ignored them all, because I was familiar with them too. He was just like me, someone who’d been fighting since coming out of the womb, someone trying to make a difference in this world…and boy has he ever now.
I know he’ll make a great father, and I’m guessing he’ll put that money toward a home for us. I never called him out the time he told me his home was under construction and that’s why he was living in such dire straits.
I didn’t call him out on it because I know the embarrassment, and I know what it feels like to not be enough.
But none of that matters anymore. Because together, we’re more than enough. We’re whole.
“We should name her Erica, after you,” he blurts out.
“We don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl,” I laugh. “Plus the whole junior thing is a guy thing.”
“It’s gonna be a girl. I just know.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I knew you were mine the moment I laid eyes on you. Just like I knew you were pregnant the moment you trusted me with your virginity. Just like I know that the world needs more women just like you. Just like…I love you.”
“I love you.”
Extended Epilogue
Sam
Ten years
