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“Honest?” He side-eyes me, his smile curving even higher. “Yeah, I knew I was going to win.”
“Good to know your vanity is as healthy as ever.”
It’s been two years. Two years since he confessed his love for me for the entire world to see. It all led us to this moment, celebrating Rhylan’s first Academy Award.
I didn’t go to Seattle. I didn’t run away from the home that I decided to create with Rhylan, choosing our future instead of leaving it all behind. And now, two years later, I can’t even bring myself to regret it.
I told Paula that I changed my mind, and she extended me her previous offer as an assistant at the LA headquarters with Poinsettia Press. So instead of leaving, I worked my way up to junior editor, the same position I would’ve had if I had gone to Seattle and the same position I coveted since Paula hired me. I finally feel like my success is one that I can be proud of. I’m happy, satisfied with the work that I’ve accomplished, and optimistic of the ladder that I continue to climb.
This past year, we celebrated a year of many firsts. I packed up my things and moved into Rhylan’s home, making it ours. He encouraged me to fill every corner of it with what made me, me. So I filled it with every bit of me. Books, pictures of me and my mom and dad, potted plants, antique furniture, and too many mugs to count. Everything that I always wanted but never had the space to occupy.
We celebrated Claire and Wes as they held an intimate ceremony for their wedding with only fifty guests, much to her parents’ objection. Rhylan sat dotingly in the crowded rows as I stood by Claire at the altar in an emerald-green chiffon dress. We happily accepted when Charles and Amelia proudly asked us to be their daughter’s godparents, showering her with love and spoiling her with as many toys as a newborn could have. And we stood by as Chuck proposed to Sonia, surprising the couple with a lavish engagement party that included all of our friends.
And every holiday, every weekend with exceptionally good weather, every milestone that I want to celebrate, my mom packs up a large picnic blanket while I stop by the grocery store for a small arrangement of daisies before we meet at the cemetery to visit my dad. Sometimes, Mark and Rhylan join us, but for the most part, it’s just me and my mom. We talk to my dad, telling him everything that’s going on in our lives, and we remember what it felt like to love him and for him to love us back. We no longer suffocate the memory of him but let him live vicariously through us.
Rhylan tosses his crust back into the empty pizza box, wiping his hands of the shiny grease with a rough napkin. He settles back and turns to look at me.
“I love you,” he whispers. A lazy smile spreads across his face, and his head tilts towards me.
“I love you too.”
“Tonight was perfect.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” I agree.
We’re still coming down from the high of the night. The flashy lights, the genuine congratulations on Rhylan’s success, and the adoration and respect forus. After all this time since Rhylan made our relationship public, we’ve been rained with nothing but admiration. For the trials that we had to endure to come out stronger in the end. Even on the red carpet tonight, walking hand in hand as we celebrated Rhylan, we were shown just how accepted we were as a couple.
“You ready to go home?” I ask. Home.Ourhome.
“Almost,” he answers. His voice is low, nervous, as if he is still on the unsettled high from having to go up on stage and make the acceptance speech he had been mentally practicing, ending it with a special thanks to me, his Eleanor. “You know what I said up there?”
“About you wanting to spend the rest of your life with me?” I answer. My hands spread over the ruffled material of my beautiful dress, smoothing it down and admiring the shimmery fabric.
“Yes.”
“What about it?” It wasn’t anything new. In fact, on a daily basis, he tells me that we’ll grow old together. Until we’re wrinkly and tired of each other.
He leans towards me, his face inches away. “I meant it.”
“I know.”
“No, I really meant it.”
I laugh, gently placing my hand on his chest to push him away. “I know!”
And then his hand moves to his pocket. He reveals a square velvet box that sits so small in his large palm. “I really,reallymeant it.”
My eyes go wide, and I’m rendered speechless. I let out a small gasp.
“I’ve imagined a life with you and without you,” he continues. “And with you, forever and ever, sounds so much better.” His mouth curves up in a sweet, contented smile.
He opens the box, revealing the most beautiful oval diamond that sparkles so brightly in the dark. It sits on an equally stunning eternity band, carefully placed in the vertical slit nestled in the cushioned interior of the small box.
“Marry me?” he whispers.
There’s no big show with a string quartet or fireworks. No yacht taking off into the starry night. None of the unnecessary extravagance, just the two of us, exactly how I’ve always dreamed it to be. Just us two, a thin sheen of grease coating our hands and mouths with our stomachs full of cheap pizza, and our formal attire loosened for comfort as we slowly revert back to ourselves. And it’s perfect.
“Yes,” I whisper back. Tears pool at the corner of my eyes, and my hands tremble as he gently removes the ring and places it on my left ring finger. He admires it, knowing that it represents forever, and brings my knuckles to his lips.
“Oh my God!” I gasp, my hands half covering my face. “What if you didn’t win? This would have been so horrible!”
He laughs. “I guess we’ll never know.”
His hand moves towards my face, cupping my jaw as he looks into my eyes. His expression is serious, and I can almost feel the tightness in his chest from the wave of emotions that take over the both of us. He kisses me, finally, as we both realize that this is forever. Till death do us part.
“I love you,” he whispers as he pulls away.
“I love you too.”
