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“Because it’s raining,” he said. I got to my elbows, staring through the bedroom deck doors.
“Yeah, it is,” I said, plopping back down, “now let’s go back to sleep.” My nose sought out his throat. The knot there trembled from his silent laughter, and I drew back, suddenly more alert. “What am I missing?”
“I love you. And I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you. It’s officially the first day of summer, and it’s raining, angel.”
My smile was slow and shy as I recalled a memory.
“One day, when the weather changes, when it’s warmer,”he’d said.“I’ll fuck you in the rain, angel. I promise.”
“The first day of summer,”I’d said.
“You didn’t think I’d forget my promise, did you?”
“Never,” I whispered with certainty. “Is this how it’s going to always be?” I asked as he stood, tugged the sheet away from my body, and dragged me to the edge of the bed by my calves. “Will we always feel this lucky? Always love each other this hard? Always want each other this much?” Standing now, I traced the happiness on his face, emotions surging to a high intensity as the rain now hammered at the glass doors, begging us to hurry.
“How is it possible to love something this much?” I asked, trying to comprehend why my heart wanted and needed his so damn much. I felt suffocated by my love for him.
He gazed down at me, lost for words, eyes brimming with devotion. And that’s when I noticed the platinum band on my finger. The one I’d pointed out in a jewelry store window we’d passed by during my last semester at Harvard. “I bought it the very next day,” he said, a rare blush creeping over his neck. “I’d planned to give it to you, eventually, but things had worked out differently.”
It was simple, like me. Nothing like the gaudy diamond band Daniel had gotten me. And it meant a lot that he could’ve afforded something fancier, but he’d gotten me what I wanted instead. “You’ve held on to this all this time?”
“I’ve held ontoyouall this time, angel.”
“Is this real?” I asked. “Not the ring, but life, us, this moment.”We’d dealt with so many obstacles in trying to love each other that sometimes it was hard to remember we’d gotten through it all. Hard to remember that we were allowed to be happy out loud now. And Cole never grew tired of reminding me. Ofshowingme.
“Oh, it’s fucking real alright. And I plan on spending the rest of my life showing you exactly how real it can get. Remember what I told you yesterday? And the day before? And the day before that?”
I bobbed my head, words failing me.
“What did I say?”
“‘This love is a forever kind of thing, angel,’” I quoted back to him. “‘And I love you so much my heart hurts with it.’”
Out on the deck, Cole placed the lounger cushion on the stone pavers, then guided us onto it, making love to me as the rain commingled with our tears, purifying us. Making us whole.
Lies may have brought us back together, but love would keep us bound.
The End
