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“Come here, you,” I said, taking my little bundle of happiness into my arms and bouncing her gently.
The television was showing the big ball and the countdown was getting low. I took a brief look around the room at my friends and held up my cup. They all joined together with me, and I smiled.
“To a new year and new horizons,” I said.
A chorus of agreement met me, and the countdown began. Carmela sidled up to me and pressed herself into my chest, brushing the baby’s cheek with her thumb.
“Happy New Year!” we chanted as the ball dropped and the clock changed over to midnight.
As Auld Lang Syne played and most of us flubbed the lyrics, I kissed Carmela and then kissed Cassie on the top of her head. In that moment, I couldn’t imagine having a better way to ring in a new year. There was only one more thing. It was the reason that Carmela had naked fingers and was reaching into my pocket as we sang and kissed. She wanted to tell everyone as much as I did.
Once the song was over, I dropped the volume on the television and brought Carmela with me to stand in front of it. We looked out over our friends, and I cleared my throat. It took a few moments before everyone noticed what I was doing or stopped making out with their significant others. Ryan and Allison were seemingly very much enjoying their new year already.
“Ryan,” Graham said. “Ryan, can you get your tongue out of Allison’s throat for a second? Mark has something he wants to say.”
“Hoo-rah,” Ryan said as he broke his embrace. “Sorry, guys. Got carried away. You were saying?”
“Thank you,” I said, shaking my head. “So, I wanted to tell you guys first before we let anyone else know. You all are so incredibly important to both of us, and since we couldn’t all get together before now, I figured this would be the best place to tell you.”
“Spit it out,” Camden said. He was grinning wide, and I was glad he was the only one who had known ahead of time. He had embraced the idea of us being together and was sworn to secrecy the day after Christmas to the news of our engagement. I felt like being part of the secret had eased some of his discomfort at his sister marrying one of his best friends.
“Well,” I said, “as Camden suggested, I’ll get to the point. Carmela and I are engaged.”
“What?” Mallory’s voice shouted louder than the explosion of cheers that came as the words sank in. She and Carmela had grown pretty close in recent months, and I knew she would be among the happiest for her when we let the secret out.
“I knew it,” Jess said, running up to embrace Carmela. “I knew it! Congratulations, you two!”
We celebrated for quite a while with them, the girls disappearing to one side of the room to talk wedding details and suggestions for plans while the guys all collected on the other.
“Sorry I stopped smoking, or I’d have the cigars out for us,” Camden said.
“You didn’t smoke,” Graham said, “you only ever had cigars three times a year.”
“Same-same,” he said. “It was a bad habit.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “We don’t need them. I’m just happy to have you guys with me.”
“Shame about Victor,” Camden said.
“Why don’t we video call him?” Graham asked.
“We did earlier,” I said. “You were busy talking to Carmela, but he said hey.”
“Oh, well, all right then,” Graham said. “So, when is the wedding?”
“We haven’t decided yet,” I said. “But I kind of hope it’s quick. Not that I’m going to step on her chance to have the kind of wedding she wants. Especially not with the girls suddenly jumping to help. I can only imagine how complicated that will get.”
“Man, I am happy for you,” Graham said.
“We all are,” Camden said.
I turned to him and saw the genuine emotion in his eyes. He might have been a sucker for beer pong, but it wasn’t the alcohol talking. Not this time.
“That means a lot,” I said.
“Well, it’s true,” he said. “You take good care of my sister. I couldn’t imagine her falling for a better man than you.”
“Hear, hear,” Ryan said. “To Mark!”
“To Mark,” the other boys replied, raising their glasses again.
Two hours and a rideshare call for a couple of them later and the house was empty again. Mallory had taken Graham and Camden home, but Ryan and Allison had chosen to take an Uber to get there faster. With the house empty and Cassie in her crib, I went about cleaning most of what wasn’t already tidied up while Carmela sat on the couch.
I could tell she was exhausted, but she wanted to have a little time with me alone after everything, and I tried to finish up as fast as I could. When it was all done, I came back into the room and turned off the overhead lights. It was a dangerous game I was playing, considering I had a habit of falling asleep on the couch after long days, but I figured as long as they were both in the room with me, I would probably stay awake.
