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Owen pops up beside me and I notice there are little twinkle lights outlining the chair. “How did you do that?” I ask.
“I thought for a special occasion the old chair needed a little flair,” he says setting a bucket of ice with a bottle of champagne in it at our feet.
“Wow, so fancy and romantic.” I love that he does all of these sweet things for me. I’m never without an iced coffee, or a raisin bagel in the morning. He even puts up with rides on the tandem bike and lets me goof off while he pedals. Life with Owen is everything I thought it would be and so much more.
He bends down to pick something else up and then kneels on the footrest in front of me, holding out a pretty engagement ring with a tiny anchor on one side and a turtle on the other. “Mollie Suzanne James, I have loved you over years and through different lives. You’ve infiltrated my dreams, and I’ve somehow found you in all of yours. We’ve both had some difficult times, but were so lucky to have a safe haven to retreat to so we could find each other again. I don’t ever want to be apart from you again, will you marry me?”
He says all of this in one breath and all I can do is nod.
“I need words of affirmation,” he says kissing my knee cap.
“I don’t want to be apart from you either, of course I’ll marry you.”
He sits back next to me and slides the ring on my finger. “This is so pretty, did you have it made?”
“Yes, my friend Gene who helps with my driftwood jewelry was happy to charge me an arm and a leg for it. I’d give him all my money to see you so happy.”
“It’s gorgeous and I’m so happy.” I lean in and kiss him, my fiancé.
Pulling back from the kiss he raises his eyebrows at me. “Now can we have lifeguard stand sex?”
I push him and he grabs me and pulls me in for another searing kiss. “We shall not sully the stand,” I say and he shrugs and kisses me again.
OWEN FUTURE
My dad roars like a lion and little Amelia shrieks in laughter, running away from him.
“It’s nice to see him like this,” my Aunt Lucy says staring at my dad like he’s a slab of meat.
“Hey now, he’s your brother-in-law, I think that’s taboo or something.” My aunt has zero hang-ups and I never know how to feel about it.
She shrugs. My dad softened considerably once we had kids. He lives for his three amigos, and is here at least once a month to see them. Mollie got pregnant almost a week after we got married. It was a stressful pregnancy until she made it to 36 weeks. Even then, she didn’t believe everything would be okay until Amelia was born and put in her arms. It was so stressful that she asked me to reverse-reverse my vasectomy and adopt more kids instead.
Dad catches three-year-old Amelia and throws her up in the air, catching her then swinging her over to Carlos. Our 16-year-old we are sponsoring from Colombia. He and his sister, Gabi, who is two years younger, lost their parents to gang violence a few years ago and have been in a few group homes since. They’ve been here for a few months and Mollie and I knew after a few weeks that we weren’t giving them up.
Gabi is a funny kid, loves anime, is a math whiz, and she and my dad do puzzles online together. Carlos has been a tough nut to crack, but little Amelia has won him over and they are inseparable. I heard from his sister that he plays the guitar but it’s not something that the group homes let you keep since it takes up too much room.
It’s his birthday today and we have two surprises for him I hope he likes.
“Kids, come over for cake,” Mollie calls and I know she’s calling my dad a kid so I smile at that thought. Her dad and step-mom are here as well and are thrilled to be grandparents.
“Is this a donut cake?” Carlos asks, his face lighting up. He’d never had an American donut and it’s his weakness.
“You bet your ass it is,” Mollie says and holds out her hand for a high five. He smiles and obliges with a light slap to her hand. “Before cake though, we have two gifts.”
My Aunt walks to us, holding the large wrapped item behind her back. She hands me the package and I hand it over to Carlos.
“This is from your mom and me,” I say. He looks up with surprise at me saying mom, but then takes the gift. His face lights up as he realizes what it is. It’s hard to wrap a guitar and not have it look like a guitar.
Extremely gentle for a teenage boy, he peels the paper from the acoustic Martin I found at a used instrument store in Tom’s River. The owner told me the best guitars are the ones that have been broken in. He was probably full of shit, but he played it for me and it sounded pretty good so I bought it.
“Gracias,” he whispers, a few tears dropping from his face. Gabi is sitting next to him and she rubs his back. He strums out a few chords.
“That’s a Gibson, son, that’s a quality instrument,” Mollie’s dad says and Carlos smiles at him and plays a little tune. He’s talented and a well of pride blooms in my chest.
“This is for both of you,” Mollie says handing each an envelope. They contain letters asking them to be a part of our family and live with us full time. They will have to go back to Colombia for a few weeks but then they can come for good.
Gabi tears hers open. We had them translated into Spanish by Katie, who is fluent since she lived in Costa Rica for a few years. She cried the whole time writing them. The kids speak and understand English pretty well, but reading and writing will take more time.
