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Gabe rises next. “These two have been through a lot, so we wanted to do something for them. It’s also not every day one of your best friends lands in the big house.” Everyone bursts into laughter and I can't help but join them. It’s nice to be able to joke about this now.
“Get up, say a few words,” Jax urges Damian, who scratches his head, getting up hesitantly. The room gets quiet as he begins to speak. “The last few weeks have been trying, to say the least, and without this woman right here,” pointing to me, “I’d be nothing. Come here, baby.” I take a sip of my wine, needing liquid courage. I hate being in front of a large group of people.
He reaches for my hand and links them together, squeezing tight. “She’s not just beautiful, but she’s strong and courageous too.” He faces me while I try not to cry. “When I was a boy, you showed me what it means to have a friend, and as a woman you’ve shown me what it means to love, and I’ll forever be grateful. Not all of us get lucky in life, but I’m so lucky you decided to love me. I’ll never take that gift for granted.” And here come the tears tracking down my face.
He lets go of my hand and gazes at me with deep devotion. And before I realize what’s happening, he lowers himself to the ground on bended knee and whispersI love you. My fingers jump to my lips and every inch of me shudders with both shock and anticipation.Oh my God. No, he isn’t. He fishes through his pocket and reveals a red box, opening it, just as my heart somersaults.Yes, he is!
“I love you so much, baby. It may be too soon but when you know, you know, and I know that with you I have a family and a home. So, would you make me even happier by starting a life with me? Will you be my wife?”
As I stare into the eyes I’ve loved since I was seven, I give him the only answer there is to give. “Yes! So much yes. I’ll marry the hell out of you.” He chuckles, slipping the dazzling round solitaire on my trembling hand, before lifting me up off the floor. And as we kiss passionately, taking our time, feeling the love pouring out from our mouths, I know our forever can finally begin.
Epilogue
Damian
8 Years Later
Our love was like a fire, growing stronger, bolder with time. After I proposed, it took a month-long engagement to make us realize we didn’t need to live by anyone else’s standard of love. Yeah, we barely knew each other but we knew the important things, and at the end of the day, the things that make us who we are inside are what really matter.
We said I do exactly six months after I slipped the ring on her finger. She was the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen in my entire life and she was pledging to be mine.
I'd like to think my mother was there that day, sitting among our friends and family, smiling one of her beautiful smiles, the ones I’ll hold in my heart for as long as I live.
It didn’t take long for us to start a family. Well, I kinda knocked her up on our wedding day, or so I’d like to think, because our son, Caden, was born around nine and a half months later, and our daughter, Quinn, came along three years after that.
To say I’m happy is an understatement. I’m the happiest man I’d ever imagine being. If someone had told that little boy one day he’d have all this, he would’ve called them a liar. She gave me a life I never dreamed I’d have, and children I never thought I deserved.
After she got pregnant, I worried about turning into my father. For months, I agonized and feared that the stress of day-to-day life and being responsible for a family would destroy me, and I’d become angry like him, but that's all in the past now. Once I saw my son’s face for the first time, that fear melted away.
My children and this woman by my side give me strength and purpose I never would’ve had without them. I’ll spend my life protecting my family, not destroying them like my father did. I’ll cherish every day because the days we have are gifts, ones I’d never take for granted.
She says I healed her too, that my love repaired the cracks created long ago. There’s always a light in her eyes now, the fear she used to carry there is ancient history.
“Daddy, where are we going?” Quinn asks as we near our destination, her brown curls flowing over her shoulders.
“You’ll see, my impatient little princess.” She squints her eyes at me and pursues her lips. My daughter is one sassy four-year-old. I don’t know where she gets it from but boy are we in some trouble. I think she came out of the womb with an attitude.
As we near the animal shelter, I pull the car into a parking spot directly in front. “Ooooh, Dad, are we getting another dog?” Caden asks excitedly.
“Not exactly.”
“Ah man!” He folds his arms across his tiny chest, looking all too unhappy.
I glance over at Lilah, her belly only just starting to show as she grows our third child. Damn, does she have to be so sexy? I don’t think my need for her will ever die and thank fuck for that. She grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles, while my other’s on the steering wheel.
“Come on Dad, wouldn’t it be great if Rex had a friend?”
“He has you and Quinn. I think he’s maxed out on friends at the moment.” One dog is plenty for us, especially with a new baby. Potty training a pup and changing diapers round the clock doesn’t seem like a fun way to live.
“Are you feeling okay, baby?” I ask Lilah.
She smiles, her blue eyes bright. “I’m fine. Stop worrying, will you?”
She knows me well enough by now to know I’d never stop worrying. This pregnancy has knocked her down. She’s been really sick, so the doctor put her on medication. I told her to stay home and rest, but she insisted on sharing this moment with us. My woman. “I love you, you know that wife?”
“Can we go, Dad?!” Quinn says impatiently. “Yeah, what are we waiting for?” Caden adds. We both laugh at the interruption. Those cock blockers. They’re lucky we like them.
Her mouth lifts in a small grin. “I love you more, husband.” We’re one of those couples that make others around us sick with our affection, expressing it every chance we get, not caring who hears or sees. We kiss and cuddle in front of our children, not only because these things come naturally, but because we want them to see what real love is like, to be surrounded by affection not anger.
