30. Eli
One month later…
“Rebecca Warner.”
Applause followed the emcee’s monotone announcement.
Finally, they were getting to the end of the alphabet.
I wasn’t sure we would make it to the graduation ceremony. Not with Haley puking her guts out all morning. I hated every day that started with her morning sickness, but per the doctor she had her checkups with, everything was going smoothly. After the first trimester, we were supposed to count on her morning sickness easing up, and according to Natasha, who swore that it would get easier, the later heartburn that would come in the third trimester would be worse.
I didn’t see how. As much as I hated that Haley would suffer at all, I knew she was tough enough to grin and bear it. That didn’t mean I’d stop pampering her and catering to her every need, though. I would never let her think she couldn’t count on me.
Like the trooper she was, she was here, come hell or high water, or the nausea and the need to vomit. Further up in the rows of gowned and capped classmates, right next to Davina, she stood with the tassel on her hat swinging as she laughed at something Davina said.
“Walt Wagon.”
I sighed, impatient for them to get to my name. I didn’t really care about this ceremony. All I wanted was the diploma and to get out of here. This was moving day as well, so the sooner they could wrap this up, the better.
Aunt Cindy wouldn’t hear of us skipping this day. She was back there with Natasha, Grayson, Greg, and Finn’s family. She insisted that we not deprive her of taking all the pictures she wanted to capture this day.
I cared more about it being a day of moving forward, not partying or celebrating what had happened in Marsten.
As I stared at Haley’s back, she turned to give me a sweet smile. Her glasses slipped down her nose a little, but she didn’t stop her smile for me to push them up yet.
That was how it was, and how I hoped it would always be between us. One little look, and we would both know that all was right in the world. So long as we had each other, everything would be perfect.
“Preston West.”
I lost my smile at that announcement. Haley rolled her eyes and faced forward as that rich asshole’s name was called.
Boos came with the applause, and I smiled.
“I see you smiling at your little whore,” he taunted as he passed me in the row.
I set my foot out and tripped him, keeping a straight face.
He fell forward, almost toppling over the students standing in front of us. A couple of chairs folded and fell with a loud clatter from the ruckus.
I didn’t turn, keeping my face forward as he righted himself and turned to glower at me. “You stupid loser?—”
“Oh, I’m so, so sorry,” the beefy wrestler next to me said, pretending to take credit for tripping him.
Preston narrowed his eyes at both of us and resumed walking toward the stage.
The guy next to me chuckled and lifted his hand in a fist bump, which I knocked mine against.
“Fucking jerk,” the guy muttered under his breath. “Can’t wait to not have to see him again.”
I smiled wider. “I know what you mean.”
Truthfully, I was looking forward to not having to face lots of people in town. Preston. His friends like Drake. The girls who seemed misguided enough to assume I was still single and hit on me. My parents.
Starting over in the city was an adventure that I couldn’t wait to begin.
At last, the moment came.
“Eli Young.”
I smiled, moving down the row to get to the stage and receive my diploma. Whoops and hollers called out among the applause, but it didn’t faze me. This high wasn’t like the former one I felt when I played football. And it would never compare to the elation that came from seeing Haley’s approval.
On the stage, I shook the dean’s hand. “I knew you’d make it,” he said with a genuine smile.
“Thank you,” I replied, meaning it. I would never forget how he had been on my side.
We paused for the official photographer to take the picture, but I knew that further back in the stands, Aunt Cindy was taking a ton of them on her phone.
I found Haley’s smiling face in the crowd and winked at her. She replied by mouthing, I love you .
Yeah, me too. I loved her more than anything else in the world, and I couldn’t wait to show her how much later tonight.
It felt like hours later when we could leave the packed stadium. It was chaos everywhere, with lots of groups taking pictures, families gathering around graduates, and faculty and staff mingling.
We didn’t linger, though. As soon as I found Haley, I picked her up and kissed her soundly, loving how her stomach was starting to swell. She wasn’t showing yet, but I knew that when she was, I would love the look of her belly big with our baby.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, staring at me with that bright-green gaze of adoration.
“I’m proud of me, too.”
She mocked a gasp. “You’re not proud of me?”
“Of course, I am.” I kissed her again. “But there was never any doubt that you’d graduate.”
“True,” she replied smugly.
I laughed with her as the rest of the party joined us.
Natasha and Greg extended their congratulations, but Aunt Cindy was too worried about getting all the pictures and videos.
“Let me get one of the family,” Greg offered, gesturing for us all to get close, including Cindy.
We posed, and as Greg and I had planned from our discussion this morning when he, Natasha, and Grayson came to ride with us to the graduation ceremony, he nodded at me to let me know he was videoing it, not taking a picture.
“All right. Everyone say smile .” He held his phone up. Davina and Finn were with us, and both of them had their phones up too.
“Smile!” Everyone chorused.
“All right,” Greg said. “One more on the count of three. One, two, three?—”
“Haley, will you marry me?” I said it in the silence after the countdown, excited to capture everyone’s reactions in live time.
Aunt Cindy gasped. Natasha laughed. Grayson whooped. “I get an unca!” He missed that l , and it was too damn cute.
Haley turned her head, smiling at me while I kept my arm around her shoulders.
“Will you be my wife, Haley?” I asked quieter, meaning it both times. As I reached for the ring box in my pocket, I lowered to one knee and faced her. I didn’t have much, but there was plenty to grow on with the love between us.
Staring up at the sweetheart I was a fool to ever bully, the one friend I’d pushed away, I prayed she’d accept this ring and officially be mine for everyone to see.
“Will you make me the happiest man on earth and be my wife, the mother of all my children?”
She gaped at me, her laughter clear in her eyes. “ All your children?”
“We’re only getting started, right?”
She laughed. “Let’s pace ourselves.”
“Okay. We’ll aim for six.”
“Six!”
I smiled, cherishing the satin softness of her hand in mine. She was so smooth and silky, beckoning me to touch and taste her every chance I could get. Even when she needed something a little harder, a little bite of pain, she was still the sweet soul I couldn’t imagine my life being complete without.
“How about we go with one and see where things go?” she teased back.
“Whatever you want,” I told her. I would always do all I could to make her happy. That was all I needed to know everything was right in my world.
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Wait. Okay, we’ll have three kids or?—”
She laughed, tugging on my hand to get me to stand. “It’s okay, I’ll marry you.”
I hugged her close, kissing her without any patience to slide the ring onto her finger. So long as she gazed at me like that, like I was her hero, her man, her reason to smile and stay strong, I couldn’t resist crushing my mouth to hers and stealing her breath.
Her hands came up to frame my face, making me damn near sigh against her. I loved every way she touched me, but there was something about that gesture that always got to me.
“I love you, Haley,” I promised.
“And I love you, Eli.”
I kissed her once more, then lowered my head to watch as I slid the ring on her finger.
Congratulations followed again, but this time, we moved it to the house. Finn and Davina had to go with their families, but they’d come over later to help us finalize the packing.
Greg and I loaded the heavier stuff in the van, and while I appreciated the chance to get to know him better, counting on his being in my life in the city, I kept myself from regretting that I couldn’t be doing all of this with Haley. After eating out for lunch, she and Natasha focused on keeping Grayson preoccupied.
“Well, you’re almost done,” Aunt Cindy said, checking the contents in the moving van.
“You know, it seems like it’s a lot,” I said, teasing her, “but are you sure you don’t want to just pick up the house and transport the whole thing?”
“Oh, stop. I can downsize.” And she was. Instead of staying here in Marsten, she decided to move with me and Haley to the city. We would all be together, both of the sisters near each other. Grayson would be able to grow up with his new cousin, too.
Aunt Cindy put the house up for sale with the plan to move in with us and help out. Since she had her experience at the daycare and she was excited for the baby to come, we figured out that she’d live in the same building as us and help out so Haley and I could both focus on work, too. Balancing a new baby and a new job would be a challenge, but it became an adventure with our being in a new home too.
Haley had already accepted a job at a school, and she would decide her goals for grad school after the baby came. With Aunt Cindy there to help as a nanny and living comfortably with the sale of the house, Haley didn’t have to put off her academic dreams for good.
The start of my career wasn’t shabby, either.
A gym near the apartment building had already offered me a job, and while the job requirements were a little beyond my experience and scope of knowledge, they agreed to pay for me to take additional certification courses to get up to speed so I could count on an even higher salary than what I told myself I’d be getting.
With the rocky start to the semester and the stupidity of accepting that damn dare from Preston, everything was turning out just fine.
“How about we just get married at the courthouse?” Haley said as she walked up to me once the van was loaded and locked.
I grinned at her. “No big wedding?”
“Hmm, no.” She draped her arms over my shoulders and bumped her nose with mine. “I can’t wait to officially call you my darling, devoted husband.”
I kissed her, nipping her lower lip as I released her. She hissed at the sting and smiled. “That was cruel.”
“I already am your darling.” I kissed her again until she gave me a sexy mewl, crushing her body against me. “And I’m so fucking devoted to you, it’s not even funny.” We kissed again, but I had to tease her with another nip to her lip.
“And you are mine,” I vowed. Regardless of when we made it official, she was mine to keep and cherish no matter what.
“Just like you are mine,” she replied sweetly.
“How about we hit the road so we can have that courthouse wedding, then?” I stared at her, knowing this was the start of the rest of my life. “And say goodbye to this place.”
“Good riddance, too.” She kissed me, and with the touch of her lips against mine, I smiled, recalling how she'd once thought she’d be telling me that.
And here we were, ready to stay together for as long as we lived.