A year later.
It’s been a year since everything happened, and with Rachel out of the way for most of it, since Kai kept her busy, Leo and I were able to fix our issues.
And by fixing our issues, I mean we are actually together, not in a fake marriage, trying to avoid the prison-type of way, but in an actual relationship.
No one knows about our secret marriage still, unless you count Rachel, who pieced everything together.
And Logan, who it turns out was never caught with the body, just wanted to push Leo and me together.
Also, I am pretty sure Melanie knows. Probably Kai too.
Okay, I take it back, our marriage is far from secret.
It’s more of one of those situations that everyone knows but pretends they don’t, and I am okay with it.
I don’t need a big acknowledgment of the fact that this man is mine.
I know he is. He was from the first ‘hello’ that came out of his mouth.
That night at Rachel’s house, when he came to rescue his idiot friend.
The same friend who never needed rescuing to begin with.
If you think about it, everything that happened from the fact that we chose those people as our best friends, to the books we read, to even the fact that Rachel thought following a meme as a tutorial was a good idea...
Everything happened just to get us here, in this moment in life, and I am not regretting it for even a second.
I wouldn’t change it for anything. This is where I was always meant to be.
“Are you coming? We need to get there before the baby is old enough for a graduation gift and not a ‘welcome to the world’ gift.” I call out to my husband as he rushes from our bedroom with a white ferret in his arms. Our white ferret. The one he insisted we needed to adopt.
When Kai and Rachel moved into Kai’s family home, we took over the apartment that Leo shared with his best friend. Leo insisted that we needed a pet to balance things. I am not sure what exactly this white ball of chaos is supposed to balance, but right now it’s making us late.
“You can’t take the damn ferret to the hospital, Leo,” I say as I pluck the white fur ball out of his arms and let her onto the floor.
She makes a weird clucking noise at me, which she only makes when she is angry, complaining like her daddy.
“You are not allowed in the hospital. It’s not me that doesn’t want you there. ”
“Daddy doesn’t want you coming with us, Chanel.” Leo tells her. We named her after the iconic fashion designer because a ferret like her, white and beautiful, needs a fucking legend of a name.
I place a kiss on Leo’s cheek. “We can spend the rest of the afternoon with her on the couch watching movies after we meet our new nephew.”
He sighs. “Fine, but our child should be a priority too.” I laugh, because this man has managed to become a complete goofball since I met him. Completely different from the man who barely held himself together last year.
“Gloria, let’s go.” I call out for Kai’s and Rachel’s adoptive daughter.
A few days ago, before Rachel went into labor, she came to stay with us until her parents are able to focus on her again.
We wanted to allow them time to adjust to their new reality and take advantage of having our favorite niece with us.
Kai’s old bedroom has been changed into a guest room, but unofficially the room belongs to Gloria.
It belonged to her from the moment she came into our lives.
“You don’t need to yell, uncle Noah.” She comes out of her bedroom with the guinea pig Leo bought for her yesterday.
I rub my temples, not believing that I have to have the same conversation again.
“Gloria, honey, you can’t take Chester to the hospital.
” I try to argue as Leo carefully takes the small animal away from the girl.
“And where are your shoes?” I add while both of them turn to look at me as if I am the unreasonable one.
“Sweetie, go put your shoes on and put Chester back in his cage.” Leo tells her softly as he gives him back to her, and my heart swells at the sight of them.
He comes closer to me, placing a soft kiss on my lips. “You know we could have one of those too.” He whispers.
“A guinea pig?” I joke, but he laughs and kisses me again.
“No, a little girl. We never talked about having kids.” The smile on his face tells me this is an actual thought, not a joke, or a random idea that crossed his mind. An actual thought that has been marinating in there for a while, I bet.
“We are still married.” I point out.
“And you still don’t have a ring.” He shows me his, the one with the little skull that used to belong to Rachel. The one he never took off even when we broke up for a month last year. The same one that clued Rachel about our little secret.
“I don’t.” I show him my empty ring finger, and he kisses me again.
“Then we should start with a ring,” he tells me, reaching into his pocket; he takes out a small black box and opens it in front of me.
Inside it is a small band with a skull on it, mirroring the one on his finger.
I smile and take it from him, placing it on my finger.
I come closer, and he leans over to kiss me.
Moments like this one, I wonder if life can truly be so easy; then I remember everything that happened, all the insane things we had to skip over to land in this moment.
And even though the past year had its moments when I wished I could escape the madness, I still don’t regret anything.
When you meet the right person, you just... know.