Fallon #2
Swallowing nervously, he admits, “It feels so good just to touch you again.” He straightens his shoulders.
“Fallon, the past two months have been a torture I didn’t know could exist. I’ve lived a life full of regrets but letting you down has become the biggest of them all.
I love bombed you with words when it should have been with actions. ”
“It was actions too, Jett. You worked so hard to be everything I needed for so long.” I won’t brush aside the way he prioritized me and us for months. The way he listened to my needs and tried his best to meet them.
He shakes his. “No, it wasn’t enough. I was there in the good times.
Real love means showing up when things get hard.
When things are messy or broken. When life gets heavy.
I failed you in that regard, and I won’t pretend otherwise.
I ran when I should have stayed. I was quiet when I should have spoken.
” He gives me a small smile. “My favorite part of each day isn’t sunrise or sunset.
It isn’t a winning touchdown or drinking a great bottle of wine by my pool.
It’s the little moments spent with you. Those are my favorite parts of each day.
There’s a gaping hole in my life when you’re not with me.
Whether we’re talking or it’s silent. Whether we’re laughing or crying.
Whether we’re making love or we’re lying in bed while you lovingly run your fingers through my hair.
My life is perfect when I get to be near you because you make everything and everyone around you better.
You make me better. You’re my sun, my moon, and my stars. I can only exist in your orbit.”
Tears stream down my face in rapid succession at his beautiful words.
“I respect you, Fallon. I believe in you. I’m always thinking of you, even when we’re apart.
If you give me the chance, I will choose you again and again, even in the difficult times.
I promise to be there day after day. Hour after hour.
Minute after minute. To me, love and relationships always felt like pressure.
” He places our joint hands over his heart, which is beating so hard it’s a wonder I can’t hear it.
“With you,” he continues, “it feels like peace. An inner peace that I’ve never known before.
Hell, I’m not sure I believed it existed until you.
Nothing makes sense without you. Everything makes sense with you.
Even when I wasn’t alone, I was alone. My life before you was like the old black-and-white television that was in my bedroom in the eighties.
You think it’s fine until you discover high definition.
Not only is it in color, but everything looks so much better that you can’t believe you ever lived with anything less. ”
He breaks the hold of our hands, instantly leaving me feeling bereft. He then reaches into the right front pocket of his pants, pulling out a small, folded piece of paper and handing it to me.
After unfolding it, I can’t help but smile through my snotty tears. It’s similar to our “study hall” note.
I want to say yes, but we still have hurdles to overcome. “Jett, I—”
He covers my mouth with his hand. “I know what you’re going to say. Wait until you read the next note.”
He reaches into his other front pocket this time and pulls out another note before handing it to me.
My eyes widen in disbelief as I look back up at him. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m all in. I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you. Whatever it takes to make you happy. You’re my priority, and you always will be.”
I shake my head. “I won’t ask you to do something you don’t want to do. You’ll only be unhappy in the long run. I don’t want that for you.”
He shakes his head in return. “No. You make me happy. Nothing would make me happier than creating a product of our love. I was scared at the prospect of having more kids because I wasn’t so great at it the first time around.
It may have taken a long time, but I’m not the same man I was then, and we’re not the same.
Kennedy helped me realize this time would be different because we love each other so much.
I can think of nothing more perfect than making a little piece of me and a little piece of you for us to love together.
I’ll do anything and everything to help make it happen.
I’ll happily be there in ways I was too selfish to be there in the past. This is my second chance to get things right.
You’re my second chance. There’s no one else in this world I want to do this with.
It took me a really long time, but I finally found you.
The fact is—there’s no better time than now. All because of you.”
I start to talk, but he places his thumb over my lips and rubs them. “One more thing,” he says, “and then the floor is yours.”
He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out yet another folded note I eagerly open. What else is left?
I can’t help but giggle. When I go to look back up at him, he’s on his knee with an open ring box. He’s basically my height while on his knee. He looks at me with so much love I can barely take it.
I can’t see the ring because my eyes are so full of tears, but I don’t care what it looks like.
He takes my hand in his. “I’d walk through every painful part of my life again if I knew you were the one waiting at the end.”
Oh god. That’s my official undoing. There’s no turning back for me now.
He gives me a nervous smile while handing me a pen. “Well? Which box are you checking?”
I bite back my smile. “I think there’s a misprint on this one. I only seem to have one option on here.”
A familiar, sweet voice yells out, “Say yes, Mommy. I want Kennedy to be my sister. I want to be an aunt.”
I turn my head around to see at least forty people standing in front of the house watching this all unfold. All with warm, hopeful smiles on their faces. A few of them with their phones out, looking like they’re recording this rom-com movie scene.
My favorite part is Kennedy holding Harper’s hand as Harper bounces up and down with excitement. Hell, I think Kennedy is bouncing too. She winks at me. “Yeah, say yes, Mommy.”
Turning back to Jett, I take in his handsome face. “Out of curiosity, why the initials on your notes this time?”
He whispers, “When you show them to our future children, I didn’t think it appropriate that they know about their father’s monster cock.”
I let out a laugh. “Fair point.”
His reassuring eyes meet mine. “I’m so sorry for what I’ve put you through.
I beg you to forgive me. Please give me another chance.
I promise to never again let you down. I can’t live without you for one more day.
I’ll give you anything and everything you want.
Just take me back. Be my wife. Grow old with me. I need a millennial to keep me young.”
He chews his lower lip nervously, like he’s uncertain of what my answer will be.
“How old are you?” I ask, knowing the answer but subtly letting him know we’re going to be okay.
The corners of his mouth raise in amusement. “I’m at the age where I know more of the medications mentioned on Grey’s Anatomy than the musical guests on Saturday Night Live.”
I laugh as I grab his adorable face and kiss his big, soft lips for the first time in too damn long. And it feels like home.
When we break apart, Harper is at my side, looking thrilled at the turn of events. I’m slightly confused by her level of excitement because, as of last week, Jett was on her shit list.
She holds out her hand. “Look, Mommy, I got a ring too.” She shows me a smiley face ring on her finger.
“Jett gave it to me a few days ago and promised to always make us smile and never make us cry. He asked me if it was okay to marry you. And,” she adds with another level of excitement, “I kept it a secret, just like the time we had ice cream for dinner and you told me not to tell Daddy or Bails.”
“I heard that,” Tanner yells out.
Harper and I giggle. I love that Jett went to her first. It fills my heart. I wouldn’t do this without her blessing, and he knew it.
I turn back to him and nod with my heart feeling like it might explode. “Okay, my love, I’ll marry you.”