Epilogue
THREE YEARS LATER
EVA
As the final home game of the season wraps up, the stadium is vibrating with the energy of eighty thousand fans celebrating a division-clinching season in the freezing winter air.
I’m standing just off the thirty-yard line on the turf, my headset tight against my ears.
Usually, as a senior producer, I’d be up in a glass booth or buried in the control room.
But tonight was a big game for Aston, and I wanted to be on the field whether they won or lost. My eyes lock on him, and I can see the steam from his body against the cold air from here.
His hair is matted with sweat, his jersey torn and bloody, and his shoulders are still heaving from the heavy physical toll of the fourth quarter. He’s surrounded by media crews, flashing cameras, and athletes milling around the field. But even with all the noise, I still feel drawn to him.
Watching him breathe in the freezing air, my chest feels so tight with love that it almost aches.
“Eva, you copy?” Sam’s voice cracks through my headset. I turn to look at her just a few feet away, and her eyes catch mine, and she gives me a wink. “I’m ready to go live.”
I press the talkback button on my belt pack. “We’re going straight to the live field feed on camera two. Give Aston the primary mic.”
“Actually, boss. I’m deviating from the script on this one.”
Before I can question her through her headset, the jumbotron screens flash, cutting away from the reel that was playing.
I watch Sam walk straight up to Aston on the thirty-yard line, her heavy winter coat zipped up to her chin, her mic flagged with our network logo.
But instead of holding the microphone to her mouth to ask about the game-winning play, Sam turns to face camera two, then points her finger directly at me, where I’m standing on the sideline.
“We’re here with Aston Griffith,” Sam’s voice booms over the stadium’s PA system, completely taking over the broadcast layout.
“And tonight we’re doing things a little differently.
It is my absolute honor to inform our producer, Eva Carrington—who is standing over there on the Titans sideline that we have something special planned. Eva, this one’s for you.”
My breath catches in my throat, and I feel frozen on the turf, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Sam smiles at me, then steps back, clearing the camera frame, but not before handing the network microphone into Aston’s gloved hand.
The entire stadium goes from a dull, post-game hum to an absolute deafening crescendo of cheers as the crowd looks from the jumbotron to where I’m standing.
Aston stands in the center of the field, Liam and Brody behind him. He looks directly at me and drops his helmet onto the turf.
“Uh, Eva,” my technical director says into my headset from the truck. “Sam set up a direct patch from her field mic straight to your headset channel. You’re the only one who can hear his feed.”
A click echoes in my ears, and then the deep, rough-edged rumble of Aston’s voice, completely shutting out the thousands of people screaming around us.
“Eva,” he says, and I can see the smirk on his face, even from where I’m standing.
“I know we have a lot of people watching us right now, and I know you prefer to stay behind the scenes, but I promised you I would always tell you what’s on my mind no matter what.
So, I need you to come out here onto the field with me. ”
Tears sting my eyes before I can even draw a breath, blurring my vision. My hand covers my mouth as a sob catches in my throat.
With the entire crowd watching, I take off my headset and hand it off to my crew and walk across the white yard lines. My boots feel like they weigh a thousand pounds as I walk toward center field. Off to the side, Sam is standing by the camera crew, a huge smile on her face.
The second I reach him, he looks down at me with a beautiful, heartbreaking smile.
And then right there in front of the world, he slowly drops down onto one knee.
Sam walks over and hands him a small, dark velvet box, and he flips it open to reveal a platinum band with a large emerald-cut yellow diamond at the center, and on each side of the center stone are delicate white diamonds shaped like honeybees.
The rest of the band is twisted like a vine of diamonds.
“Aston,” I choke out, a few tears spilling down my cheeks as I look down at him.
“Eva,” he says. “I think I fell in love with you the first time I saw you on the sidelines at Walker. And I have loved you every single day we’ve spent together since you decided to give me a chance four years ago.
You’re my person, my anchor, and the only place I want to come home to, because wherever you are, that’s where I’m supposed to be.
I want you by my side forever. So, Evangeline Carrington, Honeybee, will you marry me? ”
I don’t even care about the flashing cameras or the stadium noise, all I see is him.
“Yes,” I think I say out loud.
He stands and reaches for my hand. “Yes?”
I throw my entire weight into his massive chest as he catches me.
“Yes!” I laugh against his neck, tears falling down my face, my arms wrapping tightly around his padded shoulders as he lifts me off the ground. “A thousand times, yes!”
Aston buries his face into the crook of my neck as he holds me against him. Slowly, he slides me down his frame until my feet touch the turf, but he keeps his hands on my hips. His fingers are shaking as he pulls the ring from the box, slipping the heavy band onto my finger. It fits perfectly.
I wipe a tear from my cheek, looking up into his face as he towers over me like a giant in all his gear, and smile when I see how happy he looks right now. I lean in close, my voice teasing, “You know … it’s such a turn-on that you don’t let your height get in the way of your confidence.”
Aston lets out a bark of laughter, shaking his head at me. “That was a good one, Eva. Picking on me when I just delivered a romantic proposal.”
“I have to keep you humble, fifty-four,” I laugh, reaching up to cup his face, my thumbs brushing against the stubble on his jaw.
Aston grins, pulling me closer, his hands resting on the small of my back.
“Do you like your ring?”
“I love it,” I say, holding it up to look at it on my finger. “You’re literally the man of my dreams, Aston Griffith.” I smile. This fierce, loving, protective man has chosen to stand by me forever. “And wherever you are, that’s my home too.”
“You’ll always be my girl,” he whispers, his eyes locking onto mine with unyielding love. “Forever.”
He leans down, his mouth finding mine in a deep, possessive kiss that blocks everything else out. As his arms wrap around me, pulling me into his solid chest, holding me exactly where I’m meant to be.