EPILOGUE #3
I shake my head, still flabbergasted that we somehow managed to find each other at just the right time, and then turn to my brother and Gabe, impressed. “Well, I for one am surprised you two managed to keep the secret for that long.”
“I completely forgot,” Gabe admits. “Daddy brain is real.”
Scott shakes his head with a chuckle at his husband. “I’d never spoil a surprise that good, and the look on your face right now was well worth the wait.”
“Thank you so much,” I say to all three of them. “I just wish we had a record player here so that we could all listen to it.”
Monika leans forward and produces another wrapped gift in a medium-sized box. “Funny you should say that, because you still haven’t opened my present yet.”
Emmie helps me rip off the paper again to unwrap a suitcase record player that is small enough to travel with, and I immediately take it over to the fireplace to plug it in so that I can play the record for everyone to hear.
“Ice cream?” Emmie asks, tugging on my leg.
“Oh yeah, Cameron did get ice cream while we were out for when we listen to the record. I almost forgot.” Gabe pulls Emmie into his lap when she starts chanting ice cream, and Scott reminds Gabe that the deal was for her to have some after dinner.
My heart is so full of joy at this perfect moment that Cameron made possible, that the only thing to make it even better is the crackle of the record before it starts playing the first song, which was always my dad’s and my favorite part.
“This is the best Christmas—” I start to say, but the words get caught in my mouth as I turn around to find Cameron down on one knee.
“Drew Emerson Bailey,” he starts, and I about faint right then and there, until Emmie perks up at the sound of her name, and starts to babble again.
“Yes! Or, I do,” I say, when Gabe struggles to get Emmie to quiet back down enough so that Cameron can continue. “Whatever I am supposed to say, my answer is yes.”
I lean down to kiss him, and he does not stop me, but shakes his head when I turn my attention from him down to the ring box, anxious to get it on my finger before I wake up from this perfect dream.
“Hang on, babe. I’ve been rehearsing my speech for months. You have to let me say it.”
I nod and cover my mouth to keep from interrupting again, and I am so thankful I could burst that Val is behind the camera recording every word, because I know that I will want to go back and watch this entire moment a million times, and will never, ever tire of it.
“Drew Emerson Bailey,” he restarts, and smiles brilliantly up at me.
“You came into my life at a time when I was at my absolute lowest. And I was so stuck in my own grief after the loss of my parents that I didn’t see a way forward for myself through the darkness, until I came across your blog.
Your words were so beautiful and brave, and you became this beacon of hope for me, making me fall in love with your mind before ever even meeting you in person.
And then I fell head over heels in love with the rest of you after knowing you for less than forty-eight hours, despite going through what I can only hope will be the worst days of our lives, so that we have only better days ahead. ”
I nod in agreement and wipe my eyes to clear them so that I don’t miss a second of the way that he is looking up at me right now.
“But even if we come across bad times again, I promise you here, in front of our entire family, that I will stay by your side through any obstacle life throws our way, and that we will continue to grow stronger together through every hardship. We were already forged in fire, and there is nothing on earth that can ever separate me from you now.”
“Me either,” I say, and can’t help but lean down to kiss him again.
“Hang on, I have one more thing I need to say.” He smiles against my mouth.
“Okay, okay. Sorry.” I stand up dutifully to let him finish.
“I know how much you hate the saying that everything happens for a reason, and I hate it too. We shouldn’t have had to experience so much loss as a prerequisite to finding each other.
So instead of saying that everything happens for a reason, I’d like to offer my alternative, which is that we happened, despite everything, because nothing was ever going to stop me from finding you, Drew, and I know without a doubt that we were destined to be together. ”
I nod in agreement at the incredible man kneeling in front of me, and thank God, and the universe, and anything else that may be watching us now for the gift of his love.
When he finally starts to open the ring box, I know that I wouldn’t care if there was no more than a tied-up piece of string inside.
I would agree to marry him in every circumstance and in every lifetime, but when he finally reveals the glittering diamond that he picked out especially for me, my breath hitches at how stunning it is.
It is a traditional round diamond with a gold band, but the size of it, combined with the way it’s cut, picks up the light from the Christmas tree, and reflects like a million rainbows are contained within it.
“Drew, I love you so much that it hurts, and I can’t wait until the day I get to change your last name to mine. Will you do me the honor of marrying me, and making me the happiest man in the world?”
I nod vigorously as the rest of the room comes back into focus, to see that there is not a dry eye in the room. He slips the ring onto my finger as the high-pitched voices of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore sing my favorite Christmas song behind us.
I pause for just a second before we have our first kiss as fiancés, and whisper against his lips, “I love you, too, Cameron. Forever and ever.”
Then, I seal my fate as my favorite version of Drew yet, his.