EPILOGUE
Nick
One Year Later
It’s been one year since Marcy and I took the biggest risk of our lives and opened up to one another about what we truly wanted from each other.
Then we fucked each other on the stairs of our house, making it my new favorite place in the world.
The memory of her back arched for me in that moment makes running and up down those things several times a day feel like a privilege.
Today, the house is buzzing more than usual.
We are hosting our first Thanksgiving together, and I am hoping by the end of the night that Marcy will agree to marry me.
Stan, Gary, and Lauren are all here. Lauren’s son is with his father this year, but she says we will video chat with him later.
Annie will be joining us, and Marcy mentioned something about her bringing a couple guests, although I am unsure who that would be.
Marcy’s family has become my own over the past year, and this little group that she has cherished has completely adopted me.
I spend my days during the week at the North River Hospital as the chief operating officer.
Yes, Keith annoys the shit out of me most days, but he has a good heart, and we bond over our desire to do better for this community.
Marcy’s role at the hospital has expanded incredibly, and I feel so proud of her and the confidence she has built in that role.
She runs a large group of volunteers, supervises several interns, and the patients have never had better access to mental health care and social service opportunities than they do right now.
There will always be room for improvement in that area, but the growth in such a short period of time has been nothing short of impressive.
In the evenings, Marcy and I meet back at our house.
She moved in officially about two months after I closed on the place.
I think she was planning to hold out longer, but we were constantly at each other’s places, and she finally got tired of forgetting things at one or the other.
She has made this house feel like a home for us, decorating it much like her apartment, with warm textiles and her antique store finds.
Anyone walking through the door feels at home here, and most importantly, this house has earned the distinction of being one of Marcy’s safe havens.
An honor that I also try to earn from her every day.
We switch off who cooks each night, we watch her terrible television shows, and we read books in front of our old fireplace.
We can’t get enough of each other, and still find ourselves undressing each other at random points through the day and during some of the most mundane tasks.
Our life is supportive, quiet, predictable, and safe, everything that she and I never felt while growing up.
We go to therapy individually and sometimes together.
We make space for what the other needs, we spend quality time with each other, and we allow the other partner to be themselves without compromise.
Marcy’s apartment is still her apartment, Stan and Gary will never let that change.
They like the idea of her always having that place to call her own, the same way others have their parent’s homes to go back and visit.
Marcy and Annie still have sleepovers there from time to time and she even let my brother and his family stay there during a visit so that they had their own space.
Tonight, after our little group has eaten, Marcy and I will return to that apartment.
I will tell her we have to go back because I left a pie in the fridge there.
We will hold hands on our walk and talk about how delicious dinner was and how much we love the life we have created together.
When we open the door to her apartment, flowers and candlelight will welcome us in, so that I can get on one knee and propose.
I bought the ring a month after I bought the house, so to say that I feel ready for this step is a massive understatement.
She says she knew she loved me during that first date and couldn’t get over the moment we got back to her apartment that night and she saw it filled with that electric candlelight.
Seeing her eyes light up during the replay tonight will be unforgettable.
When we get to rejoin our family for dessert, freshly engaged, it will be the official start of yet another chapter for the two of us.
I can’t wait.
The End.