Chapter 20 Shane #3
I found Maya's eyes in the crowd.
She was already crying.
I took the microphone and tried to steady my breathing.
"So." My voice came out steadier than I expected. "You're probably wondering why I'm still up here." A pause. "I wanted to take a moment to recognize someone. A teacher who means a lot to me."
I looked at Maya. Only at Maya.
"Thirteen years ago, a seventeen-year-old girl found out she was pregnant. Everyone told her what to do—her parents, her teachers, her friends. Everyone had an opinion about her life, her choices, her future."
The auditorium went silent.
"Everyone counted her out."
I watched Maya's hand come up to cover her mouth. Watched the tears stream down her face. Kept going.
"But she didn't listen. She kept her baby. She finished high school. She worked two jobs while earning her degree.”
I stepped closer to the edge of the stage.
"She became a teacher. One of the best teachers in this city.
The kind of teacher who keeps granola bars in her desk for kids who come to school hungry.
The kind who stays late to help students who are struggling.
The kind who sees the kids that everyone else has written off and refuses to give up on them. "
My voice cracked. I didn't try to hide it.
"She did all of that while people whispered about her. While colleagues judged her. While a husband who should have treasured her told her she was too much work. Not worth the effort."
In the front row, Maya's shoulders were shaking. Zoe had her arm around her mother, tears on her own face now, too.
"Maya Cummins. You've been fighting alone for thirteen years."
I walked down the stage steps. The crowd parted instinctively.
I stopped in front of her.
"You raised an incredible daughter. Funny and smart and brave, just like her mother.
You built a career out of nothing but determination and heart.
You walked into a burning building to save a young man that the whole world had given up on, because you couldn't give up on him.
Because that's who you are. The person who sees people.
Who believes they're worth saving even when they don't believe it themselves. "
I reached for her hand. She gave it to me without hesitation.
"You didn't need me to save you. You were already saving yourself. You've been saving yourself since you were seventeen years old, and you've been saving everyone around you, too. Your students, your daughter, a broken kid with a gasoline can who needed someone to see him."
My throat was tight. I pushed through.
"But I don't want you to fight alone anymore. I want to fight beside you. I want to choose you and Zoe every single day for the rest of my life. I want to be the person who stays."
I got down on one knee.
The auditorium held its breath.
"I love you." My voice broke. "I love making pancakes on Sunday mornings with you. I love listening to you argue with Zoe about homework. I love watching you fall asleep on my shoulder while grading papers. I love you even when you steal the covers and blame me for it."
I pulled out the ring.
Simple. Classic. A small diamond on a thin gold band. Nothing flashy, nothing overwhelming. Just real. Like her.
"Maya Cummins. Will you marry me?"
Four hundred people held their breath.
Maya was crying so hard she could barely see. Her hands were shaking. Zoe was gripping her arm like she was afraid her mother might float away.
"Mom." Zoe's voice was a fierce whisper. "Say something."
Maya laughed. Wet, broken, joyful. She looked at me kneeling in front of her, heart in my hands, and I watched something shift in her face. The fear that was always there, lurking underneath, the constant waiting for the other shoe to drop—
It was gone.
"Yes."
The auditorium erupted.
Students cheering, teachers clapping, parents dabbing their eyes. Someone started a chant of Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! that sounded suspiciously like it was coming from Brian's direction.
I slid the ring onto Maya's finger. It fit perfectly. I'd stolen one of her rings two weeks ago to get the size, and Zoe had covered for me when Maya noticed it was missing. ‘I think it fell behind the dresser, Mom. You know how you are with jewelry.’
Then I stood, cupped her face, and kissed her.
In front of everyone.
I kissed her like she was the only person in the room.
When we broke apart, Maya was laughing through her tears. "You planned this. With my daughter."
"Guilty."
"I'm going to kill both of you."
"Worth it."
Behind us, Brian let out a whoop that echoed off the gymnasium walls. Zoe was doing some kind of victory dance with two fourth-graders. Principal Hendricks was openly sobbing into a handkerchief.
And at the back of the auditorium, standing alone near the doors, Mrs. Patterson watched in silence.
For once, she had nothing to say.
Later.
The assembly was over. The students had gone back to class, still buzzing with excitement. Whispering to each other in the hallways.
Principal Hendricks had hugged me approximately fourteen times and showed no signs of stopping—until Brian physically escorted her toward her office.
Now it was just Maya and me, sitting on the edge of the stage, in the empty auditorium.
Her head on my shoulder. My arm around her waist. The ring glinted on her finger every time she moved her hand.
"You proposed to me in front of my students," Maya said.
"I did."
"And my colleagues."
"Yep."
"And Mrs. Patterson."
I grinned. "That part was intentional."
Maya laughed. Then went quiet. She looked at the ring, turning her hand so it caught the light. Simple. Perfect.
"I love you." She leaned in to kiss me. "Thank you for not giving up on me."
"Never." I pulled her closer, breathed her in. "You're stuck with me now, Mrs. Briggs."
She laughed against my lips.
I looked at her. Mascara smudged under her eyes. Hair messed up from my hands. The most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
I was going to spend the rest of my life making her laugh like that.
Maya Cummins wasn't the girl who made a mistake at seventeen. She wasn't the woman whose husband left. She wasn't the tired teacher with the messy life and the walls built so high nobody could climb them.
She was the woman I loved.
She was going to be my wife.
And I would make sure she never doubted again that she was worth staying for.