Epilogue
Eve
It's the last game of the season. The National Championship game and we won.
I honestly can't believe that I say 'we' when talking about a football game, but here we are.
The surgeon told Cal he was out for the season, but he still suits up and supports the other guys.
Adam was on light duty for several weeks, but he eventually got to go back to full contact and play out the rest of his senior season.
"We're going out there. Come on."
"No. Thank you but no."
"Eve, I can make a scene. Don't think I can't make a scene because I'll show you."
She isn't bluffing and I know it.
"Why do you even want to go down there?"
"Our boys are down there. Cal is down there. He needs us. You know he needs us right now."
This sounds about as appealing as appendicitis to me, but Cal really does need the support right now, so I go...begrudgingly and bitching the entire way but I go.
It's absolute chaos out on the field. There are people everywhere and I can't find our guys.
The are television crews, coaches, players, and fans everywhere.
Cotton comes up behind us, grabbing us both up into a Cotton hug.
He squeezes us and we both turn red in the face from lack of oxygen.
"Are you trying to kill us?" Ada chokes out as she slaps Cotton on the shoulder.
"Where's Cal?" She asks, looking around the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of the huge man child.
Cotton quirks an eyebrow and gives Ada a knowing grin.
She looks back at him, confused. "What?"
Cotton just shakes his head at her and points behind us to where Cal is standing. The three of us push through the crowd to hug and congratulate him. He's all smiles and good humor but it's not quite the same as before. He's lost a little something. I think we all feel it.
Cal grabs me by the arms and speaks loudly so that I can hear him over the crowd.
"I need you to cash in that IOU. I can't live like this.
I can't have that hanging out there over my head, waiting and wondering when you're going to cash it in and make me take that hideous pirate dog for a walk or WORSE, make me take Adam shoe shopping.
His feet are hideous. Please, I can't take it anymore.
" The theatrics are hysterical, but I still can't help but notice the wide berth that people are suddenly giving us.
And the cameras...they seem to be trained on us.
I don't understand. I look back to Cal and his smile is infectious.
I love that smile. I've missed that smile.
Cal puts both hands on my shoulders and turns me around to face Adam.
..down on one knee with a beautiful ring featuring the most incredible emerald I've ever seen pinched between two fingers.
My face heats. I want to be happy about this proposal, but I can't take my mind off the fact that every person in the known universe is watching me right now.
If I could somehow forget the people that are standing only feet away from me there's still the fact that this was the most anticipated college football game of the year.
This is a highly televised event and now all of those people are watching us. Watching me.
I drop to my knees on the turf in front of Adam and hide my face in his chest. I cover the parts of my face that his chest doesn't conceal with my hands. "How could you do this to me?" I bark at him, but my words are muffled by his broad chest.
"Is that a yes, love?"
My words can't penetrate this wall of muscle, and I am for damn sure not showing my face again, so I nod vigorously instead.
I can't see his smile, but I know it's there in all its otherworldliness.
The crowd erupts as Adam puts the ring on my finger.
He wraps his arms around me, standing us both upright, then he grabs me by the hips, slinging me over his shoulder and, in true Adam fashion, he slaps my ass on national television.
I'm going to start carrying a taser for those times when a paintball gun can't be used.
Keeping both hands on my face, I shield myself the best that I can while Adam carries me off of the field and into the tunnel.
Once we're there and the crowd has thinned, we hear a man calling Adam's name.
Adam turns toward the voice. "Bill, hey.
Sorry, man. It got kind of crazy out there. I forgot to come find you."
"Hey, no problem kid." Now that he's closer, I can tell by his voice that he is an older man. I hear genuine affection when he speaks to Adam, so they must be known to one another. "I just have one quick question for you tonight."
"Of course. Let's hear it." Adam speaks to the man in an encouraging way, as if he truly wants to hear the man's question.
"Well, first, I want to say congratulations to one of the greatest college players to ever play the game.
Second, I want to congratulate you on the engagement.
And finally, I have to ask, your girl there didn't seem too thrilled by your method of proposal but, lucky for you, she still said yes.
How did you miss the mark this badly? Do you think that maybe simply hiding the ring in a piece of cake would've gone over better? "
Adam laughs before responding. "The misconception here is that the proposal was for her. It wasn't. My fiancé hates attention. That proposal is probably something from some of her worst nightmares, if I'm being honest."
I can feel Bill's confusion through Adam's body and my own hands. It pulses off of him in waves and everyone else on planet Earth as Adam's words sink in. I already know exactly why he proposed like he did and everyone else is about to find out too.
"That proposal was for me. Now everyone knows that she's mine and that she'll be mine forever. Do me a favor and bring that camera a little closer."
Adam pauses for a moment, and I assume the camera is getting into position.
"No touching, EVER. No excuses. You've been warned."
I groan behind my hands and continue to cover my face as Adam walks us out of the tunnel.
There's embarrassment, and then there's this .
I'll have to watch this moment on highlight reels for the rest of my life.
I suppose there are some positives that I won't be having kids now.
At least they won't see the damn thing. At least they won't have me as a mother.
..............................
When we get back home, there are Lily of the Valley flowers everywhere.
Some are in vases. Some are lying flat on various surfaces.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of them, all over our home.
The scent is beautiful and delicate. The flowers are elegant and bold.
I can't help but smile. This is perfect.
I turn back to look at Adam and he's down on one knee again.
I'm confused, and it must show on my face because he begins to explain.
"This proposal is for you. The one I know you would've wanted.
" This time, between his fingers, he holds a simple silver locket.
When I open up the locket, I see all of my favorite people.
On the left side is a picture of Eli, Vaughn, Cal, Ada, Cotton, and Adam.
I'm not sure when they took this. They had to have gotten together with this picture in mind.
On the rights side is a picture of me and Adam.
It's the one Cotton took of us in the front yard on move-in day.
My heart swells for these people. For my found family.
Adam rises from his knee, scooping me up in both arms, and he carries me to our bed.
He sets me down on my feet beside the bed and slowly begins to undress me, starting with my shirt.
Leaving my bra intact and hooking his fingers inside the waistband of my jeans, he pulls them down my thighs and off my feet.
His strong hands caress the length of my thighs while his soft mouth places kisses over the top of my panties.
He inhales deeply, breathing me in before lifting back to his feet.
"These are my favorites." He tells me as he grabs my plain white cotton panties, using them to pull me closer to him.
He kisses me slowly and softly. Nothing about this kiss is hungry. It's full of love and admiration.
Looking over to Adam's nightstand, I see the blood canvas. He turned my so-called father's home upside down to find it. I'm not bothered by it anymore. I love the look he still gets in his eyes every time he sees it.
Reaching out, I grab the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. Then, I hook my fingers in the waistband of his athletic pants and slide them off. He's bare beneath them, and his cock springs free, audibly slapping his stomach.
He reaches around, unclasping my bra and watching as my breasts erupt forward.
He dips back down to kiss each one before sucking one nipple into his mouth and using his hands to gently remove my panties.
Then, he grabs my ass in both hands, lifting me up so I can wrap my legs around his waist as he moves us onto the bed.
Gently laying me down on my back, he's already positioned over me.
He looks down at me as though it could be the last time he'll see me, so he has to commit every piece of me to memory.
"I can't wait to look into these eyes forever."
"I love you, Adam."
"I love you, fiancé'."
Slowly, Adam pulls one arm back to fist his shaft. Using his cock, he swirls circles around my entrance with the focus of his gaze trained on what he's doing to me. He then uses my own wetness, rubbing his dick up and down my clit until I almost can't take anymore and I'm writhing beneath him.
"Adam."
He changes up the move, and the tempo, now swirling circles around my clit at a much faster speed. I feel goosebumps pop up all over my body, and my knees rise up off the bed, signaling my impending climax. Adam moves faster and harder until my legs begin to shake, and I cry out his name again.
"Adam!"
Quickly repositioning himself, he pushes inside me while I'm busy riding out the last of my orgasm. He's moving slowly and languidly. It's a pace he's never set before, but it drags out my climax so that it seems to go on forever.
Even after my orgasm has subsided, Adam keeps up the slow rhythmic movements.
He grabs my thigh, hiking it up on his hip and pushing the other to the bed so that he can get deeper, be closer to me .
I gasp with this new position, and I can feel him everywhere.
Adam is making love to me . He once said that he knows he never makes love to me, but that fucking while we're in love may be the best that he can do.
It wasn't. He can make love to me too. This proves it.
So, we make love for the first time ever in our relationship but, not for the last.