Epilogue - Michael
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Did you get everything done?” I ask, my phone pressed between my shoulder and my ear as I chop up some cucumbers for tonight’s dinner.
Diana sighs over the phone—but it isn’t a frustrated sigh.
It isn’t a stressed out one, either. It’s the sound of her relief.
That after five years of hard work—during which she spent one year of LSAT prep, four years of law school which she attended part time, all while having a full-time job, managing a cross-country move, and being the best mom to her kids—we’re finally going to be able to reunite our family and be in one place.
Diana, Emi, and Cami are finally coming home to Rachel and me.
“Yes, I’m done. The movers left about half an hour ago, I’m handing over the apartment keys tomorrow morning, and immediately taking the train out East after.”
I can’t help the wide smile that spreads across my face. “I can’t wait.”
“How are the girls?”
I look over at Rachel and Diana’s two daughters, watching TV on the couch and talking excitedly as they click through YouTube videos with Rachel. Diana sent Cami and Emi ahead of time so they could start at their new school while she wrapped things up in New York City.
Once Diana got into law school and Rodrigo’s voluntary relinquishing of parental rights was finalized, Diana and the girls moved to Queens.
For the past four years, she’d been attending law school part-time at Cardozo School of Law in the city.
Since then, she’s been working in Jonathan’s company’s in-house legal counsel department after she asked for a job.
Edgar, knowing her situation, happily let her go so long as she promised to always look out for herself and her kids first.
It’s been a dream come true, having her so close. To get to see her and the kids every weekend for the past four years. To spend every holiday together as a family, either here or in Colorado, has been an incredible gift I have never nor will ever take for granted.
“We’re doing great here. Settling into the new house.
” A ranch-style home I bought for our new blended family.
Diana was hesitant about it at first, but I wanted to show her just how committed I am to us and to Cami and Emi by having the house under both our names.
And if the house isn’t enough to show her how much I want this to work, I’m sure the emerald cut sapphire I got her will give her an idea. But she doesn’t know about that yet.
She’s it.
“They’re not causing any trouble, are they?”
I set the knife down and laugh. “So what if they are? They should feel comfortable enough to.”
I can practically hear her roll her eyes. “You spoil them.”
A wistful sigh. “I’m weak, what can I say?”
Diana laughs, though, because she knows just how happy I am. “Has Cami told you her new thing yet?”
I chuckle. “Oh, yeah. Sourdough.”
“She’s been watching bread baking videos non-stop for the past couple of months. Said she can’t wait for you to teach her how to do it right. So far, all she’s done is make gloopy messes in my kitchen.” She chuckles.
My heart swells in my chest. I love that I’ve been able to connect with Cami when it comes to cooking and baking. We’ve come a long way. “Yeah. We’re gonna make a starter from scratch tomorrow. She’s already challenged me to a bake-off.”
“When are you proposing?” Cami asks in a whisper.
“Shh, kid. You’re gonna kill the surprise.” I should’ve never told the girls. But then again, there was no way I was ever going to ask Diana to marry me without the approval of all three.
Cami rolls her eyes at me, her face covered in flour from our latest round of experimental bread loaf baking.
It took us about ten days to get a sourdough starter going, and Cami and I haven’t been able to stop baking since.
“She’s in the shower! It’s not like she’ll be able to hear us,” she whisper-yells.
I chuckle. “Sorry, I’m nervous.”
“Are you proposing tonight during your date night?”
“Maybe.” I wiggle my eyebrows.
Cami gasps. “Emi! Rach! C’mere!”
“Shhhh!! Dang, be cool, Cami,” I beg, my heart sprinting.
“She’s in the shower,” she repeats with another eye roll.
Ah, the joys of having a fourteen-year old girl.
Emi and Rachel run into the kitchen, eyes wide.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Emi asks.
“He’s doing it tonight,” Cami whispers.
Both girls gasp.
“Yes!” Emi punches the air.
“Oh my god, Dad. This is amazing.” Rachel jumps in place, smile broad.
And yeah, it is.
Without thinking, I wipe my greased up hands on my nicest button-down.
“Fuuuuuckkk,” I mutter under my breath. “Fucking fuck, fuckity fuck fuck!”
“Everything okay down there?” Diana asks, getting out of the cab of the truck to meet me where I’m bent over the engine.
“No. Fuck. Yes. Just stay inside of the cab. We’re in the middle of the highway—this is super dangerous.” I use the flashlight on my phone to try to see what’s going on with my engine, but it’s impossible through all the smoke.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
No. “Yes, I think.” Obviously, it’s a lie. I’m stalling while I figure out what to do.
“Let’s call triple-A or something.” Diana bites her lip, looking like she’s afraid my truck’s a few seconds away from exploding.
Honestly, at this point, it might be.
“A tow truck will take too long,” I grumble. “We’ll miss dinner.”
“So, we’ll miss our dinner reservation. It’s fine. We can go out tomorrow.”
“This is the only time we could get a babysitter for weeks.” Another lie, of course.
I’m not worried about a babysitter nor am I worried about missing a reservation.
What I am worried about is missing the sunset at the beach where we met, because that’s where we’re really headed tonight. She just doesn’t know that yet.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, so I pull it out.
Lexi: where the hell are you guys? I’m hiding in the dunes with the photographer.
I groan. “This is a nightmare.”
“What is? Sure, the car not working sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. We just need someone to come pick us up. You call a tow truck, and I’ll call Lexi and—”
“No! Don’t call Lexi,” I say in a panic. “I— Sorry. Just, this isn’t something you should be bothering her with.”
Diana narrows her eyes at me, hands on her hips. “What the heck is going on here, Michael? You’ve been acting weird ever since we moved in together. Jumpy.” Her expression suddenly shifts, face falls and pales. “Do you regret this? Us moving in?”
My stomach drops, horrified. “Baby, no.” I go to her, and, even in my greased up shirt, pull her into a hug. “No, it’s not that.”
“But it is something,” she says against my chest, her voice breaking.
“Because you’ve been acting so weird. Like you’re hiding something.
And— I know it was a big change, but we’ve been talking about this for a while, so it’s not fair to suddenly change your mind.
But if you have, there’s nothing I can do about it, so—”
“It’s the opposite. God, it’s the opposite.
I’m trying to fucking take you out to the beach where we first got into an argument on the night we met and propose to you, goddamn it.
But this car is fucking dead, and the sun’s about to go down, and Lexi keeps texting me, asking where the hell we are because she’s hiding with her photographer friend in the dunes hoping to get a photo of me on one knee, and hopefully you smiling when I ask you whether—”
“You want to marry me?” Her eyes well with tears; she brings her hands to her mouth.
I laugh in disbelief at her doubt. “Of course I do.”
“I don’t know your life,” she says with a blubbery laugh.
“You do know my life, because you and those three girls are my life. So yes, I do want to marry you. And the plan was to do it tonight, but it all went to shit. So now you’re going to have to wait for me to plan a new thing all over again and—”
“What? No. You can’t do that to me. You can’t just dangle the carrot and take it away. You can’t just be all ‘uh, yeah Diana, I was gonna propose, but things happened so now it’s gonna be another time.’” I’d find her imitation of my voice hilarious, if it weren’t so cute.
“That supposed to be me, huh?” I chuckle.
“Oh, yeah. Hundred percent,” Diana deadpans.
“So what do you suggest I do, then? Propose to you here in the middle of the highway while my car smokes beside roadside trash in my greased-up shirt?”
She smiles, cheeks flushing. “Honestly, I can’t think of anything better. It means I get to be with you forever.”
I take a beat as I feel the widest smile spread across my face. With my heart beating a drum in my chest, I take her hands in my dirty ones, and drop to one knee.
THE END