46. Epilogue
Epilogue
Dom
The final whistle blows and I lift both arms up to the sky. I roar. My whole body feels like I'm channeling lightning and, with so much power running through my veins, it's the only way to keep myself from exploding.
Success. Accomplishment. The dream.
Another championship for the Strike. Two big wins in a row, and I made it just in time to be part of it. Due to my recent injury, I ended up only playing the Conference game and this last one, but I'm pleased. I helped our team get here. And my knee didn't complain once.
People flood the field from the margins, but the first person I go to is Saint. We skip our usual dancing and we hug. With each of us scoring touchdowns today, we have plenty of reasons to be proud.
We hug other players, then go toward the center field looking for our other friends. Rafa, then Bear, then Logan— we hug and scream through the noise of the thundering crowd around us, spilling down from the ocean of fans in the stands.
We did it. We're on top again. And our loved ones are on the way to the field.
We celebrate with everyone who was part of this win.
I catch my friends looking around for their people and know exactly what they're doing because I'm doing it as well.
They'll be here any second now. Saint is the only one who invited his whole family, but Rafa invited his daughter and Lori, and all of us have our partner here.
My mom and abuela have never wanted to attend a game, and I know they're celebrating at home with their friends.
But Mariana? She's here, and she promised she'd be wearing my jersey today.
I don't get to see it right away, because she hugs me from behind and holds too tight for me to see her much.
"Mariana. Wait a second." I pry her hands away from my torso. "Hey, come here."
I barely make it around before she's hugging me tight again.
"That was incredible, Dom. Incredible! The way you broke that first tackle— I thought they had you but then you dodged the safety and the way you leaped to the endzone like that? Incredible, Dom. You were incredible."
I chuckle and pull her close. "Put your lips on mine already, Mari."
We kiss and, in a fit of despair— too much adoration filling my veins— I bend her backwards.
I pour everything onto the pressing of our mouths and she gives me as much back.
Three, five seconds later, I bring her back up and she laughs.
I grin. She looks gorgeous with sparkling brown eyes and her hair a little wild and yes, she's wearing my jersey.
I take her hand and make her do a turn.
"Damn," I say. "My last name looks good on you."
She laughs again and surrounds my waist with her arms. "Are you going to offer it to me? Your last name?"
My eyebrows shoot up high and, though I don't quite smile, an extra wave of pleasure floods my chest.
"Are you telling me I should propose, Mariana Sinclair?"
A grin continues to light her up, but she manages to chew on her bottom lip as well. Sexy and so, so beautiful my heart aches.
She lifts a shoulder like she's pretending nonchalance. "I mean, not now this very minute. And my family doesn't really change last names. I may not be your Mrs. Wright—" she says pointing at her back, where my last name is stamped in blocky letters— "But I want to be your Mrs. Right."
I'm the one laughing now. "I don't know. I didn't think you had an issue with a quick turnaround wedding."
"Dom! That was different!"
"Oh, please." I pull her close. "You wouldn't say no if I proposed right now, would you?"
"Dominic Wright. This sounds like you're tangentially proposing. Or proposing to propose soon. It's been less than two months since we made this official."
"It's been years in the making, Princesa."
Bear shows up on our side and pats my shoulder, calling me on to some of the post-game rituals. He walks away with Pen at his hand, and I take Mariana's hand too.
"I wouldn't say no," she says. "But let's find a more private time for it, please. I want that to be a just-us moment. And maybe we find a way to still make it a surprise? I think I'd love feeling surprised."
I lean closer to her and look deep into her eyes. "What I'm hearing is that you've thought about it."
Logan comes and calls me to join everyone, but I hold back one more minute.
This time she lifts both shoulders. "Maybe I fantasized about proposing to you one day."
"Well, that's one fun thing to take turns doing, is it not?"
"How would that even work?"
"We'll come up with something." I wink at her and pull at her hand. "For now come, mi reina. We have a party to attend."
It's the middle of summer. We're on Vancouver Island, helping Mariana's older brother Cam scope some properties.
The situation with her family is good enough, and Mariana and I decided it's time to make myself present with them all.
After a few months, it seems everyone is getting used to the idea of our relationship.
It wasn't critical to us that they did, but it's easier this way and Cam is a decent guy.
After he goes back to Vancouver to do whatever he does during the hockey offseason, Mariana and I decide to stay in a beautiful cabin overlooking the water. Just a quiet moment for the two of us, before we return to the city for Evie and Logan's wedding and the second ring ceremony of my career.
A year ago, I learned that Mariana was getting a divorce. Now my plan is to show up with Mariana wearing a ring of my own.
On a beautifully sunny day, we go for a walk with my secret cargo hidden into a secure pocket I had sown into my joggers.
The greenery in this part of the world is as glorious as in the areas surrounding Seattle, but with the kind of breathing room you can only find far away from metropolitan areas.
We stroll on a path surrounded by moss, ferns, and trees so tall they must have been on this land for centuries.
An hour into our walk, we find a staircase built out of a mix of logs, concrete pillars, and driftwood.
It leads down to the water, and we instinctively go down it, but stop halfway.
A makeshift bench is built into the stone, providing a perfect viewing spot.
We sit close together, facing the water, and under the shade of the giant trees above us. The sea twinkles back at us.
Mariana sighs. "I'll never get tired of a view like this."
"Truly gorgeous," I say, my eyes on her.
She catches me and lets out a coy smile. "You flirt."
"Yes. For you, yes."
"I can't complain about this view either." She shoots out a hand and squeezes my side. "You're a very handsome guy, you know that?"
"You and all my fans know, and that's enough for me." I give her a winning smile.
She snorts, but her eyes remain playful. "I swear, if you post one more thirst trap with your jersey running up high…"
"Then, what? It's not like I'm the one posting those clips. It's my adoring fans doing the work. You know that."
"Fine." She kisses me. "As long as I remain the only one who can call you my own, I won't complain."
"Mi reina, I don't want anybody else."
I turn on my stone seat so I can caress her face.
The view around us is perfect in a way that makes it feel like Mother Nature herself is cradling us.
Like I have her blessing to act upon her legacy and create something worthwhile in the web of life she weaves.
But to do that, I need Mariana gazing at me.
It's the only way, as far as I'm concerned.
"My life is wonderful," I say. "Two championships. Your family seems to be getting used to the idea of us, my mom and abuela are healthy and happy and feeding us plenty…"
"Definitely not complaining about that either."
"I'd say my mom isn't as reticent as she was about us, once upon a time. Wouldn't you?"
"No, she's not. I think it's because you told her I argued with my parents and stood up to them for us. I changed the ending to that urban legend, didn't I?"
"We did. She sees it, I think"
"She does. Or she wouldn't have given me her blessing."
"She did?"
"Yeah, she did."
She smiles and takes a small box from the waistband of her leggings, hidden until then by the light sweater she'd tied around her hips.
I don't get to process much.
"Mari?" I ask.
My heart beats fast, racing against the moment, looking for a way to adjust to the mirth bubbling up inside and the sheer joy rising like a tide.
"I told you I was thinking about it." She gives me a lopsided smile. "I didn't know I'd be nervous, but here we are."
She opens the box. A slim gold band appears. A bit thinner than standard wedding rings, but with a hammered texture to keep it modern.
"I thought I would keep it simple, so you could add a wedding band of your choice to it— if you say yes.
When you say yes because, you know. I'm really hedging my bets here.
Part of that was talking to your mom. She told me she got it— that she understood that proposing is a statement.
I'm showing up for us. Fighting for us. Choosing us this way too. "
"Mari."
I take a deep breath. It settles into the calm, deep waters in my chest. I smile and keep my eyes on her.
"Dominic Wright. I love you."
"I love you too."
"Will you marry me?"
So much glee takes over me that it blanks my mind and I laugh. Then I shake my head and reach for my pocket.
"What's happening?" she asks. "I don't like the way you're moving your head."
But I don't stop. I dig into the secret pocket and take out my own box.
"We had the same idea?!" she exclaims.
I open the box. "I chose not to tell your parents. I hope that was the right move."
"It was, except— Dom—"
We're both holding boxes. Her eyes drop to the engagement ring I picked for her. It's a large princess-cut diamond, in honor of our story. It rests in a diagonal to the shank, which I thought makes it look like a star, and it's supported by small three-diamond clusters on each side.
"Jesus," she whispers.
"Will you marry me, Mariana?"
"But you haven't even answered my question yet!"
"We take turns, right? What if we agree you were the first one to ask, so I'll be the first one to answer. As long as I'm the first one to put a ring on your finger."
"Answer first, Dom. You already know what I'm going to say."
"I'm holding a ring too, Princesa, and you doubt what my answer is going to be?" I chuckle and drop a kiss on her. "Of course I'll marry you."
"Dom." She hugs me tight.
I respond with my arms around her too and a kiss on her pulse. The line of her jaw. Her cheek.
"I'll marry you, too." She stops my journey with a kiss on my lips. "Of course I will."
I put my ring on her finger, but we pause when it's time for her to put the ring on mine.
"So, I told my mom I was going to do this," she says.
"She didn't say much about it, except to explain that in Chile— maybe it's like this in Mexico, too?
I don't know. But she told me that in older times and more traditional circles, engagements were symbolized with a simple band like this.
That the couple would wear it on their right hand.
The band moves to the left hand upon marriage. "
Without words, I offer her my right hand. The band she picked for me slides in effortlessly.
I link our hands, our new jewelry side by side.
"I'm going to love having an extra ring for all the fancy occasions," I say. "And any time I'm not training."
"And I'm going to love showing off my own. It's a lovely ring, Dom."
"They both are. They’re a promise." I turn to face the sea, sprinkled with islands ahead, but with enough clear sightlines the horizon stretches ahead too. "We're going to have a beautiful life together, Mari."
And in each other's arms, we gaze ahead to our future, already envisioning the happiness we fought for.