Epilogue
SIX MONTHS LATER
Eli
“Alrighty, roll for initiative,” Emily declares, and we all groan happily and grab our dice.
I gotta say, D&D dice are a lot more ornate and decorative than they were when I was a teenager.
We’ve each of us got our own set, because this has become an institution for the Wishbone team.
Every other Tuesday, here we are at my place (Em has long since moved in with me), trying to figure out how the hell we are ever going to stop the Vampire Lord and his evil schemes, and having great fun every time.
Emily loves running the game for us, and that would be enough for me, but in all honesty, I have a real fondness for my Ranger, and I look forward to each game.
Even with Leo dressing up and being all...Leo about his Bard. He still wears his leather armor every time, but usually that's just over a t-shirt these days.
It’s almost time. I’m gonna do this.
My palms are sweating a bit, and my heart is pounding so fast and so hard that I’m actually a little dizzy. My stomach is jumping with nerves. I take a sip of my beer. My mouth keeps going dry, no matter how much I have.
I look where I am placed in the initiative order once everyone has rolled their dice, and I’m third. That’s...perfect, actually. Gives me a chance to take a few deep breaths. No-one knows my plan, not even Dean.
Speaking of Dean, he and Sadie take their turns first, and they both do a decent amount of damage to the pack of wolves we’re fighting. If I was at all invested in this fight, I’d be punching the air, but I just sit quietly and wait my turn.
“OK, babe, you’re up,” Emily says finally, and looks up at me with a smile.
Here we go. I look into those beautiful eyes of hers, the ones that have owned me from the moment she arrived, and go for it.
“I’d like to make a persuasion roll,” I begin.
She frowns, a little puzzled. “OK, talk me through it.” She’s a good dungeon master, always willing to listen to your ideas, and if she can find a way to make them work, that’s exactly what we do.
“What are you planning to do? Persuade the wolves not to attack us?” Sadie asks, laughter tingeing her voice.
“No,” I say, reaching into my pocket for the ring box.
I’ve been checking and double checking that it’s there all evening, all through the gumbo dinner, all through the hour of play we’ve had so far.
“I’m making a persuasion roll to break the fourth wall…
” I get off my chair and go down on one knee next to my girl, my heart in my throat as I open the ring box and place my mother’s diamond engagement ring on the table in front of her, “and ask the dungeon master to marry me.”
“Oh my god,” Sadie gasps, and Leo lets out a “HOLY SH-” before Dean claps a hand over his mouth, cutting him off.
Em’s eyes are huge and stunned, her mouth open. “Oh my god, are you serious?!” she bursts out in a delighted voice, and she gives me the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her beautiful face.
Thank god. I was pretty certain she’d say yes, but it’s good to see that reaction all the same.
I chuckle. “Yes, I am,” I reply, and take her hands in both my own, hoping that’ll stop mine from shaking so much.
I run a thumb over the tattoo of a tiny elephant I inked on her a couple of months ago.
Her tattoo collection is growing, and every one of them is mine, despite Leo's begging. I look into her eyes that I love so much, and take a single deep breath. “I adore the fuck outta you, Em,” I say, any semblance of any speech I toyed with in my head just gone in the moment. I’m not one for fancy words, but the ones I say, I mean.
Especially the ones I just said. And here’s four more: “Will you marry me?”
Her eyes are glistening, but she’s giggling. “Yes,” she says, kissing me once, and again, “yes, YES! Of course I will…” And then she’s wrapped tightly in my arms, or maybe I’m wrapped tightly in hers, but either way, this is the happiest moment of my entire life.
I can hear Sadie squeaking happily, and Leo lets out a loud, booming “YES!” as he stands and takes a twenty out of his wallet and hands it to Sadie before swooping over to us and wrapping us both into a hug.
“I’ve never been so happy to lose a bet,” he crows, rubbing my back so hard I swear I’ll have friction burns on my skin by the time he’s done.
“What bet?” Emily asks, her voice vibrating because he’s doing the same to her.
“I said he'd do it at Christmas or New Year's Eve. Sadie didn’t think he’d be able to wait that long.” He gives my fiancée a loud kiss on the top of her head.
“I’d say welcome to the family, but you’re already family, so this is just making it legal, but aaaaaaagh, I’m so fuckin’ happy for you both! ”
“I’ve never seen a proposal before,” Sadie says happily, “and I’ve always wanted to! I can tick it off my bucket list!” She hugs Em while I endure more of Leo’s affection. “Show me the ring, lemme see…”
“Leo, let me go, I need to place it on her finger,” I say in a mock strangled voice.
“You got it, buddy,” he says warmly, and then lets me out of his bear hug.
I start to reach for the ring, but Dean stands up and holds up a hand to make me pause.
He walks up to me and hugs me, too, hard but brief.
When we pull back, his eyes are ever so slightly damp, and I won’t lie, so are mine.
We’ve seen each other through a lot, and we don’t need words for me to know that he’s happy that I’ve found my best life.
I can only wish the same for him.
I pick up the black leather box off the table and take the ring out.
I inherited it when my mom died. It’s a platinum solitaire diamond, set on an ornate band shaped like vines, with a fleur de lis where the rock sits.
A traditional New Orleans offering. My dad went all out with it, keen to impress both Mom and her huge, forbidding Samoan family. It worked.
I didn’t give it to Charmaine. She chose her own.
And, in all honesty, I couldn’t imagine giving it to her. Or giving Emily anything that wasn’t as special as Mom’s ring is to me.
I place it on Emily’s ring finger, and for a moment, as we gaze at each other, it feels like we’re the only two people in the room. “Thank you,” she whispers to me, “I love it, it’s so beautiful.”
“It was my mom’s,” I say, and there’s a lump in my throat as I smile at her. “She’d have loved you.”
Her fingers on that hand clench into a fist, as though to keep it from slipping off. It won’t. It’s a perfect fit, thank god. “I’ll keep it safe,” she promises me.
“I know,” I reply, kissing her forehead. “I know.”
There’s a brief silent moment. And then Dean very rapidly signs something that makes me, my fiancée, and Sadie laugh riotously. Leo growls, as Dean smirks at him in triumph.
The words are, I call Best Man.
And then Leo grins bigger. “Fine. That’s totally fine. Because I call officiant.”
Uh-oh.
THE END