Page 92 of When You're Home
She was sick.
She didn’t want kids.
She didn’t want to leave her dad.
Her dad couldn’t afford the house without her.
He tried to slow his breathing. He felt himself getting agitated and defensive already. He needed to reign it in. He couldn’t do this from a place of anger or frustration. After everything they had been through together, the only way to do this was to do it from a place of love.
She must have heard him approaching because she sat up and turned her head toward him. The most sincere smile lit up her whole face.
“Hey, beautiful,” he called to her casually. “No, no, stay there,” he insisted as she moved to sit up and make room on the swing.
“Hi,” she greeted him, still smiling as he approached.
“Whatcha got there?” he asked, nodding down to the small black notebook in her lap. He didn’t really need to ask what she was doing. He knew that the notebook was filled with sketches and doodles. She’d been filling up those little notebooks since middle school. He had even punched Colin McKew on the bus in seventh grade when he tried to snatch one of the notebooks out of Tori’s hands.
“Just journaling a bit,” she admitted, holding up the notebook for emphasis. “Do you want to sit with me?”
“I’m not going to sit,” he replied, shaking his head and inhaling. This was it. He was really doing it.
“Hmph.” She made the cutest disgruntled noise. “So are you just going to stand in front of me and block my view?” she teased, reaching out to playfully swat at the side of his body.
“I’m not going to stand in front of you, either…” Rhett trailed off as he took Tori’s hand in his. Slowly, confidently, he began to kneel in front of her.
“Holy shit,” she muttered to herself, sitting up to full height, her spine stick-straight against the back of the swing.
“Tori,” he started, as butterflies and heartburn churned in his stomach. He cleared his throat, but it didn’t help.
“I have loved you since the first time I felt you press up against me in the pool while we were supposed to be babysitting Maddie the summer before eighth grade.”
Her face lit up with a smirk that transformed into a grin. Her smile spurred him on. He knew he was on the right track.
“I have loved you since the day I watched you paint your first canvas. I have loved you since the first time you reached through the broken spot in the fence and held my hand as we said goodnight. I have loved you since the night you spent two hours riding city buses to get to downtown Akron so you could be with me at the hospital after the accident.” He was done reminiscing. It was time to move forward.
“I have loved you for every moment of every day for the last ten years of my life. Every. Single. Moment, Tori. Every. Single. Day. For me, it’s always been you. And if you’ll let me—if you’ll have me—I want to keep loving you for every moment of every day for the rest of our lives together.”
He swallowed. It was on the tip of his tongue. The words needed to come out. He had to say it now.
“V, will you marry me?”
He felt the pebbles dig into his kneecap as he held his breath. He could see the reflection of the water in the irises of her eyes. He waited for the objections to start tumbling out of her mouth. He looked her directly in the eye, silently begging her not to fight him too hard on this. Another beat passed. He started to wonder if he should stand up. He may be able to put up a better fight if they were sitting next to each other as equals…
“Yes.”
Rhett blinked. He hadn’t been paying attention as he worried about all the arguments she was about to sling his way.
“Yes?” he questioned, doubt apparent in his own voice.
“Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Shock and awe flooded his mind as he processed what he had just asked and what she had just said. She said yes. Without hesitation, without a fight, with total confidence, Tori had just agreed to marry him.
“You said yes?” he stated, although it came out as more of a question as he rose to his feet. In one fluid motion, Rhett sat down on the bench swing beside her and pulled her into his lap.
“I said yes.” She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling up to kiss him.
For the first time in weeks, in months, in years, everything made sense. There would be no more hiding, no more sneaking around. No more arrangements, no more secrets to keep. During a week when everything else seemed to be crashing down around them, he was sure of this. He loved Tori. She loved him. And for the last and final time, he had asked her to be with him, and she said yes.
