Page 81 of Asphyxia
Her sister beamed ear to ear with a shit-eating grin as Atlas stepped up to her side, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her in close.
“This is your happily ever after, Mads.” Chyler sighed in awe as she placed her arm over Atlas’s and rested her head against his shoulder.
“But this is your wedding venue?”
“And now it’s yours too. Far earlier than mine, I might add.” Chyler light-heartedly chuckled, biting her bottom lip with another cheeky smile. “I love you, sis.”
“I—I…” Madison stammered, her attention swinging back to us as she sucked in a sharp breath. “You.”
“We…” I started. “It’s you and us, darling, for now and forever. Marcus and I have been talking, and we feel it’s time to change things up.”
“To take what we’ve created another step further,” Marcus added, and as if perfectly timed, we both reached into our back pockets and pulled out ring-sized velvet boxes: one deep green and the other dark blue.
Last week, Marcus and I visited a local jeweler, searching for the perfect rings for Madison.
We wanted a design that could be stacked, with both rings equally remarkable in their own unique way. They had to encapsulate Marcus and my personalities while seamlessly blending as one cohesive piece.
Madison jerked her hands away from ours, covering her mouth with a sharp squeak as her eyes began to fill and glimmer with tears.
We opened our boxes together, displaying both parts of her elaborately beautiful ring. Both bands were made of fourteen-carat white gold. One was lined with blueberry sapphires ringed by a ribbon of nude diamonds, while the other, following a similar style, had identical nude diamonds but twisted around bright green emeralds.
The room was silent as Madison examined both rings in astonishment. Her muffled sobs were the only sound echoing throughout the space.
Marcus and I grasped her left hand in ours, then fell to one knee before taking turns placing the bands that had been made just for her on her ring finger.
“Mads…” Marcus rasped her name before clearing his throat. “Will you be ours? Our wife in all ways that matter most, not in name, but in heart and soul?”
We had decided that Marcus would be the one to ask her the question. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to ask her myself, but this was a joint effort, and even if the words came from Marcus’s mouth, they also came from my heart just the same.
Madison nodded eagerly, still speechless from the surprise we had just sprung on her.
“Yes… yes, yes, yes, without question, yes.” Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she lowered her hands to caress our cheeks. “I wouldn’t want anything more than to be yours in every way imaginable. Forever. Me and you.”
Marcus and I stood up together, pulling Madison between us as I kissed her temple and closed my eyes, soaking everything in, committing this sacred moment to long-term memory.
“I know we can’t legally do it, but that won’t change the fact that you’re our wife,” I murmured, pressing my forehead against the side of hers. “We don’t need a piece of paper to tell us what we are to each other.”
Chyler and Alexis approached us, and we released Madison to them with one last loving squeeze.
“I know you’re not one for ceremonies. So, let’s just call it like it is. My sister is officially married.” Chyler giggled, yanking Madison into her as she beamed proudly at her left hand.
“Now, all that’s left is just to figure out which last name she’s going to take,” Alexis added with a laugh as she joined in their warm embrace. “My bet’s on Holt.”
“Shh!” Chyler hissed. “This isn’t a pissing contest. She doesn’t need to take their last name to make it anything less than real.”
And she didn’t.
Marcus and I had discussed that, too—all the technicalities of our relationship, present and future.
It didn’t matter if she chose to take one of our names; we were fine leaving everything as it was, with the eternal privilege of calling her our wife.
Regarding kids… we would figure that out when the time came.
But for now, we had everything we could have ever asked for—everything we needed was with her.
The End.
