Page 111 of That First Night
“Thank you so much, James.” I pull him into me with a tight hug. “This is so beautiful.”
“I picked it out myself.” He looks at me with a pleased look in his eyes. “I hear Daddy call you Sunshine all the time and that’s what I wanted it to say.”
“You are so special to me, James.” I press a kiss to his forehead.
“I love you, Pey.” His tiny arms wrap around my waist, and I feel a tear break free from my eyes as I tighten my hold on him.
“I love you too, James.”
I truly have grown to love James as if he was my own child. I don’t know if the name ‘Stepmom’ is anywhere in my future, but if it comes down to it, I would without a doubt accept the role and love him endlessly for the rest of my life. No one deserves that more than he does.
A throat clearing breaks me from my thoughts as I look up to see Thomas standing closer to me. “Sunshine.” He uses his term of endearment and my heart swoons. But quickly, that swoon turns into a frantic beating in my chest as I watch him drop to his knee in front of me at the couch.
“Thomas,” I gasp.
“This might seem like I’m rushing things. But I believe when you know, you know. Some years may be missing from our timeline, but from the moment your eyes first locked with mine across that ballroom, I knew I would never love another woman the way that I would love you. That first night you walked into my life like a ray of sunshine in a dimly lit world and you took my breath away. You continue to do so every single day. I love you so much, Peyton. And I want to spend the rest of my life loving you more than I did the day before.”
“I love you too, Thomas,” I say through blurry eyes as I wipe tears from my cheeks.
“Make me the luckiest guy in the world and be my wife, Peyton.” He pops open a teal blue ring box and my eyes widen. It has the most beautiful diamond platinum band with an elongated cushion cut diamond. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” I don’t hesitate as I nod. “Yes, I will marry you.”
We both laugh as he takes my hand to place the ring on my finger before he pulls me into his arms and crashes his lips to mine.
“Ew gross,” James says as he covers his eyes. “Mommy kissing Daddy.”
We break apart and both of our eyes widen as we look down at James and the words that just came out of his mouth. Thomas crouches down next to him, “What did you just say, buddy?”
“Mommy kissing Daddy.” He laughs uncontrollably.
“But Peyton isn’t your Mommy, bud.” Thomas says to him with a hand on his shoulder.
“But she can be.” He shrugs his shoulders. “Right?”
I crouch down beside him and place a hand on each of his shoulders as I turn him to face me. “I will be whatever you want me to be, James. You know I love you more than anything in this world. If you want to call me Mommy, you can. But don’t feel like you need to since your dad and I are going to be getting married now.”
“I want to,” he says without an ounce of hesitation. “I love you so much, Pey. You’re always there for me.” He sniffles the smallest bit. “I love when you take care of me when I’m sick and how you pull the curtains down for movies and how you play dinosaurs with me. You’re my best friend and the bestest Mommy I ever had.”
Thomas wipes a tear from his eye as I do the same thing.
“I love doing all of those things with you too, James.” I give him a hug. “Now we have a lifetime to do hundreds more fun things too.”
“I can’t wait!” he screams as he jumps up and down. “I’m going to go upstairs to play with my new toys,” he says as he begins to run off. He’s halfway up the stairs when he screams, “Love you Mommy and Daddy.”
We both smile at each other before Thomas pulls me in for a kiss.
Six Months Later
“Babe, your waffles are ready,” I yell out to the living room where Peyton is playing with James while they watch cartoons.
It’s been six months since I proposed to Peyton, and it still feels like a dream that I am going to make her mine for eternity. Right after New Year’s, she went into full blown wedding mode with her friends. We agreed we would have a fall wedding because New Jersey during fall has the perfect backdrop and weather for an outdoor wedding. If that’s what she wants, that’s what she gets.
New Jersey.
I never thought I would be a suburbs kind of guy, but here I am. Last month, we officially moved out of the city. Peyton’s dream was to own a house out here with a yard, a white picket fence and no neighbors up our ass. Of course, I gave her just that. We live right outside the city on eight acres of property. You can’t even see the neighbors and she now has what feels like miles of white picket fence.
The commute to work for me is obviously a little bit longer but Eddy still drives me, which allows me plenty of time to work through emails on the thirty-minute drive. However, I only travel into the office three days a week now. We set up a perfect home office for me which allows me to take calls virtually and has plenty of space for me to get work done from here.
