Page 90 of Beneath the Scars
Tonight, I have every single thing a man like me could ever want. With Addie by my side and my family standing behind us, I couldn’t think of a better time.
Addie gasps when I open the ring box. Nestled in the velvet is an oval-shaped diamond with diamonds surrounding the outside, making it look like a flower.
Because I’d made a promise, I told Ryan I wanted to ask Addie to marry me. He went with me to Greensboro one day to help me pick it out. Based on her response, I think we did a pretty good job.
“Are you serious, Michael? You want me to marry you?”
“Dead serious. I want to be your husband for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Hell, yeah, I will!” she hollers.
It gets the attention of our families.
“You’re getting married?” Caroline screeches. She races over to the couch and tackles Adalaide onto her back. The two of them fall into a fit of giggles, while the rest of the family shouts out their congratulations.
I hug my mom really tight because without her, I never would have made it this far in life. Without her showing me what love truly looked like, I wouldn’t have been able to love Addie the way she deserves.
When I pull back, she’s got tears in her eyes. She swipes them away as she says, “I am so proud of you.”
Adalaide finally gets herself untangledfrom Caroline’s grip, and she comes over to wrap her arms around my waist. I hold her close as our familyoohsandaahsover her ring.
I stand there, soaking in the love that’s surrounded me since I was little. It took me too long to feel worthy of this love.
But I finally figured out that beneath my scars, there’s a heart willing to love and be loved until it stops beating.
Epilogue
Ryan
“You swear you won’t be mad when I score a goal for the other team?”
I laugh at Zane’s question. “You won’t. Most of the teams in our league are here to have fun and get a little exercise.”
The indoor soccer arena in Westlake—the next town over from Sonoma—was once a hockey rink. Now, instead of ice, there’s turf on the ground. The walls and plexiglass are still standing, but a big net connects the glass to the ceiling to avoid constantly chasing errant balls.
Zane and I make our way to the bench where the rest of my team is getting ready for our game. They welcome Zane into the fold with ease. When the league opened several years ago, my team consisted of the players who didn’t already have a team when they joined. Plenty of players have joined and then left again, but for the most part, our main group of eight has stuck together.
While Zane and I warm up, we tease and laugh with each other. From the first moment I met him, it felt like I gained a brother. We just clicked, and despite the rough patch of himsecretly being Michael’s half brother, he’s seamlessly become part of the family.
It took a while to convince Zane to come play a game with me. It wasn’t until he had his talk with Michael that he finally started accepting invites to things. I think he worried that if he showed up at the same gathering Michael was at, he’d get told to leave, so it was easier for him to say no to everything. We tried to tell him we’d never do that, but he didn’t want to take the chance.
A few minutes before the game is supposed to start, one of my teammates comes in with another guy.
Bianca runs through introductions quickly, telling us his name is Titus and he’d grown up here but had moved back a little while ago. He’s an attractive guy with sandy brown hair, a short beard, and a smile that lights up his brown eyes.
Zane holds his hand out. “I’m new on the team too. We can navigate this together.”
Titus laughs. “Perfect. I haven’t played since I was in college, which was more years ago than I’d care to admit.”
He doesn’t seem that old. Mid-thirties at the oldest. I try to ease his concern when I introduce myself. “We’re not too serious about winning, so just play at your own speed.”
He looks at me, his grin widening just a little as he shakes my hand. “That’s good news. I figured this would be a more exciting option for cardio.”
“Oh, I could think of a few other things I’d rather be doing,” Zane teases.
My face immediately flames at his innuendo.
Titus barks out a laugh. “You’ve got a point.” He glances over at me again before offering to start on the field.
