Days of You and Me (39 page)

Lisa had leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Don’t apologize. He had it coming.” I tried not to giggle. “Besides, he’s not mad. He’s just giving you some space. You stood up to him, and that earned you some respect.”

After dinner, I drove Leo home. His parents had decided to go dancing with my mom and Shane the dry cleaner, so I’d given them a key to the townhouse and promised to leave on a light. And then I’d made
them
promise to behave themselves and not to be out too late.

“Oh, you mean they shouldn’t come back after the date and make out on the sofa once you’re in bed?” My mother had quirked an eyebrow at me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I’d answered her loftily. “And eww. I don’t want to think about parents and making out and—just no.”

So Leo and I had the house to ourselves as we watched the day’s football highlights. We were on the sofa, and Leo had his knee propped on the coffee table, covered with an ice bag. I lay with my head on his lap, drowsy from the day and the intoxicating warmth coming from the fire I’d started in our fireplace.

“Tate did well today. Check that out.” Leo turned up the volume a little as the stats from the Philadelphia-San Diego game rolled across the bottom of the screen. “They won, too.”

“Wouldn’t it be wild if you guys played each other in the playoffs?” I smiled sleepily. “I wouldn’t know who to root for.”

“Hey.” He tapped my nose. “You just remember who you’re sleeping with, soon-to-be-Mrs. Taylor. Who gives you multiple orgasms every night?”

“Let me think . . .” My lips curved up, and I caught Leo’s hand in mine, bringing it down to my face so I could kiss his fingers. “Don’t worry. I know where my loyalties lie.”

“And don’t you forget it.” He wrapped one of my curls around his finger. “I don’t intend to let you.”

“Oh, look! There’s you.” I watched the catch, the pivot and run, and then I buried my face in Leo’s leg before the hit came on. “I wish they’d end the clip after you scored.”

He chuckled. “You know I’m okay. You know it has a happy ending. Why does it bother you so much?”

“I don’t like to be reminded of it. I had a moment of thinking—
this is it. I knew our happiness was too good to last. This is the end.
” I sighed as Leo played with my hair. “And then I told myself to stop being an idiot. We made our happiness. We earned this happily-ever-after. We fought hard for it. And no one’s going to take it away from us.”

“Damn right, babe.” His fingers touching my back as he combed them through my curls made me shiver. “There are still going to be bumps in the road. Life’s never easy, but it can be rich. As long as we can navigate the speed bumps together, I’m not going to complain.” He took my hand, turned the palm to his lips and pressed one long, searing kiss there.

“As happily-ever-afters go, ours is the best I could ever want.”

Come to Me
by The Goo Goo Dolls

T
hanks to the security team that we’d hired to keep the media and the curious public at bay, I could only barely see the people lining the perimeter of the roped-off section of the beach. I knew they were there, but it was okay; today of all days, I wanted to share all of my happiness with everyone and anyone.

Behind me, the folding chairs that had been arranged on the portable wooden floor—and who knew they had such things!—were filled with our loved ones. We had quite a crowd, for what we’d both termed a
small
, intimate wedding, but then we were very blessed with both friends and family.

My mother sat in the front row, flanked by Joe and Lisa on one side and Mark and Sheri on the other. Leo and I had dispensed with the silly idea of the bride’s side and groom’s side. We shared so many friends that making them choose which one of us to support would have been crazy. And our parents had decreed early on that they were all going to sit together, forming a united front.

The very first chair in the front row, in the same row where our parents sat, was empty. On it, I’d laid a single white rose, tied with a green ribbon, along with a sand dollar Nate had found on the beach and given to me when we were all in high school and a tiny toy train that the three of us had played with as children, a million years ago, in another lifetime. Threaded onto the ribbon around the rose was the simple gold wedding band Nate had slid on my finger over two years before.

It was Nate’s seat, and I knew he was here.

Leo and I had walked down the aisle together, hand in hand, breaking with tradition once again. I didn’t want to be given away without my dad here to do it. My mother had offered, as had Joe and even Mark. I’d refused. If my daddy couldn’t do it, no one would. And Leo and I hadn’t hidden from each other before the service had begun, either. We’d been living together since the previous fall, and I wasn’t interested in creating any false illusions. I’d given Leo my virginity seven years before, and I’d never regretted it for a moment. I wanted to stride joyfully together into this next phase of our lives, not pretend to be something that we weren’t.

Leo had asked that we be given a few minutes of privacy before we left the beach house to walk down the beach to the tent, and as we’d stood together on the deck, he’d handed me an envelope. I recognized the writing on it and glanced up at Leo, my eyebrows drawn together.

“The last time I saw Nate, right here in this house, he gave this to me for you. He said you were supposed to read it on our wedding day. I don’t know what it says. I never opened it.”

With hands that shook a little, I tore open the top of the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

Dear Quinn,

You’re beautiful today. How do I know this? Because you’re beautiful every day. I can just imagine what you must look like today, a bride about to marry the man she’s loved as long as she can remember.

I hope I said this about a thousand times before I left, Quinn, but thank you for what you did for me. Thank you for loving me as much as you could, as your friend and even as your husband. Thank you for all the times you sacrificed for me. Being your husband has been the best part of my life, and I want you to always remember that you gave me what no one else could.

I know that you and Leo are going to be wildly happy, and I know you’re going to be together forever. There has always been a kind of rightness about you two, even when I didn’t want to see it. Now that I’m gone, I’m glad that you have each other.

Never doubt that I’m there with you. When you stand up in front of everyone and say your vows to each other, I’m standing up with you. I’m the one with the biggest smile in the crowd. I’m the first one to kiss the new Mrs. Taylor and say congratulations. I’m the one who gives the embarrassing toast about Leo. I’ll always be with you, Quinn, as close as your favorite memory of me.

Embrace your happiness. You both earned every bit of it. Be happy, and don’t be afraid. Love each other with abandon. Say what’s on your mind all the time, because you know that’s the best way.

I love you, Quinn. I always have, and I always will. On that day in the far distant future when you and Leo join me on the other side, I’ll be waiting for you both. The Trio will never really end.

~Nate

I’d cried, of course, but they were the most cleansing, happiest of tears. Leo gripped my shoulder as he’d read, too.

“God, I miss him. I didn’t know how much I would.” His voice was rough with emotion.

“He’s here. I don’t have any doubt at all.”

When Leo and I had told my mom where we wanted to have the wedding, she’d frowned at me. “Are you sure you want to do that, Quinn? After . . . Nate, I don’t want you to get married some place with bad memories.”

I’d shaken my head. “I want to have the wedding where I have the best memories of Nate, Mom. I’m not trying to forget him. I never will, and neither will Leo. When I think of the beach, I remember the three of us playing there. I remember us hanging out there together in high school and in college. And I know Nate was happier here than he ever was. Why wouldn’t I want to start our new life on the foundation of that happiness?”

We stood now at the front of the canopy with the minister between us. A breeze rippled through, blowing my long white cotton dress to swirl around our legs. Leo smiled down at me, squeezing my hands, and I grinned back. His eyes flickered over my shoulder, and then back to me, and one eyebrow rose.

I knew what he saw beyond me. We’d specifically chosen this spot, just down the beach from the house, right near where our under-the-boardwalk tryst had taken place. It was part of our history, and like every other episode in our past, it was the foundation upon which we were building our forever.

The minister cleared his throat and inclined his head toward Leo. It was time for our vows.

“I, Leo, take you, Mia Quinn, to be my own, now and forever. You have been my best friend since you drew your first breath, and you will be my best friend until I draw my last. I will spend every day of my life showing you how much I love you, in everything I do and say. I promise no regrets, only truth. I promise that you will come first in my life, no matter what. And I swear that you will always be the only woman to wear my jersey.”

There was a wave of tittering laughter in the congregation, but Leo didn’t look away from me.

“I love you, Mia Quinn. Loving you is the best choice I ever made, and it’s one I will make every day, for the rest of our lives.”

I’d sworn that I wouldn’t cry anymore. This was the happiest day of my life, and I didn’t have room for tears. But as Leo’s words swept over me, I felt a lump rising in my throat, just in time for the minister to turn to me.

“I, Quinn, take you, Leo, as my own, now and forever. You are my best friend, my earliest memory and the man who I want by my side, no matter what. I promise you my love and my support, from preseason to postseason and every day in between. I promise that regardless of what happens on the field, our home will be a place of unconditional love. I promise to only look to our future together and not regret the past. And I promise that no matter what team you play for, I’ll always wear your jersey.”

Leo brought our joined hands to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

“I love you, Leo, and I will spend every day of our lives together making sure you never doubt that.”

The minister spoke again, and a few minutes later, Leo slipped a delicate white gold and diamond band onto my finger. I slid a wide ring onto his hand, thrilling to the expression on his face as he looked down at his finger with a mix of wonder and pride.

“And now, having entered into the covenant of marriage through the exchange of vows, the declaration of intent, and the giving and receiving of rings, by the power vested in me by the state of New Jersey and in the name of the God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I now pronounce you husband and wife. What God has joined, let no one put asunder.” The minister smiled at both of us, a benediction in itself. “You may now seal those vows with a kiss.”

I thought I’d seen Leo smile before. I thought I’d seen him full of joy. But at that moment, when we were declared husband and wife, I realized every other smile had been dim foretaste of what came now. It was as though the brightest sunlight had just broken in a gray sky.

Taking my face between his hands, he sealed his lips over mine in a vow just as tangible as those he’d just spoken. His touch was both reverent and passionate, and my heart sped up, eager to feel his hands on me, consummating our promises in the best way I could imagine.

The minister gave a discreet cough, and Leo pulled back, murmuring against my cheek as he held me close.

“I love you, Mia Quinn Taylor.”