Devoted (8 page)

The crowd began parting
and people were shoving up against us to get out of the way. Girls were
screaming and swooning. I couldn’t see a thing, but I knew they must
be
taking Braxton back to the locker rooms.
I
felt Callie right up against my back and turned my head
slightly.

“I’m sorry, am I
squishing you?”

“No, it’s cool,” she said.
“Are you going back there to see him?”

Before
I
could answer Zoe said, “Yes she is, let’s all go.”
I
gave her a weird look, wondering what the heck was going
on with her.

“Yeah, Callie,”
I
told her. “I just want to wait until some of this crowd
dies down.”

It took a good twenty
minutes for the place to start clearing
out
. It felt
like longer.
I
was dying to see Braxton, but I guessed
it at least gave him a little time to shower and get patched up before we all
bombarded him. When the path was clear, Zoe grabbed
my
arm and said, “Let’s go, come on.”

“Wait, let me say good night
to my parents,”
I
told her.

“They’re coming on back
too, right
Emmi’s
mom and dad?” Zoe said.

“Sure, I’d love to
congratulate him,”
my
mother said.

“Yep, lead on,” was
my
father’s reply.

Okay, they were all
being weird.
I
guessed I would have to wait until
Braxton and I were home alone for my good congratulatory kiss. Zoe led us all
to the locker room and then stepped back and let
me
knock. In a few seconds Sam opened the door. He grinned at
me
,
wider than I had personally ever seen him grin. It was a big win for him too so
that wasn’t so strange, but when he wrapped
me
in a
sweaty bear hug, I thought it was a little on the far side of weird.
I
tried not to stiffen up too much and after a bit he let me
go.

“Congratulations, Sam,”
I
told him. “These are my parents.”

My
dad and Sam shook hands and my mom introduced herself and said, “Nice to meet
you.”

Meanwhile,
my
eyes were scanning the room for Braxton.
I
was craving him all of a sudden.

Sam must have noticed
because he said, “The kid is getting dressed, he’ll be right out.”

Braxton emerged moments
later in a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt. His hair was still wet and the side
of one of his eyes was turning purple. God, he was gorgeous. He had a glorious
smile stretched across his face and
my
heart felt like
it was going to explode.
I
ached to just grab and kiss
him.

He came over and took
me
into his arms and we hugged.
I
made sure to tell him how proud I was of him. He grinned at
me
again and kissed the side of my face.
My
parents were
there, so I didn’t really expect much more. He hugged his sister and Zoe and
then he hugged
my
mother and shook hands with my dad
who as I recalled, he had never even met before.
I
just couldn’t figure out why everyone was acting so strangely. That was, until
Braxton pulled something out of his pocket…that little velvet box…and then he
dropped down to one knee. For a second, while
I
waited
for him to speak, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

He took
my
hand and said, “
Emmi
, I have
never thought that I’d want to share my life with one woman.
I
looked at people who had been together forever and I felt sorry for them when
all along, it was myself that I should have been feeling sorry for.
I
was fooling myself, thinking that I could be happy not
having someone to share my entire life with. A lot of it was protecting
myself
from getting hurt. But lately, from the moment you
walked in the door…everything changed. That apartment
I
lived in alone, thinking I was happy, suddenly became this home that I couldn’t
wait to get to and never want to leave.
I
lay awake at
night sometimes and think about you down the hall and I feel comfortable and
safe and content just knowing you’re there.
I
thought
my heart was locked up, but piece by piece, you’ve taken it. So I give up, I
told Sam
to toss
in the white towel.
Emmi
, will you marry me and live with me forever, and have
babies with me and—”

I
stopped him there. The tears that had filled
my
eyes
while he was talking began to spill out over my cheeks. In another few seconds
I
would be sobbing and unable to talk.

“Yes,
Braxton…Yes!”
He stood up and took
me
in his arms and I finally got my kiss. When we broke the kiss he slipped the
ring on
my
finger. It fit perfectly. “Oh my God,
Braxton…it’s beautiful, I love it!”

He kissed
me
again and then we heard a throat clear. We had both kind
of forgotten anyone else was there.
My
mom grabbed me
in a big hug and then it was my dad’s turn. Callie hugged Braxton and said
something that
I
didn’t hear, but they both laughed,
so I assumed it was one of her sarcastic comments.

Then Zoe hugged us both
and
I
finally asked, “What are you all doing here
anyways?
Mom?
Dad?”

“Braxton asked us to
come,”
my
mom said.

“He called and invited
me to lunch the other day. While we were there, he asked for
my
blessing. I gave it, happily.”
I
hugged him again and
he whispered in my ear, “You’ll still always be my little girl. I love you,
baby.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”
I was crying pretty
good
once I heard those words. Zoe
hugged
me
next and we cried together for a minute.
“Hey, you’ve been acting really weird today, did you know about this too?”

Zoe looked at Braxton
and he grinned and nodded. “Yes! He asked
me
too. He
asked for my permission.”

“And you said yes?”
I
asked as I wiped away another stray tear.

“I’m still thinking
about it,” she said with a giggle.
I
hugged her again.

“Hey!
I
said yes too. As a matter of fact, it was my idea to begin
with,” Callie said.

Braxton punched her in
the arm and
I
wrapped her in a hug.
I
was ecstatic, on top of the world.
I
wanted to go find
Trent and shake his hand and thank him for cheating on me. If he never had,
I
would probably still be with him and I would have never
met this amazing man who was going to be my husband.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

BRAXTON

It took an hour after
I
proposed to
Emmi
to get everyone
calmed down enough to get out the door.
Emmi’s
mom
and dad invited us all out to dinner.
I
told
Emmi
we could go if she wanted to.
I
didn’t let on that I really didn’t want to go, but I was relieved when she said
that she didn’t want to. We set up a dinner date with them for the following
week to celebrate. All
I
wanted to do was celebrate
with
Emmi
, alone.
I
was
dying; I physically needed to be alone with her.
I
wanted
to kiss her and touch her. We finally walked her parents out and after more
hugs and kisses between them and
Emmi
and another
handshake for
me
from her dad and a hug from her mom,
we got them tucked into their SUV and on their way. They were nice people and
I
looked forward to getting to know them better. Zoe wanted
us to go to Lou’s for a celebratory drink.

“Just one,” she said.

It took a minute, but
we finally convinced her that we really didn’t want to go to Lou’s for not even
one drink. She finally got the hint or maybe it was what
Emmi
whispered into her ear, but she gave us both another hug and took off. We had
to take Callie home next. She had ridden the bus out, but I wasn’t letting her
get back on the bus down by the docks at night by
herself
.
She chattered on the way home like an excited little girl about our wedding.
She apparently had all kinds of ideas, the biggest of them being that we do it
down near Grandma’s cabin by the lake.
Emmi
was sweet;
she listened attentively and nodded or said, “Um hmm…” where she
needed to.
I
loved my sister, but I
couldn’t wait to drop her off and be alone with
Emmi
and have a little comfortable silence for a while.

I
drove up in front of the house, noticing my dad’s car wasn’t there. That was
probably good for Callie, although she was still under the impression he was
staying sober or at least trying. I hated to think that she was just going to
be disappointed again, but I was
pretty sure
that was
going to be the case. Hopefully by the time he came home she would be asleep
and she wouldn’t have to deal with his drunken ass.

We said good night and
I
waited until I saw her go inside before I put the truck in
reverse. As soon as
my
back-up lights came on, I saw
his car.

“Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”
Emmi
asked.

“Nothing, the old man
just pulled in. Move the car! What the hell is he doing?” He had parked right
behind
me
and turned the car off. “Shit! I’m sorry,
Emmi
, I’ll be right back.”

She didn’t say
anything, she only nodded.
I
saw her turn to watch as
I walked back to see what the hell my father thought he was doing. God, I hoped
that he wasn’t drunk; I
didn’t have any motivation
at
all to fight with him. He was stepping out of the car when
I
got there.

“Hey there, son,” he
said.

“Dad, can you move your
car please? I can’t get out.”

“You don’t want to
introduce me to your fiancée?”

“My
fiancée?
What are you talking about?”

“I was at the fight
tonight, Braxton. You were…
I
don’t even have words for
it. It was the first time
I
let myself see past my
anger and really see you in a long time. I know that I don’t have a right to be
but I am really proud of you.”

I
was staring at him, probably with my mouth hanging open. He didn’t seem drunk.
He wasn’t slurring his words or anything, but
I
couldn’t help but wonder if his words were chemically induced.
I
didn’t know what to say.

Finally
I
said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, anything,” he
said.

“I have just never been
able to figure out what the anger is about. What did I do to make you so
angry?”

“Aw,
Braxton.
You didn’t do a damn thing.
I
was angry at life.
I
was pissed
off at God or fate or whoever took your mother away from us. It
got all mixed up
in my stupid head, especially when I added
alcohol to it. I’m so damn sorry.”

I
nodded. “I was angry too, about her leaving.
I
guess
we should’ve talked about it. Thanks for coming tonight. Um, Dad…how did you
know about the proposal though?”

He smiled. “I was
waffling about going back and telling you how great you did.
I
wasn’t sure if I would be welcome or not.
I
was standing
outside the locker room.
I
’m sorry.
I
didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help but overhear.
Congratulations,
son.”

“Thanks, she’s pretty
amazing.”

“I don’t doubt it. In
spite of the hand God dealt you in the parents department…One perfect one who
had to leave too soon and the other a big loser, you turned out good. You’ve
got a good head on your shoulders.”

I
couldn’t remember the last time I cried; maybe it was winning the big fight,
proposing to
Emmi
, my dad doing this huge thing about
face all of a sudden, or the combination.
I
wasn’t
sure.
I
felt my eyes stinging with tears and I had a
lump in my throat that I wasn’t sure I was even going to be able to swallow.

“Thanks,”
I
said again. Then, because he needed it or because
I
did…I grabbed him in a hug and for the first time in years
I let my dad pull me against his chest and hold me there for a minute. It was
like
being thrust
back into time when he was my hero
and not just some jerk that I avoided like the plague. He didn’t smell like
alcohol and his hands weren’t shaking. Maybe Callie wasn’t just being
optimistic and he was really going to stay sober this time or maybe all the
sentimental stuff was working overtime on
me
. Either
way, right at that moment
I
wanted to believe it
myself.