“There are a million different ways I could try to say this,” I started, “but there’s only one thing I need you to know, and if you believe in that, then we don’t need a million ways. We just need ours.”
Remi’s eyes sparkled with unshed tears as I slowly lowered to one knee, keeping her hand in mine. Then I opened the box and pulled out the ring, staring down at it for a moment. When I looked back up, she wasn’t looking at the jewel. She was looking at me.
“I love you, Remi Sinclair. I will always love you. Always take care of you. Take care of our family. The one we have now and the one webuild together. And if you’d do me the honor of marrying me, showing you that will be the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
She closed her eyes, tears coursing down her cheeks. My face was wet, and when she sank down to the floor with me, wrapping her arms around my neck and finding my mouth for a tear-salted kiss, I exhaled an incredulous laugh.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, yes,yes.”
Gavin jumped up on the bed and whooped loudly. Bandit ran down the stairs to investigate, hopping up onto Gavin’s bed before he let out an excited bark. The dog had no idea what was happening, but damn if he didn’t look happy. From across the basement, the sound of Analise’s door opening made me grin as I buried my face in Remi’s neck.
“It’s so early,” my sister groaned. “What is going on down here?”
I pulled back and slid the ring onto Remi’s finger. She let out a shocked exhale when she finally saw it—two carats of a cushion-cut yellow diamond. A bright, warm light for my bright, warm girl.
“Archer,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.”
Analise gasped. “Is that—”
Gavin thrust his fist into the air. “We’re getting married!”
Remi and I traded a look and burst into laughter.
Epilogue
Archer
Six months later
“God, you guys are messy.”
“You’re supposed to make a mess on Christmas morning,” Gavin informed me, tearing into another present. The floor was littered with wrapping paper and bows and boxes and packaging. Pops was in his favorite chair—the one we’d bought him just before they moved in—studying the binoculars Analise had given him. She was leaning over his shoulder, pointing out the knobs to dial in the clarity.
Bird-watching was busier out at my place, so he needed to step up his game.
Our place,I corrected. Gavin, Pops, and Remi had moved in the weekend before Gavin went back to school. Same weekend the season kicked off. We’d talked it over and decided not to wait until we got married.
Being apart for training camp was hard enough. I hardly saw her during those six weeks. Even though my body and mind were sharp and ready for the regular season, there was an undeniable twinge of pain every time I came home at the end of a long day and she wasn’t there.
Not only was she here now, but she was also my wife.
Mywife.
Remi was sitting at my side on the floor, flipping through a hardcover book about cooking for beginners (a present Gavin had insisted would not offend her in the slightest), and every time I saw the glint of her ring, a proprietary thump echoed through my chest.
The chaos of our home was the kind of happiness I never could’ve dreamed up. Between Gavin and Analise and their school activities and homework, that would’ve kept us busy enough. Add in Pops, how busy Remi was at the shelter, and the grind of a regular season, and it was a miracle we got through every week with our sanity intact.
Our wedding, a small, intimate affair in our backyard, took place on a Friday night during our bye week in October. There were no big, flashy displays. Just us and our family, a few of our closest friends, and Bandit—with a bow tie around his neck.
We could’ve waited until the season was done, but it felt like we’d waited so damn long as it was. Adding a couple months for something bigger, grander, was a waste of time.
Our honeymoon, on the other hand, was the carrot dangling over my head as the season came to a close. Ten days in a private villa in the Maldives. Just me and Remi and the bikinis I’d be peeling off her behind closed doors. We had two games left—a few more, if we made the playoffs.
Expectations were high for the Buffalo Storm, and we were more than ready to meet them. The energy in the locker room was electric, day in and day out. We’d proved who we were as a team, not just to the fans but to each other too.
Nothing was ever a guarantee in my job, but this one was close as we looked ahead into the postseason. We had a two-game lead in our division and the easiest stretch of games in front of us, starting with the Christmas Day game later that day.
We opened presents early, woken up by Gavin and Bandit jumping into our bed at six thirty. I didn’t have to leave for the game until noon, and even that felt too soon. Rebecca had left us with homemade cinnamon rolls that were just as good as the ones at the restaurantnear my house. Better, probably, because we could have them anytime we wanted.