“You know…everyone else keeps asking us when it will be us.”
I shrug. “Yeah, I know.”
“Well…don’t you want this too? The wedding, the celebration of love, promising we’ll be together forever?” He looks so serious as he says these words. He’s been joking about children and poking at the future since we got together, but this feels different. This feels like a serious conversation, one we probably shouldn’t be having at his sister’s wedding.
“I do, but we’re so young,” I say in the tone he hates so much. I love that he hates it.
“I’m being serious, Nellie.”
“I know you are, babe, but now is not the time.”
“I’m not proposing, love. I’m just bringing it up. Is thissomething you want someday, maybe not too far into the future?”
I look at this man—a man who has taught me so much about myself, who has grown as much as I have in the past two years. A man who makes me laugh and smile like no other person. He has become my best friend in every sense of the word, and I’m so thankful for it. He makes me feel important and cherished. He understands me, and I don’t ever want to be with anyone else.
“Of course I want to marry you one day, Gus. I’m the luckiest girl alive to be loved by you, and honestly, I want to make you happy too. If the wedding, the vows, the party, the grand celebration is what you want, then we can do that.”
“What doyouwant?” he asks, and I know he means it. He loves me so much and so hard, my happiness front and center in his mind always.
“I want to be happy with you, and I want you to be happy, too. I want to love you for the rest of my life in whatever shape or form you’ll have me. As long as I’m with you, nothing else matters. We don’t need rings and a ceremony to know that, but if it’s something you want, then I want it too.”
“You’re just gonna go with the wave, huh?” he asks, touching the necklace he got me that has become a daily reminder that life’s too short. You have to take the opportunities when they come. Ride the wave until it reaches the shore, one at a time.
“As long as it’s with you, I’m jumping in. Every time.”
He smiles. “Te amo.?1”
“Yo Tambien?2. Now go, or your sister is gonna kill you.” He looks up at how the venue is filling, the rows full of people waiting for the bride and groom. Manny stands in theback, signaling for Gus.
“Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
“Never,” I reply.
“You promise?”
“I promise. Always.”
