I stood to my feet and plucked the ring out of the box before I hovered it just beyond her left-hand ring finger. “Eva Johnson?”
She giggled through her tears. “Yes.”
“Will you marry me?”
And when her eyes met mine, she snickered. “I already said ‘yes.’”
I blinked. “Wait, that ‘yes’ wasn’t a question?”
She shook her head. “There’s never been a question in my mind about you. And there never will be. Yes, Gavin, of course, I’ll marry you.”
The second I slid that beautiful pink diamond onto her finger, the entire studio erupted into applause. I scooped her into my arms, trying my best not to completely crush Asana as my lips fell against hers. Our tongues danced a familiar tango they had memorized over the past year. As Asia cheered and whistled for the two of us, flashes of our life together bombarded my memories.
Holding her hand and cheering her on while she pushed Asana out of her body.
Holding her at night while she cried because she and Asia had gotten into their first fight.
Seeing her haphazardly throwing breakfast together in the mornings with her wild hair sticking out in all sorts of directions.
Making sweet, passionate love to her in the shower every time I felt like slipping in behind her.
But then, the scenes changed. As I held Eva in my arms and our lips pressed closer together, the cheering and the clapping and the whistling faded into the background. Eva’s soft moans trickling down the back of my throat shook me to my core as she cupped my cheek, allowing me to feel the rose gold band of her ring against my skin.
And my mind opened itself up to a future I never once dreamt for myself until Eva came into my life.
I saw Asana walking for the first time. I saw Asia on her first day of high school. I saw Eva complaining about her first set of gray hairs and how she wanted to get them dyed to keep up her youth. I saw Asia playing softball and the two of us cheering from the stands. I saw Asana doing gymnastics and dancing while we all waved flags in the stands at her competitions.
I saw Eva’s wrinkling hand in my own as new liver spots appeared every single day. I watched her hair completely gray out as her cheeks downturned, and her skin grew pale with age. I saw awards of every single kind spanning across multiple walls of our home. Awards from school for the girls, awards from Eva’s community service for all the good she brought to our little slice of heaven, and awards from all across the globe on my directorship in my filming studio.
I saw us surrounded by all of us while we laid in bed with one another, staring into each other’s seventy-year-old eyes and still kissing as if we had just met.
I saw it all in my mind as I kissed her. I tasted all of it as the band of her ring caressed my skin. And when she pulled back to brush her tears of happiness away from her skin, the dull roar of the studio came rushing back.
“I love you so much,” Eva choked out.
I kissed her cheek before I bent down and kissed Asana’s. “I love you, too. I love you guys so much.”
Asia wrapped herself around my leg. “Daddy?”
I placed my hand on top of her head. “Yes, princess?”
She leaned her cheek against my side. “Can we go home now?”
I chuckled. “Yes, we can.”
“To the Lincolns!” my assistant director exclaimed.
“To the Lincolns!” everyone else yelled.
Eva giggled. “You really have a peppy bunch here, don’t you?”
I picked Asia back up into my arms. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Here,” my assistant director said as she walked up, “at least enjoy a drink with us before you two head out.”
“What is it?” Eva asked.
I sniffed it. “Is this the leftover white-grape-and-mango juice from lunch?”
