I grabbed the Hula Hoop from Jeremy, and gently placed him on the ground. “If you’ll excuse me, Jeremy. I have something to ask your mother,” I whispered. I gave him a wink and he tried to wink back. It would have been hilarious to see at any other time, but now? Now I was about to ask the most important question of my life, and if she didn’t give me the answer I wanted, I was done for.
I got up and faced Tyler with the Hula Hoop in my hands. Her eyes fixed to me, then the Hula Hoop. As soon as she saw it, her eyes grew wider. She already knew what was going to happen.
I knelt down on one knee in front of her and held out my hand. Tyler immediately placed her hand over her mouth, trying to capture the little sob that escaped her lips. For a moment, I thought she wasn’t going to give me her hand, but she slowly placed it in mine.
I let out a sigh I’d been holding and looked into her eyes. Those beautiful green eyes that captured me when I was just a little boy. Those same eyes that I saw in my dreams.
“Tyler,” I began, “I think you always knew this day would come. I think we both thought we would never get there, but how could we have ever avoided the inevitable? I have loved you with a passion for the last twenty-eight years. It has never waned. In fact, it just grows stronger and stronger with each passing day. I can’t imagine how that is possible, but it’s true. You are it for me, Tyler. You have always been it for me. I don’t know how I could possibly show you, but I think this is a start.” I held up the Hula Hoop and Tyler stared down at it as a tear slid down her face.
“On your twelfth birthday, I promised to get you a real ring one day but, for now, I have to make do with one of these again. I know this isn’t the most romantic gesture, but I can’t wait any longer, Tyler. I’ve waited too long for this.” I saw another tear roll down her face, and I couldn’t help but stare at how beautiful her eyes looked. I could get lost in those eyes.
Picking up her ring finger, I gently placed the Hula Hoop at the end and sighed. I felt my insides burning with nerves. “Tyler, when I’m with you, I feel like I can breathe again. You have never escaped here.” I placed my hand on my head. “Or here.” I moved the same hand to my heart. “You belong to me, just as much as I belong to you, and I want to prove that to you by asking you a question. A question which, if you give me right answer, will make me the happiest man in the universe because it’s you who makes me happy, Tyler. It always was and always will be.” I took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”
Tyler smiled as the tears rolled down her face. I saw her briefly look over towards Jeremy before she turned her attention back to me. “Yes,” she whispered, and my heart burst with happiness.
I didn’t hesitate with the fake ring. I pushed it on her finger as far as I could. She wasn’t twelve anymore, but it had to do until I could get home and put on the real one. The one I had been saving for her since I was eighteen.
I shot up and pulled Tyler into my arms. “I promise I will never leave you. I promise to love you with everything I have. I promise you the world, Tyler. Do you believe me?” She nodded and I captured her mouth with mine.
For a moment, we were lost in each other, forgetting we had an audience. “Ugh, sucky face. I don’t like sucky face.”
Tyler and I pulled away and started laughing. Both of us turned our attention back to our son and smiled as we gathered him in our arms.
“So, how about it, grown-up? Do you mind me sticking around…at least forever?”
Jeremy smiled and shook his head. “I want my D.D. back.”
“Well, you got him now, grown-up. Now that we’ve found each other, I’m never letting you go.” Jeremy nodded with a smile just as Jimmy and Tara appeared.
“So, we have made up now?” Tara asked.
Tyler held up her finger. “You could say that.”
Tara gasped. “You’re getting married?”
I shrugged and smiled. “Well, Jeremy said it was okay.”
Tyler gasped. “That’s what all the whispering was about.”
I nodded and pulled her to me tightly. I had everything I needed in my arms, and I was the happiest man alive.
Tara gave us both a hug, and Jimmy gave me a nice hard slap on the back. Fucking arsehole.
Tara looked at us all, then looked at Jeremy. “Jeremy, why don’t we go play on the swings?” She held out her hand and I felt him struggle out of my arms. Reluctantly, I let him go and watched as he ran towards Tara, taking her hand. She was soon out of earshot.
“So,” Jimmy began. “You finally came to your senses, you knob?”