Page 93 of His Bittersweet Regret

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Two Months Later

“Everything has to be perfect today,” I explained to Ryker as he rolled his eyes at me for what was possibly the hundredth time.

“She won’t care.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as panic started to rise again and my heart felt as though it was going to crash through my ribs at any moment.

“I mean that she won’t care about the little stuff. The only thing that will matter to her is what you have to say and how sincere you are. I don’t even think she’ll care about the ring.”

“Well, the ring part is true. Opal doesn’t really do jewelry, but I can’t see not getting her something.”

“I’d say maybe you should ask Mom for a family ring, but all things considered, she might see that as a bad omen.”

I laughed ruefully. “You think?” Mom still hadn’t come back fully from the deep end she chose to dive off. Instead, she was doing intensive therapy at a facility out of state, where she wasn’t making much progress. She just couldn’t manage to take any responsibility for her own actions after my father’s revelations about his interest in his secretary.

“I’m just saying, Opal’s a simple woman who only wants to be happy.”

“You’re right, but I thought having our son involved would appeal to her too.”

“It will.”

“Have I ever thanked you for always looking out for them?”

Ryker chuckled, “Just about every day, since you found out I was doing it.”

“Well, I’ll probably keep thanking you until we’re old and gray, just so you know.”

“Dude, I would hope that if one day, I fucked up shit with my future girl as badly as you did, that you would beat my ass and be there for her if she needed someone.”

“Thanks for the reminder, and you best believe I have your back and that of your future imaginary partner too. Should I bring pool float patches and keep them on hand, just in case?”

“What the fuck?” My brother asked, completely confused by the seeming change of subject.

“You know, in case your blow up girlfriend springs a leak. That way, I can have her back in the best shape possible, so the two of you can hang out again when you’re no longer feeling abusive.”

Ryker punched me as I laughed loudly at his expense.

“I should have married your girl instead.”

That just made me laugh even harder. “Yeah, because her marrying my underage brother back then would have gone over really well for her career in education.”

“Whatever. We could have waited until I was eighteen.”

“Waited until you were eighteen to do what?” Opal asked as she came around the corner carrying our son.

“Oh shit!” Ryker yelped, and at the same time, I panicked and tried to hide the ring behind my back. It was not a wise move because then we both looked really guilty.

Opal stared at me and dared me with her eyes to try to hide whatever it was I had behind my back. It made my heart dip down into my stomach because my girl used to love surprises. She didn’t really do well with them anymore and I knew that was all on me.

“Can you hand Austin to Ryker and then come here?” I asked. “We were in the middle of planning a surprise, but fuck it! I can’t really wait any longer to do this.”

She handed our son off to his uncle, who wisely took a couple steps back from the scene. As soon as Opal was within touching distance, I grabbed hold of her left hand and dropped to my knees. Both of them. Not just one, as tradition dictated, because I was begging for her forgiveness and her future.

“Opal, we once had a timeline, like the silly, young people we were. That timeline felt crushing at points because it wouldn’t hurry up and get there, and then when it did, it felt crushing for other reasons. I think our attempt at planning worked against us.”

“Marsh, I don’t understand. Are you?” She shivered, but it didn’t look like excitement, so I ignored her half-asked question and powered on.

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