Page 98 of Sunflower

As sleep slowly wandered my way, my mind drifted back over the visions I’d had of Joey. My very first vision of our futurewas etched into my brain, never to be dislodged. More detail had been added every time I’d touched him since with the intent of reading our future, but the original vision had never wavered:

A montage of dates of us at different fine dining restaurants, always having fun with the outlandish names of the meals we order.

Joey laughing at me in an unfamiliar office, surrounded by now-recognizable faces and ones we were still yet to meet.

Our wedding day, with Mam and Barry joyful as they sit in the front row, their heads turning so they can watch us walk down the aisle together in a small garden ceremony, the sunflower medallion I’d given Joey hanging on a chain around his neck.

The first time we make love to each other as husbands on our wedding night, our newly ringed fingers interlaced as I passionately move inside him.

The way the sun glints off Joey’s sunglasses as he relaxes next to me on a lounge beside a crystal blue pool in Santorini, lifting a tall glass of lemon, lime, and bitters in cheers to a gorgeous blond and brunet couple at the bar before turning back with a grin on his face and snuggling into me as I call himmo lus na gréine,making him smile at me with so much love that my heart feels almost set to burst.

Joey leaning into me as we go through our wedding photos after our return from Greece and laughing over the blurry photo of us taking each other’s hands and running gleefully back down the aisle as brand-new husbands, before proudly proclaiming it to be his favorite photo of them all and that weabsolutelyhad to get it enlarged and hung in our living room.

The way Joey beams in a lawyer’s office when we receive word that our adoption request has been accepted for the African American baby boy who would become our first child.

Joey taking a selfie and calling mesweetnesswith our two children in a bouncy castle behind us in a large yard I don’t yetrecognise, the sunflower medallion now hanging from a bracelet around his left wrist.

Joey holding baby twins in his arms as he relaxes into a comfortable-looking sofa in a large house destined to be ours, with our two older children playing a board game on the nearby dining room table, the blurry wedding photo framed and hung on the wall behind them.

An older Joey beaming as he watches our eldest son graduate from college, then again and again as each of our other, many,manyadopted and fostered children, does the same.

Holding Joey’s hand as he sheds happy tears as each of our children marries, has children and grandchildren of their own, or both, or neither, but always being surrounded by the people they love.

In a smaller house and holding Joey in my arms after his dark hair has turned gray, his gnarled fingers toying with mine, his wedding ring still sitting proudly on his finger, while we watch a movie on a large screen that sits under the same blurry wedding photo.

All part of the same original vision of a long,longlife, filled with love, happiness, and family.

A life worth choosing.

Epilogue

Apollo

“Isthatthewayyou thought things would go?” Hyacinthus asked as he leaned back on the luxurious lounge in the media room, carefully placing a grape between his plush lips. The emerald-green vest over his cream undershirt played with the highlights in his hazel eyes, depending on where the light was coming from.

“It’s not over yet.” Sitting on the edge of the lounge next to him, I ran my fingers through my golden hair before I rested my elbows on my knees. “The players are all in place, but their choices are their own.”

He hummed in thought. “Doesn’t stop us from stacking the decks, though.”

“True enough.”

“You still think this is all a result ofhisinfluence?”

Shrugging, I stood up and paced over to the life-size television in front of us, the image of Joey and Callum curled around each other in bed lingering on the screen. My hand rose, passingthrough the screen to drift over the pair slowly as they slept, blessing their future in my own way. I was glad that they had gotten through their rocky start.

Four years they’d yearned for each other. A blink of the eye for Hyacinthus and myself, but what would have felt like forever for those two, considering how young they both were.

I almost felt bad that I’d helped trigger Callum’s first vision when I had.

Almost.

They just needed that tiny little push to get them both headed in the right direction.

The near future was going to test them more, but with the foundation they’d set, they’d make it.

I’d make sure of it.

I might need toadjustthings a little with other people first, though. Especially ifhewas meddling where he shouldn’t.

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