Page 181 of Saving Sparrow
“You won’t leave this place, will you?” I felt drained, defeated.
“Leave here? Why don’t you say what you really mean?”
“What do you think I mean, Sparrow?” I cupped his cheeks, ignoring the low warning rumble in his chest. “What do you hear when I speak to you?” I held tight when he tried to pull away. “Tell me.”
“You want me gone,” he whispered.
“No. I want you better.”
“Aren’t they the same thing?”
“No, because if it were up to me, I’d have all of you. I loveallof you, Sparrow, because you are all worthy of goodness and love. But I’llalwayswant what’s best for you first.” Even though I’d lost sight of that in recent weeks.“You aren’t well. Please let me help you.”
“Or else?”
“Or else I’ll have to leave you behind.”
Miguel
Then
We were going to have a huge ceremony, but spontaneously decided to keep it intimate with just the three of us. We’d be our own officiants, especially since the ceremony wouldn’t be legally binding. It would only be honored by us and the few people who truly cared for us.
Quentin paced near the staircase landing. “What’s taking him so long?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of making a grand entrance,starQB?” I lit the final candle, forming an aisle into our living room.
“It’ll be dark by the time he gets down here,” Quentin complained. We were having a sunset ceremony at our home overlooking the ocean.
I grinned, fixing his tie. “Why are you so nervous? This is the easy part.” We’d gone through a good deal over the years. Like Quentin sustaining an injury that nearly threatened his NFL career, and learning about the mental health struggles that had kept his mother away for most of his life, among other things.
“If it were up to me, we would’ve done this a long time ago,” he muttered.
“Well, what took you so long to ask?”
“Growth,” he said wryly. “Someone convinced me we needed it.” He sighed. “What if I haven’t grown enough? What if I’m not a good husband?”
“They don’t make ’em any better than you, Quentin. Instead of choosing to enter the draft, you finished out your senior year so we could all stay together. We’re here now when we should be on a flight to Charlotte for your sports profile, er, photo… thingy.”
“Do you even know what I do for a living?” he deadpanned.
I laughed. “Yes, I do. The point is, we’re standing here waiting for our groom to come down because you couldn’t wait another second longer to marry us and wanted to do it in our home.”
“And now we’re catching the red-eye,” he groaned.
“Which will leave you cranky because you hate traveling so late. We’re important to you. More important than football.” I shook my head. “How insane is that?”
“It’s not insane at all. It’s grown-man shit.” He puffed his chest out.
“Exactly.You have to grow to be grown, Q.”
“Thanks, Guelly.” He leaned in to kiss me, but Elliott’s voice at the top of the landing stopped him.
“Oh no, you don’t… No kissing before the vows.” Elliott wore a body-hugging white dress, the matching gloves reaching his elbows.
“Fuck me, pretty girl. Can we skip to the part where I help you out of that dress?”
Elliott chuckled, gathering up the train and descending.
