Page 86 of Honeybees and Sexy Tees
His eyes opened, and the blue pierced me like a knife, filleting open my heart with his forever love. “You’re right,” he said, his lips turning up. “You’re always right, and I can’t begin to explain how your determination and devotion to me shaped me into the man I am today. It started twenty years ago when I was standing in front of you with my soccer ball. I had tunnel vision, and everything on both sides of my head was a blur because I couldn’t see anything but you. Then I was fifteen and you slipped your hand into mine after I punched out a bully, and I vowed to take care of you forever. Then I was seventeen and driving down the highway with you in the passenger seat. You were belting out the latest pop song completely off tune, but I didn’t care. All I heard was your happiness filling my heart.”
I laughed, wiping a tear from my eye. “I never could carry a tune in a bucket.”
“You still can’t,” he said as his gaze melted before me into a puddle of rainwater, “and I still don’t care. I can’t wait to hear you sing a lullaby to our children, and there will be children if you agree to wear my ring, one way or the other.”
I tried to smile, but it was more of a lip tremble than anything.
“And then I was nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-five, and before I blinked, I was thirty and it struck me that I had to quit wasting time. Then three months ago, when I thought I lost you, I saw all those days, and the years in between, flash before my eyes. You were in every single one that mattered, honeybee. All I want to do is offer you the same devotion you have given me, but I want it to be for the rest of our days on this earth. I want to love, cherish, and honor you in our home together, as partners, lovers, and hopefully someday, parents. Will you continue to stand by my side and show everyone that we’re united in making this world a better place? Will you be the woman to make sweet love to me for the next sixty years? Will you take my name, the name I’ve always wanted you to have? Will you marry me, Honey?” His words were strong and his voice was hopeful, but his eyes were nervous.
I rose on my knees, my lips trembling enough that it took several tries to answer his question. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Mathias Jørgensen.”
The ring in his hand shook as he lowered a brow. “Will you marry Mathias too?”
“Yes, I’ll marry Mathias, but most of all, I’ll marry Mattie. The little boy I fell in love with on day one when I was wearing nothing but Strawberry Shortcake underwear and peanut butter in my hair.”
He took the ring from the box and slid it onto my finger. “And that little girl grew up to be a knockout. Now, that little girl wears my ring on her finger and holds my heart in her fist. I love you with everything I am, honeybee.”
I wrapped my arms behind his neck, the ring catching the light from the fire and throwing rainbows on the cave walls. As my lips hovered near his, I saw our future in his eyes, but I also saw a little boy holding a soccer ball with the most incredible smile I’d ever seen. “I love you, Mattie. Yesterday, today, and always.”
