Page 110 of Cuffed By Your Love
I stepped forward. My legs felt heavy, weak, like they’d forgotten how to obey me. But my heart? My heart knew exactly where it was supposed to go. I dropped to one knee, the grass cool under me, ring box trembling in my hand.
When I looked up at her, everything else blurred. The kids, the lights, the music, the whole damn world; they all faded out. It was just me and her.
“Jonay Jacobson,” I started, voice thick, catching in my throat. I let it break, let it carry, because this wasn’t the kind of truth you polished. It was the kind you bled. “You are my peace and my noise. My patrol route and my detour. My morning prayer and my midnight temptation.”
Her tears spilled harder, lips trembling like they wanted to whisper something back but couldn’t.
“You turned my house into a home,” I said, staring into those amber eyes like I could fall through them and land safely. “You turned my son into a boy who laughs out loud again. And youturned my life into something I want to wake up inside every single day.”
I opened the velvet box, and the ring flashed like it had attitude, catching every bit of light and throwing it back likeyeah, I belong to her already.
“You taught me that love ain’t neat or easy,” I continued, voice cracking but steadying itself on her. “It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s real. And it’s worth every bruise, every scar, every tear. You made me believe in forever again. And, baby, I don’t ever wanna live a day without choosing you.”
Her hands fell from her mouth, trembling, pressed flat against her chest like she was holding her heart in.
“Be my wife,” I whispered, the words spilling raw out of me. “Be my always. Let me cuff you gently, with devotion you’ll never have to question, protection you’ll never have to ask for, and a love that’ll never run out.”
Her laugh broke through a sob, a sound so fragile and beautiful it cracked me wide open. Her whole body trembled, tears sliding down like liquid praise, and in her eyes, I saw it: the answer before she even spoke.
“Elias…” she choked out, her voice breaking into a laugh-cry all at once. She covered her face, dropped her hands again, and looked at me like I wasn’t just a man on one knee but a miracle she hadn’t thought she’d deserve again.
Her lips shaped it before the sound even came.
“Yes.”
Then louder, stronger, her whole body saying it with her:
“Yes. Yes. Yes.”
The yard erupted, kids squealing, our people hollering, Chambers whooping into his phone like a fool. Confetti rained down, glitter sticking to my beard. But I didn’t see any of it.
Because she was in front of me, shaking, smiling through tears, glowing so brightly I thought maybe Heaven cracked open and let a little glory spill down just for us.
I slid the ring onto her finger, kissed her trembling hand, and when I stood, I pulled her into me like I’d just been given my second chance in life.
Her forehead pressed to mine, tears wetting my cheeks too.
“You’re mine,” I whispered, voice wrecked but sure. “Forever.”
When her lips hit mine under the lights, it wasn’t just a kiss. It was a verdict. Case closed. All that doubt, all that noise, dismissed with prejudice. She was my exoneration, my forever partner, my badge of honor.
I didn’t know joy could make a body weak. Didn’t know a single word—yes—could feel like vertebrae snapping back into place after years of being bent under grief. Didn’t know crooked letters scribbled by little hands could spell out a future straighter than any case file I’d ever laid eyes on.
The cheering was still ringing in my ears like fireworks long after the last spark faded. Kids hollered until their throats cracked. Jason dabbed his eyes and blamed “the damn pollen.” Jonell threw confetti like she had stock in Party City. EJ had frosting on his temple from swiping a cupcake too fast, grinning like Spider-Man had just been promoted to best man.
I stood under the mural of Black kids painted in capes, needing the brick wall at my back just to breathe. My heart was sprinting laps, trying to catch up with the moment.
Jonay found me there, barefoot in her joy, her hand shaking just enough to make the diamond on her finger glitter like itwas alive. She pressed her palm against my chest like she was checking if my heart was still working. Hell, I wasn’t even sure it was. It felt like it had been stolen clean out and replaced with something new.
“You okay?” I asked, wrapping my arms around her waist, anchoring myself to the only thing in the world that made sense.
She leaned into me, her voice a whisper wrapped in laughter. “Better than okay. I’m… chosen. By you. And I chose you back.”
That broke me in the best way. I kissed the side of her neck, slow and tender, like we weren’t surrounded by nosy siblings and half the damn neighborhood. “There’s nobody on Earth I’d rather be cuffed to.”
She laughed, shoving lightly at my chest. “Watch your mouth. We’re in a school.”
I smirked, my forehead gently brushing hers. “We just had a legally adjacent proposal with children as eyewitnesses. This is going in somebody’s therapy session one day.”
