When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

You want the whole world to know it.

“Quit talking, Gavin, I need you,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss him. When we break apart, he all but sprints into our bedroom and he does it laughing.

The sound is pure joy and it echoes in my heart.

It might have taken a while to get here, but life is perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

Epilogue

Gavin

Five Years Later

“Go, Josh! You got it, Son!” I yell out as I watch my boy sprint across the field, ball tucked tight against his chest, zigzagging and avoiding the defenders.

“Yay, Josh!” Luna cries, as our boy spikes the ball once he gets the game winning touchdown. “He won the game, Gavin!”

“That he did, Moonbeam,” I tell her proudly. My boy is poetry in motion out there on that field. This is his last game at Stone Lake High. He’s already been recruited heavily and will be playing football next year for the University of Alabama. Luna and I are so proud of him, though I know Luna is panicking at the thought of Joshua being so far away from us. Our friends are all congratulating us and we’re watching the hoopla on the field.

Luna and I make our way down to the field and stand off to the side as Joshua is interviewed by the local news channel.

“Joshua, that was an amazing game you played out there tonight. You carried your whole team. How did it feel to score the winning touchdown?”

“It was awesome, but this was a team effort. My teammates worked their tails off out there tonight and they made sure I got the ball when I needed it. When we play together like that, there’s nothing that can stop us,” Joshua says, his happiness so contagious that I smile so wide it’s almost painful.

“This will be your last game at Stone Lake High and next year you’ll be playing college ball. What are your thoughts as you take on another challenge in your football career?” the reporter asks.

“I just know that I’m blessed. Not many athletes get the opportunities I’ve been given, and I’m just really humbled by it all. From day one I’ve had Coach on my side, he helped get me where I am today, but more than that it’s my parents. My mother has always been my biggest fan and my strength, I’d be lost without her,” he says, and I can hear Luna sigh even over the chaos around us. I squeeze her close. Joshua is right, his mother is his strength, I know because she’s mine too. She’s stronger than I have ever been. I love her so much that my heart is overfilled every damn day.

“Her and Dad keep my head level and have taught me that anything worth having is worth fighting for and it’s that lesson that I’m taking into the next chapter in my life.”

The reporter keeps talking but everything else fades away. For a minute, I feel like I might be dying— my shock is so great .

“Gavin,” Luna whispers, her voice full of surprise and wonder. I look down at her and I see the tears slipping from her eyes. They’re beautiful, and I can’t be sure, but I think I’m crying too. That’s because for the first time ever my son… just called me Dad. We’ve had a good relationship the last five years, but he’s always called me Gavin. I was okay with it. I was just thankful he let me in his life again, let me guide him and be a part of his world, that I was happy, and it never occurred to me to want more. I had everything… or so I thought. With one word, Joshua gave me the one thing I had given up on.

Dad…

“He called me, Dad…” I tell Luna, the joy inside of me so big that my entire world has been tilted on its axis.

“I did,” Josh says, surprising us by coming over. “You are and you’re the best Dad a guy could have,” he says, and I have no idea if he realizes what he’s done to me, what he’s given me. I can’t explain it. All I can do is pull him into me and hug him tightly.

“I love you, Josh. I’m so damn proud of you and I love you more than you will ever know,” I tell him, talking into his neck.

“I know, Dad. I love you, too,” he says and Christ… how does a man survive having every dream he ever had become real?

Joshua’s teammates come and get him, hefting him up on their shoulders and carrying him off shouting and chanting out the team mascot and letters. I watch them go, my vision blurry from my tears, but when Joshua looks over his shoulder at me smiling, I definitely see that.

“You’re an amazing father, Gavin,” Luna says, curling into my arms.