“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” Madison replied as she gazed up at me.
Heat started to spread through my body once again, but a round two would have to wait until later. We still had a lot to talk about and a lot to plan. We had a baby on the way! I didn’t even know what to do first. Did we need to buy things first or look up information?
“Let’s take a shower. Then, we can order some takeout and talk about what to do next,” I suggested. We also had to arrange for a moving truck to take her things to my place and then figure out where to put all those things. Everything would be a process, but I was looking forward to a good change.
“You’re speaking my love language,” Madison laughed softly, leaning up to kiss me before hopping off the bed. She took my hand, letting me lead her into the master bathroom where the massive walk-in shower loomed in the corner. “My graduation is back on.”
I turned on the hot water before turning to Madison.
“And I’ll be there,” I reminded her. I made sure that her internship advisor restored her credit so that she could graduate. I knew how much graduation meant to Madison. It was a celebration of all her hard work and achievements over the past four years. Hell, to me, she deserved an even bigger celebration than just walking across a stage, but it was more than enough for her. It was the thought of it, the premise of walking to the next stage of her life.
“Thank you for everything,” Madison said sincerely. “I would be looking for another internship and watching my friends graduate without me if it wasn’t for you.”
I smiled at her, hoping she knew that I would do anything for her. We were a team. We worked better together than apart, which had already been proven. We thrived off each other, and our baby was only going to draw us even closer together.
“I’m here for you. No matter what,” I told her.
Madison took my hand and led me into the shower, bringing us under the spray of the hot water. She stepped close to me, looping her arms around my neck as I held her waist. Our bodies pressed flush against each other as the water cascaded over us.
“And everything is going to be fine?” she asked me.
I didn’t know exactly what was waiting for us ahead. There could be obstacle after obstacle down the path. Things could get hard. Things could try to pull us apart or wear us down. I wasn’t going to be naïve and say that none of those things were going to happen. I believed that nothing would be hard enough to drive us away from each other.
With her, I felt stronger and weaker at the same time. She so easily slipped past my defenses to make a home in my heart. She helped me feel stronger. I knew that she had my back, and it made every problem seem less daunting.
“Everything is going to be just fine,” I told her as I caressed her face, sharing a small smile with her. I believed that we were meant to be together. We helped each other in ways that other people couldn’t, and we loved each other in a way that was only meant for each other. I didn’t know how I got so lucky, but I knew that there was no way in hell that I was ever going to let go of her.
Chapter 27
Madison
I finally made it. Today was graduation day! After four long years of working as hard as possible, whether that meant losing sleep, skipping hangouts with friends, or making myself a recluse in the university library, I finally finished my business marketing degree. There were some points when I didn’t think that I would make it, but I proved myself wrong. I was right where I needed to be.
I sat among hundreds of other graduates, impatiently waiting through all of the speeches and presentations that went on before they awarded the diplomas. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if they just cut to the chase so that I could go celebrate. I was finally finished with school, and I was free to pursue UniVerse with my closest friends. The journey would be long and hard, but I believed that it would be worth it in the end. Tyler went through the same thing with Ashland Consulting, and everything turned out well with him. My marketing idea was put into play, and we were all waiting to see the results of it. At least I had graduation to distract me from the anticipation.
I glanced around the indoor stadium where graduation was being held, letting my eyes sweep over the hundreds of people in the stands above the ground floor. Tyler was up there somewhere, and I couldn’t wait to see him. He had been my biggest supporter lately.