Only One Night (Only One 3)

“One year ago, I met a girl, and she brought me back to life. I didn’t know at the time that I was drowning. I thought this was the best I could do,” he says. “But then I kissed her, and it’s like my heart started beating again. Evelyn, you’ve shown me what unconditional love is. You’ve shown me that love can be sweet, and it can be fun, and it can be beautiful. It can make you a better person.” He reaches into his pocket. “I was going to do this tomorrow,” he says. “I picked it up today, but I guess just like us meeting, things don’t always go as planned.” He opens the ring box, and I don’t even care what is inside because my eyes never leave his. “Evelyn, will you be my wife? Will you stand beside me, holding my hand forever? Will you have babies with me?” I don’t answer him. I can’t answer him. The lump in my throat turns into a sob as I nod my head. I walk over to him and put my hand on his cheeks.

“This is so much better than my surprise,” I say to him, and he laughs, picking me up and spinning me around.

“Before you ask,” he says, putting me down. “I asked your father and Jaxon.” I throw my head back, laughing because that would have been my next question. “Now, can I put the ring on you”—he takes the ring out of the brown box— “so I can use that chocolate syrup on you?” He motions his head to the table.

“Only if I get to use the whipped cream first,” I tell him, and in the room where we lost ourselves one year ago, he slips a four-carat square diamond ring onto my finger.

Epilogue Two

Manning

“Well, look at who showed up.” I hear Evelyn say, and I look up laughing.

“I get the whole playoff beard.” She comes into the room now, and I look at her, and my heart fills. She brings her hand up to my trimmed beard. “There he is.” Her eyes light up. “Hi.” She bends down and kisses my lips. “You were looking a bit too much like the Duck Dynasty bunch.”

I laugh now. We went to the third round of playoffs and lost game fucking seven. To be honest, we never thought we would get past round one. We just rode the wave, and what a wave it was. We have the itch for it now, so there will be no stopping us next season. “If you don’t put her down, she is going to expect to sleep in your arms every night.” I look down at our one-week-old daughter as she squirms in my arms.

“We really timed it well.” I kiss her cheek, and she squirms even more. Victoria was born three days after we were eliminated, a full seven days late, and weighed in at nine pounds. “You knew, didn’t you, baby girl?” I look up at my wife. Yeah, my wife. The single gold band on my finger shines. When she found out she was pregnant, something was missing for both of us. She would never tell me, but I knew that it bothered her we were not married. My girl was traditional that way, especially with the baby coming. I knew she didn’t care what kind of wedding we had, so with the help of our mothers, we got married on Christmas Day.

“Why are you out of bed?” I ask, and she smiles at me.

“I missed you,” she says and looks down at our daughter, “and I wanted to check on her.” She rubs down our daughter’s face, and my daughter blinks her eyes open.

“Did you eat?” I ask, and she nods.

“Your mother just put the leftovers away,” she says, smiling at me. “I’m going to miss her when she goes.” Just another reason I love her. She has welcomed my family with open arms and even had my parents stay here during Christmas while we planned a wedding. She didn’t even bat an eye when my brother and sister came. The only thing she did was order more blow-up beds for the kids. Our house is a home and is open to everyone.

Victoria starts to squawk, and I look up at Evelyn. “Is it time?”

“She ate about an hour ago,” she says, and I get up so she can sit down. Instead, she looks at me and tilts her head back, and I lean down and kiss her. “I’m going to go lie down.”

Following Evelyn to our bedroom with Victoria in my arms, I place her in the bassinet beside the bed. “Where is Jaxon?” Evelyn asks. She has become his second mom, embracing her role with everything she has. And he is thriving because of it. She didn’t force it down his throat like Murielle tried to force Thomas down his throat. They are now married and in the middle of getting divorced. It seems Thomas isn’t as nice as I am with people fucking his wife, but I couldn't care less. I try to respect her in front of Jaxon, but that is where our relationship ends.