Kiss Me, I'm Irish-ish

I pull out of her slowly, and she collapses onto the bed.

“Oh. My. God,” she says breathlessly. “That was beyond amazing.”

“That’s just the beginning, baby. You and I are going to do everything,” I tell her, helping her up because now we’re starving, and we have an appointment.

“Everything?”

“Yes. Starting bright and early tomorrow morning. You’re going to mine forever.”

“I can’t wait,” she says, pulling her dress back on. We head straight for the Superior court to obtain our marriage license in person. Normally, there’d be an eight day waiting period, but a sympathetic judge had a heart and granted it sooner since neither one of us has ever been married before. Two hundred dollars later, we have our marriage license in hand. I have already arranged for a minister and his wife to meet us on the beach in the morning. After dinner, we spend the rest of the day in bed.

It’s still dark out when we get up and get dressed. Hand in hand we walk out of the hotel and down to the beach.

“Mr. Días?” A tall man asks.

“Yes. Reverend and Mrs. Walker?” I ask, shaking their hands.

“Good morning,” Mrs. Walker says.

“Thank you for meeting us so early. This is Raven, my bride,” I say, gesturing to my little bird.

“We are ready whenever you are. The sun is supposed to rise in about five minutes. We should be done by then. Nancy will take pictures as soon as it’s light enough.”

“Thank you so much,” Raven says, shaking their hands.

“I understand you are both Catholic?” Reverend Walker asks, opening his Bible.

“Yes,” we say in unison.

“Then let us begin with a prayer.”

Hand in hand, facing the ocean, we recite our vows. Just as the sun rises we are pronounced man and wife. I kiss my bride. What was missing in my life is no longer missing.

“I love you, Mr. Días,” she says, grinning from ear to ear.

“And I love you, Mrs. Días,” I reply, still not letting her go. To be honest, I’m never letting her go.

I didn’t want to go to the bar that night, but I’m glad I did. I hate to think I would have missed out on the love of my life if I hadn’t gone. They say that good things come to those who wait, and they were right.

Epilogue

Raven

Ten Years Later

Yesterday was my twenty-ninth birthday and I am as big as a house. My sexy, silver fox husband keeps knocking me up. This is baby number six. I have five beautiful baby boys, ranging in age from one to nine. I am a boy mom through and through. I coach soccer, baseball, and t-ball. I’m a den mother for scouts. I bake cupcakes for bake sales. Whatever they need done, I do it and I love every single minute of it. Javi is still the ER chief at the hospital but he’s home for dinner every night. I love the life we created, but sometimes it’s just about Javi and I.

Okay, so our “alone” time is carved out at four in the morning, but man, do we make the most of it. Besides, I could never send five rambunctious boys to my parents or a sitter at one time. It would be bedlam.

“Don’t stop,” I whisper. I am lying on my side as he pushes into me from behind.

“I’m never stopping, baby. “Te Amo,” he whispers into my ear, sending shivers down my spine. Over and over, he claims me. I don’t know where he gets the stamina to do it all, but he does. No one thought we’d last, but we prove every single day that love is enough to get you through.

“Te Amo,” I reply, just like I always do.

We are so amazing together and to think I wasn’t even supposed to work that St. Patrick’s Day all those years ago. I could have missed out on the life we made together. With his love, anything is possible. Due to a little luck, it was.