Hot Summer Nights (Lucas Brothers)

My hands shake as I open the box. Inside is a charm bracelet. It’s silver and beautiful. I pick it up, the charms chiming together lyrically. In the middle is a shiny tree that has Magnolia blossoms with a tiny diamond in it. Beside it, there’s a baseball with the letter B in the middle, which makes me giggle because the first time I ever spoke to him was because he was playing catch with my brother at school and the ball almost hit me. Next, there’s a little car—a Subaru—making me let out a surprised laugh. It’s the next charm that grabs hold of my heart, though. It’s an angel and my hands shake as I struggle to read the tiny ribbon the angel is holding.

Brylee.

“Bryant,” I whisper, tears stinging my eyes.

“Keep going, Maggie,” he says softly.

I nod, doing my best to suck back the tears stinging my eyes. There’s another little Subaru next, making me roll my eyes. “Lord,” I mumble, torn between laughing and crying.

“You have to admit, we have a thing for sex in cars, Maggie.”

We do, so I say nothing. My fingers move gently over the little boy charm with the letter T on it. Next, there’s a tiny cabin that makes me giggle followed by a wedding cake. After that, there’s another car, although this one is a Volvo and I look at him in surprise. He and I chose to go back to the bar where we met up the night we made Terry. Somehow, that equated to us making out in the parking lot in my brand-new Volvo. I eventually let him buy me a new one, mostly because I got tired of all the wet carpet jokes. Bryant told me that night he got me pregnant. I didn’t believe him at first… and yet here we are. After that charm, there’s a baby wrapped up in a blanket.

“She said when we had a name we could bring the charm in, and they’ll add the letter,” he explains, his larger finger moving against the charm. “And I had her put an infinity charm here because we’ll add more, but I wanted you to understand that our story will never end,” he says and then looks at me.

“I already know that, but I love the reminder,” I tell him, my voice gentle. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you, Bryant, but I’m so very thankful you didn’t give up on me.”

“I feel the same way, Maggie. I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you, too, Bryant, I always will,” I vow.

Mine and Bryant’s story isn’t the most beautiful. It was gut-wrenchingly hard at times, but it was perfect, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m right where I belong—where I’ll always belong.

In Bryant’s arms.

The End.