This is my Delilah.
“Brody, this is exquisite.” Her fingers lightly graze the edge of the canvas and my mom’s signature at the bottom corner.
“There are more throughout the house. But this one is my favorite.”
“Your mother was extremely talented.”
“I have one more surprise for you. Have a seat.” I stretch my arm and gesture to the sofa.
She sits down, and I pull a lavender box from under the coffee table.
“What’s this?” she asks as I rest the gift on her lap.
“Open it.”
She unties the ivory bow and removes the lid. Her eyes go wide. “Brody?” Her voice questioning, full of emotion and there’s a bit of a giggle as she meets my eyes. “This is my wedding catalog.”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I made some additions.”
She pulls it out of the box and opens it to the first page. There’s a cutout of Delilah’s face on the headless bride. She giggles when she realizes the tuxedo man is no longer headless. It now has my face.
Our laugh fills the room as she turns the pages. More silly headless magazine cutouts replaced with our faces. When she turns to the next page, she gasps when she sees her necklace with the cross charm tied to the sheet.
Tears well in her eyes as she looks up at me. “I thought I lost this.”
“I found it . . . that night in the cabin. I had it cleaned and got the clasp fixed.”
She lifts her hair as I fasten the necklace around her neck, then I kiss her tattoo, Spend your life chasing sunsets at the nape of her neck.
“Thank you for this,” she says, touching the charm with her fingers.
I press a soft kiss on her lips and return to the catalog.
She flips it to the next page.
There’s a picture that Susie and Catrina drew. The crayon marks just outside the dark lines of a lopsided white house with blue shutters. A rainbow and sun behind the house. Pink and red flowers on the green lawn.
Delilah’s fingers brush over the yellow-colored path leading up to the man and woman stick figures holding hands with a dog at their side.
It’s us.
On the bottom of the picture, written in a child’s penmanship.
There’s no place like home
“This is absolutely adorable,” she says. “I miss those girls.”
“You miss home, don’t you?”
“I do.” She looks around the room and smiles, then she pulls my neck toward her and presses a lingering kiss on my lips. “But this is my home now. With you.”
“You can do or add any girlie-cute stuff you want to this place.” I clear my throat. “Speaking of girlie stuff, what else is in this book of yours?”
We flip through the rest of the book and she tells me what she thought about when she cut out the flowers, the wedding dress, and the bridesmaid dresses. We laugh more when she sees I added our faces to her headless pictures on the beach, a honeymoon destination.
“Brody,” she says, closing the book and meeting my eyes. “Thank you for doing this.” Her soft hand touches my jaw and her thumb grazes my cheek.
I take her hand and kiss her palm, then bend down to one knee and place a white mesh drawstring pouch that holds a three-carat ring in her hand.
“Brody . . .” Her voice hitches, tears well in her eyes, and her free hand covers her mouth.
“Dorothy, I have been that guy who never wanted to get married because of what I did for the navy and what I do now, but most of all, because I never really found the one. I know that catalog has been a part of your dream wedding since you were a kid. But I want to make a real catalog with real pictures of you, me, and our kids. The boys will be surfers and the girls, with your beautiful eyes, will be grounded the moment they’re born. This way they don’t meet jerks like me.”
“You weren’t all that bad,” she says and giggles coyly.
“You thought I was when I first saw you at the club,” I remind her.
“True. But you proved to me that you are all gentleman.”
“And I will continue to prove that to you for as long as I am still breathing.” I take in a deep breath. “I knew you would be something special in my life. You completely mesmerized me. Captured me. When I lost you that night, you were all I thought about. When I found you again, it was fate that brought us together. You’re the only one that’s chased my nightmares away and shown me what dreams are made of. I want to love you at your weakest moments and at your strongest. I love that you’re afraid of the dark and how you light it up not with the lamp or a flick of the switch, but with your smile and your heart.”
I loosen the drawstrings, take out the ring, and hold it between my two fingers. My heart lodges in my throat as nerves stir in my stomach, watching her eyes brim with tears.
“I want to make a new routine with you. I want to wake up every morning with the sunrise warming your beautiful face while eating banana bread for breakfast. I want to watch every sunset with you on our balcony when we have our pizza with your wine and my beer. You know I’ll screw up and disappoint you more often than not. But one thing I want you to know, these hands of mine will never hurt you. These hands will caress your soft skin, cherish your body, and handle your heart with care. It’s you and only you that I want, no one else. Marry me, Delilah. Be my wife, now and for always.”
Delilah doesn’t say a word, and the suspense is killing me. My head is spinning, and my mouth is dry. A tear falls down her rosy cheeks and I’m not sure how to take it. Then she grabs my neck, pulls me close, and her lips are on mine. Our tongues collide and dance to their own harmony. I taste, savor, and worship her in the silence of our living room.
Delilah
When we pull apart, breath panting, he asks, “Is that a yes?”
“Yes! Yes! Triple yes! I will marry you!” My heart is pounding in my chest.
He kisses the ring and slips it on my finger. “I love you so much, my future Mrs. Reinhardt,” he says with so much emotion a tear falls down his handsome face.
My eyes go wide as I stare at the shiny prisms glistening in the natural light. “I love you back, my future husband and I can’t wait to be your wife.”
He clears his throat. “Well, since you brought it up . . . how soon do you want to get married?” he asks nervously, making me wonder what else he has up his sleeve.
“I would marry you today,” I answer with certainty.
He takes my hand, links his fingers with mine, and leads me down the hallway, through the kitchen, out French doors, and onto the balcony.
“Brody, where are we going?” I ask out of breath, as I stumble in my heels, trying to keep up.
“Then marry me today,” he says with so much affirmation.
“Brody, are you crazy? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying let’s do this. Today,” he tells me. “You have always wanted to get married during the sunset and the beach is right here.”
“I was saying it hypothetically. I want my family, my friends, the cake, and the dress. My dad needs to give me away.”
He leads me to a set of stairs on the right side of the balcony. I stand frozen as I blink my eyes and can’t believe what I see. In the distance, near the shoreline, all the things I just rattled off greet me.