told me his plans yesterday morning. He seemed dead set on this.”
“Really?” she asks. “Because Billy, I don’t want you to think I can’t take care of myself. I can. I have and I will—”
I cut her off. “Bailey, stop. Listen to me. I love you. I love your strength. Your grit. God, I know you can get through anything on your own. But what if you didn’t have to? What if I was here, at your side, to help you? Not to save you, but to support you?”
I don’t know where those words came from, but damn, they are my truth. They filled my heart and now, they fill the room.
My dad is wiping tears from his eyes, and Bailey has moved into my lap, and I kiss her. Kiss her hard. With promise. With intention.
“I love you, Bailey. Be my bride.”
She nods. “Yes,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck. Our foreheads touch. “Yes, I will be your wife.” She shakes in my arms and Dad leaves the room.
For a moment, I think he’s pissed — but then he walks back in, brushing tears from his eyes.
“I know what most people are gonna say about you getting engaged before you’ve even so much as graduated high school, but you’re adults, and I trust you, Billy — with all my heart, I do. And your mother, God, she would be so proud of the man you’ve become. She’d want you to have this.”
He hands me a ring, and damn, tears fill my eyes now, too. I stand, taking it from him. “Mom’s ring,” I say, taking in the small, simple diamond Dad bought her when they were just teenagers.
I drop to one knee, and I take Bailey’s hand in mine. “Marry me?”
“Of course.” She smiles, blinking back tears. “I will be your waffle-y wedded wife.”
We crack up, and as I stand, pulling her into a kiss, her stomach growls.
Dad laughs. “Hungry? Call your sister, Billy. Get Kourtney and Kaden over here to celebrate. I’ll make breakfast. How do waffles sound?”
Epilogue 1
Billy
Four years later…
When we got married the summer after high school, most people thought we were insane.
We were.
Insanely in love.
We got hitched in a small backyard wedding. My teammates from the wrestling team thought I was nuts. My sister was incredulous.
But my dad was my rock. He somehow got it. Got Bailey and me and was there for us in ways we never expected.
“Are you going to miss married student housing?” I ask Bailey as we finish boxing up the last of our things. We could have moved off campus, but we decided to stay here and save money. As a married couple with not much income, we qualified for lots of scholarships and grants.
“I love this little apartment,” she says, resting a hand on her five-month baby bump. “But I think it will be nice to have extra space when this one arrives.”
I pull her into a kiss, and she sighs against me. “We’ve had a lot of firsts in this place.”
“Our first fight,” I say, laughing. Remembering the fondue pot debacle that first fall after we got married. Apparently, you’re not supposed to throw it in the trash once the chocolate hardens. “I’m sorry. I honestly never considered it melting with hot water.”
“You’re such a guy,” she says, laughing. “And we had our first Christmas here. Remember how much it snowed? Our car wouldn’t budge and so we didn’t make it to your dad’s in time.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, but maybe that was for the best. That was his first Christmas with his new wife, too.”
“True.” Bailey smiles. “We also got pregnant here.”
“Twice,” I say softly. I kiss my wife’s ear. I remember the pregnancy in our first year of marriage, how we lost the baby after three months. I remember holding Bailey in my arms, hating that I couldn’t fix this for her. But vowing to never take any moment we shared for granted. It reinforced everything we were already learning about love.
It’s precious. It’s sacred. And God, when you have it, don’t let go.
“I can’t believe we’re really moving on,” I say. We look around the nearly empty apartment, our graduation robes folded on the couch.
“I can’t believe I actually graduated college. I never thought that I’d do that, Billy. Never in a million years.”
“I’m so proud of you, baby,” I say. Bailey got her education in early childhood development. She decided that she had a lot to learn about caring for people after never