Page 64 of Something Reckless
EASTON
T ucked between the towering bookshelves of the local library, Alba crouches down in front of Jagger, adjusting the collar of his blue button-down shirt for the hundredth time. “And remember, 'The Wild Adventures of Rory the Red Cardinal' was written by—”
“Quinn Choudhury,” the little boy completes her sentence before she can even finish asking it.
“And in ‘Munchy’s Magical Banana Quest’—”
“The man’s hat is green,” I interject with a smirk on my face.
Alba rises to her full height, a sheepish expression in place. “Sorry.”
I place my hands on her shoulders, squeezing lightly. “We’re ready, Alba.” I glance at Jagger.
“Right! We’re ready!” he confirms with a little bounce.
“Okay, okay,” Alba says with a laugh. Her eyes shift between us. “I’m proud of you both. And I love you.”
“We love you, too.” Jagger throws one arm around Alba’s waist and one around mine. Together, we fall into a group hug.
“Twenty-four-seven. All the time,” we say in unison and something inside my chest dances.
Man—there’s nothing like this feeling. Nothing like loving wholeheartedly, and waking up every morning to receive that love in return. I will fight till my dying breath to protect these two, to give them the life they deserve, to remind them each day how much they mean to me.
I plant a kiss to the top of Jagger’s head before pressing my lips to Alba’s.
Jules comes around the corner right then and catches the three of us in the middle of our embrace. “Aww. Isn’t this precious?” she coos, hands clasped over her chest. “Come on, Alba. The competition is getting started in a minute. The rest of us are waiting in the main community room.”
“We’ll be right there.” As her bestie walks away, Alba gives Jagger and me one last tight squeeze.
Jules makes sure to give me a thumbs up over Alba’s shoulder and I grin widely in response.
“I’ll be rooting for you guys. Good luck!” she says.
Oblivious to the grand master plan I’ve set in motion with the help of her friends, Alba plants a kiss on my cheek and one on Jagger’s. Then she’s gone, her cute little ass scampering between the bookshelves.
Jagger turns to me, shoulders back and head held high. “Okay, Easton. You ready?”
I chuckle. “I’m ready.”
The little boy gives a satisfied nod, then he sticks out his hand, starting us at the beginning of our special handshake. Then up, over, squeeze, shake, and then snap.
We grin at each other .
His fingers curl around my wrist, giving my hand a tug. “Come on, Easton. Let’s go.”
“Wait, Buddy,” I say in a hushed voice, glancing around. “There’s something I need to ask you.”
He pauses, looking up at me with curious eyes. “What?”
I hunch down to his level, ignoring the nerves that come to life in my stomach. “There’s a very important question I need to ask your Aunt Alba today, and since you’re the man of the house, I figured we should have a discussion about it first.”
Jagger blinks up at me, clearly having absolutely no clue what I’m talking about.
With a grin, I reach into my pocket and pull out a green velvet box. When I flip it open and reveal the diamond ring inside, Jagger’s eyes pop like fireworks. “Wo-o-o-o-ow!” he says, touching the ring with delicate fingertips.
“I’m gonna ask Mimi to marry me, and I was wondering how you’d feel about that.” My pulse thumps as I wait for his response.
Tears instantly spring to Jagger’s eyes. “M-marry you?”
I nod.
Alba and I have talked about marriage—a lot—over the past few weeks.
In vague and ambiguous terms. She’s hinted that if I ask for her hand in marriage, she’ll definitely accept.
But I think she thinks of it as some theoretical idea that’s hovering somewhere out in the future.
She doesn’t seem to realize that I want this life with her, and I’m not willing to wait an undetermined amount of years to make it a reality.
I’ve been waiting for her since I was eighteen years old. I’m not waiting anymore.
And after everything she’s been through over the years, I feel a sense of urgency to make this commitment to her. I need to let her know for sure that she doesn’t have to carry those burdens by herself. She’ll have me at her side forevermore.
“That means we’ll be a family again?” Jagger asks me.
“In my heart, we’re still a family, Bud. That never changed. But wouldn’t it be nice to make it official? With a big party to celebrate with all our friends?”
The little boy nods eagerly. “Yeah. That would be cool.”
Now that Raya has signed the adoption form, Alba has initiated the adoption process.
The procedure might take a long time to move through the legal system, but it’s a relief to know that the ball is rolling.
In the meantime, Alba’s priority is making sure Jagger knows just how much he’s loved, just how much he belongs.
And I’ll do my part every day to get the message across to the little guy.
“So what do you say?” I question him now. “Would you like it if I ask Mimi to marry me?”
“Yeah!” He leaps into my arms, almost knocking me over with his hug.
I laugh, hugging him back.
“Thanks for your blessing, little man,” I say to him. “It means everything to me.”
Patty pops her head around the corner and a radiant smile takes over her face. “Did you have the…talk?” Her eyes bounce between Jagger and me.
Jagger rushes over to his grandmother, lowering his voice to let her in on our secret. “Grandma, Easton’s going to ask Mimi to marry him. But we have to keep it a secret, okay?”
She smiles at me. “Okay. I can do that.”
“Thank you, Patty.” I go over and give her a hug.
“You’re a good man, Easton. It would be such an honor to have you as my son-in-law.” She pats my cheek, her eyes welling up .
Getting Alba’s mother’s blessing a few days ago really put my soul at ease. Especially when I think back to Coach Anderson and the way he never thought I was good enough for his daughter. Now here we are nine years later, and I’m going to make her Alba, anyway.
“Come on, you guys. Let’s get going.” Patty hustles us along. “The competition is about to start.”
Jagger and I enter the community room, hitting the makeshift stage with four other father-son duos.
And we kick ass.
We nail every question that gets thrown at us. When our opponents fumble their questions, we hit the buzzer and answer those questions, too, scooping up as many points as possible.
It helps that Jagger and I have the biggest cheering section in the room.
All the people who love Jagger are here tonight.
Patty, of course, along with Jules, Laney and Tammy.
My mom. Lincoln, Rocco, even Cameron. Oliver brought Chloe along, and they’ve both been making a big, stinking deal, ensuring that everyone knows that it’s not a date. Like anyone even asked them.
The point is, having our people here is giving Jagger the boost of confidence he needs to rock this competition tonight.
At the end of the event, Jagger and I are crowned the champions. Rightfully so. We worked our asses off for this.
Kick rocks, other kids .
I’m beaming with pride as I watch the judges hand the fake gold trophy cup to Jagger. Now this is a championship cup.
The little boy looks out at the crowd where Alba is hooting and clapping like it’s the proudest moment of her life. “Mimi!” Jagger waves her over. “Mimi! Come up here! Come up here!”
She tries to shake her head and refuse to come up on stage. But then someone in the crowd begins a chant. “Alba! Alba! Alba!”
Her cheeks turn candy apple red, and I can’t help but grin at how adorable she is. “Come on up here, baby.” I stretch my hand out to her until she finally joins us at the front of the room to celebrate our win.
“Jagger, do you want to say a few words as you accept your award?” one of the judges asks, handing him the microphone.
He takes the mic and confidently moves to the middle of the stage.
He keeps his acceptance speech short and sweet.
“Thank you to Grandma for driving me to the library whenever Mimi has to work. I love you, Grandma.” The crowd cheers for Patty and she soaks up all the praise.
“Thank you to Easton for buying me books and reading with me and being my partner in this challenge. You’re my best friend.
” The crowd coos as the little boy turns toward his aunt.
“Thank you to Mimi for helping Easton and me get ready for this competition. You always make me feel special and I love making you proud. Thank you for always taking care of me, even when it’s hard. ”
Alba is a blubbering mess as she pulls the boy into a hug, burying her face in his dark curls. “It’s worth it, baby boy. Every single sacrifice I made has been worth it.”