Jennie
Lisa was wedged into Lily's twin bed, Lily curled up into her was the cutest thing I'd ever seen.
"And then the princess let down her hair, and he climbed right up! But the bad bear stood at the bottom, growling as he said, 'I will get you!'"
She did a voice for each character and was much better at story time than I'd ever been. Case in point, Lily only asked for her now when it was time to get in bed. She told me it was because, "Lisa better at stories, Mommy," while she'd gently patted me on the arm. I'll admit I'd teared up then, partly because she wanted someone else besides me, but also because she seemed to be growing up in front of my eyes.
"Get away, you mongrel!" Lisa made a swishing sword noise and pretended to be Prince Charming, fighting off the bear.
She looked to her for a reaction, but little miss was already yawning, her eyes closed and her hand twirling in a curl.
I stand in the doorway, watching as Lisa puts a finger to her lips and scoots out of the bed as if she might just wake the sleeping dragon. I have to put my hand over my mouth to not let the laughter out as she crosses the room on her tiptoes as if the rug was made of hot lava. Together, we look back on Lily, sunken down into her pillows now, and turn off the light.
"I swear, every time I accomplish putting her to bed, I feel like I've run twenty-six point two miles. We will never in our life have to run a marathon, because we have a kid."
Her use of the word 'we' made butterflies swirl in my stomach. Why was the best thing in the world a goofy leftovers dinner in my apartment with my girlfriend and daughter? There was one time in my life where expensive shoes and traveling the world would have been my biggest goals. Now? I was sublimely happy with cold Chinese and a Bloodline binge on the couch.
"Wait for Christmas season. You'll feel like you did an Iron Man." I sat down on the couch, stretching my legs out and trying to fight off the Sunday Scaries. "Do we have to go back to work tomorrow?"
Lisa sat beside me, taking my feet in her lap and massaging them. "Yes, we do. But maybe if you're lucky I'll swing by with a surprise at lunchtime."
Three times this month, Lisa had swung by with lunch. I was beginning to get spoiled, and fat. I guess that wasn't to be helped if your girlfriend was a dessert chef and had connections at all of the best restaurants in town.
She set my feet down, and was fiddling with something in her pocket that she couldn't seem to get out.
"Do you really need to check your phone right now? Aren't the Nationals on rain delay?" I whine, mostly because the foot rub felt good and I didn't want her to stop.
She then got down on the floor, and I was even more annoyed thinking she dropped the damn device. She fumbled for a minute, and I laid my head back, reveling in the silence with Lily asleep.
"Babe, can we just massage my legs more?" I kicked said legs out, whining more.
"I was going to wait until tomorrow at lunch to do this, with the truck all dressed up and ice cream spelling out the words or something. But this thing has been burning a hole in my pocket all night, and I don't want to wait another second."
I look back up, having no clue what this woman is talking about, and my heart catches in my throat.
There, on the living room floor, kneels Lisa. With a small box in her hand, opened up to reveal a sparkling diamond ring.
"Jennie, will you marry me?" Her voice is so hopeful, her green eyes shining up at me.
"Are you fucking crazy?" The words pop out before I can control them.
She shakes her head, laughing. "I've been told at times I can be, but in all honesty, I've never been more sane than in this moment."
"It's crazy, Lisa! We've only been dating for a few months!" My head spun as I looked at the ring.
She stayed on one knee, the sound of Lily's ballerina music box tinkling in the background.
"Jennie, you waited years before. You told me you never thought you were enough, that there was something wrong with you because he wouldn't commit. Well here I am, telling you that I am so serious about you and I, and that little girl, that I want in forever. It doesn't matter if I've known you five years or five minutes, you are it for me. I want to make us a family, and I'm telling you that for me, you are always enough. More than enough. So marry me. Live your life with me. Live our lives together. Give that beautiful girl a bunch of brothers and sisters. We can get a dog if you want, or gerbils. Hell, I don't care. Just say yes."
I can taste the saltiness of my tears as I hiccup, love and overwhelming emotion swamping my heart and mind. We may have been together only a few short months, but she was right. This was so different than any relationship I'd ever been in. She was steady, caring, committed, loved Lily. And I was in love with her, every quirky, annoying, workaholic part of her. Lisa was the first person I wanted to tell about my day, she was the one I wanted to look at across the dinner table. I'd waited so long last time for validation, that it felt insane to get it so quickly now. But … when I'd moved here I had vowed to be open to whatever life had in store for us. And it turned out, love and Lisa were it.
"Yes … yes, Lisa, I will marry you," I whisper it, the words feeling too grand to be said fully.
She hops up off her knee, catching me in a hug and lifting me off my feet. The living room whirls in my vision, and I'm caught in a stir of emotions that I can't place words to. Everything inside of me feels overwhelmingly happy … it's akin to the first time I ever held Lily in my arms.
Looking down my arm as Lisa kisses my cheeks, I catch the flash of the ring.
And it is gorgeous. Not that that's the most important part of this moment, but a good ring is always something to be appreciated. It's a simple, thin silver band topped with an oval diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. It glints even in the dim light of the living room, and my girly heart falls in love with it instantly. Even though I'd thought so much about getting engaged in the past, I'd truly never thought of what kind of ring I'd like.
"How did you pick it out? It's perfect, baby."
"You didn't think Jihyo was just in town to hang out with you, did you?" My eyes skim down to her lips, which are parted in a mischievous smile.
"Are you kidding me?! That little sneak." I couldn't believe it.
We'd had a great long weekend together, and in the background, she'd known that Lisa was about to ask me to marry her the whole time. Shit, I had a great best friend.
"Thank you for not doing some big thing like flying me up in a hot air balloon."
"I was thinking of riding in on an elephant to your parking lot at work, but then thought better." That dimple pops out.
"This was perfect, just us. How it always should be." I look at the ring again, shocked at how beautiful it is, and that there is that significant piece of jewelry sitting on my left hand.
"Should we wake Lily up?" Her hands move up under my shirt, finding my bare skin.
I nuzzle into her neck. "That depends, did you want sex or not? Because you know that if we wake the sleeping beast, you'll have no alone time with me tonight."
"In that case, let me introduce you to my sleeping beast." she takes my left hand, the one with the large rock on the fourth finger, and puts it over her sweatpants where she is growing.
"My fiancé is so corny." I swish the word around in my mouth, testing it like every new engaged girl imagined she would.
"Say it again." Lisa moves over me, my body molding to hers as she leans me back into the couch.
"Fiancé," I whispered in my best phone sex voice.
"Oh yeah, baby …" She smiles and shakes her head as if I'm turning her on so much by uttering the word. "Now come here and let me finish that proposal. Because I can make it so much sweeter."
Lisa — Epilogue
One Year Later
"I thought we said we'd talk about getting a different mattress." I shift my weight, groaning as I threw an arm over Jennie.
"Nope, this one is perfect. Pillowy softness." She grins as she melts into me, kissing my morning cheek.
"It's like laying on a bunch of pillows. A mattress should be firm, have a backbone like hardwood." I grunt, thrusting my hips against her, my cock pressing to her thigh.
"Honey, what's mine is yours, and marriage is all about compromise. Or at least, it will be starting today."
"It's wedding day!" Lily ran into our room, launching herself at the bed and giggling as she snuggled herself between us. I scooted over, making sure to cover my nether regions with a pillow, even as I felt myself shrink. It was amazing what kids could do to the libido.
She ran her hands over Jennie's face, mussing up her hair in a way that she must have thought looked pretty, but really made my fiancée look like a witch.
"Are you ready for your flower girl duties?" Jennie kissed Lily's cheek and wrestled her down, pinning her arms so she couldn't mess up her long dark locks any more.
"I have my basket all ready. I practiced last night with Peupeu."
My heart absolutely puddled at my feet. I wouldn't be surprised if it was lying in a mushy pool on the floor at the edge of the bed. For the last six months, ever since Lily had really grasped that we were all officially going to become a family, she'd been calling me Peupeu which means Dad. Never Daddy, that was the name she used for DK, but I was so honored to hold that title in her life.
"You'll be so pretty." I kiss her forehead as she snuggles between Jennie and me.
Over the past year, we've become even more of a family than I even knew was possible. Growing up in a family like mine, we weren't necessarily close. Competition and business ruled the roost there, and they had ever since. But Jennie, Lily and I … we did everything together. They supported me on late nights when the restaurant was crazy, and I'd drop from exhaustion the minute I got home. I picked up Lily from daycare and made dinner, carried the laundry downstairs to the basement of the building when we needed to do it. Family movie nights on Friday were a thing of tradition now, and Jennie and I typically had date night once a week. On weekend mornings, Lily came to the restaurant with me and brought customers in. She was probably single-handedly responsible for half the business that walked inside the place; her cute little diatribes near the front door always drew people in.
We burned dinner together, and then ordered pizza. We went on walks around the city blocks that made our feet tired and ended up with Lily sleeping on my shoulder. Apartment hunting for a place that was big enough for three of us was a trip, with Jennie's checklist and mine clashing so much that we ended up learning a lot about each other. Lily begged us for a puppy every other week, and I think that my soon-to-be wife was starting to break. Each one of us fought for the last Magnum bar in the freezer … Jennie always won. We celebrated birthdays, slept in on the weekends when we could, and for the first time last year I'd had a real Christmas tree. Jennie had insisted, it wasn't the holiday without one.
Our new place between my office building and Jennie's was a two bedroom, with an extra bathroom than either of us had had before, and a larger kitchen. It also boasted a patio, which we made full use of almost year round … even when we had to throw gloves and coats on.
In our apartment, it was business as usual. I manned the scrambled eggs, Lily helped with juice duty, and Jennie sat at the table reading The New York Times. We gave her weekend mornings off, calling our little breakfast act, "the toastsome twosome." If it weren't for the butterflies in my stomach, and the fluffy white dress hanging in the closet in our bedroom, you wouldn't know that we were about to say some vows and exchange some rings today.
After she's done eating, I look over to where Lily is sitting on the living room floor, taking off her Barbie's pants again.
"Lily, leave those on." What was with this little girl wanting her dolls to be nudists? "And yes, after the wedding I made you a special ice cream cake."
It was my first foray into cakes, and I'd insisted on making our wedding cake. I pat myself on the back, because this cake was fucking gorgeous. I was going to have Rosé post pictures of it on the company Instagram and see what response we got. We could make some big bucks if I started doing cakes to order.
"I can have three pieces!" She claps.
"Oh yeah, who said that?" Jennie makes a sarcastic, shocked expression at me.
"I did. Grandma said so too."
"That Grandma spoils you, huh?" I finish my coffee and lace my fingers through Jennie's. "You ready to get married to me?"
"That depends … do I get that foot rub I was promised?" She props her feet up on my lap, her toes a light pink.
Is it weird that even her feet are sexy to me? Because I swear, I'm sporting a semi.
"I think I'm like your foot rub slave for the rest of my life. Isn't that what marriage means?"
She nodded, her face pointed toward the ceiling as I rubbed her insoles. "Pretty much."
"Should we go become the Manoban bunch?" It was time to get moving if we were going to make our own ceremony.
Jennie shudders. "Oh God, please don't start that again."
I start to hum the theme song to the popular TV show. I'd been joking about it since we'd gotten engaged, knowing that she hated when I called us that.
"I'm not walking down that aisle if you keep doing that." She leaned over, slapping her hand over my mouth.
Little did she know that I'd already made it our official wedding hashtag and told the short number on the guest list about it.
Oh well, she'd have to live with it. She'd have to live with me. That was marriage. Taking the annoying with the amazing. And I was definitely getting the best of both worlds.
Sometimes I thought to myself, how did I get so lucky? But really, I think I'd charmed or tricked them into picking me. I was fine with that, as long as it meant I got to come home to those two at the end of the day.
Damn, my priorities had changed. What had once been one-night stands and a good bottle of red became romance and sippy cups.
Bring on the minivan.
THE END
