"After we made love, "made love," Sam and I laid in our nakedness, dozing off to sleep when we heard a loud banging at the door. It was Stevie
"Sam, mom wants you and Mercedes to come down for a minute….after you both get dressed, of course," He said while laughing. He walked away and Sam and I looked at each other with panic, wondering if the family came home and heard us. We quickly dressed and went down to face the scrutiny. We were met with judging stares from Stevie, a blush from Stacie, but no looks from their parents. We both settled at the kitchen bar, Sam pulling out my chair to sit before he sat. Then he addressed his mom.
"Hey, what's going on," He asked. She said, "Your dad and I decided to have a little gathering tonight. Did you make plans for tonight." Sam responded that he did have the final part of the day mapped out, but he could've cancelled. He looked at me and asked if I was ok with changing the plans. I told him, I'm fine with whatever we do and looked at him mom. She nodded and smiled, saying, "Good, because I already invited everybody." I laughed and Sam shook his head smiling. He asked his mom for the time of the party, then turned to me and whispered that he would take me on a nice relaxing walk to finish out our date. We stood to go when his dad said, "I think a nice relaxing walk would do you both good….after the rigorous workout you completed upstairs." I was shocked, by the comment and by the fact that I forgot Sam's dad was in the room. I just hid my face in Sam's arm and we walked away with his parents laughing loudly in the background. Sam being Sam had to have the last word. He said, "I'm not ashamed," loudly enough so his parents could here and timed it just right so we would be outside, away from hearing his parents' comeback.
We began our walk laughing at the situation, me slapping his arm and telling him that was the reason I didn't want us having sex that weekend. Sam didn't care. He just put his arm around me and guided me along. We go further down the street when all the excitement from the day started to fade away and all that was left was the tension because of it and because of the feeling we had expressed. I decided to break the tension and ask. I breathed deeply, removed Sam's arm from around me, causing him to stop moving, and stood in front of him.
"Sam," I said, "Did you mean it when you told me you loved me? Did you mean it when you asked me to let you in?" Sam grabbed both of my hands, interlaced our fingers allowing him to take control of our movements and said, "I've meant every word, every gesture, and every look since I've met you Mercedes. Have I ever lied to you?" I smiled and thought back to everything that has led to this moment and said, "No, Mr. Evans, you have never lied to me." He laughed at me referring to the name that was filled with so many moments of flirtation, teasing, and manipulation. "Well, Ms. Jones, where do we go from here," He asked. "We go forward," I said and I began walking backwards pulling him along, until he pulled me back into him and kissed me. Those names. Those names no longer meant confusion, games, and chaos. Those names were our beginning and the catalyst to what we want our future to be, filled with the teasing and sexiness and flirtation, but also filled with love, commitment, security, and joy.
That's why I can say, I am so ready to marry my Mr. Evans . You've gotten to see how it all began and what made us get to this place, but stay tuned, we're only just beginning.