Oliver's Army
Epilogue
March 25, 2012
It’s 2 am and Reid is next to me, snoring like a contented bear, while I can’t even think about sleep. It’s funny how something so momentous leaves him exhausted, but me? I’m completely wired.
As I type, I can’t help but look at the shiny platinum band on my finger. I’m still in shock. I never thought he’d do it. I was sure it would have to be me that broached the subject, and, while I’ve thought about it almost daily, I didn’t know when I’d ever have the nerve to ask him.
Of course, it goes without saying that he did it in a completely unconventional way, the coward. I was sitting in my new foundation office. By the way, that Herman Miller Executive chair Reid bought me for OUR FIRST Valentine’s Day…you know the one that sent me into the bedroom in hysterics over how completely unromantic the man is? Yes, well, it’s a dream. It’s the most comfortable office chair I’ve ever sat in…but it goes without saying that I won’t be telling him that. Anyway, I was going over a proposal when Carolyn came in with a package for me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I tend to order a lot of things online, so I wasn’t too intrigued…until I saw that the return address was MINE.
I opened it and found a small ring box inside with a note that read :
“I'm aware that I’ll probably be sorry that I didn’t get to see your face when you opened this, but you know me, I’m famous for taking risks in the operating room, but I’m much less brave when it comes to this love stuff.
I know we haven’t talked about it and I know it’s kind of soon, but it seems that I’m destined to love you more with each day that we spend together and I think it would be prudent if I went ahead and tried to officially make you mine before you come to your senses.
So, let’s cut to the chase. Luke Snyder, will you marry me?”
Now, there was no way I was going to put that ring on my own finger, so I texted him to see where he was, but he refused to tell me until he got an answer, the jerk. I thought about making him sweat a little, but I just couldn’t do it, I was too damned happy and too damned pissed and I just needed to see him, so I sent him an all-caps “YES”. Five seconds later, his scraggly head peaked around my office door. He looked like hell, his hair all askew from combing his fingers through it like he does when he’s anxious, and his face both pale and blotchy at one time. I almost took pity on him right away. Almost.
So, first, I got up and gave him a hard punch in the arm and told him what an ass he was for not proposing in person. Then, I broke down in tears like a little girl and threw my arms around him and smothered his face with kisses. And then, Reid did something most extraordinary…he started crying as well.
He told me that he’d never understood what it meant to love someone so much that you couldn’t imagine a life without them and that he was scared to death that I didn’t feel the same way. He said that he knew that I was a romantic at heart, and that love came so easily for me that he was worried that since I gave it so freely, my feelings for him might not be as desperate and all-consuming as the love he has for me…that I may need him less than he does me.
I set him straight by pulling him down on the sofa in my office, wrapping my entire body around him and telling him that, while I had thought that I had loved before, this was something else entirely. This was everything I’d never even known to dream of.
So, he got up, plucked the ring box off of my desk and walked back over to the sofa, where he got down on one knee and officially asked me to marry him. Once he slid the ring on my finger, he grabbed my hand, pulled me up, dragged me out of the office and brought me home, where we proceeded to show each other just how stupid in love we both are.
And, now, he sleeps, emotionally spent and at peace. God, he’s so beautiful that I’m itching to kiss him awake.
Yup. Sounds like a plan.