Justin
I saw the missed calls from Hadley and they made me smile. All forty of them. I knew, as I dialed her back, she’d be furious when she answered. I wasn’t wrong.
“Are you alive?” she asked, more angry than concerned, which made me laugh.
“I am.”
“Good, ’cause I’m going to kill you as soon as I get my hands on you.”
“I can think of better uses for your hands than murder, Hadley.”
“Don’t get cute with me. I’m almost to the hospital and then you’re in trouble. In fact, it’s probably good you’re already a patient. Less paperwork.”
“That would be a benefit, if I were still there.”
There was a pause, then Hadley’s confused voice came over the line. “What do you mean if you were still there? Where are you?”
“I’m at home.”
“What the hell are you doing at home?”
I tried to make my voice sound as nonchalant as I could manage. “They needed the bed and I’d made a miraculous recovery. The doctor took a look at me and my chart and said as long as I took it easy I was good to go. Mom dropped me off just a little while ago.”
“You were discharged from the hospital and you didn’t think that was reason enough to call me?”
Oh, she’s mad.
“We didn’t want to pull you away from work. It really wasn’t a big deal. They gave me a prescription for ibuprofen and sent me on my way.”
“This is bullshit, Justin. You aren’t ready to be home. You had an organ removed from your body twenty-four hours ago.”
“A useless organ. A spleen doesn’t do much.”
“I’m done talking to you over the phone. I’m too angry to have this conversation with you right now.”
I held back a laugh.
“You’re coming over here, though, right?”
“Ha! No. I’m going to Riley’s to drink some wine. Then I’m going home. Alone.”
“But I need someone to be here with me. What if something happens?”
“That’s what your mother is there for.”
“She left.”
“She left?”
“Well… yeah.”
“Are you serious?”
“She had to go make dinner for my dad.”
“So, the hospital sent you home early, you can hardly walk, you’re got an incision in your gut, and your mom left you all alone?” She was quiet for just a second before she asked, “Are you high?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
A loud and long sigh came from her, then the words I knew would eventually come.
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“Don’t ‘babe’ me, Justin. I’m too pissed for pet names.”
That time I couldn’t hold in the small laugh that escaped.
“Okay. See you soon.”
I ended the call and rubbed my hand down my face.
“Was she mad?” my mother asked.
“Livid,” I said, unable to force down the smile that came with the vision I had of her trying to comprehend what I’d told her.
“You better hope this works the way you want it to,” she replied with that motherly tone that indicated she wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing.
“Hadley doesn’t realize it, but she likes it best when I push her buttons.”
“Well, I hope for your sake that’s true.” She stood from the couch where she’d been sitting next to me for the last hour. “I’m going to go throw that last load of laundry in the dryer before I leave.” She leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“You don’t have to do my laundry, Mom.”
“You had better stop trying to tell me what to do, young man. I’ll fawn over you all I want and you’ll let me.”
I nodded, really the only appropriate response when you get scolded by your mother after the age of twenty-five.
I stayed on the couch, both out of necessity and logistics. I knew standing up by myself was not a wise idea, and even if I made it up, going anywhere more than a few feet away would exhaust me. So, I sat on the couch and waited for what seemed like an eternity. Seconds ticked by and with each tick I envisioned Hadley getting closer and closer, growing angrier by the mile. I wanted her feisty when she got there. I wanted her sassy. Hadley had many sides, but I loved the unstoppable, unrestrained Hadley the best.
“All right. Laundry’s in. Tell Hadley not to worry about finishing it. I’ll be by tomorrow morning to check in and take care when she has to go to work. Just let me know what time you need me.”
“Thanks for everything, Mom. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
She swallowed hard and looked down at her hands. “I know your relationship with her has been unconventional and crazy, and I promise one day it won’t hurt to think about you getting married without me there to watch, but I am so thankful you let me be a part of today, Justin.”
“I love you, Mom.”
“Love you too, baby boy. Call me,” she said, pointing a finger at me before leaning down and giving me a gentle hug and one more kiss on the forehead. “And don’t you dare get off that couch before Hadley gets here.” More pointing.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I claimed, holding my hands up in surrender. “She should only be a few minutes away by now.”
“Then I better get a move on.”
We said goodbye again and I watched as she left, then I was alone for the first time in days.
The silence was welcome, but also lonely. My mind was free to mull over what was happening, cultivating every single outcome imaginable. What I was about to do was unnecessary in some respects, but still important. It had been eating away at me for a while, but definitely hit home when I woke up in a hospital and all I could think of was Hadley and her safety. I couldn’t have cared less why I was lying in that hospital bed—the first thing I needed to know what if she was all right.
The relief of knowing she was unharmed was unlike anything I’d ever experienced.
She was vital to me. And I needed her to know that.
The rumbling of the SUV pulling into the driveway told me Hadley was home, and my nerves shot off the charts. I rubbed my hands down the cotton of my lounge pants, trying to calm myself. I was positioned on the couch in the family room right across the foyer. When she opened the front door, the very first thing she would see was me. I wanted all her attention.
Listening, I heard the loud clacking of her angered footsteps marching up the front steps and a smile crept across my face. She was angry in heels. Just the thought got my blood pumping.
The door swung open and before I could even utter a word, she was speaking.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but I thought I’d made it pretty clear that I’d had a rough go of it with you in the hospital and not knowing what was going on, so why the fuck would you leave the hospital without telling me?”
She’d thrown the door closed behind her and marched through the foyer, stopping at the beginning of the living room, her eyes trained on me, practically shooting lasers at me from across the room. She was breathing heavy and I could tell that even though anger was prevalent, she was also scared.
“I’m fine,” I assured.
“Well, good. I’m glad you’re fine. But I’m pissed.” It was with those words that she finally took in the room around us. I tried to see it through her eyes, to take it in as she did. She noticed the lights were off, the only light coming from candles sprinkled around the room on every surface. When her eyes went wide and her hands came up to cover her mouth was when I figured she realized the room was filled with flowers. “What did you do?” she said through what sounded like a half cry, half whisper.
“I’m going to need you to come sit down with me,” I said, holding out my hand to her.
Her eyes darted to my hand, then back up to me, and I could see she was completely surprised.
Mission accomplished.
She walked slowly to me, putting her hand in mine, then slowly lowering to the couch next to me.
“What is all this?” she asked on a breath.
“This is the proposal you should have gotten. The one you deserve.”
“Justin,” she cried, looking around at everything. “I don’t need this.”
“I disagree, but the fact that you believe that makes me love you even more.” I could tell she wanted to argue, to tell me I was wrong, and even though I loved arguing with her under normal circumstances, now was not the time. I took her hand in mine and continued on. “When I woke up in the hospital, when I realized where I was and that something bad had happened, my first thought was you. My first concern was whether or not you were safe. When I saw your face, Hadley, it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.”
She scooted closer to me, crying in earnest now, and brought her other hand to my face. But she didn’t speak, so I figured she knew I was in charge of the moment. Smart woman she was.
I reached up and wiped away her tears, then delivered the speech I’d been practicing in my mind all day long.
“Marrying you in Las Vegas was crazy. We were crazy. And if any of our children ever pull that stunt, I’ll kick their asses. But it was the best thing I’ve ever done, Hadley, and I’d do it again a million times. Just you and me.”
“Me too,” she whispered, nodding at me while more tears streamed down her face.
“My only regret was that damned licorice ring.”
She laughed. Well, she laughed while still crying, but it made me smile all the more.
“So, on the way home from the hospital, my mom and I made a stop.” I reached into the pocket of my lounge pants and pulled out the light blue box I’d hidden there. The box got exactly the response I’d hoped for. Her expression moved from confusion, to recognition, to surprise, to disbelief. It happened rapidly, but it was amazing to witness.
“Justin,” she said, my name just a feather on a breath.
I opened the box to reveal the ring I’d picked out for her from a wheelchair while wearing the pajamas my mom had brought me to drive home in. I’d left the hospital and told my mom we had some stops to make. When I told her I needed to stop of Tiffany’s, well, she had much the same reaction as Hadley did to the box as well.
“I looked at quite a few rings today, but this one kind of screamed your name at me.” I lifted the ring from the velvet, remembering how the sales woman told me it was a ‘Princess, cushion cut, the setting inspired by the Edwardian era.’ All I knew was I thought it would look beautiful on Hadley’s finger. “If you don’t like this ring, we can absolutely take it back.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said softly. Maybe the softest words I’d ever heard her say.
“I’m not going to ask you to marry me, because, well, we’ve already done that. But I am going to ask if you’ll stay with me, grow with me, learn with me, and love with me, forever. I know now that I don’t want to see where this takes us, I want to go where it takes us. I want to go wherever you go and build a forever with you.”
She only cried harder at my words, which made me smile. Through the tears she nodded, making every nerve in my body explode with happiness. I picked up her left ring finger and slid the platinum band down until it stopped.
“I knew it would look perfect on you.”
Still crying, she held her hand out and admired the ring. Then, two seconds later, she slapped my arm.
“You’re such an asshole, Justin.” Through her words, laughter rang out.
I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her to my chest, loving the way she felt against me.
“I know. But you’ll forgive me, right?”
“Yeah, I guess,” she replied, tilting her head back to look at me.
“I’m going to kiss you now, wife.”
“Better make it a good one then, husband.”
“I’ll do my best.”
And so I did.