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Thicker Than Water by Dylan Allen (40)

Reece

Loreto Bay is said to be the greenest and most lush city in all of Baja. I walk over to open the door for Lucía after we pull into the house that I designated as ours when I bought this development. I’ve been keeping a lot from her, but I wanted this to be right before I told her. The deal was signed this morning and I got on a plane and came straight here.

“I bought this community from a developer who finished construction, but was caught up in a lawsuit that meant he couldn’t afford to carry the cost of the development while he was waiting for people to come in and buy. It was supposed to be a retirement community for Europeans and Americans who were looking to spend part of the year here,” I say as I help her out of the car.

“It was meant to be?” she asks as she lets me lead her up the stone tile walkway. The landscaping is perfect. Everything is.

“Now, it’s going to be staff housing for the studio we’re building here. Staff that’s going to be made up of voluntarily departed and deported people.”

She stops in her tracks and tugs my arm to make me stop.

“Hold on, stop and explain. Now. It’s obviously something great, because you’re grinning like you’re high. So, just tell me.”

“You’re ruining my fun.” I scowl. She scowls back . . . and it just makes me want to kiss her.

“Fine.” I relent. “Let’s go in and get out of the heat, I’ll tell you.” I open the door and lead her inside and watch her face as she takes in the coral colored stucco walls, the Travertine tiled floor, the beamed ceiling lined with sky lights. The hand crafted local furniture and artwork are things I picked out. “We can redecorate later, if you don’t like it.”

She spins to face me. “You’re building a studio?” I laugh at her doggedness.

“In partnership with the largest media company in South America. Yes. We signed the deal this morning. It’s been a nightmare because we’ve had to negotiate with the Mexican government to purchase the property. I had to get my parents on board. They’re not thrilled that I’m moving to Mexico, but they understand and they agree that Artemis is ready for this kind of expansion.”

I grab her and pull her into me. “I talked so much about my family and my duty to it. But you’re my family, too. We may not have a piece of paper or blood that says so. But we’ve got something much stronger than either of those. We love each other. We chose each other. And so, I had to find a way to be here while you were.”

She steps back and just stares at me. Her eyes bright, her smile, that smile, even brighter.

“You’re moving here?”

I nod and laugh as her dark eyebrows rise nearly to hairline. Her eyes narrow.

“Reece, what about the City Council?” she asks, reaching to cup my face. She holds my eyes as if she needs to look into them to see the truth. I let her see. The truth of my heart. The truth of my life.

“Three years of us living apart is not an option. City Council isn’t going anywhere. We’re going to keep fighting, but we’ll do it as private citizens.”

She kisses me, but frowns as she says, “I’m not a citizen, Reece. And what if they don’t let me come back? Or what if I decide I want to live here?

This surprises me, but my answer is the same. My motivation unequivocal. “We can stay. We can live here. My visa is one that gives me permanent residency because I bought a business here.”

“So you would stay here? For me?”

“We’ll be together wherever we need to be. And if you decide you want to go back in three years, we’ll apply for you to enter, but as the spouse of a US Citizen.”

Her grin explodes, she shrieks and jumps up, throwing her arms around my neck and climbing up my body, before I’m even done with my sentence.

I put my hands on her hips and haul her up.

“Reece, yes! Yes. You asked again and I’m saying yes.”

“Well, I was going to get down on one knee and ask you properly. I have a ring in my pocket,” I say into her hair as she tightens her grip around my neck.

She stills and then scrambles down. “Oh, I want that. I SO want that. I’ve been waiting for this,” she says, beaming.

She runs her fingers through her hair. And smooths the fabric of the dress she’s wearing.

“Okay, I’m ready.” She smiles happily up at me.

I drop to my knee and pull out a ring that my grandmother left me. It holds value that’s more sentimental than monetary, but when I saw it, I knew it was right for her. It’s a filigree of a bird in flight, set with tiny diamonds.

I slip it on her finger and tell her, “You’re my freedom. You’re my family. I want to be with you until I take my last breath. You’ve shown me what real courage looks like and I want to live with you where you can really live free. So here I am; at your feet, and I always will be.” I kiss her hands, the hands that wrote the story that brought us together. “I love you in a way that I’ll never be able to understand or contain. Will you be my wife?”

She smiles a new smile. I’ll come to recognize that smile. It’s the one she wears when she’s so happy her heart’s song can’t be contained. It’s so bright that it casts everything around into the shade.

I’ll see it again next year when she says, “I do.” In a few years, I’ll see it when she holds our daughter, Julianna, for the first time. But today, it’s new. And it’s the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen. I slip my ring on her finger and she joins me, dropping to her knees in front of me and says, “Fuck, yeah.”


The End

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