Page 128 of Chasing the Fire
I clear my throat and pick up a plastic knife from the kitchen island, tapping it on my can of Pepsi. “Can I get everyone’s attention for a second?”
The room immediately stops their chatter and Nash smirks at me from his side of the space. He’s been my sidekick, my voice of reason, and my ride-or-die when it came to redesigning Olivia’s nana’s engagement ring.
Olivia looks up at me and I know this is it. Time to make her mine for eternity.
Olivia
We don’t ever say goodbye; we say see ya later.
“Thanks for coming to celebrate our little bear. Christ, I can’t believe she’s one.”
Asher says as Mabel gives him the two-finger sign for money for swearing. He chuckles and raises his drink to her.
“This last year has been one of change for all of us. Kids, weddings, hell, I’ve lost family.” He looks down. “Gained a family.”
Asher looks to my parents and my father nods. I swear they’re the best of friends and it gives me so much joy that he has my father to fill the void of his own. They’re even rebuilding an old Ford Model T together in Asher’s shop.
“Through all the change, I’ve been honored to watch Liv become a mother.” My heart clunks as he looks at me. He’s beaming. “It’s made me fall in love with you a thousand different ways, Livi girl. And I know I’m gonna keep falling in love with you every day for the rest of my life. So …”
I watch with tears in my eyes as he crouches down and picks up Calli. He turns his back to me, and I hear him whisper, “Give this to Mama.”
Then he kisses her chubby cheek as he comes closer, opening the box. The second I see the ring in the open box in Calli’s chubby hand, everyone in the room disappears and I see only the three of us.
“Waking up to you two every day feels like the kind of dream I never thought I was worthy of,” Asher says in a low voice. I swallow down the lump in my throat. “I don’t know how I got this lucky, how fate found us the way it did. But I want you to know, Liv, I’ll never take what we have for granted. Not for one second. Because every time I look at you it’s like the first moment I fell in love with you all over again. Marry me, Livi girl.”
The first tear falls down my cheek and my whisper is so quiet. “Yes …”
I don’t even get the words out before he’s kissing me.
“What was that?” CeCe calls out, laughing with the rest of the group.
“Yes!” I exclaim louder so the room can hear before jumping into his arms. Our friends and family explode into loud cheers and applause. Calli giggles and squirms, so Asher sets her down and she goes running off to my mom as Asher takes me properly into his arms.
“You and me, yeah?” he whispers so only I can hear as he pulls the ring from the box and places it on my finger. “Forever.”
“It’s my nana’s ring,” I gasp, looking down at the two-carat marquise diamond with a new white gold band and two blue diamonds flanking the original.
“It is, redone,” he confirms. “The blue diamonds I added to make it yours. They’re almost the color of Calli’s and your eyes, don’t you think?”
I nod, too overwhelmed by emotion as I kiss him. “I love you so much, Ash.”
“Aye.” He grins. “And me you, Livi girl.”
Chatter continues around us as we kiss and our friends mumble things like “get a room” and “this is a family event.” We laugh with them and I look deep into the eyes of my future. To the man who gives me everything without hesitation, even though he never knew love.
I see our whole future before us. I see us getting old together, on holiday, at baseball games, watching our kids play in the yard. I see loving him, laughing with him, and all the things in between. Good or bad, we’ve got this together. Always.
And it seems the man who thought he’d always be in the shadows, who thought being loved was a curse, has found a sense of peace and harmony. Somewhere out there, I know his mother is smiling down on us. Because she got her wish after all.
We’re pulled apart by our friends hugging us as CeCe and Ginger take turns fawning over my ring.
As I look around, I see a family that once seemed small but now takes up almost the entire main floor of the big house at Silver Pines.
We’re loud, we laugh like crazy, and hell, we’re certainly not perfect. But one thing no one could ever doubt is how hard we all love each other, how we’ve been there for each other through thick and thin, and always will be. The Ashbys are as much mine and Asher’s family as my own mom and dad, and it proves to me over and over that family doesn’t have to be bound by blood.
My mom and dad hug me last, and I squeeze them tight, so grateful they gave their lives to me, and brought me the rest of my family: Jo, Wyatt, Dean, CeCe, Wade, Cole, Nash, and Ginger. And the ones we’ve added to our crew because of them: Ivy, Glenda, Haden, and Cassie, plus our giant mess of kids. This family is filled with love. So much love that will always be found at the end of a long gravel drive in southern Kentucky.
Through all the change, the love remains as steady as the silver pine trees swaying in the breeze. Ours is a place where food, dancing, and cookouts are practically religion. In this big white house overlooking the craggy peaks of Sugarland Mountain, there’s a solemn promise. Love is abundant, advice is always free, everyone is family, and the porch light is always on.
