“You first,” Miller insisted once we were done eating. He slid my gift to me.
I removed the wrapping paper and opened the box. Inside was a framed picture of the four of us at the Brexlers’ Christmas party the previous year. Lily was sitting in my lap while Lucas stood on the couch behind Miller with his arms wrapped around Miller’s neck in one of his favorite wrestling moves. The look of sheer happiness on all our faces made my eyes tear up. The photo had been taken just a few weeks before Lucas and Lily had lost their parents, and I could only hope to see that unbridled happiness on their faces again someday.
The coolest thing about the picture was that it had been printed and cut like a jigsaw puzzle, which was our thing. It was Miller’s way of reminding me that we still fit, even though the picture had changed and the puzzle was now bigger, but it was no less beautiful to me.
“I love this, Bones. It’s the best gift I’ve ever received.” I leaned over and kissed him, but he pulled back before I could deepen the kiss too much.
“My turn!” Miller pulled the heavy box toward him and grinned because he knew it was going to be another excavating activity. I had put a lot of thought and effort into it, and I wanted him to take his time unearthing all the clues. “I love these gifts,” he said.
“Go easy,” I told him. There were some pieces that were slightly delicate, and I didn’t want him to break them.
Miller looked up at me and gave me a gleeful smile as he slowly started to dig through some type of sugar that looked like sand. I had edible things inside, and I didn’t want them to get ruined by real sand. Chrissy from Adam and Steve’s Bakery had come through for me big time. She seemed genuinely happy to help me plan this surprise. I’d sworn her to secrecy because Miller frequently went by the bakery on Saturday mornings for donuts and pastries.
Chrissy had baked and iced cookies to look like candy hearts. Then she cut them into jagged halves so they could be pulled apart and put back together again to look like a puzzle. Miller pulled one out and of course only saw half the message. He raised it to his mouth like he was going to eat it until he saw my glare.
“Not until you’ve found all the pieces.”
“Spoilsport.” Next, Miller dug out one of the plastic groom cake toppers. This one was blond and resembled the man I loved more than life itself. His eyes jerked up, and he swallowed hard. “Jag.” His voice sounded breathless.
“Keep excavating, Bones.”
He dug up several more cookie pieces and set them aside as he carefully searched through the sand. He pulled out a bottle of champagne and two plastic flutes. His eyes connected with mine after every item he pulled out. I could only describe the look in his gaze as hopeful. There were only two remaining items left for him to find, and I didn’t want him to discover the last one until he formed his puzzles, so I stopped him from digging after he pulled out the plastic groom that resembled me.
“Put your puzzle together, Bones.” It wouldn’t take him long because each cookie was iced in a different color. All he had to do was match up the halves in the same color. I held my breath as he put the pieces together until he had four hearts that read:
His sweet, happy laugh was music to my ears. I saw the answer in his eyes, but before he could speak, I pointed back to the sandbox. “You’re not done yet. There’s one more thing for you to find.”
Miller didn’t move for several seconds, then he slowly began to scrape away the sugary sand until he saw the blue Tiffany’s box waiting for him at the bottom. “Oh my,” Miller whispered. He gently removed the ring box, held it in front of him, and looked at me with such love in his eyes. I nodded, and he opened the box.
It was a moment I never thought I’d share with another person until I met Miller. Then I discovered what it meant to love someone more than food, water, or air. That was when I found the piece of me I hadn’t known was missing.
“What do you say, Bones? Will you marry me?” I bit my bottom lip to keep it from trembling.
“I will.” I took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto his finger. “This is even better than the red cock ring,” Miller said as he looked at the platinum band on his hand. Bless Miller for making highly charged emotional moments easier for me. “Where’s yours?”
“Hidden among my underwear,” I answered him. “I’d kept them locked in my desk once we returned from vacation.” His eyes widened, and I realized what I’d let slip out.
“You were going to ask me on vacation?” I nodded. “Why did you wait?”
“I was waiting for the right time and had planned a special night, but then we found out about Darryl and Destiny. It wasn’t the right time to ask you to make such a commitment. Then I thought it was probably better to wait so you’d know I want all of you to be mine forever. I needed you to know I would commit myself to loving Lucas and Lily as if they were my own too. That was something you needed to see.”
Tears leaked out of Miller’s eyes and rolled down his face. He grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up the stairs to our bedroom. “Get it out. I want to see it.”
“Well,” I said, deliberately misunderstanding what he said. I began to unzip my pants. “I like the way you celebrate, Bones.”
“Yeah, yeah. Later.” He waved away my attempt at being sexy. “I want to put the ring on your finger too.”
“Engaged for less than five minutes and sex is already being put on the backburner.” I sighed dramatically and dug out the matching ring to his from the bottom of my underwear drawer. I held out my hand and he slid the ring onto my finger while looking into my eyes.
I placed my hand on his neck and pulled him in slowly for a kiss. I loved all the ones we shared, but that kiss felt different as did the love we made to seal our engagement.
“I love you, Bones.”
“I love you too, Jag.”
It wasn’t until much later that I remembered to tell him about the inscription on the inside of our rings. I’d had the wordsPerfect Fitengraved on the inside of both bands to represent our unconventional love.
Miller
