The way Riley looked at him when he pulled away made Josh feel like he could do anything.
Riley turned to his mom and stood his ground, despite still sitting in a chair. So Josh supposed hesathis ground and said to her, “Can you be happy for us, Mom? Can you support us? You know Josh is the best person for me.”
Aunt Allison smiled at Riley, her eyes beginning to tear up. “Of course I can, Riley. I only want you to be happy. Anyone who gives you shit can come talk to me,and I’ll straighten them out. Or not straighten like ‘straight.’ Oh, you know what I mean!”
She climbed out of her chair and pulled Riley against her, and Josh could see the tension disappear from Riley’s frame as he finally relaxed.
When his mom finally let go, they were both wiping their eyes, and Eddie raised a glass.
“To Riley and Josh, the most obvious couple ever. I hope you two have a long and happy life together.”
“To Riley and Josh,” they all chanted.
Riley turned to Josh with tears and love in his eyes, and they shared a chaste kiss and clinked their glasses together, taking a sip of the champagne, the bubbles tickling Josh’s nose.
“Dibs on maid of honor!” Sophie shouted, and Riley choked on his drink, causing Sophie to cackle maniacally across the table.
Josh gave him a couple pats on the back until he breathed normally again.
“Just for that, you’re not invited,” Riley said, and Sophie stuck out her tongue in response.
Later that night, when everyone said their goodbyes and their congratulations, Leigh Anne asked Josh to stop next door for a minute before he left. They hurried to the house Josh grew up in after the loss of his parents.
On the walk over, he glanced across the street at his old house. His memories of the house itself were limited,but he remembered being huddled in front of their fireplace on stormy days or chasing fireflies in the backyard during summer nights.
When he was alone in the Brown household with Leigh Anne, she led him to her closet and began rummaging through some documents in a shoebox. She pulled out a letter and handed it to Josh.
It was labeled with Chinese characters he couldn’t remember, but there was also a tiny post-it on it that said Love. Apart from the memories that he could no longer recall, he also forgot most of the Chinese words his parents had taught him before they died. Leigh Anne and Eddie had tried to help him, but it was a hard language for anyone to learn. Once his parents were gone, he hadn’t wanted to learn from anyone else as a child. Now, he wished he could read the hanzi characters.
“It says your name,” his mom said, interrupting his thoughts. “When the lawyer read your parents’ will and our guardianship became official, Eddie and I received some documents to set aside for you. Your mom had left us separate instructions, in English, thank goodness,” she explained, causing both of them to chuckle. “She said specifically to give you this when you finally met the love of your life.”
Josh gasped, surprised at his mother’s extensive planning.
Twelve years ago, when he was picking whichcollege to attend, Leigh Anne had given him a similar envelope thatMamawanted him to read before he graduated high school. He should have known it wouldn’t be the only one.
He turned the envelope over and saw it was still sealed.
“I have no idea what it says,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “It was for you and for you only.”
His breath stuttered as he held the envelope against his chest, selfishly hoping hisMamawrote whatever was inside in English.
“Josh, I’m so happy for you and Riley. You’ve always been a happy kid, and you made it so easy to love you as if you were my own,” she said, her voice cracking. “You know, I was pregnant at the same time as yourMamaand Aunt Allison, and I was devastated when I lost that baby. After the accident,” she croaked, tears flowing freely down her face, “we were all crushed to lose your parents. The silver lining for me was having the privilege to take care of you.
“I want you to know, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my whole life, like God answered my prayers for a baby of my own. But if I could, I would wish your parents back in this life with you in a heartbeat. I felt so selfish and terrible about it for so long, being so happy to have you in my life, but at the expense of losingyour parents. I went to therapy for a while, and I realized that I had the opportunity to do everything I could to make sure you had the best life possible so that your parents could look down on us and know that we all did our best with a terrible situation. I’m so sorry we lost them.”
Josh leaped into his mom’s arms, wrapping his own around her much smaller frame. He could prop his head right on top of hers.
She tried to keep talking through her choked sobs. “I’m so proud of the man you’ve become, and I’m so happy that you and Riley have found each other. You’re a good man, Josh. And I know Riley sees that too.”
“He does,” Josh said, breathing deeply through his own tears. He couldn’t believe he still had any left. “I took him to seeMamaandBàbatoday, and when I asked them if they were okay with us being together, it started snowing. I took that as a yes.”
Leigh Anne released a wet laugh against his chest. “I’d say so. I remember the first time it snowed after your parents moved here. They weren’t prepared for the Blizzard of ’96 after living in Hong Kong, and they were floored by the amount of snow we got. We tried to tell them we didn’t usually get quite so much, but they thought it was magical. I think maybe they shared a bit of that magic with you today.”
Josh smiled against his mom’s head and had to agree with her. “Yeah, I think they did.”
28
WHEN THEY FINALLY RETURNED to their condo and had some quiet together, Josh filled Riley in on his talk with Leigh Anne.
