Zaire took a breath that shook a little as he walked toward her.
Meadow felt him before she saw him. Her hand stilled on her cheek, turning her head just enough for their eyes to catch. Her lips parted the slightest bit…hopeful, shy, tender in a way she didn’t let most people see.
“Come with me,” he said.
She didn’t ask where. Meadow followed, fingers slipping into his without hesitation. His hand swallowed hers, guiding her outside. The noise of the crowd faded behind them. The air felt gentle…clean, like the world had decided to give them a moment.
They stopped at the 19th hole - not really a hole, just a small, quiet overlook where Ray always joked real golfers went for a moment of peace . It was a patch of trimmed grass sitting higher than the rest of the course, a place where the wind touched everything soft.
Zaire turned to face her.
His eyes were already glassy from looking at her. “Meadow,” he cleared his throat, voice rough and so sincere she felt it beneath her ribs. “I been thinkin’…a lot, more than I probably should and every time I try to find the words, they sound too small.”
She sniffled, wiping her face again.
He stepped closer, fingers brushing her jaw. “Love is whimsical,” he whispered. “People act like it’s supposed to be neat… perfect…straight lines, but that ain’t never been what it is.”
Her chest rose slowly, breath uneven.
“Love is full.” He smiled. “It’s loud…it’s messy…it’s complicated, sometimes it’s blue-” he laughed softly, shaking his head, “…real loud blue. Always big Crip energy!”
Meadow smiled through quiet tears.
“But the love I found…” His eyes locked onto hers. “The love that found me…it’s green.”
A tear rolled down her cheek before she could catch it. “Zaire…”
“Green like home,” he whispered. “Green like land passed down…green like a place I ain’t gotta pretend in…green like the peace I been chasing since I was a boy.”
The wind lifted the edge of her curls.
Zaire exhaled. “Baby, bein’ with you feels like being loved for the first time.”
He reached into his pocket.
Meadow’s knees weakened.
“I ain’t never had a fairytale,” he admitted, “wasn’t raised with crowns or castles. But you showed me one anyway. You showed it to me right here…on this land…on this grass…in this life I didn’t even know I deserved.”
He dropped to one knee.
Meadow gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, tears spilling faster than she could wipe them away.
The ring was flashy…it glowed. A huge, green diamond sat in the center, connected to a gold band that looked like vines…timeless and it matched the land they were standing on.
Zaire looked up at her, heart wide open. “You turned my whole world into somethin’ worth livin’ for. You healed parts of me I didn’t know were wounded. You gave me a love that feels like legacy…like forever.”
Meadow sobbed, shaking her head because she couldn’t hold her emotions in any longer.
Zaire reached for her trembling hand.
“Meadow Rain Green…my Marai,” he whispered, his voice breaking in the middle. “Will you marry me? Will you stand in this life with me? Will you build somethin’ with me that our kids gon’ point at years from now and say, ‘that’s ours’?”
She couldn’t breathe…couldn’t think…couldn’t do anything but fall into him.
“Yes,” she cried. “Yes, baby. Yes…Yes!”
He closed his eyes as relief washed over him, so powerful it almost knocked him backward. He stood and pulled her into him, lifting her feet off the ground as she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.
