She loves me. I’ve never before been the recipient of this kind of intense, unrelenting, unapologetic, all-encompassing love. And I love her too. I love Everly with all of me and am going to tell her.
But the only thing that comes out of me is a grunt.
She sits up straight, drawing away from me slightly.
I try again. “Everly—” My voice is a growl and that won’t do.
She tilts her head to the side and her arms fold in front of her chest.
Closing my eyes, I try a third time. “Jeg elsker deg.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know what that means, but it sounded like you just angrily and begrudgingly said that you don’t hate me.”
I try again, but it hardly sounds better.
“Why so angry, Greyson?”
I scrub my hand down my face. “I’m not good at this. I feel a lot of things right now. It’s hard for me to name emotions other than animosity toward the opposition when on the field, emptiness and anger when it comes to my brother.”
“But you like things too, right? Ice cream, football, Sonny.” Here she goes, always able to say the right thing.
Like the times Bran and I parachuted out of planes, I take the plunge and blurt, “I like you, Everly.”
“That’s a start, but what doesjeg elsker deg mean? Sonny said it too.” Hearing her stumble through the Norwegian pronunciation, the English translation comes to my lips.
This time, I don’t need to think. I take her hands in mine. The words, the truth, channel out of me effortlessly. “Everly, as God in this holy church is my witness, I love you.” I glance at the rings on our fingers.
She leans back as though in shock. “What?”
I gather her into my arms and hold her tight. I feel her chest against mine, her heartbeat, the rhythm of her breath. I can have this for the rest of our lives if I can just get out of my own way.
When we part, I say, “Everly, I put this ring on this morning because I’ve fallen in love with you. We’ve done things backward, I suppose, but I won’t deny my feelings for you to my mother or anyone else again. Back there, I got scared. I felt defensive when we were in the kitchen. I was angry at myself for lying. It all came out wrong and I’m sorry.”
“I forgive you,” she says.
Those three simple words make me thank God Almighty. I say, “I’m grateful for that. I’m going to admit that I’m new tothis. I’ve never been married before. Never truly loved someone before, not like this.”
“I haven’t either, but we have our Marriage for Real Club rule. We talk about the Marriage Club.”
“I’d like that,” I say.
“I suppose it’s not all that common to get married and then fall in love.”
Our eyes meet. Hers glisten from recent tears and I kiss her cheeks and then press my mouth to hers for a kiss, sealing my intention to honor Everly as my wife.
When we part, she says, “What other rules should we have for our Marriage Club?”
I smile. “Okay. Number one. We talk about the Marriage Club.”
“Number two, we talk about the Marriage Club.”
Our laughter echoes in the church. My goodness, it feels good.
“Three,” I start. “We’ll always tell each other the truth.”
“Number four. And how we feel, even if we’re not entirely sure or know how to name it.”
“Can I use the grunting method of communication until I warm up to that?” I ask.
