As my eyes adjust to the darkness and my night vision kicks into gear, I notice the glow of candles coming from the direction of the kitchen so I walk that way, letting my curiosity lead me. Air gushes out of me as I see rose petals strewn throughout the room, wrapped around the candles and a big arrow leading outside taped on the back door.
My heart’s staccato rhythm beats faster as I reach out and grab the door handle, twist it, and pull it open. I clap my hands when I notice that the dispersed rose petals continue back here, leading me down a pathway.
“Rush, what are you up to?” I whisper out the question as my feet pick up the pace, following the trail he’s laid out for me.
The closer I get the more amped up I become. Music blasts from a surround sound, the song not familiar to me, but when I allow myself to listen to the lyrics, tears leak from my eyes.
“I'll stand by you. I'll stand by you. Won't let nobody hurt you, I'll stand by you. Baby, even to your darkest hour, I'll stand by you.”
I’m sure there are words in between, but those are the ones that stick with me and cause me to feel to the depths of my soul as I walk around a large bush and find a decorated gazebo with strung lights and tulle sitting on the other side with Rush standing in the middle of the structure, a bouquet of roses in his hands. When our eyes clash, I see them crinkle in delight as new tears form in mine.
It’s like he plucked a scene from a romantic movie and has used it to make this day extraordinary for me.
“Rush,” I whisper.
“Come here, baby,” he orders, his voice tender. When I reach him, he asks, “May I have this dance?”
Words don’t form on my tongue so instead, I nod my head. He places the roses on the railing and reaches out his hand for me to take. Once my hand is cupped in his, he twirls me to him. I giggle from the unexpected move but that dies off once I’m envelopedin his arms. As our hips sway to the music, he sings to me, and my soul listens to his. I feel his emotions through another’s verse, the poetic words are majestic.
When the song concludes, he leans down further and tells me, “I’ll always stand by you, my beautiful Van.” When he notices the tears now streaming down my face, he swipes them away with the pad of his thumb. “No tears, gorgeous. Tonight is about smiles, redemption, and hope.”
I’m not sure what we’re redeeming, our love is whimsical, but I let that go because he has to have some sort of reason for it in his mind. This night will be therapeutic, but in a different sort of way than laying ourselves bare before each other by talking about our pasts and how they’ve affected us both mentally and emotionally.
There’s no room for ghosts in our relationship—not now, and not ever.
Instead, I choose to keep things light and airy by tellingmytruth. “These are happy tears, my love,” I promise. “This is the best moment of my life.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Van. I’ve got an entire night planned for us. This is only the beginning and I’m not sure how many of your tears my heart could take.”
“I’m not sure I can help them, Rush. You’ve made this night so damn special that it’s touched my heart and soul,” I confess. “I can’t wait to see what happens next.”
When he grabs me by the nape of my neck and draws me in closer, his breath trickles against my ear causing goosebumps to erupt on my skin as he huskily lists off the plans he’s got in mindfor the evening. “Dinner, light conversation, more dancing, and me loving you. That’s what’s next, my Van.”
I moan as he nibbles on my neck before placing a symphony of kisses along my flesh. When his lips leave the apex of my shoulder, I’m all but a panting puddle. “Wh-what’s for dinner?” I stutter out my question as I try to recompose myself.
My body yearns to feel his flesh flush against it, but that’s for later, love isn’t only about coupling and bedroom playtime, it’s about keeping your relationship strong and this is a new foundation he’s establishing for that.
There’s been so much happening behind the scenes with the club, that whereas we’ve already started laying the groundwork for our future and strengthening it, this reinforces what I already knew—together, we are a powerhouse.
Meant to be.
He is the yin to my yang. He’s just reminding me with his swooning actions that our love was written in the stars, it’s ours to protect and mature.
We’re symbolic. At least that’s the way I like to romanticize us in my head. Whether others see us that way or not doesn’t matter, it’s what my old man evokes in me that keeps me going and fighting for what I deserve. What all women deserve. I’ve never felt this way about another man, not even Gage when I thought he was my forever. The difference in the two men who’ve come into my life is so damn drastic that if I hadn’t experienced being with them both, I wouldn’t know there was somethingmoreout there and would’ve settled for Gage’s scraps.
Rush has taught me I’m worth more than being someone’s passing fancy. I deserve to be my man’s first thought in the morning and his last one at night.
“You still with me, baby?” Rush asks, yanking me out of my internal thoughts.
“I’m here. Sorry, I was lost in thought,” I admit, feeling horrible about letting myself fall down a rabbit hole when he’s worked so hard to give me this extraordinary evening.
“Then I’m doing something wrong if you’re capable of being distracted by mere thoughts instead of focusing on this and us,” he teases.
“If it helps, my thoughts were based around you and us,” I reveal. “They always are.”
“Come on, let’s get you out of your head,” he says as he gently drags me to the back of the exquisitely constructed wooden structure where a round table sits with two covered plates, a bottle of my favorite wine chilling, and a stem glass waits to be filled with the bubbly liquid.
“This entire thing is stunning, Rush.”
