I place my feet down to stop the swing from swaying and carefully pull apart the star. Just like the paper gifts he used to leave me on my windowsill our first summer together as a couple, this star is also filled with writing. Inside he has written “a daughter who has your eyes and your smile.”
Curious, I ask him, “What’s this mean?”
Jayson bends down to my upturned face and whispers to me, “Inside every star is a wish. My wish.”
My brows scrunch together before his words hit me. His wish is for a daughter,ourdaughter. One that looks like me. Tears spring to my eyes, my body flush with a flame of love for this man so intense it would set the world on fire.
“Every star on our tree is filled with a wish. Wishes that I want to share with you, spend the rest of my life giving to you. All you have to do, Liz, is reach for the stars and I will give them all to you. I love you so fucking much.” He moves my hair to the side and kisses my ear, my neck, my bare shoulder, and I shiver.
“You absolutely slay me.” I’m so enamored with this boy. “I love you too. So much.” A single tear slips down my face, one that he captures with his finger and places to his lips. Jayson is kissing my tears away.
Before I can finish expressing my appreciation for his extraordinary gift to me, we hear Hailey squeal next to us, Mom and Dad behind her. Mom’s hand is covering her mouth as she looks at the old oak tree decked out like Christmas. Dad reaches over and pulls her to his side, placing a kiss on top of her head.
“That’s the most romantic thing I have ever seen!” Hailey exclaims and starts to snap picture after picture of us and the tree, fingers flying across her phone. “Brea won’t believe this.”
Jayson groans against my shoulder.
Jayson doesn’t notice, but his parents and Julien are standing on their front porch, arms linked together in a chain, watching us. His mom is silently crying, and Julien is videoing Jayson and I at our tree. He better send me a copy tonight. I allow myself a minute to take everything in. Jayson’s warmth enveloping me from behind and him looking so damn handsome, the tree in all its twinkling splendor, both our families sharing in our love. I think to myself, nothing will be able to top this moment. Boy, was I wrong, as Jayson shows me later that night.
Dinner at Anaïs was unbelievable and I am a girl swooning. Jayson has romanced me in so many ways and it hasn’t stopped. He had bouquets of small yellow daffodils, my favorite flower because they represent renewal and look like sunshine, already waiting at our table in the restaurant when we arrived. Knowing I’m allergic to dairy, he made sure they had homemade raspberry sorbet available for my dessert. Once we arrive home, it’s past midnight and I am ecstatic to see the tree is still lit. Jayson reaches to the back seat of his truck and pulls out a swirled hand-blown glass jar.
Opening the passenger door for me, he helps me out. “So what’s the jar for?”
“We’re going to capture some stars,” he vaguely states, and we walk hand in hand to our tree. He plucks down one of the origami stars and places it in the jar. “For your collection,” he teases, referring to all of the jars in my room that hold various things I’ve found over the years. “It’s so you can open one and read it every day.”
The thought of reading his wishes, the things he desires most that involve our life together, our future, stirs a primal emotion inside me. I run my hand across my stomach remembering his wish for a daughter that looked like me. What would it feel like to have his child growing inside of me? A burst of instant love and longing for that future unknown person takes hold of me and makes me lightheaded. We take our time picking all of the paper stars from the tree and placing them in the jar. Jayson has to get the ones that are higher up since I’m wearing a dress.Once we finish and the jar is full, Jayson takes my hand and leads me to the backyard.
“Um, where are we going?”
“Your evening, princess, is not over with.”
“A romantic walk in the backyard.? How did you know that’s what I wanted most?”
“Nope,” he kisses me as we walk toward the forest.
“This isn’t going to turn into some lame horror B-movie scene is it? Clueless teenagers go out in the middle of nowhere to make out and are attacked by a chainsaw wielding mass murderer with a hook for his hand.”
“Who says we’re making out?” he winks, and I pinch him.
“Ok, I give up. Where are we going? Oh!”
We stop at our old fort, the one Hailey and I built but belonged to me and my two princes. Memories of our days playing out here together coalesce in my mind like a slideshow, one image after another after another. Jayson is using the flashlight on his phone to help guide our way and, even in the dim light, I can tell something is different. New plyboard has been put up and a proper roof is on top. Jayson pulls aside a heavy tarp covering the entrance to the fort and I notice that the tarp has stars printed all over it.
“Hold on just a sec,” he says as he stops me at the entrance before going inside. A flicker of light appears and casts a shimmery glow around the interior. Jayson has placed more fairy lights inside which are draped across the tops of the plyboard walls and roof.
“Jayson, when did you do all of this? The tree, the fort?” I ask as emotion overcomes me.
“Julien helped. I hope you like it.”
“You definitely win the prize for the most romantic man in the world. I hate to see what you do for our five-year wedding anniversary. I won’t survive.”
At the mention of our wedding anniversary, Jayson’s body stills. I know I’m in trouble when I see his eyes dilate from silver to black. My body quivers, my blue lace panties already soaking wet just from his heated look, my center throbbing almost painfully.
Preparing for him to ravish me with one of his sensual kisses that I can’t get enough of, I’m taken by surprise when he brings his hands to my face, tipping it up, thumbs rubbing gentle circles next to the sides of my mouth. A small moan escapes me. My hands reach out and grab his arms from their own volition and hold on for dear life, needing his strength to anchor me in the maelstrom assaulting my senses by just his simple touch.
We sway in a sybaritic dance, being pulled together by invisible ribbons tethering our bodies until we are pressed together - legs, torsos, chests, arms. Jayson’s touches and light fathomless eyes hypnotize me. He brings our noses and foreheads together, his breath wispy puffs against my mouth.
“Liz,” is all I hear before our mouths open to each other and his tongue takes possession of mine. This kiss is different, dangerous in its subtle seduction. My body starts to float, lifted up on euphoric pulses of passion and desire, and it gives itself over fully to the boy I have loved since I was six.
