Rosie stood at his words and grabbed both sides of Buck’s face, kissing him on the lips and causing a renewed round of cheers and whistles from the crowd. Everyone lifted their glasses in the air and took a drink in their honor. I was setting mine on the table when my napkin slipped from my lap and I bent down under the table to pick it up. Just then, I saw Reed’s boots step up on top of the seat next to me and heard the clanking of his spoon on the glass again.
“Sorry…almost done,” he said, his voice so similar to his father’s now. “I’m the best man, and it’s sort of tradition that best men say something at these things. I’d know…I’ve done this before, right Pops?” Everyone laughed at Reed’s joke, picking on his dad’s marriages. His father just wadded up his napkin and threw it at his son.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I love you Pops, you know that. And Rosie, you’ve been family to me my entire life. Tonight? Well, that’s just a formality for me. It makes it official.” Reed gulped a little, looking down, his eyes wide and concentrating.
“It’s funny, I do this a lot. Talk in front of crowds. But sometimes I get nervous. Phew, I’m a little nervous now,” he reached down to take another sip from his glass. I felt bad, I almost wanted to rescue him. I knew he didn’t really like attention. He tolerated it, played his part when he had to, whatever it took to get back out on the football field. I squeezed his hand at his side, and he looked down, his eyes intent on me, and his smile faint and thoughtful. He left his gaze on me when he continued to talk, and I hoped it would help calm his nerves.
“So, I’m supposed to say something wise—something meaningful, and deep—about love. But everything I know about love you taught me, Pops. So it just doesn’t seem right passing on any words of wisdom to you here,” he spoke, his eyes still trained on mine as he lifted one side of his mouth into a half smile, his irresistible dimple punctuating his words. That dimple. I was done the first time I’d seen it.
“I’m not going to give you any advice. At least, not anything you don’t already know. But I would like to tell you what I’ve learned, what you’ve taught me. I’ve learned that sometimes love is hard. Life makes love hard, constantly pushing against you and finding things to throw in your way. And sometimes those things knock you down. No…they knock the shit out of you, knock you on your ass, isn’t that what you said, Pops?”
“Sure is, son. Sure is,” Buck piped in, leaning back in his chair, his face proud, and his head nodding. I looked back at Reed, his eyes never once leaving me. My heart was starting to race from his attention.
“Right. It knocks you on your ass. But then you get up. You get up, because that person, the one you love more than anything on earth…well, putting it bluntly, like my father taught me, they make getting your ass knocked down worth the trouble,” Reed said. He was speaking to me, and I knew it. My hands were sweating from the attention, but my heart was swelling for the love from this man, the fact that he was washing away my insecurities right here, in front of everyone.
Reed stepped back down from his chair to the ground and everyone reached for their glasses, getting ready to toast. Only Reed didn’t reach for a glass. Instead, he pushed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a tiny antique box, holding it for a few brief seconds in his giant hand before slipping down to one knee in front of me. I heard the gasps and a few whimpers from my friends just before the entire scene folded in on me, my ears drowning out everything but Reed. “Oh my God!” my mind screamed.
“Nolan. From the moment I met you, I knew you were different. You were tough, and honest, and smart, and funny, and beautiful. But you also fit me, like nothing else in my entire life had ever fit before. You are all of my missing pieces,” he spoke, shaking his head a little as he laughed to himself softly, his eyes returning back to mine. “You are the good in me. What drives me, what motivates me. Yeah…I love football. But what I leave out there on that field, it’s all for you. And I’d give that all up in a second if I had to. Because you…well, you’ve knocked me on my ass. But you’re worth all the trouble.”
Reed flipped the box open, revealing an antique ring with small swirls of diamonds and a pearl at the center. It was beautiful and perfect. It was old, and told a story, like our love. I couldn’t blink, but rather could only sit frozen in my chair while Reed knelt before me. I managed to look up briefly at my mother, her eyes teary and a smile on her face. Reed followed my gaze and looked back at me, grinning mischievously. “Oh, they know all about this,” he said, reaching into the box while the crowd snickered a little at my surprise. I was shaking now, my arms covered in goose bumps.