"M-m-- You want to marry me?" Marilyn finally managed to say whole words.
"Damn straight." Suddenly he wanted it more than anything he'd ever wanted in his whole entire fucking life.
"But I'm--I'm thirty-nine. I'm boring."
Eli caught her wrist and pulled her closer. He wanted her on the bike. "And I'm twenty-five. I know I'm too young for you. I can't--I don't know much, no school, I'm not--but sometimes, I swear, I feel like I'm seventy-five. I may not have lived very long, Marilyn, but I've lived hard. I'm a hell of a lot older on the inside than I am on the outside. You're not boring to me, but honestly, if you are? There's lots of times that boring sounds damn good to me."
"You really want to marry me?"
"Yes, damn it. Now will you--" He tried to get her on the bike, but she drew back.
"Why?"
"Why? You want me to--? Okay, I want to marry you because you're real. Because you get mad at me when I do something stupid and get hurt. Because you not only love my son, you open your home to another stray kid who needs one and love him too. Because I fell in love with you in a fucking hospital emergency room when you walked in and ordered me to let the doctors take care of me.
"I kept telling myself I didn't do love, I didn't know how to love anybody, but I was in love with you the whole time. And now I want promises."
Eli caught Marilyn's other wrist and pulled her against him, twisting his body toward her. "If you really love me like you said, then you make me a promise. You promise me in front of a judge, God, or whoever you want that you'll never leave me for the rest of your life. And I'll promise you the same.
"I promise to love you with everything I have in me. You said you wanted it all. Well, babe, I'll give it to you. But that's what I want back from you. I don't break promises and I know you don't either. So, are you going to get on this bike and go downtown and marry me, or what?"
His heart almost stopped beating at the sight of tears streaming down her face. Then she swung her leg up and over the back of the Harley. He had to let go of her hands before she could settle in snug behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. "Let's go."
"Are you crying?"
"It's a girl thing. Don't worry about it."
"You love me? You're going to marry me?" He had to be sure.
"Yes and yes. So, why aren't we going anywhere?"
"Go in and get your coat. You'll freeze without it. The wind will cut right through that sweater."
She shoved at him. "I thought you were in a hurry."
"Okay, then." Eli put down the kickstand and slid off the bike. Then he turned around and took her face between his hands, wiping away the last of the tears. "I love you. I want to take care of you. I'll go get your coat."
He kissed her. His first time kissing someone he loved, knowing she loved him back. It made his heart feel too big for his chest. "You're sure you love me?" he murmured against her lips.
"With all my heart, forever."
"Oh, God." If he kissed her again, they'd never make it downtown. "Be right back."
Marilyn called her brother from the back of the Harley to tell him to pick the boys up from school. It was hard enough making him understand that much, what with the wind and traffic noise, so she didn't explain why she and Eli couldn't do it.
In the end, it was just as well, because the marriage license had a three-day waiting period attached. They considered finding a judge to get the wait waived, but decided against it. Now that Eli had her promise to marry him, he could wait.
So, on Sunday afternoon, Eli stood in front of the living room picture window wearing a brand-new navy pin-striped suit that looked damn good on him, if he said so himself. Pete stood next to him with Steve on his far side, both of them in sharp new suits looking damn good, with big grins on both their faces.
Detective Jackson was there with his wife. So was Eli's partner Frank with his whole family and some of Marilyn's girlfriends with theirs. Marilyn's sisters weren't there, nor was her mother, but Fitz's daughter had driven him down from Erie the night before, so Eli had family there. And Julie walked down the stairs into the living room to line up on the other side of the preacher as Marilyn, on her brother's arm, appeared.
She took his breath away, she was so beautiful. And his. Forever.
Epilogue
***
Three months later, it was high summer. Marilyn stood on the front steps of the house and looked out at the family and friends gathered on the lawn. They had all come together on this sunny day in July to help celebrate. Today, Marilyn's adoption of Pete as her son became final, along with his name change, adding Court onto the end of all the others. And the first steps toward their adoption of Stevie were accomplished as well.
When they'd broached the idea of adopting him, Stevie had finally given up enough information to track down his drug-addicted mother. The termination of her parental rights had become official today. Final adoption would be set before school started, and Marilyn and Eli would have two sons.
She watched the boys, who were with the other children beside the garage, filling water balloons for the towel volleyball game Julie had planned. Some serious flirtation was going on between Stevie and Frankie Dicenzo's youngest, while the little boys spent more time drenching each other than working on balloons.
Her gaze
