Sixty Days (17 page)

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I say sobbing. Seeing how much he’s hurting, and knowing that I’ve caused to hurt more, snaps me out
of this trance I’ve been in. Meeting him halfway, I embrace him in a tight hug. We both fall to the floor holding each other, breaking down in tears together, until there aren’t any left. Grieving, together, as a couple, just as it should’ve had been on the first place.

Always together, never alone.

That day
, we made a promise to always be open and be honest with each other, to never censor our feelings and thoughts. We both learned that communication is the key to success. I learned that I had won the jackpot of all boyfriends. With any other man, the relationship wouldn’t have lasted. But, with Mickey…he chose to stay by my side no matter how much I pushed him away. He chose to fight for us.

“Hey, where did you go?”
Mickey asks, caressing my cheek.

“I— I was thinking about that day and ev
erything that happened after,” I confess.

“Those were the worst months of my life,” he says
, a frown forming on his face.

“I know. F
or me, too,” I say laying my head on his shoulder.

“Do you—” h
e starts but stops, I can see his hesitation. “Do you think we should see Dr. Dunning again?” he finally asks.

“I don’t think so, unless you want
to,” I say, looking at him now. After the day Mickey confronted me, we decided to go to a couple therapist who also specializes in grief counseling. It really did us a lot of good. It made us stronger.

“Do you?” he asks in a low voice, almost as if he’s scared.

“I really don’t. Honestly, I don’t see the point. We are stronger now than we’ve ever been. I was only thinking about it because I wanted to remind myself how lucky I am to have you in my life,” I admit.

“Good
, that’s really good,” he says all of the sudden nervous.

“So, what’s the plan for this short get
away?” I ask teasingly.

“Laylah…there
is something I need to tell you,” he hesitantly says.

Chapter Ten

“W

hat is it
? Is everything alright? You’re sort of worrying me right now,” I tell him, laughing nervously.

“No, no. I promise i
t’s nothing to be scared about…I think,” he says, hesitating once again.

“Okay then, spit it out. What is it?”

“First, I want you to know this wasn’t really what I had planned.” He looks me directly in the eyes. I nod, so he continues, “I actually talked to your mom last night and after we were done talking, I decided that it was time. It’s something that I’ve been thinking about this for a while now.” He’s babbling now, something he only does when he’s extremely nervous. “So…here goes.” He moves me out of his lap and onto the couch as he kneels down on the floor beside me on one knee. I can feel the tears streaming out of my eyes as he grabs my hand in his and kisses it, before saying, “Laylah, no middle name, Torres.” We both chuckle at this. “I have loved you for what seems an eternity. We have been through so much together and, in our good times and our bad, we’ve always been there for each other.

“I can’t imagine my life with anyone else
, only you. From the very beginning, it has only been you. There have only been two others I have loved in my life; my mom and the baby girl we never had the chance to meet. While my love for them is unconditional, it doesn’t compare to the way I feel about you. You are my savior, my heaven, my sunshine on a rainy day. We belong to each other. Now, I’m not proposing to you. I’m not asking you to marry me,” he says making me furrow my eyebrows in confusion. He chuckles at my reaction, reaches up to smooth my eyebrows, and plants a kiss on my forehead.

“I’m telling you, Laylah. I’m telling you to ma
rry me. I’m telling you to spend the rest of your life with me. What do you say?” he finishes with a hopeful smile.

I smile back at him,
tears streaming out of my eyes. I quickly put him out of his misery and answer, “Yes, yes, yes! A million times yes.” I jump on him, causing us both to tumble to the floor, and kiss him with so much passion, so much love, I feel like I could burst.

“You and me, t
ogether forever, babe. Against all forces,” he says searching for his pocket and pulling a square, velvet case from it. He opens it and reveals the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.

“Together forever,
” I repeat as he puts the ring on my finger. I just stare at my engagement ring in awe, a goofy smile on my face. It’s a simple ring, not very traditional, but so perfect for me. The band is white gold and shaped like a double infinity symbol. A black diamond rests in the center where the infinity symbols link together, a perfect contrast from the white diamonds embedded into the band. “I love it. I love you,” I tell him, kissing him once again. I know he must’ve spent a fortune on it, but I also know given the chance, he would’ve done it a thousand times over.

“You have
just made me the happiest man in the universe. I’ve had that ring with me for a while now and I’ve been itching to give it to you. Thank you, Laylah. Thank you for making me this happy. Thank you for loving me, no questions asked,” he says kissing me again.

“No, thank you. I
would’ve been lost without you,” I tell him, kissing him back. I give him a brilliant smile and admire my ring. “I don’t want to ever take this off,” I tell him, the reality that half of our family still doesn’t know about us takes over.

“But, if you keep it on the family will start asking
questions,” he finishes for me. “I actually thought about that, so I bought you this,” he says, pulling out a white gold necklace so I can wear my ring around my neck.

“I promise
that we will tell them after Christmas. I wish it could be before. Hell, I wish it could be tomorrow, but I’m afraid that if my dad or Kev react in a negative way about this, they will ruin the holidays for Mama. Plus, there is also this whole thing with my dad and him not talking to me,” I tell him.

“I was thinking just the same.”

“Can you tell what it is that I’m thinking now?” I ask him, mischievously.

“Hell yeah
I can!” he says rising from the floor, picking me up right along with him, and taking us straight to the bedroom, losing our shoes somewhere along the way.

Once we are in the bedroom
, he let’s go of me and places me near the bed. He grabs my hip and pulls me closer to him so we are joined together, his crotch to my belly. He grabs my face with his other hand, caresses my cheek with his thumb, and studies every inch of me. When I ask him why he does so, he says that he wants to remember and cherish this moment forever. Right after he says this, he kisses me. I open my mouth so he can deepen the kiss. He moves his tongue slowly along mine, creating an erotic dance. I can feel his erection and I shiver in pleasure.

I
reach for the hem of his shirt and pull it up and over his head, breaking our kiss. He follows my lead and removes my shirt. I reach for his jeans and start unbuttoning them. He, once again, copies my move. Mickey usually likes to go commando, so I’m not surprised to find him bare and completely erect, standing proudly before me. He slides his fingers into my waistband and teasingly begins to remove my pants, taking my panties with them. He moves back to standing and starts to take off my bra, kissing my shoulder along the way. I run my fingers down his chest and follow the pattern with kisses.

We stand there fully naked in front of each other.
I look up at him, my eyes hooded and shiver at the passion and need dancing in his eyes. He tugs me back against him and carefully lies us down on the bed. He’s on top of me now, pressed against me in the most delicious way. He caresses my face with his hands, kisses the spots in each touches wake. Finally…finally, he moves his hands into my hair, possessively takes my lips with his, and enters me. He moves slowly inside of me, possessing every inch of my body, until we are both spent and wallowing in the depths of blissful passion.

“I love you,
” he whispers in my ear after he regains his breath.

“I love you
, too, Dimps,” I tell him, laying a kiss on his cheek.

I am engaged!
Engaged, engaged, engaged, engaged! I feel like screaming it from the top of my lungs so that the entire universe can hear that I, Laylah Torres, am engaged and set to become Mrs. Miguel Vega. I don’t give a damn of how cheesy that sounds because, in case you didn’t get the memo, I am engaged!

You could say that I am beyond happy. The last
few hours have been unbelievably blissful. From getting engaged to making love, three times, with the man that owns my heart and soul. I don’t want this day to be over. I woke up before Mickey and have, been sporting the biggest grin known to mankind.

I’ve also been enjoying the view beside me. The love of my life, he’s perfect and he’s set to be my husband. Mickey might not be a super model
, but he— he is perfect just the way he is. From his buzz cut, dark hair,  to his dimples, tanned skin, brown eyes, lean body from hours of working at the garage to that one and only smile he puts on just for me. He is my home, my soul mate. Mine.

“Enjoy
ing the view, love?” he sleepily mumbles.

“I sure am,
” I say a smile still plastered on my face.

“How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to do like twenty mental happy dances,” I tell him.

“You had to pee,
” he states, knowing me to well.

“I
had to pee,” I confirm. “Plus, I was feeling a little queasy,” I add.

“A
re you feeling fine, now?” he asks sitting up and checking my forehead. “You don’t seem to have a fever,” he adds once he’s done.

“I’m fine. In fact, I am more than fine. I am
beyond fine,” I say, and as soon as I do, my stomach grumbles. “And apparently hungry,” I add.

Mickey chuckles
. “So, what’s it going to be future Mrs. Vega? Would you like to go out for breakfast or order something from the hotel room service?”

I smile bigger than before, if
it’s even possible, and answer him, “Room service. Definitely, room service. That way we can go for another round.”

“I most de
finitely like the sound of that,” he says, kissing me.

We
ended up making love again before even bothering to order the food. Then again, and again. Don’t get me wrong, we have a pretty healthy sex life but the idea of having him officially be mine soon, has given me quite the appetite. Plus, I had woken up with my libido in a tizzy.

How the hell am I supposed to keep my hands off of him as soon as we head back home? Man, am I set for trouble or what? With this in mind, I decide to make the most of the day and spend it in bed.

“We need a date,” Mickey says, looking at our joined hands as we cuddle in bed.

“Have one in mind?” I ask playing with what little hair he has, my chin on his shoulder.

“I was thinking you should decide the date. Whatever makes you happy,” he says.

“April 12
th
,” I say without thinking twice. “I’ve always wanted a spring wedding,” I further explain.

“Then
, April 12
th
it is,” he says kissing my temple.

Unfortunately,
our Mickey and Laylah time was over and it was time to check out of the hotel and pick Luke up from the airport.

When we get to the airport
and found out that Luke’s flight has been delayed for a couple of hours.
While we’re waiting, I decide to give Mama a call. I quickly regret doing so. According to Mama, my dad had finally decided to come and talk to me yesterday after we left As soon as he found out where I was going and whom I was with, he went ballistic. Bad went to worse when he and Kev found out that Luke’s flight was canceled and we had decided to stay in a nearby hotel to save gas and the drag of repeating the same routine the next day.

I
n the middle of our conversation, Kev grabbed the phone away and started asking me all sorts of questions. After reassuring him that nothing had happened and that we had gotten separate rooms, he calmed down and handed the phone back to Mama. I thanked her for what she and Lola did and, after talking for a couple of more minutes, we hang up.