Me and My Boys

Things between Camille and I develop much more rapidly after that night. Soon enough, she’s making dinner for me as well as her sons, I’m going to every single one of the boys’ games I can make, and they’re coming to all of the games of mine that they can make. Camille takes to stealing my away jersey out of my closet before games, and I don’t mind one bit. The boys also welcome me (although they always did), and insist on me playing video games, hockey, and board games with them. After six months of being in a relationship, Camille and the boys move into my house.

“Hey Zach,” Jack asks quietly one evening, knocking on my office door the day after the move. I look up from the newspaper I’m reading, and raise my eyebrows.

“What’s up Jack?” I ask, putting the paper down.

“Jimmy and I wanna know when you’re going to marry our mom,” Jack says. His face is incredibly serious, and Jimmy walks into the office, also stony faced. I feel my jaw drop, and I run my fingers through my hair.

“Well…would you guys be okay with that?” I ask.

“Duh, or we wouldn’t ask,” Jimmy replies. His speech impediment has almost completely disappeared, much to the excitement of Camille and I.

“Well then…do you think she’ll like this ring?” I whisper, pulling open the top drawer of my desk. I open the small black velvet box, and show them the ring. It’s a beautiful white gold band with a large, sparkling diamond perched on top, with two smaller diamonds, one on each side of the larger. Jack and Jimmy examine it for a moment, and then they nod in unison.

“It’s pretty enough for her,” Jack says.

“Pretty enough?” I ask with a small chuckle.

“Our mom is the prettiest lady on Earth, she has to have a nice ring too,” Jimmy smirks.

“Yeah, your mom is the prettiest woman on Earth,” I smile quietly.

I don’t think I’ve sweat this much in my entire life. Camille doesn’t know what’s coming, the moment she walks in through the door of our house. Jack and Jimmy have willingly gone to a friend’s house to spend the night, and I’ve made everything as romantic as possible in the house. It kind of helps that the Stanley Cup is sitting there, glittering in the corner, and a little while after I hear the door open, I hear Camille’s gasp. She follows the rose petals I’ve sprinkled all over the floor to the dining room, and her cheeks flush as she sees me standing there, rocking back and forth nervously on the balls of my feet. I pull out the chair for her, and serve her favorite dinner, herb grilled salmon. Dinner is light, and pleasant, and by the time Camille and I begin to eat dessert, my heart is about to jump out of my chest. Camille suspects something, I can see it on her face, but she doesn’t say anything. It isn’t until she reaches the center of her dessert, a small, hollowed out piece of cake I specially ordered, that she raises her eyebrows.

“Zach…” she says slowly.

“Yeah?” I ask weakly.

“Why is there a ring in my cake?” she smiles, picking the ring out from the hollow of the cake. I stand up and cross the table in a few steps. I take the ring from her and get down on one knee.

“Camille…will you marry me?” I ask. Tears flood her eyes immediately, and she lets me slide the ring on her finger before tackling me to the floor. She peppers my face with kisses, her tears dripping onto my cheeks as she does so.

“I love you Zach,” she whispers before kissing me slowly.

“I love you too,” I smile before kissing her back.