Travis POV
Flashback cont'd
Midnight was drawing near. Most of the guest left after I called Seth outside. I had left them together to "socialize" but they were already leaving. By 11:30, the house was empty, the catering crew had cleaned up, the furniture was back in place and mom was making coffee as usual. On Christmas Eve, we didn't go to sleep until wee hours in the morning.
Michaela came tumbling in the sitting room pajama clad from head to toe. She had her mop of curly locks in a bun on top of her head. The sleep mask she wore held the loose strands in tack. She had Bob Marley pajamas onâlong sleeved t-shirt and pajama pants. On her feet were a ridiculous pair of Mickey Mouse bed slippers but that's Michaela for you.
"Who's the buff army dude?" She asked no one in particular. She even pointed at him. Someone needs to work on her communication skills.
"That's my brother, Hunter," Seth answered.
"Nice to meet you, Hunter. I'm Michaela. Seth's my brother so I guess you're my brother."
"Pleasure to meet you, Michaela."
"I'll hug you or something when I get back. I need my crack. Mom! I want coffee!"
"I apologize for my sister," I said to Hunter. All he did was chuckle. Hunter was interesting. We spoke on the phone a few times and we texted too. He was nothing like I imagined him to beâhe was a lot like Seth, give or take a few traits. They kind of looked a like but Hunter looked his age more than Seth did. The only thing that sort gave Seth's age away was his scruff. I loved him scruff. It made his sexy lips stand out.
"What?" Seth asked. If it weren't for him asking me I wouldn't have noticed I was staring at him. I checked my watch and decided that it was time.
"Get your coat. I want to show you something." Â He had questions in his eyes but he didn't ask me anything. I would've had questions too. It's almost midnight and I want to show him something outside.
Seth came with his coat on but unbuttoned. I grabbed mine that was on the back of the couch from when I had picked up Hunter. I slipped my fingers through his and walked to the kitchen where the back stairs was.
"Why did I need my coat if we're just going upstairs? And your hands are kind of shaky and moist. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay," I said looking back on him. We got to the top landing and I opened the door that, on more than one occasion, had been easily mistaken as a closet. What that door led to was mom's Zen garden. Seth saw it and he stopped walking. I stopped too to give him a few minutes to take it in. The garden was made up of mostly green plants but it also had small trees and other flowers that didn't die in the wintertime. There was a pond that's really a fountain in the center of it all. The pond was temperature controlled so it wouldn't freeze up. Gravel and rocks surrounded the pond, which was surrounded by wooden flooring. Mom had the idea down to a T. The white Christmas lights were just the icing on the cake.
"It's beautiful."
Time was running out. I took his hands in mine so that he were standing face to face. His hands were cold but mine were warm because I was nervous and my blood was pumping through my veins. "Um." I lost my thoughts. Everything I was going to tell him was about what I felt for him. Everything I felt for him just came tumbling like a rolling stone. "I love you. I love you so much."
"Travis, I love you, too. What's wrong?"
"I know," I said. "Um." Keep it together. I didn't keep it together. My eyes started to sting and before I knew it I was sobbing softly and Seth had my neck buried into his neck.
"Why are you crying? It's okay. We're okay." I finally calmed down. Seth took my face in his hands, angling them so that his thumbs wiped the tears from my cheeks. "You're kind of worrying me."
I smiled at him. I knew I was scaring him but that was not my intention. "I didn't know how much I loved you until you walked back into my life and I didn't know what to do. I was terrified to still want you, to still love you but I did and I wouldn't admit it. I was fooling myself when I thought I could ever be happy without you."
"Travisâ"
"Let me finish," I interrupted him, taking his hands in mine again. "When I look at where we are and what we have been through together, I know that nothing can or ever will tear us apart. Not for long at least. " I felt the emotions coming on again and they threatened to show through my eyes. I didn't try to hide it but I didn't let it stop me this time. "I want to start my days off by waking up next to you; to see you smile when you wake up to me staring at you or when I wake up to you drawing me. I want to share laughter and tears with you, to be silly with you, and to fight with. We'll fight because we love each other and we care for each other selflessly. And that'll be fine because we'll make up and after we make up we'll make love to each other until we ache. I want to spend every moment of my life sharing everything with you whether it's good or bad. You're the person I want my forever with. Seth, if you want all of these things too and with me, I'm going to ask you to marry me and you're going to say yes."
He laughed, which I was not expecting. "What else would I say?"
Now it was my turn to laugh. Â Reaching inside of my tux pocket, I took out the platinum diamond ring, which features 3.53 carats of round, princess & baguette diamonds; thirty-five diamonds in total. "Good." I let go of his right hand but kept his left as I got down on one knew.
"Oh fuck me!" Even with his cheeks already red from the cold they managed to get redder. He turned away from me and all I could see was his back. When I moved my head my left he was smiling from ear to ear. "God, I love you." It was a whisper. I don't think he knew he said it.
"Mi amor," I said, chuckling. "I want to ask you something but I need you to look at me." Slowly, he turned around and met my eyes. His smile didn't disappear but his face was wet. "Seth Winters, the love of my life, will you marry me?"
He didn't even hesitate. "Of course." I vaguely heard the church bell from the church in town. We lived on a hill. That didn't make it easy to hear a lot of things.
The ring was on his finger and I was firmly on my feet. All done in record time. Seth's hands were wrapped around my neck and mine around his waist. Our bodies were pressed slowly against each other as if we wanted to mend as one and so were our lips. Seth moaned when I nipped on his lips. Hearing him moan made my groin stir.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of a bottle of champagne followed by clapping and cheering. Seth and I pulled away from each other, surprised. My father had my camcorder in his hand. Michaela had her phone snapping pictures and mom had her camera. Christian was the one who popped the champagne. I knew they all knew I was going to do it, even Hunter, because I asked his permission, but I couldn't believe they were there the whole time. Sneaky.
Our family congratulated us. Michaela was jumping and clapping like the dork she was. She was so happy for us. That meant more than words could describe to me. Mom set her camera on one of the bamboo stands that had vines wrapping around the cylinder shaped figure. The sound of the shutter signaled that it was taking pictures automatically.
Somehow Hunter managed to carry seven glasses. He placed them on a bench in a straight line. Christian filled them up. I'm glad Hunter was getting along with everyone. He looked happy and comfortable. That's what I hoped for.
Dad took Michaela's glass from her and mom gave it back, saying, "Only because everyone is having some." Mom took the glass back and drank about half of it. We laughed.
"To Seth and Travis," Hunter said, holding his glass up. "I hope you both have everything you've ever dreamed of. Cheers."
That about summed up the best quote of the night. "Cheers," we chorused.
We shared a few more chitchats then we went back to our respective rooms to change into pajamas. That was our thing. Pajamas, coffee, open a few presents, and maybe, maybe a movie. Christian agreed to show Hunter to the room he would be staying in. I needed a few minutes with my fiancée.
I entered my bedroom behind Seth, locking the door behind me. My siblings have a tendency to barge into my room whenever they felt like it. Turning, I got a surprise when Seth leapt into my arms. The last thing I expected was for him to pounce on me like that. I loved it. I also loved when he tangled his fingers in my hair and tugged on it as he kissed me passionately, exactly what he was doing.
I took a few steps forward until I reached the bed where I lie Seth down with myself on top of him. Opening his tux, I pulled his shirt out of his dress pants to caress his soft skin. I don't know how long we were making out for but it was long enough for us to be left in our boxers.
"I never wanted you to make love to me so badly," Seth breathed.
"I know," I answered. "Me too. We can't right now, I'm sorry. Maybe after."
Seth smiled and caressed my cheek the back of his index finger. "Don't ever apologize for something like that. You've made this the best night of my life thus far."
Damn it! I'm so emotional tonight. "So have you."
"What do you say we go have some family time?"
"Yeah, but you need to stay away from me for like ten minutes so that I can get rid of this hard on."
Seth laughed. "Deal."
End Flashback
"Your gift is on our bed." I didn't have to say anything else. Seth was out of my arms and without a doubt to our bedroom. Wanting to be there when he opened it, I ran after him. He had the box on his lap when I reached the bedroom, undoing the tie. Opening the box, Seth took out the gift, two pairs of baby booties in the colors pink and blue.
He wanted us to start a family three years ago. That was the time my residency started so we had to put it off. I'm almost finished with my residency and I think it's the perfect time to start our family.
Seth held the booties in his palms. He looked at them like they were the most precious things he had ever seen. I'm sure they were for him because of the significance. He kissed my lips shortly before hugging me.
"Thanks for being so patient."
He kissed me again. "I love you."
"I love you too."
"Do you want to see your anniversary gift?"
"Definitely. Where is it?"
"It's on me."
"Mi amor, did you get my name or something tattooed on your body?" He laughed and nodded. Seth had gotten a few more tattoos over the years. Him and Hunter had at least three matching ones. I have yet to get even a small one. I'm terrified. "Where is it? I can't believe it. You know I can leave you tomorrow?"
"I'd like to see you try." That made me laugh. Yeah, that'll never happen. "You have to take my pants and my boxers off to see it."
"Baby, you know if I take those off we're having sex."
He titled his head back to look at the digital clock on my side of the bed. I'm the one who needed an alarm to wake up hence why it's on my side. "Our family is due in twenty minutes. If you think you can, by all means."
I laughed at that. Funny. I moved the booties out of the way before pushing Seth to lie flat on his back in a way that his legs were hanging off of our bed. Standing at the foot of the bed, I tucked my fingers in the inside of his boxers so that I could pull both off at the same time. "Close your eyes," Seth said. He said that so I wouldn't see the tattoo and it was a brilliant idea. Once I had his pants and down his ankles, I opened my eyes. Honestly, his beautiful c-ck distracted me before I remembered the reason I undressed him in the first place. Right next to his crotch and just below his hipbone in beautiful, fine cursive writing my anniversary gift. El amor de mi vida, Travis Ortega. June 14, 2013 â forever.
We're definitely having sex.
A/N
Here we go. The hard part. This is the end of a story that I enjoyed writing a lot. Seth and Travis meant a lot to me. Â This is the first story I wrote where destiny or faith was really in love and not just the luck of falling hard for someone else and wanting to be with them. There were bigger things at play for these two.
Thank you guys for sticking through until the end. I'm glad you enjoyed it to keep reading it.
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-One Love