by Ruby Moone
When he emerged, Christian was breathing heavily. Heart thundering with excitement.
When he spoke, the words were breathy.
“We’d better sort out a cat flap for Mavis, then.”
Epilogue
Twelve Months Later
“It’s barely recognisable.” Asher Malek stood holding a glass of wine looking around the Cheshire house that Daniel had almost sold.
“Tell me.” Daniel sipped his sparkling water and breathed a satisfied sigh. It was nothing short of a miracle. Christian had real flair for interior design and when they’d roped in a few of their friends to help with ideas, it had all come together in a pretty short space of time. All it had needed was colour and some decent, comfortable furniture, stuff on the walls…. The garden had been landscaped and was filled with trees. He even had a damned vegetable garden. He looked out of the space where the patio doors had been folded back. Christian was on the lawn in the sunshine chatting with Michael Cross. He wore the cream pants that Daniel liked and a white linen shirt. He was so damned gorgeous. It still made his heart jump when he saw him.
His mother came into the room and wrapped her arm around his waist.
“Happy?”
“More than I could ever say.” He hugged her to him. “I still have to remind myself he’s not going to turn up and wreck everything.”
“Me too.”
She looked up at him. “You’ve certainly invited enough people.”
Daniel looked out at the sea of faces in the garden, in the room, everywhere. He wasn’t sociable at all, but this was a statement. He’d just about sorted Kenneth’s estate, just about got his priorities in order to the point where he wasn’t working every last hour, and now he was ready to face the world. All Christian’s friends and colleagues from MC Securities were there, all his own work colleagues, friends, all the relatives… He searched the crowd and spotted his aunt and uncle. His aunt had Mavis in her arms.
Christian turned and looked at him. He raised an arm and smiled. Daniel waved back.
His mother sighed. “That boy loves you so much.”
He nodded. It had taken a long time for him to accept that he was loved. Wholly, unequivocally, and without restraint. It hadn’t all been plain sailing, moving in together straight away had been about as difficult as anyone might imagine. He was still a miserable bastard, but with the help of a good therapist, and a whole lot of love from Christian, he was getting there.
“I love him too. I never stopped for a second.”
“I know, darling.”
“Okay, let’s do this.”
He pulled in a breath as his mother released her hold on him. “Do you know, I’ve never been prouder of you.”
Daniel blinked. “Stop it. You’ll have me bawling.” He hugged her tight for a moment, then walked out into the garden, straight to Christian.
He looked at him. His fair hair shone in the sun; the neatly manicured scruff looked so good he just wanted to stroke his face against it. His eyes… oh, his eyes. He took Christian’s hand and they walked to where a small table was set up on the edge of the patio.
Still holding his hand, Daniel let out a piercing whistle that made the entire lawn of people shut up and look.
“Sorry,” he said, not sorry at all, “I just wanted your attention for a moment.”
Everyone turned, and everyone looked. Daniel swallowed. He checked the table beside him and then cleared his throat.
“Thank you all for coming to celebrate the completion of the house. I’m sure you’ll all agree it’s pretty spectacular?”
A murmur of assent.
“That’s not the only reason I invited you here. I invited you because I want you all to meet the love of my life.”
A louder murmur this time. Some knew about his relationship with Christian, but many still didn’t. Particularly from the family.
He turned to Christian, laced their fingers together, and held both hands aloft. Christian smiled and squeezed his fingers in a firm, cool grip.
“I fell in love with Christian thirteen years ago, and today, today he agreed to be my husband.”
Christian’s eyes were damp. Hell, his own were. He’d actually asked Christian to marry him the previous week and the look on his face as he said yes made him fill up every time he thought about it. He swallowed and turned to the table and picked up the two ring boxes. He handed one to Christian, who took it with a smile filled with love. They opened them, and each slid a platinum ring on the other’s hand. Daniel held onto Christian’s fingers for a moment, looking at how beautiful the ring looked. They’d chosen them together. They still had the rings he’d bought when Christian was in hospital, but they were now tucked in a box in Daniel’s cupboard along with his other precious memories. He touched the leather bracelet on Christian’s wrist. It was the one he’d bought him in Greece that he rarely took off. He ran a thumb over Christian’s fingers and looked down into his eyes. Eyes that were filled with so much love he wanted to shout it out to the world. Instead, he turned and smiled at the assembled group while keeping a tight hold on Christian’s hand.
“So, you see, it’s actually an engagement party too.” There was silence for a moment, then a massive cheer as people clapped, shouted, whistled. He looked around. Their friends were yelling and clapping, Michael and Jack, Finlay and Aaron were all cheering, even Asher was laughing. Eric Daly nodded and clapped. His aunt was crying, cuddling the cat so hard she squirmed and jumped down. His uncle smiled and nodded at him.
The rest of family and his work colleagues looked stunned, some cheered, some gradually joined in, some looked horrified. He didn’t care. This was it. He was officially out.
Not only that, a soon to be a married man.
He looked at the ring on his finger, then turned and took Christian’s face between both hands and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. The cheering subsided into a chorus of ‘aww’ which made Christian grin against his lips.
“S’pose that makes me out now,” he whispered against his mouth.
Christian chuckled and his hands squeezed him. “S’pose it does.”
Daniel looked up at the crowd. “I really don’t know why this man loves me, but he does. And I’m so damned glad.” He kissed him gently.
“Some of you have asked, over the years, what was the inspiration for my tattoo.” He grinned at them as he ran a hand up his throat. “Christian’s eyes. It’s the colours in Christian’s eyes.”
Christian gaped at him. “Really?”
“Really.”
Christian’s beautiful, tattoo inspiring eyes went watery as put his arms around him and leaned into him, so Daniel held him tight.
“I love you so damned much.” Christian’s voice was wobbly.
“You too.”
Daniel looked up at the sky above their heads. “Look,” he whispered.
Christian looked up.
“No rain cloud.”
Christian made a soft sound and buried his face in Daniel’s neck.
As they held each other, Mavis twirled around their legs, binding them together with a twist of her tail.
<<<<>>>>
More from Ruby Moone
Loving Daniel
Copyright © 2019 Ruby Moone
Thank you so much for reading Loving Daniel. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to keep up with what I’m writing, here is where you’ll find me.
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More MC Securities from Ruby Moone
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