Be My One Regret

be my 1 regret /epilogue

3 years later......

"I can't believe you're making me do this." I glare past the humming needle pricking my ankle at two glimmering green eyes at the foot of the tattoo bed. 

Perfectly conniving lips curve into a deeper devilish grin. "Get over it. I got mine done now it's your turn."

I humph a  little as he twists his arm looking down at his newly redesigned ink. "Yeah, but I liked mine. It was for me. Just like yours was for you."

Eyes jerking back to me, his mouth quirks. "Baby, we talked about this. I told you I wanted to fix my tattoo for you, and up until five minutes ago, you wanted to do the same. So...."

Stopping abruptly, the purple and orange dred-locked tattoo artist glances from me to Tucker as he hovers the needle above my foot. "Um, yeah, are we doing this or not? I have a few more people in the waiting room ready to go...so what's it going to be?"

The grumpy demand triggers a resentful groan from Tucker as he casts me a 'don't you dare back out' look. I arch my brows at him and growl. "Fine. Fix my tattoo."

Metal studs in dred-locks' brows pinch together.  "Alright. And  add the roses and the words just like the design that he drew?"

I flick my gaze to Tucker's hand. The scratch paper in his grasp outlining the changes we had discussed. I knew what was there. What we had agreed on. But my heart strings tighten with sentimental value as I turn my focus back down at  my ankle and the old design that had been my first. My only. To this day, I still hadn't told anyone what it really meant. And I liked that it was a symbol of something I had felt for my dearest friend. Tanner. He had been everything to me then and still was now. He was my first crush, my first failed crush, but my first and forever best friend. And the tattoo was my reminder. I not only loved it, I cherished it. It was a part of who I was and everything I'd been thru. But now....now things were different....not bad...but good. And it wasn't like I was being told to remove it, I was just adding to it. Making it better. Creating a new memory on it. I purse my lips. 

This was no big deal. This didn't change anything.  I'm just enhancing the tattoo. So do it already, Fi, quit the bitching.  

My bottom lip trembles from contemplation to resolve. "Yeah, go ahead."

Three hours and new tattoos later, I lace my fingers with Tucker's as we walk side by side from the tattoo parlor towards our car.  We'd done what he wanted. Which I wasn't surprised. He seemed to get his way when it came to me. Right down to even convincing me to be the next Mrs. Jones a year ago. It wasn't a shocker. It was as if deep down I always knew we'd eventually end up together. It just had taken us little bit longer than most. Although throwing in an unexpected pregnancy and our company's rival disputes, it had been anything but easy to compromise the idea of a relationship. But somehow, Tucker Jones had finally worn me down. Somewhere between the emergency c-section, endless diapers, bottles, and board meetings, he proved himself to me. Over and over. Remaining by my side. Being the kind of guy every woman secretly wants. Accepting. Giving. Loving. He wasn't Tanner. Not even close. But that was okay. Because where Tanner was just my best friend, and I loved him for it, Tucker became more, and I loved him for that too. I was a lucky girl. I had the best of both worlds. 

And I wouldn't change it. None of it. Hell no.  

Angling his coppery head, Tucker cockily grants me a million dollar smile that more than screams 'I win'. It's enough to make me want to punch him in his freshly tattooed arm but I refrain. I twist my mouth into a pouty smile and roll of my eyes. "Happy now?"

The smirk on his lips doesn't recede, not even a tad. "Absolutely."

I crinkle my nose. "Gawd, it was that important to you, huh?"

Halting in step, Tucker spins me into his arms wrapping me tightly into a hug. A hug that's warm and strong and safe. His lips press against my hair as he  whispers.  "You have no idea how long I have been waiting to add your name to my tattoo."

Silly butterflies flutter thru my chest. I pull back slightly looking up at him. "Oh, really? Well, I have to admit that the scrolled art  on your arm was weirdly random, like a drunken mistake. I still can't believe you had it done. I never thought you'd do something like that. It's a very defiant middle finger move to your pristine mother and Jones reputation. I've been sorta impressed by it for a while."

"Oh yeah? And you're just now telling me this?" He chuckles.

"Well, yeah, duh." I scrunch my face. "I'm not going to tell you things that will make your ego even bigger than it already is. Gawd, like you need more of that."

There's a hesitance in his green eyes as he stares down at me. A twinge of regret and hurt crinkle at the corners. But then they soften as he lets out a short breath releasing me  to roll up his sleeve. His jaw ticks as he points at the twining black lined design. "It wasn't a one time deal, Fi. I got each of these every time we broke up or I cheated on you. I wanted every one of these to remind me that I was a dick to have hurt the one person I loved most. And that I probably blew it with you. They were my penance. Ones that I deserved because I didn't deserve you. Still not sure if I do."

Tears tug at the corners of my eyes as I reach out to touch his arm. I trace my fingertips over the dark mingled lines. The formation of twisted daggers that twine around a ruby red heart but not touching it. It almost looks like my own with it's thorns around a single rose. Broken, angry, wanting. Only to be finally relieved by my name being centered in the middle of that heart along with two smaller  hearts on either side of it with names of their own. Delicately printed but proudly adorned. Our children, the life-altering unexpected twins of our own, Oliver and Theodora. Just like theirs and his names were now on my tattoo. And I can feel the power of this tattooed proclamation and what it means to him, to us. 

My bottom lip quivers as I flick my wet eyes up to him. "Tucker, that was a long time ago. We've come along way since then." 

"I know." He cups my face with his hands rubbing his thumbs gently across my lower lip easing away the sadness. "And thank God we survived each other. But now it's there on my skin in bold to remind me, and I won't doubt it. Ever. I like that the three of you are on my arm permanently, making a statement. I think this makes me happier than when you became my wife."

The sentiment was sweet, but I can't help the laugh that slips from my mouth. "Oh, gawd, you don't need a tattoo to tell you that."

His strong but gentle fingers grasp my face a little more assuredly. His incredible eyes glow brightly and crisply green at me. "Maybe not, but it is nice to know that you can look at yours and see me now too."

Sharp pangs of guilt dig into my heart. My little tattoo wasn't as secret as I thought. Or maybe he was that good at seeing right thru me. Which he was. Damn it. And ten years ago, I would have slapped him for it. But now, after a few years of being this new 'us',  parenting together,  married, successful, and still loving each other without provocation,  he was all I saw. All I wanted. And that was the truth. 

My mom was right, some day I would find the one. The right one for me. And I didn't settle, I got so much more. 

Heart fluttering in my chest, I grip his shirt pulling his face to mine. "Tucker Jones, you are an asshole, but I love you."