Bridge over troubled waters

42| Together

Bailey

I try to roll over in bed this cool morning but run right into something hard. I let out a huff as I retreat a little and open my eyes to see Corey laying there with his mouth wide open softly snoring and I just smile to myself. I move some of his hair out of his face so I can get a good look at him. Take in his soft features and just smile. After all this time he was all mine, he was finally mine and I couldn't be happier that he was.

I pull his arm around me and move closer so he was wrapped around me. Our legs get tangled up as we relax in bed for a little while longer. He starts to stir a little before his long eyelashes finally separate. As soon as his eyes focus he looks for me and smiles when his eyes meet mine. He reached out and touches my face causing my stomach to do a flip. "You're so beautiful" he whispers as he pulls me closer. He presses a soft kiss to my forehead and I was convinced this was bliss.

"I'm so happy we're..." I trail off.

"Together" he asks as his voice cracks.

"Is that what we are" I wonder.

"I don't know. I don't think they have a name for what we're doing" he insists.

"I don't think so either. But I think Together is a good place to start" I admit.

I softly pull him into a kiss then not so softly he kisses me back. We stay tangled up under the sheets as we try to make up for lost time we should have been together but we weren't.

"I love you so much" he whispers on my lips.

"You've told me that about a million times in the past three days" I giggle.

"I've missed a million chances to tell you and I'm never missing another one again" he assures me.

"Well aren't you the sweetest" I tease.

"Only for you" he promises.

We lay in bed for a little bit longer before getting up to start the day. I pull one of his shirts on and get started on breakfast while he was in the shower. I quietly sing to myself with the biggest smile on my face. For the first time in my life I felt... loved. And actually loved the way I wanted to be loved. None of that fake stuff. There was no "I love you but" in this relationship. I felt like Corey and I were meant to be and I'm happy we finally were.

I feel a pair of arms snake around my waist and I lean into Corey as I finish up with our omelets. He softly kisses my neck and I was convinced I was in heaven. Like if I could spend the rest of my mornings with him like this then maybe this life isn't as bad as I thought it is.

"When are we going to break the news to the family" he wonders making me laugh.

"You realize as soon as we do that they're going to throw us a wedding, right" I tease.

"I don't doubt it" he laughs. "But if we don't tell them them sooner rather than later I'm afraid we won't make it to our wedding because they would have killed us" he defends. He's not wrong.

"You see us getting married" I ask him.

"Of course I do. I always have. We've been best buds since we were 9 and I always wanted you to be a big part of my life. Preferably my wife" he claims.

I think about us getting married and how I never thought it would happen but now that we're together I wanted it to happen and as soon as we were ready. "It's just... weird to me. I was with Mark for five years and we never talked about getting married and now it's day three with you and we're already talking about it" I shrug.

"I want to marry you" he announces and I pause for a second. I turn the stove off and move the pan to a different burner so I don't burn out breakfast.

I turn around in his arms and wrap my arms around his neck. I pull him closer trying to see what he means by this. "Why do you want to marry me" I ask.

"Because I've always known it's going to be you. Even when I was a little kid I knew that you and I were meant to be together. I knew the day would come that you would agree to be my wife. No matter what it took I was going to wait for you as long as I had to so I had my chance to marry you. And now I have it" he claims.

"Are you proposing right now" I ask.

"Is pre-proposing a thing" he questions making me chuckle.

"I guess anything is a thing if you make it" I insist.

"I just want you to know my intentions here. I'm not like Mark because you and I have been together for 19 years now and it's not even enough for me. I know that every day from here on out I will show you the ways I love you one way or another. No matter how far from each other we are I know our love is stronger. It's not like I need to get to know you or your family or your dreams. I know it all. And I know that having you here with me you can be anything you've ever imagined" he promises me.

"But Canada is home too" I insist.

"And it always will be" he assures me. "But we have the opportunity to make this place like home. To create something that we can only find here. We can have a family and you can be the biggest name in art. I can play a full career here. Then when it's all said and done we go back to where it all started" he promises.

"I don't want you telling me this stuff just because it's what I want to hear" I insist.

"Baby, your dreams are my dreams too" he promises.

"I just... I don't know. I always figured that we would end up like this. But I never thought about what comes next" I admit.

"Why don't we go home for a week? We can go back to where it all started and reminisce on how we got here. Tell everyone the good news and then we cross over that bridge together when the time comes. We don't need to go through the troubled water again. We've got a bridge that will bring us right back to this moment allowing us to move on" he assures me.

"I just want this to be about you and I. Nothing else" I insist.

"It's you and I" he promises.