About forty Dombrusos, including Adriano’s brothers and their spouses and kids, made up the rest of our guests. They were loud and boisterous and just so much fun. At the moment, Adriano and Dante were arm wrestling, and it was completely ridiculous. Both men were turning red, and neither was budging, since they were so evenly matched. Meanwhile, Vincent and Mike were teasing them mercilessly, while Gianni and his famous husband kept up a running commentary.
I paused in the center of the room and just took it all in. A few moments later, Adriano came up behind me and slipped his hands around my waist. As I leaned against him, I asked, “Did you hurt yourself with that display of machismo?”
“My arm feels like it’s about to fall off.”
“Who won, you or Dante?”
“Neither. Romy stepped in and told us we were going to burst a blood vessel if we kept it up, so we called it a draw.” I turned to face him and draped my arms over his shoulders, and Adriano said, “You looked like you were deep in thought.”
“I was marveling at how different my life is now, compared to just a few months ago. I used to spend most of my time alone, and now my life is so full. It feels like a miracle.”
He kissed my forehead and whispered, “I love you so much.”
It felt like a huge understatement when I told him, “I love you too, Reno.”
* * *
Later that night, when our out-of-town guests were tucked into the boutique hotel up the street and our local friends and family were back home, Adriano and I snuggled on the couch. We were dressed in pajamas and wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket, and the tree’s lights cast a warm, golden glow over everything.
All of a sudden, he sat up and blurted, “I can’t do it! I can’t wait until Christmas to give you your gift. Can we please just exchange presents right now?”
I threw the blanket aside and leapt up as I exclaimed, “God yes! I thought I was going to explode if I had to wait another week.”
We ran off in opposite directions and met up in front of the tree about a minute later. We had our hands hidden behind our backs, and the air crackled with anticipation. Then we both held out jeweler’s boxes, raised the lids, and said simultaneously, “Marry me.”
I stared in awe at the beautiful platinum band he was holding, and he did the same with the nearly identical ring I was offering him. Then we met each other’s gaze as we both exclaimed, “Yes!”
We burst out laughing, and he lifted me off my feet and hugged me. I held on tight and whispered, “Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any better.”
The End