Page 67 of Playing for Keeps

“You already said that, Fontanna,” she mumbles into my shirt and I let out a big breath, a smile in spite of the jumbled confusion in my head and heart. Relieved that she sounds like her irrepressible self, that I haven’t crushed her spirit, overwhelms me, helping to clear away some of the fog of emotions swirling like a hurricane knocking me on my ass like no offensive lineman ever did.

When the fog clears, the one emotion that’s left standing is pure ecstatic joy. I don’t go looking for any chasers of uncertainty or doubt to ruin the moment. There’s nothing else in me now but pure euphoria, a burning well of happiness like I’ve never felt before. I squeeze her tight.

She pushes back and looks up at me.

“You’re smiling,” she says. “Two dimples.”

“You bet your sweet ass.” I lift her off the ground and swing her around. “This is unbelievable. You and I?”

She nods, tentative at first, then smiles back.

“Does this mean you’ll marry me, Fontanna?”

I check her eyes to make sure she’s serious, but I know she is.

“You sure that’s what you want?” I say.

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

I laugh, because it’s so Chloe Smith.

“The only way this is going to work is if I’m the one who asks.” I take her face in my hands and bring my lips to hers in a caress and then ask her.

“Chloe, will you marry me?”

“Only if you love me.” Her voice is quiet and brave and sends a wave of warmth through me.

“I’m madly in love with you.”

“Do you trust me?” she whispers and then holds her breath. I don’t think, I talk, saying what’s in my heart.

“I trust you with all my heart. I trust you to be the mother of my child.”

Her grin lights up the universe and she nod wildly, spilling curls onto her face as she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I say in between kisses. We hold each other tight in the middle of the training room at the stadium. Tears are streaming down her face now, but I know they’re happy tears and I kiss them away.

I should be in shock, should feel like this is all a dream, but it feels more like I’ve awakened from a nightmare, the one where I was trapped in old fears, held captive my own inability to trust myself, to trust and to forgive the woman I love.