Authors: Toni Aleo
“And I told you I love you.”
Lucas looked up and Fallon stood at the bottom step, still in the rain as she looked up at him. Even with her black makeup running down her cheeks, her hair stuck to her face and her clothes so wet they stretched from her body, he couldn’t help but think she was the most beautiful woman in the world. To this day he was still stunned by her beauty and couldn’t help but love her with everything inside him, even when she drove him insane.
“You did.”
Lucas knew he should have said something else, but he couldn’t. He just stood there staring at her as she stared up at him. She took a deep breath, moving her hair from her eyes as the rain just poured on her.
“I want to tell you I love you in the rain again, Lucas Brooks.”
It was like she had just hit him square in the chest with a puck. His mouth fell open while his eyes bulged out of his head. Did he really hear her right? He struggled to speak as he went out into the rain, stopping in front of her. It was cold, but he didn’t care. He had one thing on his mind and that was wrapping Fallon up in his arms.
Lucas wrapped his arms around Fallon and picked her off the ground. Her arms came around his neck as her legs came around his middle. She looked deep in his eyes before laying her forehead against his. Rain pelted against their skin as they just stared into each other’s eyes, not knowing what to say or do. Everything was about to change, Lucas could just feel it. He didn’t care about what had happened, all he cared about was hearing her say it. Hearing her tell him that he was the one for her. Nothing else mattered but hearing those words.
“I’m sorry Lucas….again. I haven’t been right to you, but I promise I’m gonna try to be better,” she said against his lips. “I promise I’ll be better.”
“Baby I love the way you are. You are difficult but you keep me on my toes and I love that. Just trust me and everything will be fine.”
She nodded her head. “I do, I will, I promise,” she said quickly. Her button lip wobbled as she looked down at him with her gorgeous wide eyes.
“Sounds good to me,” he said. He moved his nose along hers and placed his lips only millimeters from her, “I think I said it first,” he whispered against her lips. Fallon nodded as he felt her heart beating fast against his chest, and he knew his was beating just as fast.
“You did.”
He smiled as he again ran his nose along hers, placing a kiss against each corner of her mouth. When he looked back into her eyes, he smiled. “I love you, baby girl.”
Fallon’s eyes fell shut while his grip on her became tighter. He couldn’t wait to hear her say it. It had been so long, and before it would take his breath away. All he could hope was that it did it all over again because when being loved by Fallon gave him a reason for living. The need for her love was what had kept him going all these years, it was everything to him.
“I love you Lucas James Brooks. I never stopped.”
Lucas couldn’t breathe as their lips met, and they kissed like it wasn’t raining or like they were freezing to the bone. It was just them, just their love.
What was a little cold rain?
Her hands came up to his face as his arms tightened around her. When they parted, Fallon smiled against his lips. “I love you, so much.”
“I was told if I tell you I love you and I want to get married, that you’d married me tomorrow,” she said with a grin as she held him close.
“Who told you that?”
“Our son.”
It was like the air was knocked out of him and Lucas couldn’t seem to catch his breath. Fallon had never called Aiden their son; he had always been her son. Hearing it for the first time made everything seem to fall in place. Lucas knew what he wanted and he wouldn’t stop until he got it. He wanted Fallon and Aiden in his house and he wanted Fallon pregnant. His dreams were becoming a reality and he couldn’t wait for the ride.
“Kid knows his stuff, because I will marry you tomorrow, but I don’t have a ring for you yet.”
“Maybe I need to reconsider this then?” she asked with a wink.
Lucas laughed before pressing his lips to hers, and when they parted she gave him the most beautiful, full of love, smile he had ever seen. “You’re not reconsidering anything, you made the right choice.”
“Oh, is that right?”
“Sure is.”
They stood for a moment just staring into each other’s eyes as the rain came down on them. It didn’t matter that they were soaked to the core or so cold their lips were blue. They were in love and always would be. Their love had been tested and even though they had stumbled at first, they had overcome it all and were blissfully in love. Lucas was ready for the future, ready to fail and pass tests with Fallon. They wouldn’t always agree on things, but it didn’t matter. They would work it out and they would love each other for the rest of their lives.
They would be a team.
As Lucas held Fallon in his arms, he couldn’t help but get turned on. She was probably the sexiest woman alive, and she was extra sexy all wet from the rain that still poured around them. Lucas gave her a cheeky grin and asked, “Wanna do it in the rain?”
Lucas smiled as he leaned in close, dusting her lips with his. “Probably not, because I’m going to kiss you every chance I get. I’m going to argue when we need to. I’m going to love you with everything inside me, but most of all, I am going to fully and completely make love to you whenever Aiden is out of ear shot.”
Fallon giggled before pulling him close and looking into his eyes. “I can’t wait.”
Epilogue
“Mom, when we get home can you get in the net for me?”
Fallon rolled her eyes as shook her head at her little Marshmallow Man. “No way, you always hit me.”
Aiden rolled his eyes before looking up at Lucas. Fallon looked over and couldn’t help the grin that came across her face. He looked positively crazy in his Ghostbusters costume, and she doubted she looked any better, but they had done it for Aiden. Audrey and (unfortunately) Levi had dressed up along with them, just to make Aiden happy.
They sure were a sight to see.
“Dad, make her get in the goal, please.”
Lucas chuckled, moving his hand into Fallon’s before looking over at her with a lusty look. “Please, I’ll make it worth your while.”
Fallon shook her head. “No way.”
“Ugh!” Aiden yelled before running off towards a house. Lucas squeezed Fallon’s hand and she looked over at him with a small smile on her face.
Fallon rolled her eyes. The playoffs had been long and drawn out. It seemed that every team Lucas played against would go to game five or six. When they finally made it to the Cup finals against the Bruins, it went to game seven. The game was intense but the best moment was when Lucas scored the game-winning goal with 22 seconds on the clock. Fallon had never seen him cry so much in his life, and when Lucas skated around the rink with the Cup high above his head, Fallon was the one crying like a baby. It was a proud moment and Fallon couldn’t believe she was a part of it.
Aiden nodded his head before running off. Lucas moved his arms around Fallon, kissing her neck as they watched Aiden run to the house. When his hands slid into hers and he ran his thumb along her new engagement ring, she smiled. Of course Lucas, being the ‘Go big or go home’ kind of guy he was, bought the biggest ring in the store. It was a seven carat, round-cut diamond in a platinum setting with two little diamonds on the side that Lucas said was him and Aiden. Fallon had thought the ring was too big, but when she put it on, she fell in love with it and didn’t want anything else.
Fallon leaned her head against Lucas’ chest as she watched Aiden run from house to house with Audrey and Levi. She hated seeing Levi with Audrey, but she was standing by her word and leaving Audrey alone about it. It wasn’t her business, but that didn’t stop her from praying every night that Levi would get hit by a bus or something.
As Lucas held her, she found herself wondering where Shea and Elli were. They were supposed to meet them — and so were a lot of other people — but it was only the four of them and Aiden. Not really the big Halloween party she was expecting.
Fallon followed the direction he was pointing at to see Shea and Elli walking towards them with their double stroller. As they got closer and Fallon saw what they were dressed up as, she couldn’t have stopped her laughter if she wanted to. Shea was dressed as a Stanley Cup and Elli was dressed as her favorite number 6 hockey player. Fallon had to admit they were too cute for words but it didn’t keep her from giggling.
“Oh you ain’t seen nothing yet, look at the girls,” Elli giggled, pointing down to her sweet baby girls. When Fallon saw that baby Shelli was a hockey stick and Posey was a puck, she almost fell over laughing. Even Lucas couldn’t stop laughing as Shelli gave them a happy grin.
“Oh my goodness, they are priceless,” she gushed before looking up at Elli. “They are perfect.”
Elli nodded but then stopped suddenly, bracing her hands on the stroller. Shea placed his hand on her back, moving it soothingly along her back but it must have not helped because Elli took off towards the nearest trash can and promptly puked her brains out.
Fallon’s eyes went wide as Lucas started laughing. Lucas then held up his hand for a high five and Shea didn’t leave him hanging as he laughed. Elli looked miserable while Shea stood there like the biggest cock in the hen house. Fallon could have sworn Elli had said she wasn’t having any more babies, but obviously Shea had his mind set on it.
“Man, that’s messed up,” Fallon said, shaking her head. “She just had Posey two months ago!”
Shea nodded. “I know, we are keeping the kids close.”
Fallon couldn’t believe what she was hearing as Elli made her way back to them. She got out a baby wipe and wiped her mouth then hands. She took out a bottle of water and swished around her mouth before spitting it out in the grass. Elli did it like the pro she was, and with two kids, she should be a pro. “This one is a boy, I’m telling you. I was never this sick with the girls.”
“Oh Elli, I’m so sorry,” Fallon said.
Elli shrugged her shoulders in a ‘What can you do?’ kind of way before Shea wrapped her up in his arms, kissing her loudly on the neck. He whispered something in her ear and a bright happy smile replaced her queasy-looking face. Elli looked up at him and whispered something. Shea smiled before kissing her hard against the lips. It was still hard to believe that they had been married nearly two years and already had two babies with a third one on the way. Elli had found her happily ever after and while Fallon may have been jealous before, as Lucas held her in his arm, she felt that everyone should be jealous of her.
She was the lucky one.
“Do you think we’ll be that happy?” Fallon asked as she watched Shea and Elli kiss like they were the only ones in the street and not surrounded by hundreds of little trick-or-treaters.
Lucas nodded. “I know we will.”
“Really?” she asked.
Lucas smiled. “Well according to our wrists,” he said holding up both their hands so that he could read their wrists, “I love you and you love me.”
Fallon smiled as she re-read the words he had said. It had hurt like hell getting the ink on her wrist but it was by far her favorite tattoo aside from Aiden’s. Lucas had the idea to write ‘I love him’ in his handwriting for her wrist and then she wrote ‘I love her’ in her handwriting for his. It looked amazing and Fallon still couldn’t believe that they had made it to where they were.
If someone would have told her 10 months ago that she would be marrying Lucas Brooks in two weeks at one of the biggest wedding venues in Nashville, she would have laughed in their face. Fallon never thought they would make it but they had. They had been through hell and high water, but they made it through it all.
Standing tall and strong.
Together.
Fallon had never loved anyone more than she loved Lucas, and the days couldn’t go fast enough until they were married. She couldn’t wait for the big fairy tale wedding. Yeah, she hadn’t decided on the dress but it didn’t matter. She could walk down the aisle in a raincoat and she knew for a fact that Lucas wouldn’t care. She couldn’t wait for their honeymoon in the Fiji Islands, but most of all she couldn’t wait to be Mrs. Fallon Ryane Brooks. She used to dream of this day when they were younger — of course things were different — but their love was still the same. It always had been and always would be.