1 year later
River:
We have softball practice for the adult league we play in. We have a group of fun players who care about putting in the work to get better as a team while still having fun. They are mostly people from work, but we've picked up a few players who wanted to play and needed a team. This year we picked up a female pitcher who pitched in college. She's amazing and she gets along well with the team. Since we have a pitcher Auggie doesn't get to pitch as much. He's taken over more of the coaching responsibility for the team which he really enjoys, but today he's pitching to me while I catch. We have become a well-oiled machine. I'm sure he would much rather be in the catching position, but he lets me have it. He loves me like that. Auggie throws a warmup pitch to me. Logan's here today so Auggie has been razing him about hitting. Logan steps up to the base and I get in my catching stance as do the rest of the players on our team. I give Auggie the signal. He nods and he sends the ball my way, but it's not the pitch I signaled for, and Logan bunts the incoming ball. And the ball flies in the air. I see Auggie running to cover home plate. I throw off all my head gear and run to catch the ball. I quickly grab the ball and squeeze my mitt, so I don't drop it, but it doesn't feel like a softball. I quickly drop whatever is in my hand. I bend down and look to see what I caught. It looks to be clothing wrapped in rubber bands around it. I pull the rubber bands off and look at a shirt and gasp. The shirt says, "Will you marry me?"
I quickly turn around and see Auggie down on one knee, I fall down on my knees. "What are you doing?" I ask him.
"Isn't it obvious?" He gestures to the crowd that I'm now noticing. Our family and friends are here. A lot are holding up signs saying various things. "Say yes" or "Marry me instead." I look back at Auggie and we both have tears in our eyes. We both have worked our butts off to build the beautiful relationship we have today.
"River, will you marry me?" he asks me. I tackle him to the ground with all my catching gear on and smash my lips to his.
I pull back, "Yes, yes, yes." I scream. Everybody cheers. He pulls away and grabs something from his pocket. It's the ring, he slides it on my finger and another piece clicks into place. I love our life. We have both made the decision to only have people who have our best interest in our lives. Auggie is the man I always thought he was. Every day he is intentional in how he shows me I'm the most important person in his life. I'm sure when we have kids that will change, but he has proven to me that he will put our family first. I'm going to be Mrs. Auggie Hunt!
Everyone is coming up congratulating us. I'm smiling so hard my face hurts. Practice is forgotten and someone orders pizza to be delivered and I see someone just showed up with a couple of kegs of beer. I look around at the life we built, the obstacles we overcame and am just grateful for my life.
5 years later
Auggie:
To say the last five years have been a roller coaster is an understatement. River and I got married six months after I proposed. It was nothing big. Just our close friends and family. We were going to wait a few years to have kids, but we got pregnant on our honeymoon. There were a lot of changes that year. We had our daughter Tori. I bawled like a baby; River was the most beautiful women, and I was the luckiest man alive. Baxter and River decided to start their own PI firm so after Tori was born, she left the department. It took them a year to get a study flow of clients. It was good because it saved on day care costs, and she was able to be at home.
After two years when the PI firm was doing good, I decided to quit the department and go back to school. We moved closer to St. Louis so River would be closer to Baxter. He took most of the fieldwork and she managed most of the office work. When she got pregnant with our second child Max, she stopped doing field work all together. They hired another PI and she was able to handle all the office stuff. We are still close with Mackey. He's the God parent to our son. He comes down at least once a month to visit. He's met someone down here and we all hang out when he comes to visit. I can see him transferring soon. Logan now plays for the Cardinals, so we get to see him a lot too. We go to quite a few games. Tori and Max love to watch their Uncle Logan play baseball.
Melissa has tried to reach out a couple times over the years. She doesn't have our address, but she sends things to my parents' house. I went to see her about a year ago to make it clear that our friendship was over and to stop reaching out. She started crying and screaming and our visit was cut short. River knew I was going, and she supported it. She said if I thought it would help, she would support it. We haven't heard anything from her since. Our relationship with our mothers has improved. River and her mother went to see a therapist. I know River wanted to forgive her mother if not for herself, then for her dad. I also know she wanted our kids to grow up with their grandparents in their lives.
If you had asked me seven years ago if this is where I would be I would have laughed in your face. I fall in love with my wife more and more every day. She is truly my soulmate and I think God everyday that she decided my boneheaded ass deserved another chance. I can't imagine my life any better and I promise not to take it for granted. River and I are celebrating our five-year anniversary tonight. Baxter and his new wife are keeping the kids. I'm glad he ended up with his wife. It was touch and go for a minute, but he pulled his head out of his ass before he lost her. The girl he had been seeing was not the right girl for him, but he couldn't decide. I'm glad he made the right choice. We have become as close as him and River over the years. I love our little handpicked family. River and I have picked up the tradition of doing "family" vacations last year being the first one. Everyone enjoyed it so we will be doing more. We love getting everyone together.
I look up and see my wife walking towards me. I pat my lap. We didn't do anything fancy for our anniversary. I asked her what she wanted to do. All she said was steaks on the grill and a bonfire. I just got the fire going. She sits down on my lap, and I wrap my arms around her. She snuggles her head into my neck. We sit in a comfortable silence watching the wood crackle. She lifts her head and presses her lips to mine and looks me in the eyes and says, "I love you Auggie."
"I love you more." I squeeze her.
10 years later:
Auggie:
River and I are celebrating our ten-year anniversary today. We talked about going on a trip just her and I but decided to go on a trip with the "family". Growing up, River and I loved exploring and traveling and wanted to do that with our kids. We have three kids now that keep us on our toes. Tori, who is nine, thinks it's her job to boss everyone around. Max who is seven and is just as sweet as can be. He adores his older sister. And we have GG who is going to give us a run for our money. She's three, but boy does she have a big personality. I'm not sure where she got it from. Today we're at the beach. All the parents are here. Baxter's, Mackey's, and Logan's families are here continuing the tradition with our chosen family. We have mostly repaired our relationship with our moms, but right now is one of those times my wife butts' heads with the grandmothers. Baxter has a daughter the same age as Max. They remind me of River and me. They would spend day and night together if we let them, but Mackey also has a son around the same age who wants to hang out with them. The grandmothers tried to intervene before River steps in. She won't force them to include him, but they will. They're all good kids. If one of them was rotten we wouldn't force it. Our kids come first no matter what. I never want them to feel how River felt. Melissa was released from prison last year. We haven't heard from her. I know that Baxter and River keep a file on her and make sure they know exactly where she is. As soon as she was released, she moved to the west coast. I don't care as long as she stays away.
River and I still play on the adult softball team, but Tori and Max are in sports, so we don't get to play as often. Both of us have left the department. I went back to school to get my teaching degree. I coach baseball now and Baxter and River run their PI firm. With the kids they mostly work from home, but they've hired a few people to do the field work. It's great having her at home with our crazy schedule. We both divide and conquer our schedules every day. We still take turns cooking dinner. I feel so fortunate that she came back for me that she gave me another chance to prove to her that I would never take her for granted again. My life has been so full of life and joy since she came back into it, and I thank God everyday for the blessings in my life. I've always loved River, but I didn't love her the right way. It was selfish love, immature love. The love we have today continues to grow a little more every day. Just when I think I can't love her anymore she does something to prove me wrong. The love we had as kids was real, but it was another time, another love. The love we have now is the forever kind of love.
This completes Auggie and River's story. I appreciate any feedback that you have the on the story. I really hope I was able to redeem Auggie and make him into someone that you would be able to forgive.
I will be working on Logan or Baxter's stories next. I have a couple of chapters written for each so far. Just trying to figure out which one I'd like to run with. As always I appreciate the comments and votes. Thanks for reading!