The paperwork was brought to us by a lawyer, one that said he has known my Dad for many years and that he did the best thing for us. We signed where he told us to and he told us that my Dad made sure the house was paid off and so were the cars before he left. Everything now belonged to us.
We went back to school on Tuesday and when I looked around, I had this superior feeling over all the other students. One I have never had before. I have come further in my life in the last year, then any of these people have come in the last seventeen years.
I went from a shy, closed up, pent up little girl to someone who has taught themselves to overcome their pain every step of the way. Now, I was eighteen-years-old and I had no choice but to be an adult because I had no adults left to do it for me. I just had Ray, Matthew and Victor.
I didn't care about being Valedictorian, but my Dad cared, so I worked extra hard this school year to do one last thing for him and for me.
For Matthew's eighteenth birthday, the month after mine, I bought him a ring too. But mine was a gesture, one guys usually gave to girls, but I gave him my own promise ring. There were no diamonds or anything crazy, just a white gold band with our names engraved inside. A little corny, but Matthew seemed to appreciate it.
That night after dinner, I came home to a completely dark house, or at least it seemed dark when we pulled up. When I opened the front door there were candles lit along the floor and rose petals making a walk way to the living room.
I turned back to look at Matthew and he had a huge smile on his face.
"You first." he said gesturing his hand in the direction of the rose petals.
I followed the roses into the living room and at the end I saw Ray, Victor and Marie standing there. I pointed and turned to ask why the heck Marie was there, then I saw Matthew behind me on one knee with an open ring box in his hand.
I gasped, then realized why Marie was there, she was taking pictures.
"Rita Allen, I know I said I would wait until after graduation, but I wanted you to know now, in front of the people that we love that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I don't ever want to leave. From that first moment I sat next to you in that movie theater, I knew. There is no one that I would rather spend my life with than you. And with everything going on in your life, I want you to know that you have someone that will never leave you and I promise to do everything in my power to make you happy every single day that we spend together. Will you marry me?"
Marie clicked away as I stood there stunned with tears and a hand over my mouth.
"Yes." I whispered, trying not to choke up.
He pulled my hand into his and slid off the ring he gave me for my birthday and placed it on my middle finger. Then he took the diamond ring from the box and slid it on to my ring finger. He then stood up and kissed me as we wrapped our arms around each other.
"Let me get a picture of you holding the ring up." Marie said.
I put my hand up covering our kissing lips, the next place was going to have to be the bedroom because I couldn't keep my lips off of him. I could tell he felt the same, but since there were people present, we had to pull away. Marie took pictures of the four of us together.
Ray had gotten cake, one was a smiley face cake in case I said yes and the other was a sad face cake in case I said no. Before we cut into the smiley face cake Marie took pictures of both of them.
"Did you think I would say no?" I said to Ray.
"No, but just in case, I got both."
"Well we can't eat the sad face cake, it's bad luck." I told him.
"I'll take the bad luck cake." Marie said.
"It's yours." Ray said to her.
"Matthew, where are you getting the money for all these rings?" I said. He bought me two rings in less than two months, and they were pretty expensive for an eighteen-year-old.
"Well the one now, I have been saving up for from allowance, I was just going to hold on to it once I paid it off. The other one, my mom gave me the money to buy so I could pay for this ring today."
"Your mom knows?"
"Oh yeah, she is all for it." Matthew smiled.
"You should have invited her. She's the only mom I have now."
"She wanted to, I had to fight her off with a stick not to come. She will probably show up soon anyways. She was way too excited to listen to me. I wanted it to be just us and Marie." He looked over at Marie, "No offense."
"None taken, I am being paid to be here."
It was minutes into us eating cake when the doorbell rang.
"There she is." Matthew said and went to get the door.
"Did I miss it!" I could hear Diane from the doorway.
Matthew showed her back to the dining room where we were having cake.
"Hi Mrs. Picton" I smiled.
"Don't hi Mrs. Picton me! Get over here and give me a hug!" She scooped me up into a tight bear hug. "You listen to me, you call me Diane now, no more of that Mrs. Picton stuff, you're family now."
I laughed, "Yes, ma'am."
"Let me see!"
I showed her my ring and she gasped, "Matthew, this one is beautiful."
"Do you want some cake?" I offered her, "We have to eat from the smiley face one. The sad face one Marie is going to keep."
Diane helped herself to some cake and we showed her around the house. Matthew had told me he told his Mom about my Dad, well a made-up version of what happened. Which I was thankful for because I was sure she would have asked about him at some point.
It was still weird, even though my Dad wasn't around much, to think he just wasn't coming back was hard.
I worked my ass off the rest of the school year to get to the top of my class and Matthew worked hard too. For some reason with no adults to guide us or tell any of us what to do, we worked better at life. I think it was because we knew if we failed, we had no one to fall back on. Well Ray and I didn't, Matthew had his parents, but Matthew considered us all as one.
About half way through senior year we all decided to find part-time jobs. Not that we needed the money, but we needed skills, something we have never been made to realize before we were left alone.
It was our first time really being separated since we got together. All four of us worked at different places with different schedules. However, at the end of each day, we all came home to each other and talked about our day. Victor sometimes went home, other nights he stayed. If he stayed too many nights his Mom would call and demand he stay home for a few days because she didn't want him to think he had moved out.
I worked at the local grocery store as a cashier, Ray worked at an auto body shop. I wasn't sure how he got the job, he had no experience at all, but they said they would give him a chance and train him up. Matthew worked at a retail store and sold more credit cards than anyone there. I mean who could say no to him. Victor started working with his Dad laying tile flooring down.
Soon all of our money came together to take care of the bills and groceries and anything else any of us needed. I saved the money in the storage for anything big like getting car parts so Ray could fix the cars. Or the time the TV broke and we needed a new one. I was the only one that knew how much money we had, so when we didn't have money for something, they came to me and I took care of it.
It was funny how I was the one looking to Ray for everything. There was not one decision I could make without looking to him for guidance. All it took was my life completely falling apart for me to realize that I could make my own decisions and be an adult. Now, I was managing our money and held our family's deepest secret. I was equal now.
A week after graduation Matthew and I had planned a small ceremony at our house. Both sides of my family came down and all of Matthew's siblings and aunts and uncles came as well. I invited Janice, it was her first time meeting my family.
I had visited with her a few more times throughout my Senior year and talked to her about all the changes going on. She had become like the mother I wish I had. I spent time with her watching movies and just talking and that was all I really wanted from my real Mom.
Diane and I had planned this ceremony all year and it was perfect. I didn't like big parties, so we kept it to the people that were important to us. Both of our families and Victor's family. It was about fifty people all together. After we said our I Dos we had our first husband and wife dance. Our song was the song he first sang to me in the ice cream shop and that day at the talent show. As we danced, he held me close and I rested my head on his chest and he sang softly into my ear.
When the song was finished, I picked my head up and kissed him after he wiped my tears away.
"I love you so much." I said to him and he still looked at me with that passion in his eyes that told me I was the only person in the world.
"I love you too."
A few members of both of our families thought we were too young, including Matthew's father, but when they saw us together, they laid their doubts to rest. Matthew and I were meant to be together, and there was no way anyone could say otherwise.