by H. T. Night
Josiah was quiet and then he said, “I believe you. You’re a good guy, Tommy. I’ve known that since the first day I met you.”
“Okay, now we have all the macho family stuff out of the way, what is the first thing you’re doing?” I asked Josiah in a quiz-like manner.
“I’m picking up your tuxedo and dropping it off without Maya knowing. I plan on being like a ninja. In and out without a trace.”
“Then what do you do?”
“I’m heading down to Balboa Beach to get everything ready.”
“All right, it sounds like you have your itinerary straight. I’ll see you later on tonight.” We hung up the phone and I sat back in my easy chair and just thought about what I was about to embark on: A life adventure with Maya.
I had told Maya to give herself a day of luxury and relaxation. We had a day spa near here. It was over in a city close by called Glen Ivy. It was not that far from where we lived. I had made sure she would have all day relaxing, and doing whatever they do at those day spa places. I thought a mud bath was involved and I tried not to make my mind drift to ladies’ mud wrestling.
I had spent enough time in the dirt when I was in my werewolf form to be too excited to voluntarily slop around in some mud. How they called it a bath was beyond me. Maya begged me to come with her to the spa. She kept on saying it would be romantic.
This was actually playing into my plan. I would tell her ‘no’ and she would think I wasn’t being romantic. Maybe she would think I lost that passion or edge that seemed to pour out every time we were close. Little did she know what I had in store for her that night.
Maya arrived home around 5:00 and I told her to put on something nice because we were going out tonight. She actually told me she wanted to take a six-hour nap because she felt so relaxed. I told her that she could sleep all she wanted once we were done doing whatever we were going to do tonight.
She questioned my enthusiasm. She even looked deep into my eyes to try to figure out what I was up to.
I kept a low profile and didn’t let on that anything was unusual about tonight. Just a date. That’s all she knew.
This was the first time since I planned this night that I had the feeling that she might think something was up. I just hoped she thought it was something else and not my proposal because I wanted her to be surprised.
About an hour after Maya came home, right on cue, my tuxedo was delivered to me by Josiah while Maya was showering. He couldn’t have timed it better.
Since Josiah had received his driver’s license, he was happy to do anything that involved driving. Josiah dropped off the tux and then headed for Balboa Beach, just as I’d planned. His job there would be to act as our waiter, right there along the rocks on the beach.
Maya had no idea what I was wearing. Josiah was in and out like a ninja, just as he had promised. We coordinated the time-critical stuff really well. Maya finished her shower and was in the back bedroom, getting ready for our date. She never even knew he’d dropped off a tuxedo for me.
I went in the bathroom to put on my tuxedo. I wasn’t sure why tuxedos make men look like a million bucks, but they did. I looked at myself in the mirror and I don’t think I had ever looked better. I put on my socks and size 13 tight black formal shoes provided by Curt’s Tuxedo. I stayed in the bathroom, hiding from Maya. I knew that once she saw the tuxedo that she would be even more curious about what I was up to. She would try to figure out what I was up to all night.
I needed the tuxedo entrance to be special. I needed to slap on some cologne and comb my hair. I combed my hair to its near perfection. Perfection may not be as easy to achieve. My hair was growing longer. It didn’t matter how many times I cut it. It grew out extremely fast.
I called out from the bathroom. I was still behind the locked door so that Maya couldn’t see me. “Maya, are you ready?” I asked.
“Just about,” she answered.
“What dress are you wearing?” I inquired.
“Why don’t you come out and see for yourself? You sure are acting different tonight.”
Dammit, she was onto me. Maya’s voice was a tad annoyed. I couldn’t blame her for being onto me because I hadn’t been myself today or tonight. Everything I did on this day was extremely out of character for me.
“Why don’t I?” I asked.
“What is going on, Tommy? Do you have a weird pimple or something?”
“No.” I laughed. With that, I opened the bathroom door and stared at Maya with my best GQ look. Both of our eyes were wide open, staring at the other person. Maya was wearing a light blue dress with her hair up in a style that made her look like Cinderella.
“Wow,” Maya said. “You look incredible. A tuxedo? Where are you taking me?”
“You look angelic,” I said. She looked like a princess. She had put her hair slightly up and with her blonde hair and blue eyes, I was pretty dumbstruck. I was a lucky guy and I knew it. “You will soon find out where we’re going. Just do me a favor and take the night as it comes.”
“Of course I will. It’s not every day that my man is this mysterious. I kind of like it. I have never seen you look more handsome.”
The irony was, I’d spent the last few months not training. I had just recently started up again. I was still ten pounds away from my fighting weight. It was comforting to know I could be ten pounds over my fighting weight and my girlfriend thought I was hot. All I could think about was how much I wanted to marry her. Months ago, I had planned to propose on this day. It was a complete coincidence that the proposal was going to happen after she said that I could fight again.
Maya and I jumped into my Mustang and headed down toward Balboa Beach. We had driven this route to the beach a couple of times before. I loved it when she leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my right arm and waist. She did this all the way to the beach. The odd part was, we didn’t talk the whole time. The silence was making the proposal a bigger deal in my mind.
I knew I wanted to marry Maya. I knew I would never find anyone more perfect and suited for me. Proposing was a huge deal. It was the official end of an era, the dating era. But it was also the beginning of a new one. I was ready to take this step. Loving Maya was a privilege, a privilege that I wasn’t sure I even deserved.
Yet, here I was, moments away from the beach, preparing to ask her to marry me. Nothing that I had ever done in my life, prior to this, would have such an impact on my future.
Chapter Ten
We parked on the side of the street that led up to the ocean. There was still daylight. The day was turning into dusk. So, we walked around this giant pile of rocks that were right on the sand.
If all went well, Josiah would be on the other side of the rocks, dressed in a waiter outfit that I had bought specifically for this night’s event. I hardly doubted he would ever wear it again. I held my breath as we swung around the rocks.
There he was—Josiah was in full waiter get-up, grinning and holding a bottle of champagne in his cocky little hands. He was fully in character. He was acting like some Italian waiter straight out of Disney’s Lady and the Tramp. The little weirdo was even using a fake Italian accent, which made no sense because we were having steak and mashed potatoes. Right up the street was a steakhouse with takeout and I had Josiah time it perfectly so that the food would still be somewhat warm.
The sky was perfect and the ocean waves were breaking beautifully. Josiah had set up the table perfectly. He had silver platters complete with domed covers over our meals.
Maya looked at me and had tears in her eyes. “What’s all this?” she asked.
“This is me telling you how much I love you,” I said with my voice cracking.
“A day at the spa and now this. Wow! You sincerely are the man of my dreams.” Maya wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly.
“Josiah, thank you, too!” She smiled at him through tears.
He grinned back. “You’re welcome, big sis.”
Maya turned her face b
ack to mine and looked at me expectantly. She must have known that I wanted to do something more, but she was such a great girlfriend that she was going to let me do it all my way. She was patient like that.
I hadn’t actually thought out how I was going to do the actual proposing, but this seemed as perfect of a time as any. I had the ring in my front left pocket. It was resting in a little box behind my wallet. I reached in and grabbed the box. Josiah looked at me as if to say, ‘You’re doing this now?’
The answer to that nonverbal question was ‘Yes, I am doing this now.’
I stepped away from Maya’s embrace and I faced her. She seemed to be going with the moment and she had a giant smile on her face that could move mountains. She looked the most beautiful she ever had and I realized what it was that made her glow: It was the happiness of love. She truly loved me, unconditionally. I had never had that before with another woman.
I sucked in air and I slowly went down on one knee with the engagement ring in my left hand. I let out my breath and held the engagement ring still in its white box in hand.
After several moments of suspense, I began to speak. “The first time I ever laid eyes on you, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Then I learned to know the real you, the part of you that not too many people are able to see. I found out something that blew my mind. You are even more beautiful on the inside. You are my everything. I want to take care of you every day for the rest of my life. Maya Reign, will you marry me?” I opened up the box and showed her the ring.
She dropped to her knees and gave me a giant hug and said, with tears dripping from her eyes, “Of course I’ll marry you, Tommy. You are the love of my life. The greatest thing to ever happen to me. It would be my honor and my joy to be your wife.”
I took the ring out and placed it on the ring finger of her left hand.
“It’s the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. I love it so much.” Sincerity was the light in her eyes. She truly meant it.
I looked at Josiah and winked because he and I did very well in the ring department.
“Please have a seat. The chef has prepared a special meal especially for you. It’s your favorite: a nice, hearty steak and the most scrumptious mashed potatoes on the planet.”
“Wow!” she said.
I pulled out Maya’s chair that Josiah had set up. She sat down and I went to the other side of the table and sat down. At the same time, Josiah both lifted the silver covers off our food platters and took them away.
The food was warm and tasted great. Josiah kept the champagne flowing. This was as perfect a moment that I ever could have created. And damn, did Josiah come through with flying colors! Just a kid, but he had gotten every detail right.
We stayed on the beach, eating until it became completely dark. We were getting cold because it started to get windy. So, we decided to head back to the cars. I walked with my soon-to-be brother-in-law and now, my new fiancée. I felt a sense of family. The Reigns had always made me feel like family, but this time, it was different. Soon I would really be family. That made me very happy. Warmth flooded me.
Maya and I kissed and hugged and told each other we loved each other a hundred times, until we remembered that Josiah was still there with us and he was probably nauseated by us at this point. He was almost eighteen, so I was not concerned about his maturity. It was more of a courtesy thing, to keep some things between Maya and me, just us two.
“Can I say something?” Josiah asked as we approached our cars.
“Of course you can,” I said. “What it is it? Do you want to be paid double for your night’s work?” I gave Josiah a wink.
“I just want to say how happy I am that my two favorite people, excluding Mom and Dad, are getting married. You guys deserve one another. Tommy, you don’t have to pay me. Tonight was my pleasure. I know that you and Maya will make each other very happy. Thank you for sharing the moments with me. I won’t ever forget tonight.”
“Josiah, you’re going to make me cry,” Maya said. The truth of the matter was, he was about to make me cry, too. He was a great guy. And most of all, he was very loving and compassionate—far beyond his years.
“Josiah, I’m paying you double and you’re just going to have to accept my C-note.” I reached in my wallet and gave Josiah a hundred-dollar bill. “You more than earned it tonight. You really came through.”
Josiah reluctantly took the money and told me he was going to buy special gloves that would knock me out in one punch. I really had to love him. He was so much like me that it was scary. Tonight was special for us, too. We were going to be brothers-in-law.
Chapter Eleven
As the weeks passed, Josiah decided to go out for football, after all. I thought that either Daniel bribed him or there might have been a girl he liked that dug football players.
The boy was committed to becoming either a tight end or a defensive end. I gave him one month with some fat 65-year-old coach yelling at him every second of practice before he quit. But I did think it was a good idea that he at least wanted to try playing the sport.
Sure enough, exactly one month to the day, Josiah quit the football team. He mentioned that his helmet was too tight and every time he made contact with someone, it would ring his bell in a way he’d never experienced before. Josiah was as tough as they came, but like me, he was a lone wolf. Team sports only held him back. I knew that we were kindred spirits in that way.
I began taking him to my MMA practice center and he was starting to get extremely good. Fighting was his sport and individual achievement was his motivation.
I also knew that some people were born to fight. I knew I was, and it looked like Josiah was cut from the same cloth. He was handling pros in practice and his birthday was coming up. Soon, he would be eighteen.
I, on the other hand, had spent the last three months preparing for my fights. They were scheduling for one fight every five weeks, starting in October. The California MMA Association wanted to put me through the wringer to see how tough I was. It’s a macho sport run by macho guys. So, I let them do whatever they wanted to do with the schedule. If they wanted me to fight every week, I’d do it. It would nearly kill me, but I’d do it. And then there was the money, yeah. The more fights, the more money. I wanted to be able to provide for Maya, and not just in a subsistence way. I wanted her to have the best of everything. Fighting often would help me to ensure that.
Maya and I decided to get married in April. She didn’t want me all bruised up before our wedding. Our relationship had never been better, and we had never been closer.
On October 18th, I had my first fight in Los Angeles and it was against old man Anthony Wheeler. It was a long walk down a short pier. To my surprise, he went down easier than I imagined. I knocked him out in the second minute of the fight with a clean uppercut. Striking wasn’t my strong suit. Usually, the way I get a guy to the mat is my shooting through his legs and getting him to his back. But old man Wheeler made it easy for me. He fell to the ground after one ferocious uppercut, and I unloaded a barrage of elbows on his body and head. The referee called the fight a knockout.
The guy never laid a hand on me. It was a nice first fight. This easy win showed me that I hadn’t lost much ground since I quit a year ago and let myself get out of shape. Now I was back and if anything, I felt stronger and hungrier. Victory felt amazing.
Maya was pleased that my face went untouched. I think she worried that I would get some horrid scar from one of my fights, something that she would cringe to see. I wanted to protect my face, too. It was what she kissed every morning and night.
Therefore, Maya couldn’t watch me fight. My poor fiancée tried to, but she said that whenever a guy had a hold of me, it made her sick to her stomach. I knew she had issues with the actual fighting, too. At heart, Maya was a pacifist, a gentle soul and one who nurtured others, not laid them out flat and bleeding, with the exception of what she had done at the kennels, to save us.
I was more warli
ke, and perhaps my inner werewolf made me stronger. I told her that I would do my best to knock out my next opponent as quickly as I had Anthony Wheeler.
My second fight was against another veteran name: Mickey Rubio. He was coming off a win, so I knew his confidence was high. I had talked Maya into watching my second fight. I told her that having her there would give me extra motivation. She obliged me and came to watch.
It was October 1st, and I was about to have my fourth professional fight.
I had Josiah in my corner and he dug walking out with me. He was trying to become eligible with the California Commission. They were always reluctant to give a guy a fight so soon after his eighteenth birthday, especially if he was still in high school. It’s unheard of, but if they ever were going to allow someone to do that, it would be Josiah. Youth matters to the Commission. They want you to move into the sport slowly and carefully, not burn out before you’re twenty.
I got Rubio to tap out at the end of the first round. It wasn’t an easy fight because he landed some serious punches. I was able to get him to the mat and had control. I was a lot stronger than him and I knew it would be a matter of seconds that I would get him to tap out. I put him in a guillotine choke. The guillotine choke worked by restricting the opponent’s air flow. It was one of my go-to moves because it fit my body structure perfectly with most opponents. And I did it well, almost too well. I believed that it was my most feared move by my opponents.
After the fight, Josiah told me that I needed to teach him that move. I asked him if he thought he could still take me. He laughed and said he’d knock me out in the standing position and that I would never have the opportunity to tap him out.
After all was said and done, I’d won all four fights. The last one was the hardest; it went to a split decision, but I won it.
Now, it was just two months until our wedding. I didn’t have another scheduled fight until three weeks after our actual wedding date, so I had plenty of time to get the wedding details wrapped up.