Drakeness from small Beginnings

Chapter 35: The End

A few years later Elena and John got married. It was a little ceremony with only a few people being there. They looked so happy and I was really happy for them.

Nathan and I purchased a house on the beach and continued our work as archaeologists. We just got home from a trip to Argentina and I was preparing the food. Well trying to. It was more like a challenge to not accidentally burn myself or the house down. In my defending I had to say, that I was trying very hard to improve my skills, but eventually (after I burned the tomatoes, which were black after that) gave up frustratedly.

"Nathan? Can you help me? I think I burned something again.", I shouted upstairs.

No one answered.

You little shit. If you fell asleep again while cleaning, I will kill you.

"Nathan?"

I sighed and went upstairs. He was nowhere to be seen, so I went on to our room. The door was closed, but I found a note on the ground.

"I did not fell asleep. I'm busy. Please knock before entering."

I shrugged and knocked three times. I heard Nathan curse and the noise of someone hitting his toe against something wooden. "Ah, fuck! Don't come in yet!. Ouch ..."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.", he said and finally opened the door. "Come in, Jo."

I looked at him in confusion and entered. My eyes widened. The room was decorated in green and blue, my favourite colours. There were no clothes or other stuff on the ground, but not only that: Nathan hung up various pictures of our adventures, old and new, with Elena, with Cutter, my father, Chloe or just the two of us.

"Oh my god, Nathan, this is beautiful!" I headed towards the pictures to have a closer look. "I remember this one. It was taken right before we crashed my father's plane.", I chuckled. "And this was in Yemen. I remember the man in the hotel not wanting us to share a room. What an idiot!"

My gaze wandered around. "Why did you hung up all these photos?"

"I wanted to remind you of all the days, we were together. I want you to know how much it means to me to spent time with you, which is why I decided to give you this."

He handed me a photo and I looked at it. It was taken the day we met. I remember it like it was yesterday, when my father introduced me to this boy called Nathan, whom he met on the streets of Cartagena. It was a photo of the two of us playing rock-paper-scissors. My father most likely took the picture without us noticing. I could not stop smiling.

"Nathan this is ..."

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted to tell you how precious this memory is to me. If I hadn't met you, all these adventures, would have been different, less joyous and I would definitely have been enjoying less moments. My entire life would have been less bright! I am so happy, I met you and I want you to know, that I really love you."

Suddenly he got on his knees and pulled out a tiny box with a ring in it. I gasped. "Are you going to-"

"Josephine Theodora Sullivan, will you make me the luckiest man in the world and marry me?"

"Yes, of course. Yes, yes, yes! Oh my God!"

I knelt down to him and kissed him.

"I love you so much, Jo.", he said into the kiss.

"I love you more.", I grinned.

We pulled away and he showed me the ring. It was a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ring, but with a little diamond embedded between the words SIC and PARVIS.

"Greatness from small beginnings.", I said in amazement.

"Yes, the one and only greatness I want to achieve, is you and me being together. No treasure or adventure is worth more than you."

I didn't know what to say. He put the ring on my finger and smiled at me.

"Never has anyone told me anything like that. You ... I mean, we ... I can't put this into words.", I told him and kissed him passionately. He kissed me back and stroke my cheek. Eventually we pulled away to breathe.

"I need to ask you something: How did you know, I would come upstairs?"

"Okay, let's be honest. Your cooking skills are ... not the best.", he chuckled and I boxed his arm. "Well, I figured, that you would need my help sooner or later. Unfortunately, I wasn't ready yet, when you came upstairs. I planned to put photos on this wall as well. But you failed too early in the kitchen, so I had to improvise.", he teased me.

"Yeah, I heard that. You hit your toe against something, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did, but you are worth hitting my toe.", he smiled.

"I would hit my toe for you, too. And you know how much I hate hitting my toe."

He laughed and leaned his back against the bed to rest his head on my shoulder.

"That is indeed a compliment."

I looked at the ring on my finger and smiled. This was all I ever hoped for. My gaze wandered around in the room, looking at our memories.

We were happy.