“Harper, I want you to be mine, and not just because we're having a baby, though I'll warn you, I'm about to tell everyone that we are.” He smiled and kissed my nose, “But I want to be able to hold you in public, I want to show everyone that you're taken and you belong to me. That you’ll always belong to me. Are we done torturing each other by staying apart?”
“Are you done leaving me?”
He hovered just above my lips, “I'll never leave you again sweetie.”
“Then I'm yours.” I closed the distance and kissed him hard.
11
Now that Chase knew about the pregnancy, and was completely on board, everything was so much different around the house. Everyone was happy, Chase was there daily and was even able to drag me to his house a few times so I could hang out with the guys, but it had been more than uncomfortable. Brandon had been there twice, and he knew that Chase was now in the know as well. The look on his face when he saw us together the first time almost killed me. Chase had flipped out when I started hyperventilating, but I wouldn't tell him what was going on. The second time, he'd gotten the hint and only took me around when he knew Brandon wouldn't be there. If that upset him, he never once mentioned it, and he definitely didn't show it. I think he was so happy we were finally together, nothing could put him in a bad mood. And I was happy too, I honestly was, I loved Chase and I loved the expecting daddy role he'd already taken on. Every day I fell more in love with him, but it didn't lessen the love I still had for Brandon. Instead, it was like my heart grew to hold both. Well, all three, if you count my Gummy Bear. Chase never asked me how I'd told Brandon what happened, to be frank, I think he didn't want to know. Deep down, he had to know I still loved him, and that was probably the reason for him to pull me in the opposite direction every time we saw Brandon after that second encounter at the house. I wanted to talk to Brandon, alone, to see how he was doing with all of this. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle the conversation, so I continued to talk myself out of it.
We were just getting into the ultrasound room and Chase couldn't stop smiling and was practically bouncing up and down. Dr. Lowdry had seemed excited to meet him and updated him on everything that had happened in the first two appointments, as well as what to expect this appointment and the ones following over the next few months. When the lights turned off and the ultrasound started, I finally understood why Mom had told me I'd only want to be here with Chase. This was...an out of body experience. It was magical. You could practically see the love and joy flowing through the two of us. Instead of closing my eyes to listen to the heartbeat, Chase and I stared at each other for a couple minutes just smiling and listening to our baby.
“I can't even believe how perfect of a position your baby is in right now! That is unreal.” Dr. Lowdry laughed as she clicked some keys to snap a few pictures. “Now, did you want to find out the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”
“I already know.” I smiled at the screen, there was no mistaking it.
Chase laughed and squeezed my hand tighter, “I told you baby. I told you it would be a boy.”
We both looked at Dr. Lowdry, “It is a boy, isn't it?” I asked. I mean, it looked like it was a boy, but I wasn't the professional.
“Oh he is definitely a boy.” She laughed again and took a few more pictures as he rolled slightly.
Chase leaned over and kissed me sweetly, whispering against my lips, “I love you,” He glanced down to my stomach and back to me, “and our son so much Harper.” He brushed his thumbs over my cheeks and kissed me again while Dr. Lowdry turned on the lights.
She handed us our new pictures and we walked out of the building. As soon as we reached the parking lot Chase grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him, slamming his mouth against mine. I giggled and wrapped my arms around him as he leaned me against his truck.
“That was...that was absolutely amazing!” He laughed and kissed me again.
“Having you there made it so special, all I could think about the last two times was how I wished you were there to experience it with me. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you.”
He shook his head and opened the door for me, “No sorrys today, I love you and we're having a son. Today is only allowed to be an I love you day.”
I smiled and got in his truck, completely blissed out. We stopped to grab some lunch and started heading home, so I was confused when we pulled into a Ford dealership. “Uh...?”
“So I've been thinking,” he started and grinned mischievously at me, “you're going to need your own car soon, and I happen to know that you want a blacked out Expedition.”
“Chase...”
“I may have had one brought to this dealership.”
“No you didn't.” My jaw dropped and I looked out the windows.
He shrugged, “I said I may have. Never said I did.”
I smacked his arm and hopped out of his truck, he met me on the passenger side and pulled me into his arms. “Are you being serious?”
“I am.” He pressed a feather light kiss to my neck, “But we can look around and see if there's something else you want.”
“Babe!” I gasped, but reigned in my excitement, “I can't buy a car.” Okay that was entirely untrue. I'd worked at least forty hours a week almost every week for six years and saved everything I'd made until I moved here, and even then Brandon had always been trying to pay for things I'd been about to buy. I still had well over ninety-eight percent of my savings. Even though Sir was cutting me off, I could have easily finished my school with what I still had, but I was having a baby, and I didn't work anymore. I needed to save as much as I could for him and getting a house. Not that Chase knew how much I had, like Brandon I wasn't usually one to talk about my money.
“Maybe not, but we can.”
“You want to split it?” I asked confused.
He laughed and his eyes lit up, “Not exactly. Okay you can tell me if this is moving too fast, but since I plan on marrying you soon,” he raised an eyebrow to make sure I understood what that meant and I inhaled audibly, “I wanted to put you on my bank account so you have access to my money.”
“Chase, I don't need you to do that and I don't need you to buy me a car.”
“I know Princess, but I want you to have access to it. I make decent money at the shop, but Bree and I were also given a lot when Dad's parents died. So I have more than enough in savings to take care of the three of us, and to buy you a car. It's not a big deal.”
I bit my lip and shifted my weight, “I know you want to, and to be honest it kind of excites me that you want to share all that with me. But I'm saying...I really don't need you to. If we're going to share your bank account, then we should share mine too.”
“Harper that isn't necessary.” He smiled and wrapped his arms around me, but blanched when I whispered how much I had in savings. “Are you serious? Just from working on the base?” I nodded and he let out a low whistle, sounding like his dad, “Well damn babe. That's great, and if you want to add it to our accounts that's fine. But I'd rather not touch that money, we can save it for emergencies, just let me take care of you.”
“Okay.” I pressed my lips to his and sighed into his arms.
“You ready to look for a car?”
I grinned and jumped back, “Nope! No need to look, I already know I want the Expedition!”
Chase laughed and pulled me into the showroom, after talking to a couple people they brought my car around and I tried not to squeal. It was black with black rims, black leather seats and completely decked out. I was in love with this car. Chase let me do the test driving and I was bouncing up and down as we did paperwork for over an hour. My jaw about hit the floor when Chase paid for the entire thing right then and there. I mean, I knew he'd had more money than me, but to just pay for something like that seemed crazy to me. Even the guy giving us all the documents to sign raised an eyebrow when Chase said it would all be taken care of then. When we were finally finished, we drove to the bank in our separate cars so Chase could add me to his accounts and I could add my savings to our now-joint savings account. Thankfully I'd already been using the same bank as him, so it didn't take too long, but I thought I was going to have a stroke when I saw how much money we had combined. There was no reason a twenty-two, and nineteen year old couple about to have a baby and still in college should have that kind of money. Hell, most fifty year old married couples didn't have that kind of money. I now understood why Bree bought me Coach purses like it was no big deal. Because apparently, it really wasn't.
We drove back to Mom and Dad's house, and after showing off my new car to everyone, sat down for dinner and told them our exciting news from the baby appointment this morning. They were all ecstatic and we pulled out the names book right then and started going through them, highlighting names we liked, and bursting into laughter at some of the more ridiculous “Hipster Baby Names”. About an hour after dinner, Chase leaned over the back of the couch to wrap his arms around me.
“Can you do me a favor?” He whispered low in my ear, my body instantly covered in goose bumps from his tone.
“Anything.” I breathed and tilted my head away so he could press his lips to my neck.
“Go pack a bag for a few nights, and meet me down here in ten minutes.” His lips left my neck to move to my ear, his voice dropped even lower and went all smooth and sexy, “You won't need many clothes.”
My eyes widened and cheeks flamed. “Are we going to your house?” I was a little disturbed, we hadn't touched each other in that way since the weekend I got pregnant, and I didn't prefer to do anything in a house where my ex-boyfriend was.
“Nope, but it's a surprise, I can't tell you.”
“You and your surprises.” I laughed and rolled my eyes, “Okay ten minutes and I'll be ready.”
I rushed upstairs and grabbed a bag stuffing it full of toiletries, and very few clothes. When I say few, I mean I only brought one extra outfit. And a pair of sleep clothes, though I knew I wouldn't be using them. I was back downstairs and in Chase's truck within seven minutes. We drove for quite a while, but the time passed quickly while we talked about things we had planned for our son's future. My mouth formed a large O when he pulled into a beautiful bed and breakfast in Dana Point.
“Oh my God.” I whispered as I slowly got out of his truck, “Chase, I don't know how you're ever going to be able to top today. Finding out we're having a boy, buying me a car, joining our bank accounts, and this?”
“I promise I'll always try to top this, but I did want today to be perfect.” He grabbed our bags and I followed him in. When we were in our room, he pulled me into his arms and locked his dark blue eyes with mine, “I know what I said earlier, but don't think we have to do anything this weekend. All I wanted was to have three nights of just you and me, I don't expect anything.”
“I know you don't, but I want this too, Chase.” I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and lifted it up, letting him finish taking it off. When it was on the floor I let my fingers glide down his chest and stomach, resting at the top of his jeans. I began unbuttoning them, but his hands stopped me.