“I'll admit I was worried just being with you would be moving too fast after the accident for other people, but with the way I feel, and after talking to Mom, Bree and Konrad, I don't think we are. Mom was right, our situation is completely different, and it doesn't matter what other people think. This is our life together, not theirs.” I laid down on my back, and put a hand over my eyes to shield the sun, “Answer me something before I continue. Being his dad, you really want that?”
He turned onto his side, his face hovering over mine, “I do.”
“Good.” I smiled and wrapped a hand around his neck, “I don't want you to just be the guy that raises him. What you said this morning, was more than perfect. I want you to be his dad, I want him to be your son. I want you to be my husband and if we have more kids later on in life, I don't want them to be our kids, and him” I pointed to my stomach, “be my kid. I agree he needs to know about Chase, but you're going to be Dad to him, and he's going to be ours. Just like any other child we have.
“I want you to be at the rest of the appointments if you want to, and don't worry, Dr. Lowdry already knows about you. She pulled me aside during my second appointment and asked about the father, I ended up breaking down and telling her the whole story. I swear those Doctors are trained to be therapists too. She knows that Chase died, and she knows you've been there for me. Honestly, she's like Bree and Mom, I doubt she'll be surprised to see you there. So if you want to be there, then I would love for you to come with me. I want you to help me name him, and if it's okay, I want you in the room with me when I deliver. I'm telling you, I'm not going to pick and choose what you can and can't do, I want you there for everything. I’ve wanted you there for everything, but I’ve been denying myself of what I want and pushing my emotions away. Now that we’re done pretending, I’m ready for it all, but you need to tell me if you're uncomfortable with any of this.”
“If you were any other girl, I would be. But you're my world Harper, no matter how strange our situation may be, being with you and starting a family with you feels right.”
“I completely agree.” I whispered against his neck and pressed my lips there twice. “Are we all clear now? Anything else we need to cover?”
“Will you move in with me, let me take care of you and marry me?”
“Are you proposing Brandon Taylor?” I teased, looking up into his brown eyes.
He smiled and caught my lips with his, “Not until I have a ring for you sweetheart.”
“Good because that would have been a horrible proposal. And in the words of the man I love, yes to all of the above.”
15
Brandon and I had found a townhouse that weekend and were moving in tomorrow. It was a three bedroom, two and a half bath, two car garage with a backyard and it was perfect. It was less than ten minutes away from Mom and Dad's, and even though they were sad I wouldn't be living with them, they were really happy that Brandon and I were moving on with our lives. Mom said she was going to set up another nursery in the room anyway so she could babysit and to insure we would still come over often. Yesterday we had finished picking out and buying everything we needed to furnish our new place, and the things that weren't already stored in Mom and Dad's garage were being delivered tomorrow morning. We were currently starting the ultrasound at my first appointment with Brandon since he and I had gotten back together. As suspected, Dr. Lowdry wasn't surprised to see Brandon, and was genuinely happy he was there with me.
Brandon's breath caught and he squeezed my hand as soon as Gummy Bear's heartbeat filled the room and he was on the screen. “Oh my God, Harper.”
I smiled at him and looked back to the screen. Going through this right now was completely different than it had been with Chase. It had been almost magical with Chase, emotional since he died, and felt like a perfect new beginning with Brandon.
“Okay Harper, as you can see, the baby has already turned head down and dropped. That usually doesn't happen for a couple more weeks, so unfortunately I am going to have to put you on bedrest. He'll probably still come early, but honestly with how things are going it could happen at any time now. We need to make sure he stays in there at least a few more weeks so everything can be fully developed. If it comes down to it there are medicines we can use to help with that, but I'd prefer to not do that. So the less active you are now, the better.” Dr. Lowdry turned to Brandon, “Now I'm counting on you to make sure she takes it easy, okay?”
He grinned at me, “I promise she'll be taken care of.”
I rolled my eyes, he knew I could only handle being babied for so long before I started going crazy. I usually didn't make it past two days.
The next day was ridiculous, I wanted to be putting everything away in our new home, but once the furniture had been moved in, everyone made me lie on the couch and tell them where I wanted boxes to go. I continued to whine and complain until Brandon came back with another load of boxes and frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon for me. That shut me up and I decided to play nice the rest of the day. I ordered pizza for everyone that helped four hours later when they'd finished, and we had the house to ourselves by eight. Brandon and I walked from room to room so I could see how the furniture looked in the rooms, and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. We had just left the new nursery when Brandon stopped me in the hall.
“Close your eyes sweetheart.”
“Why?” I dragged out the word a bit.
Brandon stepped close and placed his lips to my ear, his fingers gently rubbing my swollen stomach. “I have a surprise for you, will you please close them?”
I obeyed and he took my hands to lead me to another room, my jaw dropped when I finally opened them. “When did you do this?” I glanced around at our bedroom that was dim, the only light coming from candles, and the huge bouquets of orange lilies. At least another two dozen lilies had the stems cut off and were lying on the bed.
He kissed me gently and walked me to the bed, “I made sure you were kept busy for a while. You really thought Bree wouldn't know where to put the nursery and kitchen items?” He sat me down and bent over, kissing me again.
“Thank you Brandon, for everything.”
“Harper, I will love you forever, and I promise to take care of you and our kids for the rest of my life.” He leaned over and pulled something out of a nightstand drawer, then dropped to one knee, my mouth popped open and my eyes widened. “Will you please marry me?”
Of course tears started streaming down my face as I nodded my head and managed to squeak out, “Yes!” I pulled Brandon's face to mine and kissed him until I couldn't think straight anymore.
I gasped when he opened the black box and there lay a thick white gold band with three large round diamonds on top. He pulled it out and gently placed it on the ring finger of my left hand. I laughed when the ring instantly fell to one side from the weight of it and pressed my lips to Brandon's, pulling him onto the bed with me. His large frame curled around my body as he kissed me passionately and slowly made his way to my stomach, which he kissed tenderly and told Gummy Bear that Mommy and Daddy were getting married. There was fire in his eyes when he brought his face back to mine and began unbuttoning my top. To be honest, with how big my stomach is, I thought he wouldn't even want me like that right now, but the way his lips moved over my throat and chest, and his fingers caressed my body, it didn't seem he thought the same. I was craving to be with him, but after a while he groaned and fell to his side on the bed, both of us breathing hard.
“Why did you stop?”
He'd been running a hand over his face and it stopped halfway down, “Wait, you're ready?” I nodded and blushed, he let out a frustrated laugh and pulled me close to his chest, “So once again you decide you're ready, and something stops us.”
“No you're stopping us.”
“Sweetheart, trust me when I say I don't want to stop, especially after you telling me this. But Dr. Lowdry told me we couldn't.”
“What? When?!” I pulled myself up on my elbow and looked into his hazel eyes.
“When you went to the bathroom yesterday she told me two things. One, make sure you stay on the couch or bed. Two, do not have sex with you. She said normally, she encourages couples to have sex, but with how worried she is that you're going to go into labor too early, she said we had to refrain.” Brandon smiled and kissed my cheek, “So naturally, you're ready.”
“I'm sorry Brandon.”
He cupped my face and looked at me with bright eyes, “Don't be. When we finally do, it's going to be amazing.” He kissed my lips, then grabbed my hand to kiss the ring he'd just placed there. “It's been a long day, let's get some sleep baby.”
***
I woke up confused at first, but smiled and curled up even more into Brandon's arms when I realized we were in our place, in our room, in our bed. He had one arm under my head, the other wrapped lovingly around my stomach. I glanced at my ring and turned it every which way so the light streaming in through the blinds would catch perfectly on the diamonds. Brandon's hand started on slow circles when Gummy Bear's elbow skimmed across my side as he shifted.
“It has been way too long since I've woken up with you in my arms,” he kissed the top of my head, “and I'm glad you like your ring.”
“I love my ring, and I love you.”
“I love you too, my beautiful fiancée.”
I smiled and scooted away so I could roll over to face him, big stomachs tend to get in the way sometimes, “And I love that.” I kissed under his jaw and his arms tightened around me, “How does Christmas time sound?”
Brandon started and looked down at me, “For what?”
“To get married. I don't want to be pregnant when we get married, I don't want it to look like a shotgun wedding. And I really want to wear a pretty dress, not a maternity dress.”
“Four and a half months?” I nodded and he smiled wide, that dimple that I love so much flashed at me, “Sounds perfect.” He kissed me chastely and got out of the bed, “I'm going to make us breakfast, you're going to turn our phones off and meet me in the kitchen when you're ready. Breanna's gonna hate me, but we're ignoring the outside world and not leaving our place for the rest of the weekend. They can find out about our engagement on Monday.”
Brandon and I had done exactly what he said; I turned off the phones, grabbed a quick shower and dressed in comfortable pajama shorts and stretchy tank top. He made ham and cheese omelets, coffee for him, decaffeinated tea for me and cut up a melon. We sat at the kitchen table, my legs propped up on Brandon's lap, eating breakfast and staying long after it was gone just to talk and enjoy having our own place. The rest of the weekend was either spent on the couch watching movies, sitting out back in the evenings or curled up in bed. After complaining all throughout lunch the first day, he finally conceded to letting me stay standing long enough to help cook our meals, even though I did notice he seemed to make meals that didn't take much time to cook after he did allow my help. My family and his were coming for dinner Monday night to have everyone in our place now that it was completely done being decorated – Brandon had only let me work for five minutes an hour, and had done the rest himself, but I had to admit it looked amazing and I loved seeing him make our new place our home – and also to share our news.