“I love you,” she tells me, her eyes lighting up. “I love how you put us first. I love how you love our child and didn’t even bat an eye when you found out. I love that you haven’t pushed or asked me for anything more than I was willing to give, and that you’ve given me that time to get there.”
“Are you there, baby?” I ask her, hoping to Christ that I get to have her forever. “There is no going back,” I tell her. “It’s forever. I will not let us fail at this.”
“My parents love me,” she starts to say. “I knew that growing up, and I never doubted that. Not once did I ever feel I wasn’t loved. But I missed my dad. I missed not being able to make him pancakes on Father’s Day or get him to go to the store with me so he could help me buy a gift for my mother.” Her fingers play with the scruff on my face. “This isn’t happening like I thought it would,” she tells me. “I thought I would be married when I became a mom, but I wouldn’t change our journey for anything in the world.”
“Marry me?” I ask her, and she gasps. “This is definitely not the way I wanted to ask you.” I smile at her. “But it is only a matter of time.” My heart pounds in my chest. “Marry me and be my wife.” She puts her hands on my chest, and I know she can feel my heart pounding. “This isn’t how I wanted to do it. I wanted to do it with roses, and candles, and for it to be romantic.”
“Oh my God, you’re serious?” she says out loud, and I move her from my lap. “Carter,” she says my name, but I walk to the bedroom and grab the bag where the red Cartier ring box is. I grab it and then go back to the room.
“Can you stand up, at least?” I laugh nervously, and she gets off the bed and comes over to me. She is wearing yoga pants, but she is wearing my thick sweater over it. Her hair is loose. I’m wearing jeans; there are no roses, no candles, and no string quartet to serenade her. It’s just me and her where I first fell in love with her.
I get down on one knee, and she gasps again, her hand going to her mouth. “I bought this ring when you told me that you were pregnant. Not because you were pregnant but because I knew I couldn’t live without you.” I open the ring box, and she silently cries. The blue ten-carat square diamond reminded me of her eyes. “Erin, I love you,” I say. Suddenly, my words are gone. Everything is gone as I look at her. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry.” I look down at the ring. “I want you to be my wife, to be the mother of my children, to be my rock. But most importantly, I want to be your husband. I want to be the father to your children, and I want to be your rock. I want to hold you through the good times, and I want to hold you through the bad times.” I look up at her, now the tears are flowing down my face also. “Don’t let me live another day without you.”
“Yes,” she whispers and laughs while she cries.
“Oh my God. You said yes,” I say, almost shocked. I get up and hold her face in mine and kiss her. Finally, we share a real kiss. Her arms wrap around my neck, and I wrap my arms around her. I let her go and then get down on my knees again. This time, I lift her shirt to expose her little stomach. “She said yes,” I whisper to our child and kiss her stomach. “The ring,” I say to myself and get up and grab her hand. “This means forever,” I tell her, slipping the ring on her finger, and she looks down at her hand.
“You went a little overboard,” she says, and I shake my head.
“Not even a bit,” I tell her. “Do you think we can get married next week?”
“What?” she asks. “Highly doubtful.”
“Challenge accepted,” I say, and I hug her, bringing her to me. That night, when I close my eyes, it’s with her naked in my arms. My hand on her belly, and her hand on mine.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Erin
“Oh, baby.” My mother puts on my veil. “I honestly didn’t think we could pull it off,” she says, and I look in the mirror, “in one week.”
“I can’t even believe it.” My stomach flutters. I put my hand on my little belly and think about when I said yes. The next day, he was out of bed at the crack of dawn and on the phone with my father. Nothing could stop those two together. My father had my mother on a plane that afternoon, and for the past week, we planned the wedding. I didn’t even think we would have a big wedding, but when Ryan Crest and Carter Johnson send out invitations, people move. With everything going on, I can’t believe the press hasn’t gotten a hold of the plans. All week, Sylvia has been putting up pictures of Carter from Montana, so everyone still thinks he’s there. I also didn’t think I would be able to get a wedding dress, but boy, was I wrong. Dad had the best seamstress come to the house the day after we got back, and just like that, she sketched what was my wedding dress. I wanted it to be lace with long sleeves and backless. I wanted it tight all the way down because who knew if I would ever get this skinny again. I wanted the back to kick off with a train. Well, it was so much better than I thought it would be. It fit me like a glove, and although I had a little bit of a belly, you could hardly see it. I turn to the left and see that the veil has crystals all over it, making it glitter in the light.