“He’s a good man and he loves you a great deal. Remember that as you consider your options. Oh, and don’t tell your mother. Maybe just elope.” He laughed. “And can you please visit the doctor and have a checkup? You’ve complained quite often of not feeling well.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I will. Oliver made an appointment for tomorrow, actually.”
The evening had flown by and I’d fallen asleep before Hank even made it home from a dinner meeting. The next morning I slipped out of bed and met Ollie in the spare room that I’d had renovated into a closet and vanity area after Hank moved in. Hank’s closet was now the one off the master bath.
Over the past couple months, Hank and Ollie had gotten past any insecurity over each other’s place in my life, but my cowboy was not compromising on Oliver’s intrusive ways. He would not accept the man coming into our room to wake me. He also preferred he not be anywhere near our morning routine of getting ready. Bought me a silk robe for every day of the week, too, so that I wouldn’t be traipsing around in front of my best friend naked anymore. I knew he wasn’t being controlling, he just had old-fashioned morals and appreciated modesty more than I did.
“You ready to get your shit fixed?” Ollie asked as he handed me a black pantsuit and a silver silk blouse.
“Honestly, Ollie, I know you mean well, but there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just tired. We’ve all been working ourselves to the bone, and Hank and I often choose to spend the evenings wrapped up in one another instead of getting that much needed sleep.”
He smirked. “Uh huh. Whatever. I’ve heard of people like you who have been exhausted all the time, with extreme levels of fatigue, and they had cancer!” He put his hands on his hips.
“What the hell, Ollie? That’s a messed-up thing to say. Are you trying to scare me?”
“Hell yes! I’m scared as shit. You have no idea how many diseases Web MD says you have right now!” His tone was serious but his eyes told another story.
“You’re full of it. I’ll go to the damn doctor. Stop diagnosing me, for crying out loud. I don’t have cancer; I’m just under the weather. I probably have the flu.”
“You could have walking pneumonia and not even know it!”
I rolled my eyes. “Ollie,” I warned. “Call the limo around, please.”
Ollie meant well, but sometimes he could take the cake with his ridiculous ideas. But there was a modicum of truth to his thoughts. I had felt like death warmed over for the better part of two months now. It had to be stress and fatigue. Could I handle if it was something more serious? Cancer? No, no, no. My best friend just had me freaking out for no reason. Walking pneumonia. Was that a possibility? I had been on a ten-day course of antibiotics for a sinus infection shortly after we went to Coney Island. Maybe I just needed another round.
A couple of hours later, the doctor led me back out into the waiting room to meet up with Ollie. I’d forced him to stay there, even though it took the promise of a night at one of New York’s finest restaurants for the four of us to get him to agree. Sometimes my best friend hovered like a helicopter mom. This time I was grateful for his protectiveness. One look at my pale face and he ushered me out and into the limo.
“Pen, okay. I’m ready. What’s wrong?” his eyes were filled with unshed tears. “You’re white as a ghost, tell me!” he screamed.
I handed him the piece of paper that sealed my fate.
“Oh. My. Fucking. God!”
***
My Angel was quiet—too quiet—as she sat and looked out the window of the limo. We had dinner reservations at a fancy-pants restaurant uptown. I didn’t quite hate the city anymore, but I could definitely live without the hustle and bustle of the traffic, people always in a hurry, running into one another, and all the gourmet crap. Every time we ate out at one of the places Aspen chose, I always left hungry. We’d have to stop by Fat Johnny’s Hot Dog Stand on the way home. A big man like me didn’t fill up on a speck of meat and a few stalks of asparagus. I needed a ten or twelve ounce steak, a ladleful of mashed potatoes, and a heap of corn to fill the gullet. Throw in a couple pints and you had a happy man.
“Darlin’, what’s the matter?”
“Hmmm?”
“I asked you what’s peckin’ at your brain.”
“I love you, Hank. All your pieces.” She smiled, but it was strange and completely out of the blue.
“Tell me, Angel. What’s the matter? What did the doctor say today? You sick?”
My gut twisted at the thought of my girl being sick. I'd been nervous all day waitin’ to find out the results of all the tests she was gonna have. Oliver had me in a fit with all his printouts from some doctor website that claimed she could have a hundred different diseases … many of which ended in early death. Sweat broke out on my forehead; the hairs on my neck stood at attention as I prepared to hear the worst.
She looked out the window as we arrived at the location. “Let’s chat inside. I’m hungry,” she said as she pulled across me and hopped out.
I took a deep breath and followed the love of my life inside, hoping to God whatever ailed her could be cured.
Please, God in Heaven, don’t take away the Angel you sent now that I’ve got her back.
We settled into her preferred table. Having tons of money got her into all kinds of special places. I couldn’t care less, but she seemed to enjoy it, and I enjoyed her being happy.
I ordered a beer and she bypassed the wine, which added to my theory that my life was about to change. She took her time ordering her dinner, substituting fish for chicken, which was strange. She loved seafood and ordered it on most occasions when we ate out. She looked at everyone but me. Those damned alarm bells were chiming like mad.
Gripping her hand over the table, I tugged it and forced her to look at me. “You’re killin’ me, Angel. Are you sick?”
“Nothing that won’t go away after six or seven months,” she said.
“Do you need surgery on something?” My mind was scrambling around, trying to connect the dots, figure out what could possibly need that amount of healing. Hell, even my shoulder was healed up after three months for the most part. “I’m not following.”
“I’m nervous, Stud. Give me a minute.” Nervous Aspen was a new thing. This was not a side to her I’d seen often. She was sitting across from me acting shy, and she looked pale and uncertain. Even her eyes didn’t hold the same fire. I couldn’t imagine what was making her act this way, but I was scared shitless to find out.
A small smile was on her lips and that tiny little quirk of her lips acted like a balm on my own nerves. She took a deep breath and started again. “Since we’ve been together, you’ve made it clear that there were a couple things that would make you the happiest man on earth. Do you remember what you said those were?”
I had no idea where she was going with this, but she bit down on her lip and reached into her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and the coveted blue velvet box I hadn’t seen in almost three months. My heart started beating so hard in my chest I thought that it was possible to hear it thumping across the room.
“Angel,” I whispered.
“Look inside,” she smiled. I grabbed the box and opened it. Inside were two rings. One was a huge square diamond with three circle diamonds hugging the square on each side. I pulled it out and inspected it. It was obviously for her. She smiled when I slipped it on the edge of my pinky finger to examine it. “Pretty nice.” I smiled and she nodded.
The other ring was a band with the whitest gold I’d ever seen. Running through the inside was a raised rope of metal, like one we’d use on roping our cattle back home. “So, does this mean you’re asking me to marry ya?”
Her smile fell and she slowly pushed a small piece of paper across the table. Her finger held whatever it was face-down. After what seemed like forever, her gaze lifted to mine and what I saw there broke me. She had huge tears in her eyes, but wasn’t letting them fall.
“That depends, Hank. If you still want to marry me after you see what’s on the other side of this piece of paper. The deal is, you ask me and in turn, I will ask you.”
I feared the little square of paper, but whatever it was, it didn’t matter. Even if she had a terminal illness and I only had one more day with her, there would have been nothin’ I wanted more than to marry my Angel. Her hand was chilled as I covered it with my larger one. “Angel, I will marry you no matter what. There is nothing I want more in life than to be with you. Forever.”
“Look at it, Hank. Please. ” Her lip quivered, a tear fell, and I turned over the piece of paper. It was black and white and showed a white grainy blob in the center of a dark circle. Like someone had tried to erase black ink off a piece of paper and pressed too hard and got a hazy white smudge for their effort. Aspen’s name was on the top left hand, her doctor’s information on the other side.
I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. “What am I lookin’ at, darlin’?”
“That’s a picture of our baby.” My eyes shot to hers. Huge tears poured down the sides of her face. Her lips trembled and she licked them. I wanted to kiss them, hug her, laugh with joy and scream. I did none of that. The only thing I could do was stare at the perfect little blob in the grainy image. My child. Our baby.
“Angel, I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you want to marry me,” she urged, and I could tell that she was scared this news would make me not want her. God only knew what was going on in that head of hers, but nothing could be further from the truth.
“I want to marry you.” I said with as much conviction as my emotions would allow. My voice was strained but loud enough for her to hear.
“Say you’ll marry me,” she asked and clutched my hand with hers.
“I’ll marry you.”
“Okay,” she whispered with a tentative smile.
“Okay, when?” I asked, gripping her lovely hands to mine, waiting for the moment when I could kiss her.
“I don’t know?” She was beautiful when she was confused. She was always beautiful.
“Tomorrow?” My smile must have reached my ears because she stood up.
“No. Soon though.” She laughed lightly.
“Okay. Can I kiss you now?”
Her smile melted my heart. I stood and pulled her out of her chair. My hands cupped her face. “You’ve made me happier than I ever dreamed. Thank you.”
And I kissed her. I kissed her as if I’d never get the chance again. I kissed her as though the world was ending when it had only truly just begun. Our worlds were colliding in the best possible way. I’d always remember the day that my Angel fell into my arms. The day she agreed to become my wife. The day she told me I was going to be a father.
“How pregnant are we?” I asked, cupping my hand over her belly. If I focused really hard I imagined I could barely feel an outline of a little something growing there. My baby.
“We’re about nine weeks. I didn’t even realize I’d missed my cycle last month completely. With all the work and … ” I put my fingers over her lips.
“Angel, don’t. This is the best news of my life.” I pulled her hand and slipped on her engagement ring. She grabbed the box and slipped my ring on my left finger. It fit perfectly. “Shouldn’t we wait for the ceremony for mine? Isn’t that custom?”
“It’s customary to have a ring when you propose. I asked you and you agreed. You going to tell me you won’t wear my ring?” Her eyebrows pinched together and her mouth set into a pout.
“Not a chance. I’ll wear it proudly. I love you so much.” I whispered against her lips and kissed her. Then I dropped down to my knees in the middle of the restaurant and held her stomach to my face. I nuzzled her belly and kissed the entire surface. She swatted my hands away when I tried to lift her shirt to kiss her bare skin. I wanted nothing but my Angel’s flesh between me and connecting with our baby.
“Hank, you’re making a scene.” She was right. The entire restaurant was watching us. I couldn’t sit here and have dinner. Excitement about getting married, about having our baby, was flooding me and filling my thoughts to the brim.
“Let’s go!” I pulled on her and ushered her out and into the street.
We made it home in record time, probably because I was threatening the limo driver every five seconds to hurry up or he was going to get a boot up his ass. He didn’t disappoint.
We went straight into the bedroom. Without a word, I stripped her of all her clothes then laid her bare on our bed. I removed all of my clothing and surveyed her entire body. Now that I was paying close attention, there were very subtle changes.
The fullness of her breasts, the soft glow of her skin, her stomach even looked as if it had rounded out just a hair. Though it was probably wishful thinking. I straddled Aspen and planted my face on top of her belly. I spread my hand out over the entire expanse and looked at her in awe.
“You know, pretty soon you won’t be able to cover that space with your hands,” she said.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see you all round and swollen with my child.” I slid my hands all over her bare skin. “Hell, darlin’, it makes me rock hard just thinking about it.”
“A man who’s turned on by pregnancy.” She laughed but enjoyed my hands on her.
I spent the evening worshiping every inch of my pregnant fiancée. Knowing I was going to do so for the rest of my life only made the world seem that much sweeter.
She slept through the night, and in the wee hours of the mornin’ I stared at our baby’s picture. It didn’t look like a baby yet, but it was still the most beautiful thing I’d seen aside from my girl.
“You still looking at that picture, Stud?” she asked, then stretched out and put her head on my chest.
“I just can’t believe it. Ma is going to go through the roof. You better get ready for a visit, because once she finds out you’re expecting and we’re gettin’ married the whole lot of em’ will be coming to New York.”
She kissed my chest and tilted her head up. “I thought maybe we could get married at the ranch. The landscape is beautiful. Just invite our families and our good friends. Keep it small. I’ll be a pregnant bride unless we want to wait until after the baby is born,” she said.
“Oh, hell no. My baby is not entering the world a bastard. We’re getting married, and fast!” There was no budging on this one. The sooner the better in my opinion. If Ma wasn’t going to be so happy about getting a new grand she’d be lecturing us until the wedding day about getting pregnant before the wedding.