Clark snorted and tried to ruin it. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Matt? Now you’re trapped for life.”
Aubrey whipped her head. “Hey asshole! How do you even know?”
Clark’s surprised face probably gave it away, but he quickly recovered. “Matt shot me a text asking if it was Tina’s. He scared the shit out of me.”
Aubrey stared at him a second longer, but finally looked like she believed him as she nodded her head. I sprang into action. I started rubbing my hands together excitedly and asked, “So when’s our first appointment? When do I get to hear my baby’s heartbeat?”
Vanessa’s eyes said it all and my heart dropped just a little. This was a prank and I watched her start to stutter as she swallowed nervously.
Aubrey tried to save her friend as she chimed in, “I don’t think you hear the heartbeat for a long time.” She glanced at Vanessa as if to prompt her. I decided to dig in a little more, especially now that I know Aubrey’s in on it.
“No, actually you get to hear it around ten weeks in. How far along do you think you might be, Vanessa?” I asked anxiously. I had looked this shit up on my phone while Vanessa was in the shower. You gotta have the data to back up a good prank sometimes, you know?
Vanessa’s face went white. “How…how would you know something like that?”
“I told you he can’t wait to become a dad. The guy’s been looking shit like that up since he found the test earlier today,” Alex chimed in using all his charm.
I repeated my question. “How far in do you think you are, babe?” I watched her swallow nervously and then look back at me. She jumped up and sprinted toward the bathroom.
Aubrey stood quickly and couldn’t look us in the eye as she mumbled, “Must be morning sickness. At night or something.” She took off after Vanessa.
Alex and Clark started laughing as I chuckled. I still wasn’t sure where I stood. Am I a dad or not? I was pretty I wasn’t, but who knows by what just took place. I glanced over to Z and knew he was telling Izzy what was going on. Shit. Now I’d get in trouble or something. As predicted, I watched her jaw drop as she glared at me.
“Don’t look at me like that Izzy. I need to know. If she’s playing a prank, I’m just messing back with her. If she really is, then that’s great too.” Izzy’s face softened as she thought about it for a second. There had to be some way that Izzy could really find out for me, but right now I wasn’t sure if I sent Izzy in there if she’d tell me the truth or not. Girls always stick together.
What was really scaring the hell out of me more than this was the proposal tonight in front of everyone. I was already nervous about that and this just added to it. I started to wonder if I did propose to her tonight, she would think it was just because she was pregnant. I needed to know for sure and I started to wonder if Izzy might be a little more apt to help me if she knew this part.
I walked over to Izzy and told Z that I needed to “borrow” her for a moment. I walked with her to the office and closed the door behind me. Izzy leaned up against their office desk and crossed her arms across her chest. I could tell she was a little peeved at me, but she also seemed open to listening to what I had to say.
I sat down in one of the chairs, so I wouldn’t look so menacing. It would also make her feel bigger than me, as if she had the upper hand in this conversation. It works…trust me.
“I’m gonna level with you. No one else here knows this. Well, Alex might have a clue since I’ve been hinting about this shit for a while now, but no one else knows. I, uh.” I looked up to the ceiling, smiling as I thought about proposing to Vanessa. All this prank stuff made me forget about how excited and nervous I really was about all this. I swallowed as I looked back to Izzy. “I was thinking about popping the question to Vanessa tonight.” I watched Izzy’s face light up with excitement as she smiled huge. I held up my index finger letting her know not to get too excited. “But then this prank thing came about with the pregnancy test and I don’t want her thinking I’m proposing just because she’s pregnant. Not to mention, if she fesses up that it was all just a prank, she’d feel shitty and not think it’s a real proposal.”
I watched Izzy’s face change as she took in all the information I just told her. She pressed her lips together as her blue eyes sparked. “You want me to find out if she’s really telling the truth or not,” she stated flatly. Then she squinted her gorgeous blue eyes at me. “Wait. How do I know you’re not playing a prank on me just to find out?” Shit. She knows me too well. At least this time I was telling the truth.
Smart girl. I could never put one past her. I dug into my pocket and grabbed the engagement ring I had taken out of its box earlier while Vanessa showered. I held it up between my fingers and then handed it to Izzy for her inspection. Her face lit up as she studied it.
“Wow. You really spent some money on this, Matt.”
I shrugged. “I can’t have my girl walking around with anything less than she deserves.”
Izzy’s eyes softened as she handed me back the ring. I took it and then looked back to her eyes. “Can you help me?”
“What if she really is pregnant? She’s going to think you’re proposing for that reason.”
I smiled. “I’ve got a receipt for this ring that goes back several months.” I watched Izzy try to calculate when that would have been and decided to help her out. “I bought it a couple days after her birthday. It sucked to have it sitting in my drawer while we were sort of broken up. But, I’ve known she’s the one since I met her. I just didn’t want to admit it.”
Izzy looked like she was tearing up, so I chuckled. “Stop that and help me out. Come on. You’re supposed to be on my side anyway since I’m your brother-in-law. That counts for something above some girl’s code.” She nodded and threw her arms around me.
“I knew you’d finally realize she’s the one.”
I walked back over to the bar and grabbed my beer. Alex threw me a look and I shook my head that I still didn’t know yet. We all stood there shooting the shit while I kept glancing over towards the bathrooms waiting for some sign from Izzy.
A dad. What if she really is pregnant? I started picturing all the stuff we’d need to get done before the little one came. We’d probably just have a quick ceremony soon. I wasn’t about to have my kid born without us being married. That might work for some, but I wasn’t about to have that.
I bet it’s probably a boy. I’m sure our first would be a boy. I could teach him football and play baseball with him. My dad would love that too. I’m so thankful he’ll be around to help me teach him all the things he taught me.
Although a little girl that looked just like Vanessa would be pretty cool too. I was just thinking about if my little girl would have my blue eyes or soft gorgeous eyes like Vanessa when Izzy started walking back to us. I couldn’t tell by her facial expression if she knew or not. I practically ran towards her, meeting her half way.
“Matt, I can’t figure it out. She’s in there crying pretty bad and Aubrey wouldn’t let me know either,” she said with a worried expression.
I nodded remembering how close her and Aubrey were. If Vanessa’s feelings are involved, Aubrey wasn’t going to let anyone near her. “It’s alright Izzy. Thanks for trying.” Whether she is or isn’t pregnant, I didn’t want her so upset that she’s crying like that.
I walked over towards the bathroom door and opened the women’s door slightly. “Vanessa?” I called out. I heard a bunch of whispering and so I decided to press. “Hey, Vanessa, come on out here, I need to talk to you, babe.”
A blonde woman came towards the door and brushed her body against me. “I’ll talk to you, Matty. I haven’t seen you in awhile.”
I chuckled, shook my head and tried to remember if I’ve been with her. It didn’t matter. “I’d rather talk to the woman I’m in love with, but thanks for the offer.”
“If she is who I think she is, she’s a mess. What’d you do, cheat on her?”
I pulled my brows in
close. “What? No, I didn’t cheat on her,” I exclaimed. Then I realized I was still talking to this chick and didn’t even care about her. What mattered right now was Vanessa. I practically pushed the blonde out of the way and walked into the women’s bathroom.
It hurt my heart to see Vanessa crying uncontrollably into Aubrey’s shoulder. Aubrey glanced up and threw me an approving smile.
A woman came out of a bathroom stall right at that moment. “You can’t be in here!” She yelled at me. I looked back and saw Vanessa lift her head and her eyes met mine. Her deep grey eyes were swollen and surrounded by tears.
“Come here, baby,” I said softly as I walked towards her and Aubrey. Aubrey turned Vanessa so that she faced me and basically handed her off to me.
Vanessa wrapped her arms around me tightly and continued to sob into my chest. I kissed the top of her head as the woman who just came out of the stall started towards me, angry that I was in here.
Aubrey went into full protective mode and stepped in front of her. “They need to work something out and I’m pretty sure you’re done in here. I’m sure they’ll just be a minute.” The woman began to protest, but Aubrey being Aubrey, wasn’t taking no for an answer and ushered her out of the bathroom.
I turned back to Vanessa and lifted her head so I could look into her eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you really pregnant or were you just trying to pull a prank on me?”
She tried to catch her breath as she stuttered, “I’m so sorry. I thought it would be fun to get you back. But now it’s just a horrible cruel joke. Alex is going to hate me now and you probably think I’m the worst person alive for joking about that.” She sniffed and then continued, “I thought you would freak out and then you’d be relieved that I wasn’t. And then Alex started in about his ex and how horrible…” She couldn’t continue as she pressed her head back to my chest and continued to cry. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled into my chest.
I squeezed her tight and tried my best not to laugh at her carrying on. I was a little disappointed, but maybe it’s for the best that we’re not going to have a baby just yet. “Hey,” I whispered. “It’s alright. We were pretty sure you were trying to pull a prank. Either way, I’m fine.”
She sniffled and then in a meek voice asked, “You’re not upset? You knew it was a prank?”
I shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t sure, but if you were, I didn’t want you to worry that I’d be upset.” She lifted her head a little more and then wiped her eyes. Then her eyes got really wide as she glanced back to my shirt. “I’m so sorry. Now you have mascara all over you.”
I smiled as I bent my knees so I could see in her eyes. “No worries. Just think if we had a baby, it’d be easier to clean than baby spit up.” I got what I wanted when she smiled and gave a soft laugh.
I watched her bite her lip and look back up to me. “Were you really disappointed?”
I gave her my best smile as I told her, “We’re probably not ready for one just yet, but yeah, I’m looking forward to having one with you.”
She nodded as she hugged me, pressing her head to my chest. “Let’s not rush things just yet. We just got back together and we should see if we can actually live together first.” I just nodded and gave a brief ‘uh-huh’ trying not to give away my little surprise that was coming her way.
******
“It’s about to rain. Do we chance it?” She asked as she peered up at the clouds. The concern in her gorgeous grey eyes reminded me of that evening we walked back from Mel and Flynn’s, back when we were claiming to just be friends. I knew that wasn’t the only night that pulled me closer to her. There were so many other moments that brought us together.
I could consider the dance at Mel and Flynn’s wedding as the moment I really fell for her, but that was also the night that the door shut with Stephanie. Being heartbroken over Stephanie and then turning around right into Vanessa, there were times I questioned if I just wanted Vanessa to help me get over my heartache, but I definitely don’t think that way anymore.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked as I watched her glance at me and then look back down to the sandwich in her hand. She started to rewrap it in the waxed paper that surrounded it. Squishing the paper tightly, she placed it into the small blue cooler and then reached for the plastic container of fruit. My heart began to beat faster. This is it. I’m going to do it this time.
I realized it wasn’t the right moment at Allure. Flynn told me it was harder than I thought, as if I would chicken out. That wasn’t the real reason I didn’t do it at Allure. I created a huge party under the assumption that we were all celebrating my decision to stay here instead of move back to Atlanta. Every one of our friends were there.
After the prank and how upset she was, I knew it wasn’t the right night to propose. It wouldn’t have been a great surprise like I wanted it to be. Then I found out a couple days later during brunch with her parents, that Charles proposed in front of everyone at the club, I knew I made the right decision not to ask her in front of everyone. It had been done before and I didn’t want her having that same memory.
My mouth became dry as my heart continued to pound. I was starting to breath heavy as I felt small drops of water on my forehead. “Stop staring and help me,” she chuckled as she smacked my arm lightly. I nodded, feeling my heart stop — scared that maybe I just missed my perfect opportunity. Staring at her, I probably looked like an idiot.
I quickly looked down and picked up the wine glass wanting to empty the remainder into the grass. Instead, when I flicked the glass to empty its contents I did it a bit too soon. I watched red wine splatter Vanessa’s teal top. Crimson stains now decorated her chest. She spread her arms out wide and popped her mouth wide open, but she was laughing as the rain started to come down a little faster.
“Oh shit, baby, I’m so sorry.” I exclaimed as I grabbed the napkin and started to wipe it. She pushed my arms away and shook her head, laughing.
“Are you just trying to get me out of this shirt faster,” she asked with teasing eyes as we both stared down at her shirt. “Well, at least the rain will help get the wine out of my shirt,” she joked as she shook her head and then continued to pick up the rest of our picnic lunch off our blanket. Small water drops now sprinkled the fabric, making the red and green plaid darken even more.
I reached for the top to the container for the cheese just as she reached at the same time. Our fingers touched and sent shivers up my arm. As if my heart wasn’t already beating fast enough. I cast my eyes up to hers as I closed my fingers around her hand and squeezed, feeling her soft skin as rain fell onto my skin. Her gorgeous smile made my heart stop as I stared deep into her sparkling grey eyes. My mouth became dry and I knew this was the very moment I’ve been waiting for. I pulled her up to her knees as I held her hand and grabbed her other one to do the same. Both on our knees, we faced each other as the rain continued to sprinkle a little heavier. Her eyes were sparkling and she glanced up at the sky, as she let the rain splash on her face.
I swallowed as she looked back into my eyes and I took a deep breath. “Vanessa, I never thought I’d find someone to walk through the storms with me. I never thought that I’d find someone to take a huge leap with.” Vanessa’s eyes turned serious and her smile faded, which made me debate my next words. “Vanessa since the day we met, you’ve confused me with your words, annoyed me at work with your policies, entranced me with your beauty, mesmerized me with your persistence and seized my heart with your love.” I squeezed her one hand as I reached in my pocket with my other hand and dug out what I was searching for. I looked back to her eyes searching to see if she was happy or scared about what I was about to do. I couldn’t tell if she was nervous or excited. Damn, this woman confuses me all the time.
I felt both her hands, checking for her grandmother’s ring. I was afraid I’d screw up and place it on the wrong hand. I couldn’t look like an idiot, placing it over her other ring. With her left hand in mine, I took another deep breath
. “In all my life, I’ve never wanted anything more. Vanessa, would you give me the honor of becoming my wife?” I asked and then waited.
I couldn’t tell if there were tears falling from her eyes or if it was from the rain that started coming down a little harder. Her eyes lit up as she bit her lip. She seemed to pause and shook her head as she looked up to the sky again. I swallowed nervously and realized I should have waited another year or something. I can’t believe she’s going to tell me no. Do women say no when they’re proposed to? It’s the rain. What a stupid idea to do it in the rain. What woman wants to be soaking wet when asked such an important question?
“Out of all the men in the world, I never thought you would be the one to steal my heart.” She smiled as the rain continued to fall, her hair was almost soaked now, bringing back the memories of one of the most amazing kisses we’ve ever had. “I would love nothing more than to become your wife,” she said to me as tears filled her eyes. At least I thought they were tears, but with the rain falling, I couldn’t tell.
Relief flooded through me and I finally felt like I could breathe again. I quickly started to place the ring on her finger as if I were worried she would change her mind. She placed her other hand on mine just was I was about to slip the ring on. I looked up at her, almost panicked that she was going back on what she said. “You have to promise me that no matter how hard you try to tell me you’re not romantic, that you still keep surprising me with the things that I consider romantic.”
A rush of air blew out of my lungs as I shook my head and laughed. “Deal.”
Acknowledgements
With so many people to thank, I would like to first start off with the people who are truly responsible for encouraging me to write this book — my readers. This book was truly written because of the incredible and wonderful feed back I received from all of you when I published Promises, Promises. I am humbled by your many comments telling me how much you enjoyed Izzy and Z’s story. When the questions started coming in asking for when the next book was coming out, I honestly couldn’t resist.
Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) Page 52