Falling in Love Again: A Valentine's Day Proposal

by Mia Ford

  Bang, bang!

  “Hey, Raelyn, are you okay in there?” Abbi calls through the bathroom door. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Err, yeah, I’m good.” I straighten up more. “I will be out in a moment. It’s just hard to navigate with a wedding dress on, that’s all. I know that I don’t have a poofy number on, but it still isn’t easy.”

  “I can come in, if you want? Give you a hand?”

  “No, no,” I shoot back a little panicked. “I’m fine I won’t be a moment.”

  Really what I’m doing it waiting the allotted time for the lines to come up on the pregnancy test that I’m taking. The one minute for a plus or minus sign. And yes, I know that waiting for my wedding morning while I’m already in my dress isn’t the best idea, but I’ve been so busy with the business and I guess I’ve also been putting it off a bit, so here I am doing the most stupid thing possible. I could have waited until afterwards, but I didn’t want to actually get hitched without knowing. I need that answer and I need it now.

  Fucking hell, come on then, I demand silently to the stick. I need to know right now.

  But this minute feels like it’s taking forever. It’s killing me as I stare at it and nothing comes up. My foot shakes on the ground, my knee aches, my fingers are twitching with nerves. I don’t know why I’m so freaked out about this, I wouldn’t mind what the answer is either way, it’s just the anticipation killing me.

  “Oh my God,” I gasp as the sight before me. “Oh my God, oh my God.”

  “Raelyn!” Bang, bang! Abbi hammers on the door again. “What the hell is going on? Please tell me that you aren’t having second thoughts about this wedding. Because it is looking amazing in there.”

  “No, no.” I unlock the bathroom door and push it open. “I just found something out.”

  “Something? What do you mean something?” I hold up the stick. “You’re pregnant?”

  “I am pregnant, yes. How crazy is that? I’m about to have a baby.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that you were doing a test? How did you do that alone?”

  “I just… I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be and I freaked out.” Tears roll down my cheeks. But they are happy ones. I wasn’t sure what I wanted the result to be, but now I’m sure that this was what I was desperately hoping for. I so want a baby for Carter and me, conceived out of our love. “But now it’s positive.”

  “Are you happy? I can’t tell if you’re happy or not?”

  “I’m happy,” I insist. “I’m really, really happy.”

  Abbi throws her arms around me, but then she runs away quickly. I assume that she’s going to get us water or something, so I use the time by myself to straighten out again. I still want to look my best when I get married, even if I have just had the craziest news ever. I stare at my reflection in the mirror and straighten my hair and try to smooth out my makeup. I don’t think I even need a touch up, which is a good thing.

  “Raelyn.” Carter’s voice makes me jump. He’s in the women’s bathroom with me. “Are you okay?”

  “Carter?” I spin around rapidly and try to cover myself up, but it’s too late. He’s seen my dress now. “You aren’t supposed to see me before we walk down the aisle! What are you trying to do? Give us bad luck?”

  “I’m not worried about bad luck. I know that you and me are going to be just fine.”

  I smile, I can’t help myself. He just has this incredible way of looking at things which really inspires me. “What are you doing here? I’m supposed to be just having a moment to myself before the big day.”

  “Abbi just told me that you really need to speak to me. I assume it was an emergency.”

  I don’t know how to say it so I lift up the stick to do the answering for me. He looks at me a little confused, but realization crosses his face when he gets it. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “It is.” I gulp down the thick ball of emotion. “It’s a positive pregnancy test.”

  “We’re having a baby!” He pumps his fists in the air in celebration. “I’m having a baby with the woman who looks like that… you are beautiful, I’m sorry I didn’t say it when I first walked in, I was just worried because I thought it was a massive emergency. I didn’t realize it was the best news in the world.”

  Carter crosses the room, closing the gap between us, and he wraps his arms around me. His hug is the most wonderful thing in the world, it feels incredible. To just know that he’s in this with me, that he’s as happy as I am about the baby… well, it’s just incredible. I’m so happy.

  “We better get out there in a moment,” Carter finally says. “Everyone is out there waiting for us to get married. We wouldn’t want to disappoint the crowd now, would we?”

  “Crowd!” I scoff. “There aren’t that many people out there. Just the important ones.”

  “I think you’re under estimating how many important ones there are! The hall is absolutely crammed with people. I am going to go and take my place now, and wait for you, if you’re ready.”

  I stare at him in the eyes for a couple of moments, loving him with everything I have. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  He leaves, letting go of my hand at the very last moment, and I have a couple more moments to calm myself down. I breathe deeply and smile at myself. This is a huge day for me, absolutely massive, I’m about to become a wife and I have just found out that I’m going to be a mother too. I really am progressing and becoming a better person. A real life adult. The girl that I was locked away in that room, trapped by the gang is long gone. Now, I have blossomed into the best version of myself possible. I love it.

  Then Abbi comes to get me and the wedding starts. I stand at the back of the room, anxiously looking forward to walking towards my man. I know that it’s supposed to be bad luck, but I’m actually glad that we have already seen one another. Now there isn’t so much panic, now it’s just something that I’m excited about.

  “Are you ready for this?” Abbi asks. “Because it’s all about to happen.”

  “Oh, I’m ready. I’m more than ready for this.”

  As I walk towards my man in time with the music, I don’t notice all the other eyes upon me. These might be the most important people in our lives, but there’s only one person I can care about.

  “Hi, beautiful,” he mouths at me as I go. “I love you.”

  He might tell me that he loves me a hundred times a day, but it never gets old. I love listening to him say that. It makes me feel special and beautiful all at once. And right now, that’s a stronger feeling than anything else. Carter’s mom did help me with today, although I didn’t let her go as fancy and over the top as she wanted, and she’s made it in to a fairy tale. I’m the princess, about to get her prince.

  “I love you too.”

  I reach his side and take his hands, holding on to him through the whole ceremony. The officiant starts, and when it’s required for us to do so, we repeat the words after him. We recite the traditional vows and tie our future together the proper way. Since none of our relationship this far has been normal and traditional, we decided that the best words to say to one another were the ones created for a wedding ceremony.

  We have all the time in the world to tell each other how we feel in our own way.

  “I now pronounce you man and wife.” Those words feel amazing in my ears. It’s happened, we’re finally here. The dream that I only dared to imagine when I thought that my life was coming to an end is now my reality. I’m living every glorious second of it. “You may kiss the bride.”

  Carter grabs me and swoops me low, before pressing his lips to mine. Everyone cheers and whoops, happy for us. All the people in this room have been involved in our love story in one way or another, so now it might be time to tell them the rest of our tale. I’m sure that Carter must be bursting with the news already.

  “You can tell them,” I whisper to him as we break apart.

  As predicted, he can’t wait. He stands up straight and yells out the ne
ws, letting everyone know that we’re having a baby. Seeing all their emotional, happy faces just makes me so over joyed.

  This really is the happy ever after that I wanted.

  I’m the luckiest woman alive.

  40

  Sneak Peak: Fake It

  Blurb

  Fake It – well, that was the arrangement

  But, why not make it real…if all seems to be going so well!

  When I’m told to give my family an heir or lose my inheritance,

  The choice is simple.

  Boy, thanks to my no-strings relationship with Sophia, the bartender,

  This is not going to be difficult at all.

  I’ll give her an offer she won’t be able to put down;

  And once the baby is born, we can move our separate ways.

  It’s going to be a no strings attached fake marriage.

  But when I hear the heartbeat of my baby for the first time,

  I want to be with her till death do us part.

  Oh, Sophia baby,

  You were just supposed to carry my baby.

  And now, you’ve stolen my heart.

  What am I going to do?

  Well, I’ll fake it till we make it!

  You are mine and mine forever,

  And I won’t let you go – not so easily!

  Chapter 1: Sophia

  I tie my long dark curls back and get ready to go to work. The chatter around me blends together into a cacophony of slurred voices. Everyone is already wasted and they are yelling over each other, over the music, and over the buzzing in their own ears. God forbid you ever have a headache when you have to work.

  I’ve been working in bars for almost three years now and the scene is always the same. There are groups that come in and sort of interact with each other at a distance. You can almost pick out which guy is going to talk to which girl by the group of people they came into the bar with. One of my favorite games is “Will they or won’t they?”

  I notice someone is either trying to talk to, making eyes at, or buys a drink for someone else. The other bartenders and I then make up the things they are saying to each other and what potential deal breakers can be. The reasons they won’t make it out of the bar and on their way to love town get completely ridiculous. Like he had a snake in the bathtub and wanted her to feed it rats.

  Another long evening is ahead of me and I take a deep breath before going out for the start of my shift. I stand just in the storage room where I can see everyone but they can’t see me and I can certainly hear them. The flat screen televisions in high-definition line the walls playing the latest game. There’s never any sound playing on the TVs because there just wouldn’t be a point, no one would hear anything. The bar is packed and with all the shoving going on, I knew it was a matter of time before this happened.

  “I’m going to kill you,” a dyed blond Amazon screams. She’s freaking massive and as I get closer, I think about shying back a little. Maybe it’s not fair to call her that but she had to be at least six two and thin as a rail. She could definitely take me out or at least break me in two, with a half-hearted college try.

  “You just freaking try,” a short brunette with earrings that should be causing her to topple over swinging from her ears. I know she’s a D list socialite because she’s in the bar all the time and I’ve listened to her go on and on about her supposed fame. The Amazon will indeed kill her if I don’t step in. The last thing I want is to get in the Amazon’s way or be noticed, but the shorter blonde here wasn’t giving me much of a choice. The tall woman’s whole body is rigid as if steam could come from her ears and it would be mingling with all the vape and overpriced cologne in the air making my eyes tear.

  As predicted, the shoving starts, and people clear out from around them, scattering like mice away from the feral pair of cats. The bystanders escalate the situation by turning around to watch, blocking my view. After I make my way around the edge of the bar, I move into the fray to try and separate the two extremely drunk women. I shake my head at Gary, disappointed. The bouncer won’t break up girl fights. He worries about roughing up women too much and getting sued. He should be worried about our boss getting sued instead. But, that’s why I step in. Despite everything, I actually like my job.

  That leaves it all up to me to be the hero. I’m not out of shape, but I’m not the strongest woman. At five feet five, I hold my own. Going to yoga a few times a week really pays off as does running, when I can. Perhaps it has made me bolder than I should be because once I get into the middle of the women I realize this is a mistake. The Amazon woman looks about seven-foot-tall and the socialite swings right when I get in front of her catching me in the eye.

  Stars explode around my vision as a throb begins. It’s not the hardest of punches, but it is enough to stun me for a couple of seconds. The jarring force propels me out of the fray for a second cupping my hand to my face. The blonde slings several more drunken slurs. Now I’m starting to get pissed. I regroup jumping back in and reaching out. I grab her by her slicked-back ponytail and give it a sharp tug.

  Okay, maybe I’m not fighting fair, but at this point, I don’t give a shit. I just can’t have bloodshed during my shift, and judging from the rage coloring Amazon’s face, there is the potential for bloodshed. She’s the kind of girl who probably writes REDRUM in the steam of her bathroom mirror after a shower. She has a look in her eyes that I’d definitely be afraid of if I were the other girl.

  I tighten my hold on her hair, pulling her away from the tall Amazon before we are both slung over the top of her mountainous body. This would go down easier if she would co-operate with me rather going against but I doubt she realizes I’m trying to end this as quickly as possible.

  “Regina,” I yell to the other bartender, “help me get them out of here.” Regina looks at me with a blank stare. I give her a curt nod which seems to get her moving.

  With Regina tentatively grabbing onto the larger one, we get the two women out of the bar. They push and pull against us but they can figure it out in the street if they need to fight.

  “Shit,” Regina says, “she got you good in that eye.”

  “Of course,” I say and touch a finger to the tender spot. I flinch. I’m surprised it’s swelling up already. The adrenaline ebbs leaving the pain behind and lucky that I didn’t feel exhaustion before my shift.

  “Bleach Blond Dumb-dumb got skills?” she chuckles. Regina is a natural blonde and not Amazon tall, but definitely several inches taller than me.

  I roll my eyes and wince, boy that smarts. “Nah, it was a lucky shot.” Leave it to Regina to find a joke somewhere within a disaster. Luck or not, it hurts like a bitch. I really hope she trips over something on her way to bed tonight or stubs her toe on a dresser.

  Regina chuckles. “Lucky or not, you’re gonna have a black eye.” Regina tries to touch it and I back up not needing the extra pressure on the spot.

  I groan. “Perfect. Let me go see if I can cover it up.” I tell her and walk into the bathroom. It’s already starting to turn black and I have a good feeling my eye is going to swell up.

  I walk to the lockers behind the bar to find some makeup and see if I can salvage my look. I depend on the tips I make nightly to survive. It’s going to be pretty hard to tend the bar like a one-eyed pirate. I’d borrowed some money one time for rent, and that was a mistake that has haunted me since I did. Rent was coming up again and I needed to be able to flirt with the best of them, not look like a horror movie extra. Luckily, I keep enough makeup to cover six girls faces with me at all times.

  Regina came back to check on me. “Second shift is here. George is entertaining the crowd for a minute.”

  I look in the mirror, dabbing concealer around the darkest part of the bruise. I decide to make the most of a smoky eye before its swollen shut. At this rate, I’ll be lucky if I don’t accidentally stab myself with a mascara wand. “Yeah, I think I can cover up the darkness for tonight anyway. Not telling what it will look lik
e tomorrow.”

  “Will you be visited by a certain rich suitor this evening,” Regina asks biting a fingernail and leaning against the lockers. It’s a habit she has, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know she’s doing it. I cringe thinking about the torn skin of her cuticle that’s got to burn when she drops lemons in the shots.

  “Stop that,” I scold, and then a slow smile creeps across my face. “And, I’m not sure.”

  Thomas is the best part of my evenings. Literally the highlight of my day and especially when I have to work. He likes to do it in public and coming to the bar is his favorite rendezvous. I’d only recently found out who Thomas really was. I thought he was just a nicely dressed guy who hit on me in the bar. It wasn’t until I saw him on Entertainment Tonight, I realized he was a public figure. He puts the D-list brunette to shame and makes my core tremble with anticipation.

  I still didn’t quite understand what he was famous for. He’d been the boyfriend on a reality show. The girl was still on the show, but since they had broken up, the paparazzi still followed him individually. Maybe they were hoping they would get back together and romance the shit out of their lives on television. Me, well, I couldn’t bear to watch the old episodes and the look on his face or the way she treated him during that time. It may have been the past, but it still left me feeling burned, even though he wasn’t mine and this is all in fun. Fun is what I remind myself over and over checking my reflection in the mirror. I don’t even watch television that often and I’d gotten roped in.

  Regina keeps talking but I ignore most of what she says. “He’s way too hot. I can’t believe you landed Rosa Diaz’s ex-boyfriend.”

  “I doubt he wants to be referred to as someone’s ex-boyfriend,” I say and finish up the final touches on my concealer. I turn my head from the left to the right. I’ve managed to cover up some of the redness and thankfully it’s not turning black . . . yet. I toss my makeup back into my locker and slam it shut.