She gasped as she brought her hand up to her lips. Tears filled her beautiful eyes and for once in her life, she was speechless.
“Oh, Asher. Oh my God. Oh my God! Yes! Yes, I will marry you!”
A wide grin crossed my face as I slipped the custom-made diamond ring on her finger, stood up and hugged her tight.
“I’m so happy you said yes. I love you so much.” I broke our embrace and kissed her lips.
“I love you so much.” Tears fell down her cheeks. “You lost the ring, didn’t you?”
“Yep. I had been searching for it for two hours before you got home. This wasn’t how I planned to propose. I wanted to do it differently, but since my father told you to tell me where to look for it, I figured you became suspicious.”
“This was perfect, Asher. Absolutely perfect.” Our lips met for another kiss.
Six Months Later
Everly
Asher and I were married six months later in a beautiful church with an elegant reception that included four hundred people in the ballroom at The Remington. The day after our wedding, we boarded a private jet and spent two weeks in the Maldives, where we had our own private residence that sat over the ocean water with a private pool. The first week we were there, we didn’t leave our bungalow once. Every meal brought to us, was enough to feed a family of six. We mostly stayed in bed. But when we did venture out of bed, we swam in the pool and the ocean, and we did some scuba diving. The second week we spent shopping and sightseeing.
After Diana had their son, Harry, she swore she was never having children again due to the difficult birth. But when we were on our honeymoon, her and Daniel Facetimed us to tell us she was once again expecting. The relationship between Richard, Christina, and my sisters grew stronger every day. We did things together as a family. Emily was well on her way to becoming a professional photographer. She already had a few photographs in some art galleries across New York and Vogue hired her as a freelancer to do a small fashion shoot which would lead to her working for them full-time.
As for Curtis, he was still around. Not as much, but every now and again he’d pop in to make his presence known. I did warn him that he was to stay away from us on our honeymoon. He agreed and said he’d see us when we got back.
It was two months after we got back from our honeymoon as I stood in the bathroom and stared at the word “Pregnant” that displayed in the window of the white stick.
“Oh boy,” I said out loud.
I couldn’t comprehend how this had happened since I was on the pill. Then I remembered screwing up my pills on our honeymoon because I was so caught up in the beauty of everything, I had completely forgot to take it one day. Okay, maybe two days. But I’d doubled up the next day like I was supposed to. Shit.
“Congratulations, darling. I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandfather.”
“You can’t be a grandfather, Curtis. You’re dead. Have you forgotten that?”
“No. What do you think Asher is going to say?”
“I don’t know. We never really discussed kids. Honestly, I never wanted any because of—well, you know.”
“You can’t let that stop you from having a family. What’s meant to be is meant to be. Maybe you’ll get lucky and she won’t take after you.”
“She?” I looked at him and he smiled.
I heard the elevator ding and Curtis disappeared. Shoving the stick in the pocket of my pants, I went down to greet my handsome husband.
“There you are, gorgeous.” He smiled as he kissed my lips.
“How was your day?” I asked.
“Stressful. But better now that I’m home with you. It’s so nice to come home to peace and quiet.”
I swallowed hard when he said that.
“Go pour yourself a drink. In fact, make it a double.” I patted his chest and turned around.
“Okay.” He chuckled. “Are you going to tell me you’re pregnant or something.”
I froze in place as my back was turned to him.
“Everly? Sweetheart? I was kidding.”
I stood there and took in a deep breath as he walked over and stood in front of me.
“Are you pregnant?”
I reached in my pocket and showed him the stick.
“The stick says I am.” I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Wow. Okay. Okay. Okay.” He kept nodding his head.
“Okay what, Asher?!” I loudly voiced.
He gripped my shoulders and stared directly in my eyes.
“We’re having a baby, Everly.”
“Yes. I know. Are you like in total shock or something?”
“Yes. Actually, I am.”
I dropped my shoulders and fell into his arms.
“So am I. It’s all your fault.”
“My fault? You’re the one on the birth control.”
“If we didn’t fuck like rabbits on our honeymoon, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Baby.” He broke our embrace. “If you would have remembered to take your pills, this wouldn’t have happened. But it did and you have a tiny human growing inside you. Our baby.” He smiled. “A baby created out of pure love. One we’ll be responsible for at least until the kid is in its twenties. I need that drink now. I’d offer you one, but you can’t drink because you’re pregnant. Sucks to be you, Everly.” He grinned.
“You just wait, Mr. Remington. I’m going to make your life a living hell during this pregnancy.”
“I have no doubt you will, sweetheart.” He smirked and I walked over and smacked his chest.
“I hate you.” I pouted.
“No you don’t. You love me just as much as I love you. And just as much as we’re going to love our child.” His lips pressed against mine. “Now, come on. Let’s go upstairs and celebrate.” He took hold of my hand and led me towards the stairs.
“I’m going to get fat.”
“I’ll still love you, baby.”
“I’m going to be bitchy and uncomfortable.”
“I’ll still love you, baby.”
“I’m going to have all kinds of cravings and send you out in the middle of the night to get what I want.”
“I’ll still love you, baby.”
We reached the top of the stairs.
“I’m probably not going to want sex as much.”
He turned and looked at me.
“That’s not even funny.” His brow raised at me and I smiled.
44
Five Years Later
Asher
“Hello, my gorgeous wife.” I smiled as I kissed Everly on the cheek and handed her a bouquet of red roses.
“Hello there, my sexy husband. What are these for?” she asked as she brought them up to her nose.
“No reason. Just because I love you and I haven’t given you flowers in a while.”
“You gave me roses last month.” She grinned.
“Like I said, it’s been a while. Where’s Sophia?”
“Up in her room playing. Can you tell her that dinner is almost ready?”