“Just close your eyes and let me handle the details.”
I close my eyes and trust him to do exactly as he says.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Chelsea.” Dean’s soft voice stirs me awake.
I pick up my head, happy it wasn’t a dream—that he came to the wedding and that we’re all good again. Then I inspect our surroundings.
“I thought we were going home?”
“I love that word when you say it.” He opens up his door and holds his hand out for me.
I step out and he guides me to where I was hours earlier.
“I was just here a few hours ago. It’s so much more beautiful at night.”
The array of lights illuminating the water spouting out of the fountain with the dark sky and the skyline in the background is breath taking.
“You were?”
“Pictures.”
“Great location. Maybe we’ll have ours here, too.”
I roll my eyes. “I think we have a bigger obstacle first. Not to mention, I kind of liked Elvis in our pictures.”
He chuckles and at this late hour, there are only a few couples milling around the fountain as they head down to the lakefront.
“Why are we here?” I ask, unable to hold back a yawn.
“I wanted to come here because this is where I first felt like we had a future. It’s where you finally opened up to me about your life and let me in.”
“That’s so funny. I was thinking the same thing when I was here earlier.”
“You were?” His face lights up with a smile, his dark eyes twinkling in the night like one of the stars above us.
“Yeah, it all kind of shifted for me that night.”
He sits me on a park bench, but instead of joining me, he falls to his knee in front of me.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice laced with panic. “You don’t have to marry me. I’m perfectly okay with having a child out of wedlock. I don’t need a full-on commitment.”
“Will you please be quiet,” he says, pulling a ring out of his jacket pocket.
My ring. The first one he proposed to me with. His great-grandmother’s ring.
“I refuse to let you feel obligated.” I shake my head.
He rolls his eyes. “You’re ruining the mood.”
“Wait.” I hold my hand up. “Before you continue, tell me if you wanted to do this before you found out about the baby?”
He blows out a big breath and runs a hand through his hair.
“Chelsea, I’ve wanted this ring back on your finger from the moment you took it off. I got clean for myself, but also to be a better man for you. I sought you out and agreed to work for free for the foundation you work for just to be close to you.” He tilts his head. “And to make sure you couldn’t get rid of me. I’ve spent the last few months pushing my way back into your life and you think that I feel obligated to marry you?”
My cheeks heat. “Well, when you put it that way...”
“Now, are you going to let me continue?”
“Yes.” I smile and straighten my back, almost too antsy to sit still.
“I’ve loved you from the first time I saw you. It’s like my heart knew something my mind wasn’t ready for. I would’ve eaten a dozen of those wings for a date with you that night. If you had said no, I would’ve tracked you down anyway. I was stupid and young and a complete moron for letting you slip out of my grasp once. But I learn my lessons because you’ll never slip away again. I promise to love you more every day, although I can’t even fathom it’s possible to love you any deeper than I do now. I promise to take care of you no matter how stubborn you get. Most of all I promise that we do this together. One day at a time for the rest of our lives. For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. No matter what happens.” He glances to my stomach and with a hopeful smile, he holds the ring out to me again. “Will you please be Mrs. Bennett for the second and final time?”
I hold out my left hand. “I’d love nothing more than to be your wife again.”
He slips the ring on my finger and I stand up and wrap my arms around his neck. He squeezes me and swings me around the gravel area and as if on cue the center stream of the fountain bursts out of the top. The fountain dwindles down for the night and the other spectators continue on their way.
Dean sets me on my feet and then falls down to his knees once more, his hands molding to my hips.
“I wanted to make sure we were good. Now I want to take in the fact that I’m going to be a father.” He runs his hand along my stomach. “A part of us is in there?”
I nod.
He presses his lips to my belly. “I have a promise to you too, little Bennett. I promise to keep your mom in line.”
I lightly smack the back of his head.
He chuckles.
“I promise that I’ll love you so fierce you’ll be begging to escape me by the time you’re eighteen. Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure your wings are ready for you to soar. Just keep growing, because I think I can speak for your mom and I both. You’re already so loved.”
He stands to his feet, his hand never leaving my stomach. “Thank you for that, too.”
“Dean, what if—”
He shakes his head, sealing my words with a kiss. “Shh… Enjoy the beginning of our happily ever after, Chelsea.”
Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
“So, let me get this right, the woman just called you out of the blue. Said she heard about your foundation and she wants to make a sizable donation?” I lean back in my chair, no longer into the pastrami sandwich I thought I was dying for when we walked in.
Hannah forks her salad and shrugs. “I can’t very well advertise her company. She has a sex toy company.”
Victoria glances around to make sure there are no small kids around since Hannah obviously hadn’t thought about that as she lays it all out in the small restaurant with the lunchtime crowd.
“She does? What’s the company name?” I ask.
“Hart something. She did the Unicorn Cock thing.”
My eyes light up and even Victoria seems more intrigued. “She did? And she knows about RISE?”
“You act like she’s your heartthrob and you’re thirteen.” Hannah slides the lettuce off the fork.
“Tell me you have a vibrator?” I ask, having the courtesy of leaning forward and lowering my voice.
“I tried one once and eh,” she shrugs.
“Eh?” Victoria asks, her mouth agape like she can’t believe it.
“Sue me if I’m an old school masturbator.”
“You’re missing out, Han.” I lean back. “And the Unicorn Cock one. Holy shit. Dean used it…”
Victoria’s eyes look over my shoulder and she shakes her head. I glance to see a kid with his mom waiting for their sandwiches in line.
“Let’s just say, there are not many substitutions for Dean, but that comes in second every time.”
“Really? A vibrator?” Getting the clue, Hannah whispers. “Now you’re piquing my interest.”