When we finally put her down for the night, we settled in from of the TV downstairs. Tyler placed the baby monitor in his lap.
“You can put it on the table, you know,” I teased. He shot me a look, then turned his gaze back to the movie he pretended to watch. “That thing is so big, I can practically see her eyelashes move. We won’t miss anything.”
“It’s the first time they’ve left her with me for the night.”
He didn’t have to say anything else. I knew what it meant for him. He still suffered from the fact no one trusted him for so long.
“They trust you, Ty. They would have never left her with you otherwise.” He shrugged. “Oh, my God. You are so good with her. Have you noticed she only wants you when you’re around?” That seemed to make him relax a bit.
“I have that effect on women,” he wiggled his brows.
“I’m serious. You do a good job every time you are with her,” I reassured him, then decided to make a joke, because he rarely handled those types of compliments well. “I would leave my baby with you, while I go on a spa weekend with my husband.”
There was a beat of silence, then he reached over and started to tickle me. I screamed and laughed at the same time.
“Shut up, little Spencer,” he stopped and pushed me down on the couch, settling between my legs. “You will wake her up.”
“I'm beginning to believe that she is higher up on your list of favorite people than I am.”
“She occupies the number one spot, yes. Maybe you are number one on the list of your future husband.”
“And where am I in yours?” I asked as he kissed his way from behind my ear down my neck.
“Why are you so interested in my list?” He bit my shoulder.
“I simply want to know where I stand.”
Tyler lifted his head and looked at me. Then he sat up and pulled me with him.
“You are not on that list. Or any other. The way I see it you are here. With me,” he lifted a palm in the air. “Just the two of us. And everyone else is here,” he lifted his other palm. “You are a part of me. Way beyond any list I could possibly think of.”
I found it hard to breathe. My emotions suffocated me. He looked cool and collected like always.
“When did that happen?” I managed to gasp out.
“I don’t know. It’s just a fact. Just like it is a fact that I will be on that spa weekend with you, while my sister and Lucas take care of our babies.” I leaned in for a kiss, my heart hammering in my chest, not knowing how to respond. He slid his hands in my hair, not letting me get any closer. “Your hair still looks like sunshine.”
I closed my eyes, dropped my forehead to his and smiled.
He remembered.
***
Tyler
I gazed at the rows of grapevines, thinking about what I was about to do. The conversation Hannah and I had last week while Lucas and Clem were away for their anniversary was the perfect opportunity for me to pop the question. Instead of doing that, I came up here to do something without Hannah’s knowledge, hoping it wouldn’t blow up in my face.
“Excuse me,” I said, drawing the old lady’s attention.
“Hello. How can I help you?”
She didn’t remember me. It was for the best when I thought about it. The last time I was here, over a year ago, I lied to her that Hannah and I were a couple, expecting their first child.
“My fiancée really loves your vineyard. I want to book it for our wedding.”
“And she let you come here alone, dear?”
“Well, I haven’t asked her to marry me yet. Booking your vineyard is part of the surprise.”
The old lady sent me inside to talk to her daughter. Half an hour later, I left with a wedding date two years from now. I went straight to Poppy’s, where I hid the ring. I still had no idea how to propose, but I wasn’t risking landing on a perfect moment like the one last week without the ring in my immediate surroundings.
Then I went straight to Clem’s. I wanted to see my niece, who didn’t look like she came from another planet anymore. Long gone were the days when I could get away with calling her an ugly duckling.
I was surprised to find my future fiancée in my sister’s kitchen.
“I thought you were working the entire day,” I planted a kiss on her stone cold yet sweaty forehead. I took a step back examining her face. “Are you sick? You’re really pale.”
Daphne was practically trying fly from her mother’s arms into mine, so I took her from Clem and focused back on Hannah, waiting for an answer.
“I’m a little sick. Yes.”
“Do you want to go home?” Home currently meant a small house we rented just two weeks ago.
“Sure,” she said in a squeaky voice. I glanced at Clem. Her eyes were huge, she looked like she wanted to do something but didn’t know what.
“What is going on?” I asked her, when I placed the displeased Daphne back in her arms. Hannah was already leaving the house.
“What do you mean?” Clem squealed too. Now that was a sound my little sister almost never produced. The last time I heard her talk in that voice was the night she came to Boston to tell me she was pregnant.
I took a step back, as the realization hit me. Then I followed Hannah, who was already in the car, watching through her window. She spent the entire drive back home ignoring me. When we finally got home, she went in without even glancing in my direction.
Was she upset or she feared my reaction?
One look at her, sitting on our couch, was enough for me to find out.
Misery washed over me at the thought that she would be scared to tell me, instead of just being happy about it. I didn’t want her suffering because of me a moment longer.
“We are getting married at the vineyard,” I said at the same time she blurted out.
“I’m pregnant.” Her mouth fell open. “Wait. What?”
I took the wedding ring out of the pocket of my jeans and approached her. She stood up and met me halfway.
“Will you marry me?”
“You booked the vineyard?” She ignored my question. I nodded. “When?”
“About two hours ago,” I dropped down to my knees and kissed her flat stomach. “When did you find out?”
“This morning,” she paused, threading her delicate fingers in my hair. “Are you freaking out?” I shook my head. She exhaled a shaky breath. “We have been back together for just four months.”
“Can you answer my question now?” I asked, face still buried in her stomach. She tugged on my hair, making me look at her.
“Yes,” she barely whispered. I jumped on my feet, slid the ring on her finger and lifted her up in the air. She wrapped her legs around my waist and laughed. “It’s funny, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“The last time we were at the vineyard you lied that we were a couple and that I was pregnant. And now that we are really a couple, you went back to the vineyard to book it for us, on the same day I found out I was really pregnant.” She shrugged with a huge smile on her face. “Funny.”
“Or I could be psychic.” Hannah tilted her head back and laughed the way I loved so much.
It was a deafening laugh.