“I wouldn’t dare.”
The Mexican restaurant is adorable. The walls are painted a deep red, and the ceiling is covered with twinkly lights. The wooden chairs and tables give it an authentic Mexican cantina feel. My stomach rumbles as the smell of fried onions and chili peppers hits me.
The waitress doesn’t get a chance to give us the menus before I’m ordering. “Can we get an order of nachos to get us started? And a lemonade for me and a beer for him.”
“I have a surprise for you,” Luke says once we’re alone.
I clap my hands. “A surprise. Yippee! Gimme. Gimme. Gimme.”
He winks. “You have to wait. It’s at my house.”
I pout. “Why didn’t you bring it with you?”
I spend the next hour bugging Luke to tell me what the surprise is. He doesn’t budge, which means I get to eat all the nachos. And order two desserts. And maybe one of the desserts is a double order. I know fried ice cream is not the most authentic Mexican dessert, but I don’t care. Especially not when they add several scoops of melted chocolate on top.
“Ugh,” I moan when we’re sitting in Luke’s car. “I ate too much.” Luke, smart man that he is, doesn’t respond. “I think I’m going to fall into a food coma.”
“Wake up, Petal. We’re home.”
I open my eyes to find Luke’s carrying me into his house. “What are we doing here?”
“I have your surprise here.”
“This ‘surprise’ you have to show me better not be you naked.” Although we’ve fooled around plenty since we started dating again, he has yet to round all the bases. It’s not my fault I keep falling asleep before we can get to the good stuff. Luke laughs as he carries me up the stairs. “Luke.”
“Shush. It’s not me naked. Although that can be arranged at any time.”
He pushes open the door to one of the upstairs rooms and sets me on my feet. “Viola!”
My mouth drops open as I look around the room. It’s a nursery. Against one wall is the crib I pointed out to Luke weeks ago. In the corner is an upholstered rocking chair that looks comfortable enough to nap in. There’s also a changing station with a matching dresser. The walls are painted a light blue with cloud decals on the wall behind the crib and a tree with birds on the opposite wall.
My hands cover my mouth and my eyes sting. “It’s gorgeous.”
Luke wraps his arms around me and pulls my back against his front. “I’m glad you like it. I didn’t know what direction to go with the colors and stuff, but the girls helped me out.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t go for a Harley-Davidson theme.”
He points to an orange and black blanket folded over the rocking chair. “I couldn’t resist.”
I spin to face him. “But Luke, I don’t understand. The baby will live with me.”
“Actually, I’m hoping you’ll live here.” He drops to a knee and pulls a box out of his back pocket.
I cross my arms over my chest. “This better not be a marriage proposal.” If anything screams, I married you because you’re carrying my baby, it’s a nursery as an engagement present.
Luke doesn’t say anything, merely offers me the box. I open it to discover a key.
“Will you move in with me? Don’t get me wrong. I want to marry you. Not because of Baby Bud, but because I love you. But I know you’re not ready for such a big step yet.”
I shut the box and hand it back to Luke. “Moving in together is a big step, too.”
“But you forgave me.”
Cue eye roll. “Yes, I forgive you. I understand why you broke my heart. But that doesn’t mean I can snap my fingers and forget ten years of hurt. What’s there to say you won’t break my heart again?”
Luke grasps the bottom of his sweater and pulls it up. “Whoa there. I don’t think we’re on the same page here.”
“I have something to show you.”
“I’ve seen it. Yes, it’s impressive, but now is not the time.”
He chuckles. “Thank you for calling little Luke impressive, but that’s not what I have to show you.”
My knees start to wobble, and my face feels hot. I may claim to not want to see little Luke – which is anything but little – but my body is ready to jump all over him. I take a seat in the rocking chair and watch as he takes off his sweater and t-shirt. He throws the clothes on the floor and approaches me. There’s a bandage on his chest near his heart.
“Oh no. What happened?” I reach for him, but he bats my fingers away.
“I got some new ink.” He peels away the bandage. I gasp at the sight revealed. Right smack dab over his heart is a large violet tattoo. The violet seems to be cuddling a rose and a small rosebud.
“I got the violet in Germany when I was waiting to come home from Iraq.”
“But that was ten years ago. Why didn’t you get rid of it?”
Luke places a hand over his heart. “I liked having you close to my heart.”
My eyes itch and I can feel tears starting to fall down my face. “And the rose and bud?”
“I got the rose before Christmas after you told me about our Rose. The bud is the newest addition. I wanted to wait until you were out of your first trimester.”
Luke wanted to mark Baby Bud and me entering the second trimester, but I put him off. I lost Rose when I thought the danger was over. I’m staying cautious until the end this time.
Luke drops to his knees and pulls me into his arms. “Don’t cry. I don’t want you to cry.”
“Happy tears,” I explain as I sob into his chest. He rocks me back and forth as I cry. When the tears subside, I pull away and slap him. “But I’m still not moving in with you! We haven’t even had sex yet.” Luke’s eyes stare pointedly at my belly. “Well, not since Baby Bud was conceived.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Luke sighs as he stands. He holds out his hand to me. “Come on, I have one more surprise for you.”
He pulls me up and down the hallway towards another closed door. He opens the door and motions me in. “Go ahead.”
I rub my eyes. Surely, I’m seeing things because there’s no way Luke re-created the bedroom in my apartment in his place.
“I want to take care of you and Baby Bud. It’s a win-win situation. If you’re down the hall from me, you only have to shout at me when you’re having a craving. And I won’t have to spend half my night driving back and forth to your apartment.”
He’s got a point there. “What if it doesn’t work out? What if we don’t work out?”
He shrugs. “Then we go see the counselor and figure out how to make it work.” He cradles my face with his hands. “I’m not letting you go, Petal. You might as well get used to the idea now. I wasted ten years of my life without you. I’m not wasting a single day longer.”
Damn. How can I say no to him? Truth be told, I don’t want to. I’ve been fighting him because I’m scared. If I lose him again, I won’t recover. My heart won’t recover. And I’ve got Baby Bud to think of now.
“Okay.” I nod. “But on a strict trial basis. I’ll keep my apartment until the lease is up.”