Precious Lace(19)

"Yea, it is. Aquamarine." I chewed on my bottom lip. I felt like there was more going on here than I knew.

"Let's go." Carter grabbed my hand out of Emma's and headed out his bedroom door and back down to the rest of the family.

We walked back to the patio where Derek sat. Emma joined us and I sipped the rest of my wine nervously. Carter stood with one hip leaning against the railing of the deck and an arm slung over my shoulder talking to his brother. When Derek and Emma got into a sparring match I leaned in closer to Carter.

"What was that up there?"

"What?" He took a long swig of his beer.

"With the ring?"

"Emma knows we're married. Or at least she knows I've asked you," he responded.

"What?"

"I told her ages ago that I wanted to use birthstones for an engagement ring."

"Carter," I groaned. "Will she tell your parents?"

"Nah. She'll wait for us to. She may torture me in the meantime, but she won't say anything." He hugged me closer to him. I looked back at the table and found Emma’s eyes trained on us, a smile dancing behind her eyes. I ducked my head back into Carter's chest, embarrassed that she knew.

"Nice panties, big brother. Didn't realize pink was your color." Derek leaned back in his chair and plucked the lacy fabric out of Carter's pocket. I choked on my wine as Carter's brother dangled my underwear off his finger.

And the day had started out so well…

I closed my eyes in mortification. Maybe there was a downside to being part of a close family after all.

"You fuck." Carter swiped the fabric out of his brother's hands and shoved it deep into his pocket. His brother clutched his stomach laughing, as Carter smiled shaking his head. What a memorable introduction I'd had to Carter's family. I couldn’t even bear to think about the impression I’d left them with.





Eight





A few days later Cate was with me at Carter's house helping me unpack more boxes, mostly clothes. I'd quickly come to realize that the majority of my paychecks over the years had gone to filling my closet. Cate sat in the closet arranging shoes and I sat in the bathroom organizing an entire box worth of hair products.

"So how has it been so far?" she asked from the closet.

"What?" I pulled things out absentmindedly.

"What do you mean what? Living with Carter?"

"Oh, that. Good. It's only been a few days, but it's been really good. We went to his parent's house on the weekend. That was an experience."

"What are they like?"

"Amazing. Completely amazing. Perfect, in fact. Until his brother pulled my panties out of Carter's pocket and his sister found out we were married."

"Oh my God, Eva." She ducked her head out of the closet to glare at me. "Why were your panties in Carter's pocket? And how did his sister find out?"

"Well," I smiled as I set three separate cans of hairspray on the vanity. "We may have christened his childhood bedroom." I smiled at her. "And just as we finished his sister made an appearance." My cheeks blushed at the memory. "Anyway she noticed my ring, and apparently she knew Carter wanted to do a birthstone engagement ring someday. So that cat was out of the bag. But before she popped her head in I couldn't find my panties, turns out Carter had shoved them in his pocket, but not deep enough, as his brother noticed later," I finished.

"Oh my God, thank God his parents didn't see them first."

"Oh God, Cate. What if they did?" I whispered.

"You slut." She laughed and then went back to digging through shoes. "These are hot, I forgot you had these. I need to borrow them sometime," Cate spoke to herself from the walk-in.

I got to the bottom of the box I’d been working on and found a box of tampons buried under the rubble. My heartbeat doubled in my chest. I couldn’t for the life of me remember what the date was. I struggled to remember the day Carter and I had gotten married. When was my last period? Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. My brain continued to rattle off the possibilities of why I hadn't needed a tampon in well over a month.

"These are mine! What are you doing with my Ferragamos?" Cate hollered from the other room. I was frozen in my spot, my hands holding the box of tampons.

"Eva! What the fuck?" Cate leaned out of the walk-in to look at me with the shoes dangling from her fingers. "What's wrong?"

My lip trembled and I couldn’t hear her over the roaring in my ears.

"Eva." She dropped the shoes and darted into the bathroom. "What is it?" She took the box from my hands and turned my head to her. "Eva! What is going on?" She gave me a soft shake.