I felt my heart beat harder.
“I want you to be in my bed, to be in my life, share it with me.” He looked at me, cupped the side of my face, and I felt the love he had for me. “I want that so fucking badly. I want to share my life with you.”
I didn’t hold back my smile. “I want that, Brendan.”
“Yeah?” he asked and got this huge grin on his face.
“Yeah.” He held me tighter. “I don’t want to go anywhere, Brendan,” I said honestly.
“Good, because you’re mine.”
Epilogue
Meghan
Four years later
I looked at my phone, checked the text from Brendan again, and then looked at the restaurant in front of me. It looked closed, but the address was correct. I was just about to call Brendan when the front door opened and an older man smiled and gestured me in.
“Meghan?” he asked, and I nodded, moving forward. “Please, come in.”
I knitted my brows, not sure what in the hell was going on, but entered the building.
When I’d gotten the text from Brendan earlier today to meet at this restaurant about forty-five minutes away from where we lived, I was obviously confused. Not only did he say he’d meet me there because he was working late, but I’d had to come alone.
The fact was I wasn’t even in the mood for dinner, especially driving nearly an hour by myself to do it. I had to talk to Brendan, because what I had to tell him scared the hell out of me.
It was something that I’d just found out this morning, and I knew I wasn’t going to wait to reveal the fact I was pregnant.
I exhaled at that thought. Me. A mother. It scared the hell out of me, and although Brendan and I had made a life for ourselves, this wasn’t a planned pregnancy, and it was huge. How would Brendan even react? I knew he wanted children, and although we’d been together four years already, not planning for something like this could make anyone’s head spin.
I knew mine was.
The man who let me in shut the restaurant door behind us. I stood there, staring at the empty interior: the tables and chairs all perfectly lined around the open space, the bar off to the side that had only the liquor lights on, showing the massive display behind the counter.
“I don’t understand—”
“Right this way,” he said, cutting me off. I followed him through the empty restaurant, down a short hallway, and then he finally stopped in front of a closed door. “Here you are,” he said, gestured to the door, then turned and left.
What the hell?
I pushed the door open, and I felt every part of my body freeze up. Brendan stood in the center of the room. There were so many candles scattered around he didn’t need any other lighting. A small, intimate table was set off to the side, two covered plates on top of it, and this low music filtered throughout the room.
“Brendan?” I asked, looking around, still not sure what in the hell was going on. When my focus landed on him again, I finally noticed he was dressed very nice. A suit and tie covered his huge, muscular form, and I felt the familiar heat start to fill me.
Even all these years later, I just needed to look at him and I felt pleasure.
Then I realized what he held in his hand.
A small black box.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, felt my heart start to beat overtime, and although I was still frozen to the spot, I was deliriously happy.
We’d spoken about marriage so many times over the last four years I knew this day would come eventually. But it had been my decision to wait until after I finished school and got my Masters.
And I had just completed my last advanced course today.
I covered my mouth, tears starting to fill my eyes. He didn’t know I was pregnant, and he stood there waiting to propose. But would me telling him change the events that I knew were going to happen tonight?
I knew I had to tell him before anything else went down.
“Brendan, I need to talk to you.” I knew how I probably looked: nervous and worried. The concern was on his face instantly, and he was in front of me in a matter of seconds.
“What’s wrong? Whose ass do I need to beat for making you look scared?” Only a second passed before he started speaking again. “Oh shit, maybe it’s me.”
I shook my head, not wanting him to think any of that.
“You saw all this, and I scared the fuck out of you, didn’t I?”
I shook my head again. This was getting worse. I just spit it out. “I’m pregnant.” A moment of silence stretched out where he didn’t say anything. But then I saw the worry on his expression slowly turn to shock. I quickly spoke again, not sure what to make of the sudden pressure in the room. “I wanted to tell you in case you didn’t want to go through with this.” I snapped my mouth shut, feeling all kinds of nervous right now.