SECOND CHANCES (ORIGINAL WORK)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"It's so beautiful," Aaliyah breathed out, clearly enchanted by the spectacle.

Jason only smiled and wrapped his arm around her. He covered her belly possessively, caressing her baby bump as he nuzzled her neck. "You're beautiful."

Aaliyah laughed. "Oh, stop,"

"Marry me," he said, and laughed softly when she elbowed him lightly in his side.

"Don't tease."

Gently he turned her around to face him and cupped his hand under her chin, tipping her head back slightly to gaze down into her overly bright eyes. "I'm serious."

"Jason." She hesitated. "You know I can't."

A slight frown furrowed his brow. "You can't or you won't?"

"Don't do that," she said quietly. "You know that I would marry you in a heartbeat if I could."

"Then what's the problem?" He asked her.

"I'm the problem." Her voice rose from frustration. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and willed herself to calm down. "I love you, Jason. I do. More than anything else in the world. But baby, I don't exist. I'm a ghost."

He shook his head. "I don't care. Ghost or not, all I want is you."

"And you have me," she said. "I'm yours, Jason. I will always be yours."

"Then marry me."

Aaliyah threw her head back and groaned. "You are so stubborn."

He chuckled, alleviating the light tension. "Only when I really want something."

Then Aaliyah started laughing, her frustration melting away. She let a hand come up to brush blond bangs out of his eyes, fixing him with a serious gaze.

"Do you really want to marry me?" she asked.

"More than anything else," he replied honestly. "And I'm not just asking you because you're pregnant with our child, okay? I'm asking you because I love you."

"But what about my real name?" Aaliyah asked, her heart dropping. "On paper, I'm already, well..."

"I don't care about that," Jason said. "We'll figure it out. I'm asking to marry Aaliyah not Angeline. We'll have a ceremony. We'll figure it out.

Aaliyah remained silent, contemplating his request.

"Wait here," he told her.

Jason left Aaliyah standing in the living area and disappeared down the hall. He returned carrying a small velvet box.

Aaliyah stared at the box for a moment, then turned to look at him. "Jason..."

"I wanted to wait until Christmas to give this to you, but I just can't wait anymore." He opened the box, and Aaliyah lost her breath at the sight. It was adorned with an oval-cut diamond set in a double halo, with the band itself covered in dozens of tiny diamonds.

Jason knelt, and, reaching out, he took one of her hands in his. "I wanna marry you because you're the first person I want to look at when I wake up in the morning, and the only one I want to kiss goodnight. Because the first time that I saw these hands, I couldn't imagine not being able to hold them."

Her heart swelled, and tears brimmed her eyes, blurring her vision.

"I promise you, no one will work hard to make you happy or cherish you more than me. So will you marry me?"

Aaliyah thought back to all the moments they'd shared together, the worst and the best times. And she concluded that, as unreasonable as it was, he wanted her. She was a nobody and he wanted to marry her.