The Stacks

Chapter 44: Baby, It's Time

Without even a moment to think, Harry answered, "Let's get married."

I burst into tears and couldn't decide now if I was happy or upset or pissed. "What?" I said, laughing nervously through the flood of tears.

"I want to marry you," he said. "So what if I wasn't going to propose until summer? We don't have to wait."

I sat up straight and regarded him carefully. "You were going to propose?"

He nodded happily. Then he jumped up off the bed and retrieved the lotus box. When he sat down and opened it, he pulled out a little black box. As if I hadn't already cried enough. "I bought it around Christmas time," he told me. "I only put it into the box after I showed you everything else that was in there."

I cried even harder with the absolute shock of everything coming at me all at once, and even harder when Harry dropped to one knee beside the bed. I must have looked an absolute mess, crying and laughing and who knows what else.

"Regan, my sweet, I love you so much," he said, taking my left hand in his. "It would be a privilege to call you my wife. Will you marry me?"

I couldn't even respond. I just nodded wildly while he slipped the ring on my finger. Then he squeezed me tightly once again and stood up, pulling me with him. Finally he kissed me, deeply, passionately, meaningfully. After an eternity of kissing, we still held each other close, giggling and not really knowing what else to do.

"This is...scary," I eventually admitted. "But I'm so happy you're not upset. I just don't want you to feel pressured or anything."

"Hey, listen," he said, taking my face in his hands. "I'm not one of those men who ditches my responsibility. And besides that, I love you and I wanted to marry you after I'd only known you for a month. I didn't want you to think I was just desperate for someone to love and I waited as long as I could before I started talking to you about long-term plans for us. I didn't want to scare you away."

"Okay," I whispered.

"Did I scare you?"

"No. Not at all," I said with a little giggle rising in my throat. "I felt a pretty strong connection to you early on as well. I just didn't want to push you, you know?"

"I love you, Regan, and I'm not going anywhere. So whether you want to get married in a year or in a day, I'll be happy with it. But I want you to know, without a doubt, that I don't feel pressured to marry you because of the baby. If anything, I'm excited as hell and I want to make it official as soon as possible, but I don't want you to feel pressured."

"Okay," I whispered again. "No pressure. Let's think about it while it all settles in, all right?"

"Sure thing. Now you rest while I get to work on cleaning this place up before my parents arrive." He looked around the loft. "It might take me half an hour," he joked.

"I can help," I said, but no matter how much I insisted that I was feeling fine, Harry made me rest on the couch with my feet up while he puttered around, dusting and mopping the apartment which really wasn't that dirty after all.

* * * * *

As planned, Harry's parents arrived just a few days later, on January 27. He had gone to Detroit Metro to pick them up and I stayed back to put the finishing touches on dinner. Harry had actually cooked and the lasagna was staying warm in the oven. I was just setting the table and making a salad. All the while, I felt a little shaky and nauseous but I wasn't sure if it was nerves over meeting Harry's parents or the little baby in my belly who seemed to have made such a big impact on my life already.