Dirty Little Bastard

70

"Will there be children before or after the wedding?" Anne sipped her tea and eyed us both with a happy smile.

I glanced down at my lap with a laugh, while Theo sighed tiredly, "mum, please, we haven't talked about it yet..."

"When's the wedding, then?" She continued and this time, I held back a laugh at her excited smile, and instead leaned against Theo's side, my arm looping around his.

We had finished the delicious dinner Theo had kindly prepared for us, and now were enjoying a cup of tea each until we'd retire upstairs into the bedrooms.

My belongings were in Theo's bedroom, since he'd insisted on it, while Anne had brought her small suitcase toward a guest room.

"We haven't talked about that either..." Theo told her.

We both knew we wouldn't rush to get married, we were fine just being engaged and, with all the hardships concerning our relationship, taking things day by day. Planning for the future would present multiple challenges and a long conversation about several things.

"I would love a spring wedding," I added with a small smile forwarded to Anne.

"Oh, that'll be lovely! I'm coming dress shopping with you!" She immediately offered, and my smile widened.

"I was thinking it'd be a summer wedding," Theo spoke, and my attention returned to him.

"But spring would be so beautiful!" Anne piped in, breaking our intense eye contact, "think of how stunning Lettie will look!"

A small and fond smile pulled at the sides of his, "she'll look stunning anyway. The season really won't affect it..."

"We can talk about it later, it's so far in the future," I decided to end this diplomatically.

"Why is it so far in the future?" Theo's brows were furrowed once I looked back at him.

"Oh... I just, with how you're now living here..." I explained, "and I'd like to complete my masters first..."

"That's two years, Scarlett," he reminded me, both of us clearly with different views on when we would be married, "I don't want to wait that long."

"It'll be a huge hassle, I'll end up panicking while trying to study," I shook my head gently, "but we'll talk about it later. It's no big deal."

He didn't seem content with my opinion, but let it go for the sake of Anne sitting opposite us, a curious expression painting her features.

"What about kids, though? Boys or girls?" She changed the subject.

"A boy," Theo replied proudly, "he'll learn to kick a ball before he can even walk."

I felt slightly uncomfortable now, even though it was sweet of him to be so excited about a future together. I discreetly brought my arm back to my lap from around his arm, and cleared my throat.

"I'm still very intent on adoption in the future," I told Anne, "the gender doesn't matter, as long as a child is able to get a good home."

I could feel Theo's eyes burning into the side of my face, but decided not to meet his gaze, knowing it would just trouble me more.

When Theo and I had discussed briefly on kids in our futures at my father's, he had told me he wanted a boy. I was slightly disturbed by how controlling he was right now, but understood the reason why.

The psychological effects of us living so far apart for a year, meant that he gained some peace of mind by having that control. It enabled stability for him to be exact on what the future would bring.