[Zack's pov]
I had fallen asleep with Stella in my arms that night.
It had become a habit of ours ever since the news of her pregnancy had settled.
At this point she was about five months along and her condition was clearly showing.
It was doing something to me.
Something about seeing her like that, was utterly attractive to me and it made me want to claim her all over again.
Knowing that she was carrying my offspring gave me a sense of both pride and what I could only describe as ownership.
She was mine.
Only mine.
At least for the time being.
I was happier than I had been in a very long time.
Actually, I could not remember ever being that happy.
As I lay there watching her sleeping face, I was struck by a strange feeling.
I felt a strong need to protect her and the life growing inside her, at all costs.
The mere thought of anything happening to either of them, made my heart sink.
I loved this woman more than any words could possibly explain.
Hell- I loved her more than life itself, for what it was worth at this point.
Still, I would trade my life and the years lived for her in a heartbeat.
Stella whimpered quietly and turned in my arms, still half asleep.
I pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head and gently tightened my grip on her to let her know I was not leaving.
She had been having less of her nightmares and visions lately.
Ever since the night in the cathedral, it seemed like something had changed.
She told me that the visions had tried to warn her about something, but she was unable to explain it to me.
We tried not to think too much about it, but it was still lurking somewhere in the back of our minds.
A tinge of fear of the unknown, that neither of us could fully escape or ignore.
I forced myself to go back to sleep as the sun started rising outside the window, pushing all thoughts of visions, nightmares and warnings aside as I let myself slip into a deep sleep.
Stella had been getting up earlier these days because the baby had a habit of kicking her at around 6 in the morning, without fault.
We used the extra time to transform the castle into a home, with the help of the maids around the house.
I had given her full control of everything.
Not that I did not want to help her, but I figured that she could as well have it the way she wanted it.
When I told her, she had introduced me to the peculiar saying "Happy wife, happy life" with a grin.
At first I had pushed it aside, but it was starting to grow on me.
It made perfect sense.
Her happiness meant the world to me and If she was unhappy, I could never truly be happy either.
Stella had warned me that as soon as our child was born, her attention would be solely focused on tending to its every need.
Apparently Eleanor had told her some old method of figuring out the gender, without a scan, which was apparently a thing now.
One would have to determine whether the bump was hanging low, or sitting higher with a slight peak to it.
Nonsense if you asked me.
The next morning she was been standing by the mirror, carefully studying the growing bump, insisting that it was going to be a little girl from the way it was protruding.
"You see here?" she asked me chipperly.
She traced her fingers along her bare skin, following the round shape of her belly with her fingertips, in an attempt to make me see her point.
"Mm-hm" I replied absentmindedly, zoning out for a moment as my eyes followed the movements of her fingertips.
Unsurprisingly she noticed my distant reply.
She rolled her eyes at me, chuckling.
Back when I met her, that kind of behavior infuriated me, but now, I found it endearing.
"Mr. Mendoza, are you even paying attention?" she said, scolding me with a tender look in her eyes.
God I love that woman, I thought to myself, catching myself off guard.
Love
The previous night I had told her I loved her for the very first time.
I could not recall ever having been in love.
If I had, it had been a long, long time ago.
It was something I had always believed would be for anyone but me, but when she came along, that all seemed to change.
This frail, frustrating vixen had cast a spell on me the very first time I ever laid my eyes on her and I had no intention of resisting or breaking free.
Whatever this spell was, I wanted it to last forever.
I had been watching her in a daze, distracted by my own train of thoughts to such a degree that I was met with a pair of worried eyes the moment I snapped out of it.
"Are you alright..?" she whispered.
"Never been better" I replied warmly.
I was not lying.
I gently pulled her closer to me before getting down on my knees in front of her to listen to the growing life inside her.
She had gotten so used to it at this point, that she had stopped asking questions.
In fact, she seemed to enjoy it.
She probably just liked seeing me down on my knees, I thought to myself with a smirk before gently pressing my ear against the soft skin of her belly.
The sound was addictive.
It was something I had tried to describe to her on several occasions, but no words could describe the feeling of hearing the beating heart of a little life produced by oneself.
I was not the sentimental type, but this was something that made me emotional in ways I could not possibly begin to explain.
Not that I would ever let it show of course - at least not to others.
Stella had seen more sides of me than anyone ever had.
I had even seen new sides of myself after she came into my life for good.
I was getting soft and I did not mind one bit.
She made me frustrated and angry but I could never truly be mad at her.
I had been acting crazy and possessive in a way I was unable to defend.
It was all so unlike me.
I wanted this woman by my side.
Now and forever.
I looked up at her hesitantly, suddenly anxious.
It was not like me to become nervous and awkward like this, but her mere presence suddenly made me all fidgety.
The moment she spoke, however, it all seemed to disappear.
She could calm the storm inside me with a single glance and cast away my sorrows and worries with nothing but her words.
I took her hands in mine, a warm smile forming on my lips as I locked eyes with her.
There was not a single doubt in my mind.
This was what I wanted.
Her voice was soft and gentle as she spoke, her bright eyes radiating love and warmth.
Those very same eyes that had bewitched me the moment I first laid my eyes on her all those years ago.
I rested my head against her growing bump, taking a moment to calm my sudden onset of nerves.
What was wrong with me?
It was her.
The woman I loved who had accepted me despite all of my faults and flaws.
Despite my wrecked past and the demons that haunted me.
She was the one.
She was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with, or however long we would have.
Even when she would be old and gray, my love for her would never change.
Her spirit, her soul, her very essense was what made me fall in the first place.
Her ever-forgiving, caring and gentle nature.
The way she put the needs of others before her own.
Her selflessness.
It was the way she scolded me when I wronged her or messed up.
The way she corrected me when I was wrong, without judgement.
It was the way she looked at me when she thought I was not looking, and the way she talked about me to the maids when she thought I could not hear.
The way she laughed, even when it was at my expense.
It was the way her hips swayed when she walked through the corridors of our home in her nightgown.
The way that her hair was spread out on the pillows in my bed when we made love, and the way she called out my name.
It was the way she let me know that she was mine, way before I even needed her to be.
Mostly, it was the way loved me and showed me that I was worthy of love, when I could not even love myself.
I took one last deep breath, forcing myself to ignore the nerves that made my palms sweaty and my voice tremble.
My voice was no more than a whisper when I spoke, but I knew by her reaction that she heard me clearly.
"Stella?"
"Yes, my love?"
God...
Her voice and the way that she looked at me in that very moment, made my knees weak.
I was completely at her mercy and she knew it.
Before I knew it, I was down on one knee.
Her eyes widened and I could tell she was tearing up.
My voice cracked as I asked her the one question I thought I would never get to ask.
"Marry me"