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AHH YOU GUYS! I'm so sorry for the heart-retching cliffhanger! I can tell by the comments on the last chapter that you guys are super excited for the update.
Well, I hope you enjoy! :D
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Chapter 24
My voice got caught in my throat. It stuck there for many seconds. I was scared he thought I was debating the answer, but I knew it.
Tears formed on the brims of my eyelashes, making my vision of my handsome boyfriend blurred. My hands gripped his head, pulling his mouth on mine. There weren't enough emotions in the world to describe my happiness.
"Yes," I said loudly. "Yes, yes, yes."
He tackled me excitedly, kissing every part of my face. "I love you, Natalie. I love you so much. And I know I'm not on one knee so I'll understand if you want me to do that, but I'm kind of, you know, naked."
I giggled, covering my mouth. "I don't care that you're not on one knee. Do it or don't do it, I don't care. My answer is yes, no matter what."
The four hours of guaranteed alone time were running low. We had spent almost two hours in bed fooling around; it was time to get up and eat something before Haley came home.
But I couldn't draw my gaze away from Andrew—specifically his left hand. I wasn't sure when yet, but his ring finger would be decorated with a ring, one that promised himself to me. Me. All of this was a lot to handle for one night.
Accepting this job had done great things for me.
While Andrew prepared the spaghetti carbonara, he instructed me to visit his history tab on his laptop. For a moment I was scared—he was a guy, after all—at what I'd come across. But it was a website full of rings.
He stood by me and moved the cursor to marked selections. Sure enough, he had saved four rings in a folder. "Jesus," I muttered.
Every single one of them was beautiful. The first one was silver, a large diamond nesting on the top. A swirled binding circled around the diameter of the ring. It was dazzling. Even after looking at the other three, that was where my eyes went first.
"See any you like?" he curiously asked.
I didn't want to say so yet. There were hundreds of stores—thousands more rings—that could have been better than this one.
"Not sure," I said, squinting at the screen. "Wait, something's missing. Where are the prices?"
He laughed, leaning his head against mine. "You really think I'm that stupid? I'm not letting my future wife see the price of her ring. Besides, the cost doesn't matter. This is worthwhile. Yes, it's a bit overpriced, but not to the point where no one buys them."
I rolled my eyes. "The cost does matter, Andrew. I don't want to make you go broke."
"I won't go broke, Nat. At least not from a ring." His thumb took over on the keypad and mouse. "You don't have to pick right now, but if you see one you like, we can reserve one in the store and go down there to get it. Together. In case you change your mind last minute."
I squinted my eyes at him. "I thought you were supposed to buy a ring ahead of time and pick one you like best?"
"I don't like that tradition. You'll be the one wearing it for the rest of your life. You should be the one to pick it."
I had never thought of it like that. Then again, aside from an hour ago, I had never been proposed to before. What did I know?
"The rest of my life, huh?" I joked.
He raised an eyebrow at me. "Like I told you before, you're stuck with me. I'm not about to be Ross Geller."
I giggled, resting my head on his shoulder while he looked for more rings. Although, I really did like that silver one with the twisted binding.
"You got that, didn't you?"
"Yes!"
He sighed with relief. "Okay, good. For a minute there I thought I was going to have to take back my sorry-excuse-for-a-proposal."
I playfully nudged him. "Your proposal was just fine, Andrew."
"Just...fine?" He wasn't mad, just curious. A little too much. "Hold on."
"Andrew—"
But he was walking away, disappearing into Haley's room. I tapped my fingernails on the marble countertop, wondering what he was up to. My stomach flipped just thinking about Andrew slipping a ring on my finger. I felt even more nauseous thinking about me slipping one on his, too.
I'm marrying Andrew.
He finally returned, holding something behind his back. "Okay. Since I obviously crashed and burned last time—"
"You didn't crash and—"
"Shh, don't interrupt this. Please," he added, squeezing my shoulder. Then, without leaving my gaze, he knelt on one knee.
That's when it all rushed to me—and quickly. The reality of him kneeling before me, asking me for his hand in marriage, was enough to make me faint. I didn't, but my heavy head threatened it.
"Natalie," he began, smiling, revealing the ring from behind his back. It was plastic and purple, but it was perfect. I couldn't hide my giggle. "This may not be the right ring, but it is an exact replica of the ring on Belle's finger. And she's your favorite princess. So here it goes." He took a deep breath. "Natalie Olson, I have been in love with you for almost six months now, five of which I've spent dating you. That may not be long, but Haley loves you and I love you. That's all the affirmation I need to have the confidence to do this, because I'm about to lose it."
"Andrew..." I whispered, stepping off the chair and staring down at him. "Yes."
He held up a finger. "What did I say about interrupting me? I'm not done." He cleared his throat. "I want a second chance at being married. A second chance at living the rest of my life with a beautiful woman next to me. And Natalie...it's you. It'll always be you. You're stuck with me, damn it."
I laughed, but that let loose the tears in my eyes. An hour ago I had merely teared up, but now I was crying. It was incredible how much of a difference kneeling down made to a woman's sanity.
"I've asked you once, and you promised you'd always say yes, but I'm doing it again. Even if that means in forty years, when we're sitting in our rocking chairs, arguing about something stupid—believe me, we will be—I'll ask you." He held the plastic ring higher. I had been so focused on my own tears that I hadn't caught the ones brimming in his eyes. "Do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife. I love you, Natalie." He had just asked me these words without a struggle, but this time he swallowed, choking on the power these words held. "Will you marry me?"
I opened my mouth to scream my response again, but I decided to have some fun. "I'm sorry, Andrew, but I can't accept your proposal."
He stood up and began slipping the ring on my finger, but stopped. "Wait. What?"
Don't laugh, I told myself. "I'm in love with Julian. We're going to elope."
His expression dropped, every hint of a smile gone. That's when I shook my head and pulled on his shirt. "I'm joking. Yes, you silly man, I will marry you. Yes."
He slipped the ring on, but eyed me carefully. "Hmm, maybe that will just be your ring. After all, that's all you deserve."
"Oh, stop pouting and take a joke."
I wrapped my arm around his neck, and before he could protest, pulled his mouth to mine. Kissing him was nothing new to me—almost like second nature, actually—but this one was special. We were getting married. It was official now.
He sunk into me, reminding me how much he loved me. His mouth opened slightly, his tongue teasing me.
The moment was great while it lasted, but his phone incessantly buzzing broke us apart. Andrew grumbled, kissing me again before answering Amber.
"Hello?"
I couldn't hear the other line, but his eyes changed from annoyed to uncertain. "Haley? Haley, honey, what's wrong? Why do you have your mom's phone?"
My heart turned over in fright. I held onto his muscular stomach, waiting for an update.
"Hales, I'm on my way. Don't move. We're on our way, okay, honey? Hang tight."
He hung up, hand shaking rapidly. It was a while before he finally looked at me, but when he did, I only saw raw panic.
"It's Haley," was all he could say, grabbing his keys in one hand and mine in the other. "She's in trouble."
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I assumed Amber had found a different place to stay than a shitty apartment building. She was an actress, after all, and a rich one. What was she doing in a place that barely had a one-star rating?
Most of all, what was Haley doing here?
"Does Amber live here?"
He looked around cautiously. "As far as I know, she doesn't. But this is where the tracking of the phone call led me to."
So what were they doing here?
"Haley said it's room eighty-one-three., which I'm assuming is eight-thirteen." He smiled a little, but it was gone faster than it appeared. "I hope she's okay."
I squeezed his hand. "She'll be okay. I'm sure she's just ready to come home."
"God, I hope so."
Every second that passed in the elevator ride was an excruciating reminder that Haley was in trouble, possibly more than either of us could imagine. This was a new low for Amber.
Room 813 was directly across from the elevator's opening. I tried not to imagine all the awful things that could've been happening behind that door. Andrew didn't waste a single second standing in the doorway—he turned the knob and swung the door open.
A thick layer of smoke surrounded us. We both coughed, but stepped into the awful smell. Haley was here and she was the main priority.
What I spotted next was a dark haired man sprawled out on the couch. His hair was a mangled mess. He blew smoke rings into the air, grinning at a person on the floor, who I assumed was Amber.
"What the fuck is going on in here?" growled Andrew.
Amber revealed herself, stumbling into our line of vision. "Ah, it's you and that ever-present skank. What are you doing here, Andrew?"
"Don't call Natalie that." He was in no mood to be joked with. "Better question is what is my daughter doing here?"
"Our daughter," she corrected.
Andrew shook his head. "Haley isn't your daughter. She stopped being your daughter years ago."
Amber took great offense to his comment, but she wasn't given time to retort something back. Haley came running from a room that was barely visible through the smoke. How were the alarms not going crazy?
"Daddy!" she cried, pushing herself into his arms and holding him tight. Although he was still concerned about the situation itself, a part of him relaxed by simply holding Haley.
"Are you alright, squirt?" he asked her, but she only sobbed into his shoulder. "It's okay, Haley, I'm here. You're safe now."
When she finally pulled away, her eyes were clouded with tears. "I-I thought she was going to p-play with m-me and I...I..." she stuttered, gasping after every syllable. "I t-tried to get her to and M-Mommy hit me."
His eyes flicked up to Amber. "You hit her?"
Haley hadn't let go of him, but she was staring at me. I reached out and touched her shoulder.
"Natalie, will you hold on to Haley for a second?" While she was reluctant to detach herself from Andrew, I was the next best thing. She clinged to me.
"It's okay, honey. Shh."
Andrew got up from the ground and approached Amber. "What the hell is wrong with you? Bringing a seven year old in an apartment full of weed? I knew you were stupid but I didn't think you'd get this low."
This was a serious matter between the two of them—especially since the court was one incident away from agreeing to Andrew's terms—but I was proud of him for standing up to her. This was the last straw, and it seemed that even Amber knew that.
"You've spanked her before, Andrew, don't pin this all on me."
He rolled his eyes. "There as a difference between discipline and abuse. You have no right to hit her like that. How could you? And who is that?" Andrew pointed to the man on the couch, who was now sitting upright, watching the commotion.
"I'm Carlos," he said, reaching out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you. You must be the kid's dad."
"Pleasure to meet me? You are smoking pot in the same room as my daughter and you think it's a pleasure to me meet me?" Andrew crossed his arms, but turned to Amber once again. "If you think for one second that I will not be taking this to court then you are terribly mistaken. They may not have agreed now, but once they hear about this there isn't a doubt they won't agree."
Amber was losing the battle, but she continued to protest, thinking that gave her a chance against Andrew. "You can't take Haley away from me. That was settled earlier today. They'd never take my daughter away from me."
"You'd be surprised how telling this night is to the court. This is crossing the line, Amber," he threatened, lowering his voice. "That girl adores you and you go around treating her like shit."
His words sunk in. I saw Amber's mind process their depth, but I couldn't decide if she was intimidated by them. She should have been if she wasn't.
While he told me earlier that it was purely Haley's decision, tonight changed everything. Amber was irresponsible; she didn't deserve the love Haley gave her.
"If I may interrupt," said Carlos, pulling the blunt out of his mouth. "This was all my idea, not hers."
"That could be true, but she is a mother and should be able to say no if it means putting her child in potential danger," Andrew shot back. "Thank you for ruining my night, Amber. It's been an interesting waste of my time. I'll be taking Haley home now."
She didn't protest, defeated. Haley squeezed Andrew's hand and reluctantly followed him and I out of the apartment.
The car ride back was equally as silent as the ride to rescue Haley. I sat with her in the back of the car, stroking her arm and holding her close. Andrew kept peeking at us in the mirror. I couldn't imagine how he was feeling.
Pooka greeted us at the door, wagging her tail excitedly. I picked her up and left Andrew alone to get Haley ready for bed. After the events of tonight, the first thing on Haley's list was a good night's sleep.
I was in the middle of pulling the sheets back, smiling at the beautiful moment Andrew and I spent in the bed earlier this evening, when Haley's footsteps sounded from the doorway.
"Natalie, I'm sleeping with you and Daddy!" She flung herself onto the mattress and curled up in the middle, closing her eyes peacefully. "Daddy, your bed's really comfortable. I don't ever want to get up."
He took a comfortable spot next to her. "You and me both, squirt. But you have school tomorrow."
She groaned. "Ugh, kill joy."
I shut off the light and lay next to her, instantly warmed from the body heat her and her father provided.
"Okay, Hales, if you're going to sleep I'm here you can't push me off the bed like last time," warned Andrew. "There's three of us in here. And don't push Natalie off either."
Haley laughed and snuggled up against him. "Goodnight, Daddy and Natalie."
"Night, Hales," we both replied.
I was on the verge of closing my eyes and finding sleep when Andrew's hand ran gracefully through my hair. I brought it down to my mouth and held it there for a long time.
I looked down at my hand, the plastic ring glinting in the darkness. Whatever ring I ended up choosing, it would never have the same original glow as this first ring I was proposed to with.
Andrew was going to be my husband, and Haley my step-daughter. We were going to be a family.