5. Bellamy
Bellamy
April 13th…
“You’re engaged!” That shriek comes from the woman Peter informs me is Hazel, Carter’s wife. Yes, I’m finally meeting his teammates and their families. It took but a few minutes in their presence to see why Peter thinks so highly of them. They’re wonderful people.
Though, if I’m being honest, Tyler and Khary’s daughter, Taylor, is my favorite.
Peter informed me she’s everyone’s, and I can believe it.
On our way here, he’d told me a little about all of them. I laughed at Carter and Hazel’s meet-cute, cried when he shared how Tyler and Khary met, and vowed to join the other three women in helping Frederick and Teddy find their forevers.
We might have our work cut out for us on that. It seems as if Carter and Tyler’s unions came about as a marriage of convenience, which aren’t always pleasant situations. As Tyler and Khary can attest. Apparently, Marcus and Skye are the only couple who had a more traditional beginning.
“That’s not true,” Frederick defends me and Peter. “Theirs was, too.”
“I disagree,” Teddy steps in. “They’re also embarking on an MOC.” How the heck does he know the acronym for it? Is he a romance reader? Oh man, that would be so awesome. I wonder if we can swap books. I have a lot of mine in storage, preferring to have my library in digital format for traveling. But, since those days are over, I can change that. There’s nothing like the smell of a paperback. Of the feeling you get from flipping a page. Or the weight of holding it in your hands.
“How do you figure?” I ask him. Fellow bookworm or not, I want to see where he’s going with this. I point to my eyes then at him. I’m watching you.
“You’re getting married.” I nod. “It’s convenient because you love each other. Hence, a marriage of convenience.”
He is so proud that I can’t take this moment away from him. Also, “He’s not wrong,” Peter says to my left. “And, having you in our bed, in our house, will be awfully convenient when I want to make love to you.”
When my soon-to-be-husband puts it that way, I concede defeat while accepting the victory that is having Peter in my life. “Can’t argue with such sound logic.”
“He wouldn’t hear it anyway,” Carter hollers. “He’s so full of shit. That’s gotta clog the eardrums.”
Teddy throws a fry at him, which is intercepted by Frederick as he snags it in mid-air only to wag it in Teddy’s direction. “These are not a weapon. They are gifts and should be treasured.” And then he stuffs it in his mouth. “Like that.”
“You got your gift all over my shirt,” Carter informs him as he brushes it off.
Unashamed, Frederick shrugs. “I’m a giver.” I watch their banter; unaware I’m crying until my vision grows blurry.
“Bells?” Peter asks, his tone questioning. I smile at his newfound nickname for me. He used it, quite by accident he admitted, for the first time last week. When he saw my reaction to it, a bit similar to what he’s seeing from me now, he started sliding it in conversations. Even just saying it here and there, out of the blue.
“I’m happy,” I quickly assure him. “You gave me something I haven’t had in so long.” Pressing my lips to his, I linger a bit before parting. Because I can. “A family.”
“I will always give you what you need, sweetheart.”
“All I need is you. The rest is merely a bonus.” As if he can’t stand to have the slightest distance between us, Peter lifts me out of my chair and puts me on his lap. I love when he does this. Snuggling against him, the noise around us fades as he wraps his arms around me. “You were worth the wait, Peter Hawkins.”
**Peter**
As much as I hate that Mrs. Green’s actions hurt my woman, in a way, I owe her. Yes, I have no doubt Bellamy and I would’ve eventually gotten to this point. That being said, how long would it have taken us? How many days, months, or years?
With my job, there is no guarantee of tomorrow. A possibility that is true of everyone, of course, yet some have a higher risk of it becoming a reality. I want as many of them with Bellamy as I can have and would’ve gladly taken them however I could get them.
But knowing I’ll get them with her by my side, as my wife, is the best way.