Chapter twenty-five #2
Aubrey quickly walks over to my mother with open arms as she stands from her seat. “Oh, you beautiful girl, look at you.” She hugs her in return then holds her at arm’s length. “And look at that belly. My granddaughter is sure taking up some room in there.” My mom laughs.
“That she is.” Aubrey joins in. “How long are you staying with us?”
“Just a few days, if that’s all right?”
Aubrey grins at her. “Of course! You’re always welcome here.” She loops her arm through my mother’s.
“Have you eaten? I’m sure we can find something to have here, and later we could all go out for dinner somewhere nice.” She directs my mom out of the room as they chitchat and make plans together, completely forgetting about me.
At least it gives me an excuse to disappear for a few seconds and hide this ring.
~ One Week Later ~
“How long do you suppose this will take?” I ask the contractor as he inspects walls around the west side of the house where our bedroom is.
“I think my guys can have it all done in four weeks, give or take. It will be a lot quicker than adding an extension. I understand you’re on a timeline, so this would be the best option,” he tells me, looking over the plans he sketched up quickly.
“Four weeks can work,” I let him know with a nod. Aubrey is now twenty-seven weeks pregnant, which means she’ll be thirty-one weeks by the time the renovations are done. That’s enough time to set up the nursery and get everything ready for Stellina’s arrival.
“Shane?” The door to our bedroom opens at the end of the hall, seconds before Aubrey emerges and her tired eyes find mine. She’s been having extra naps during the day since our daughter has been keeping her up at night.
“I’ll show myself out. I’ll be in contact with blueprints of the plans by tomorrow and we’ll start work early Monday morning. Thank you for doing business with us.” He holds out a hand and I shake it.
“That sounds perfect. Thank you for doing this on such short notice,” I tell him as he nods and leaves.
“Who was that?” Aubrey asks as she walks over to me and into my arms.
“The contractor who will be doing the renovations for our daughter’s room.” I kiss the top of her head. “I know I told you to think about it, but time is moving quickly, and after talking with him, we decided we would simply change the floor plan down here, to accommodate her room.”
“So, we’re not doing the addition?”
I shake my head. “No, he thinks that would take too much time and we would likely not be done before you give birth. I don’t want our home to be a construction site while we welcome our daughter into the world.
But we can always build an extension later on when we’re settled and have more time on our hands. ”
“Will our room be moved?” she asks, trying to figure out the changes that will be made.
“No, the only renovation to our room will be a door added at the end of your walk-in.”
“A door?” She furrows her brows.
I take her hand and lead her down the corridor, to the other one on the opposite side where the two offices are, as well as the laundry room, a large linen closet, and a smaller closet next to it.
“The plan is to bring these two closets into one. Cole, the contractor, thinks it’s empty space behind the smaller one.
So, they’ll use that up to make a decent-size closet for all the linen.
Once those are moved over, the laundry room will be shifted over as well. ”
I turn us around to face the opposite wall, where the two offices are located side by side. “We’ll shrink down both offices, since we really don’t need them to be that large.”
“Why don’t we just turn it into one office? It’s not like you use the second one,” she states.
I wrap my arms around her waist from behind. “You’re right. But one day, you will. When you open your own bakery, you’ll want to have somewhere to work when you’re home.”
She tilts her head to the side and looks up at me with a loving smile. “I love when you talk about it like it’s going to happen,” she says quietly.
“Because it will.” I lean in and kiss her before refocusing on what we were doing here. “So, once all that is moved over. They’ll end the hallway about right here.” I show her with my hand, then advance us a few steps. “And right now, we’d be standing in our daughter’s room.”
I then point to the wall to our left. “On the other side of that wall is your walk-in closet. That’s where we’ll put a door for us to have direct access to her room during the night without having to go all the way around.
And at the same time, it still gives us enough privacy without fearing of waking her. ”
“I love it, Shane. This is perfect. How long will it take?”
“Cole said around four weeks, then we’ll get someone to come in and do the decor. So, let’s say five or six weeks and everything should be ready for Stellina. In the meantime, we’ll be able to decide on what we’d like and do some shopping.” I kiss her neck.
She smiles excitedly and looks around the imaginary room as if she’s already picturing it in her head.
My hand leaves her hip and trails down to my pocket, where a small box is stuffed inside.
I’ve been carrying it around for a few days now, ready to ask her but never finding the right and perfect moment. But I think now might be the one.
I kiss along her neck some more, down her shoulder. Then I lift her hair at her nape and kiss my way across to the other side, until I reach up to her ear. I don’t have a thought-out plan, what I would say, what I would do. I just want to ask her.
“Marry me,” I whisper into the shell of her ear.
Her breath hitches as her entire body freezes over. She doesn’t move or make a sound. I take a step to the side, coming in front of her and reaching into my pocket as I kneel down on one knee.
“Shane… What… what are you doing?” she stammers, her hands shaking as they lift to cover her mouth, wide eyes staring down at me.
I lift the small velvety box and pull it open, revealing my family’s engagement ring. My hands hold a slight tremor to them as they grow clammy. I wipe down my free one along my jeans and take a deep breath.
“I’ve been holding on to this ring for a week now, waiting for the perfect time to ask you, the perfect moment. But I’ve come to realize that none of that matters, the only thing that does is that it’s you and me. That we’re in this together.”
I smile as tears streak down her cheeks. “I don’t want to do the boyfriend and girlfriend thing anymore, Aubrey. I want the world to see you for who you truly are. My wife. Because that’s how I’ve always seen you. So, what do you say, Angel? Will you marry me?”
Her blush intensifies as the tears roll down faster. I expected her to be emotional when I proposed. What I didn’t expect was her shaking her head.
“No,” she whispers, and my heart shatters to the floor.
My smile drops from my face as I blink a few times.
I can feel my heart battling against my ribcage, my pulse pounding in my ears.
My hand falls back to my side, still holding on to the jewel that was supposed to change this day for the better.
But instead, it’s changing it for the worse.
Because out of all the scenarios I could have envisioned, her saying no wasn’t one of them.
Where did I go wrong? What signs did I miss? I thought we were on the same page. I thought… I thought she loved me as much as I love her… But if she did, why would she say no?
I let the ring box drop from my hand and fall back to my ass.
I don’t know what to do now, what to say. What does this mean for us? Can we really just go on and pretend this never happened? Act like everything is okay? Like my world wasn’t just turned over and completely demolished by a small two-letter word?
“No, Shane, wait. Please let me explain,” Aubrey rushes out through her tears as she drops to her knees in front of me and takes my hand between hers.
“I want to marry you, Shane. I do. So, so much, you have to believe me. I just… I think it’s too soon.
I want to make sure this is really what we want.
Right now, we’re still in the honeymoon phase, we haven’t even had a fight yet.
How do we know it will always be this way? ” She forces a smile, but it’s weak.
“We’ve only been dating for six months and we already live together.
We’re having a baby together. Can’t we just wait a little longer for marriage?
That’s all I’m asking, Shane. I want to make sure we’re getting married for us, not for the baby.
” She releases my hand and cups my cheeks as I stay mute.
“Ask me again in a few months, okay? Please, Shane. Promise me you’ll ask me again in a few months?” she begs, searching my eyes for a sign that this isn’t over.
All I can manage is a small nod, still unable to speak. She wants time to make sure this is real, but I’ve known it was real from the start. Why is she suddenly doubting us? What changed?
She leans in and kisses me, but I can barely manage to kiss her back. I’m in shock, my thoughts are all fumbled. I just need time to process this, to think of what this means for us.
I take her wrists and remove her hands from my face as she lets out a sob. “I… I’m gonna go workout.” It’s all I can think to say as I stand from the ground, collecting the box on my way up, and leave the end of the hallway that will one day be our daughter’s room…
If that’s even still the plan.
I don’t look back or stop as Aubrey’s cries reach my ears.
I know I should stay there with her, I know I should console her, but I need time.
I need a bit of distance to figure this out.
I don’t want to lose her altogether, and I’m afraid of what I might say if I stay.
I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret.
And losing her would be my biggest regret.