Chapter 29
Charlie
“This is one of our finest diamonds,” Ricardo spoke as he handed me the four-carat ring.
“Damn, Charlie. That ring is beautiful,” Chase said.
“I’ll take it, Ricardo.” I handed him my credit card.
“Excellent. I’ll be right back.” A smile crossed his lips as he walked out of the room.
“When are you going to propose?” Chase asked.
“Soon. I want to do it before the twins are born.”
“Look at you.” He grinned, placing his hand on my shoulder. “My boy is all grown up, having babies, getting married.”
“Knock it off.” I chuckled.
“I never thought this day would come. I’m still in shock. Um, you did remember to turn your location off, right? You don’t want Marley seeing you’re at Cartier.”
“Yes. I turned it off.”
When Ricardo returned, I slipped the ring box into my pocket, and Chase and I left the store.
When I arrived home, the smell of Chinese food infiltrated the space.
“You ordered dinner?” I asked, walking into the kitchen, where Marley was already eating.
“Yeah. Sorry. I couldn’t wait for you. The babies were starving. I hope you’re in the mood for Chinese.”
“Did you order the entire menu?” I chuckled, looking at all the cartons sitting on the table. Walking over to her, I kissed her lips.
“I couldn’t decide, and everything sounded so good. Grab a plate and eat with me.”
“Let me change first, and I’ll join you.”
Walking into the bedroom, I tucked the ring box into one of my drawers for safekeeping until I figured out a plan. After changing my clothes, I returned to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, and sat at the table.
“I saw on Facebook today that a couple who hired me a year ago to plan their wedding are getting divorced,” Marley said, shoving a forkful of food in her mouth.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. This is why people shouldn’t get married. The goal of a relationship is to stay together. Marriage doesn’t guarantee that so why bother spending all that time and money trying to prove to the world that you will make it as a couple? If two people are madly in love with each other, they don’t need a piece of paper to confirm it.”
I stared blankly at her from across the table, not believing what I heard.
“What?” she asked.
“I didn’t know you felt that way about marriage. I mean, you do plan weddings.”
“It’s my job.” She cocked her head. “Besides, don’t you agree?”
“I don’t know if I do or don’t. My parents were happily married. Don’t you think you’re basing your decision because of your parents?”
“Probably.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin, grabbed her plate, and walked over to the sink. “But the divorce rate is so high. People just rush into it because they like the concept of a wedding, the fairytale of it all, and think they’ll get their happily-ever-after once they say, ‘I do.’ That piece of paper only complicates things.”
I was getting angrier by the second. Throwing my napkin down, I stood up and walked out of the kitchen.
“Charlie?”
I went to the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Marley asked, walking into the room.
“All this talk about marriage,” I said.
“I know, right? I’m sorry I went on a rant.” She sat down and softly rubbed my back. “Oh!” She grabbed my hand and placed it on her belly. “The babies are kicking.” She smiled.
I felt the little flutters against my hand. “They sure are.” I leaned in and kissed the side of her head. “We haven’t discussed names for them yet.”
“I know. We should do that.” She brought her hand up to my face and softly stroked it.
Not too long ago, I didn’t want marriage or children. But I’d come to realize that I was wrong because the right woman never walked into my life. Now that I had the right woman and she was having my babies, everything changed. I wanted the entire package.
The following morning, I sat behind my desk and stared out the window at the busy city.
“Morning.” I heard Chase’s cheerful voice.
“Morning.” I turned my chair around.
“You look tired. What’s wrong?”
“I was up all night.” I sighed.
“Ah, having great sex with your soon-to-be fiancée?”
“We had sex, but she’s not my soon-to-be fiancée.”
“What are you talking about?” His brows furrowed.
“Marley brought up marriage last night and went on a rant about how she doesn’t believe in it.”
“Oh shit, Charlie. You didn’t tell her you were going to propose, did you?”
“No way. You should have heard her, Chase.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I guess just keep calling her my girlfriend for the rest of my life. What the hell can I do? She wants nothing to do with marriage.”
“Some people are like that, I guess. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you.”
“I know she loves me, but I don’t want to be unmarried for the rest of my life. I want that final commitment.”
“Damn, listen to you.” A smile crossed his lips. “Not too long ago, you were saying the exact opposite.”
“That was before I met Marley. I love her and want to make her my wife.”
“Listen, Charlie. When the time is right, she’ll change her mind, and it’ll happen. Right now, she’s just flooded with hormones and very pregnant. Anyway, I just stopped in to say good morning. I’m headed to a meeting with the staff. I’ll see you later.”