Chapter 32
32
GAbrIEL
“W e are not getting married,” Zara hisses. I know it’s a stupid thing and, to be honest, the thought never crossed my mind except for right now. I mean, I know I want her to move in with me. I know I miss her more than I care to admit when she is away from me. Fuck, I’m in love with her, and all I want is for her to be here with me and Colson.
“Okay.” I hold up my hand. “We are not getting married,” I say, looking at Zara, who makes no eye contact with me, “but we do have a little surprise for you guys.” Zara now moves over to me, standing next to me, slipping her hand in mine. “We want to say thank you so much for coming and supporting us.”
“Most of you,” Zara snips, taking a dig at her father, who looks up at the sky as Zoe pushes him with her shoulder.
“Can we skip the speeches and get on with what you are having?” JB asks. “We have bets going, and I want to collect my money.” That makes everyone laugh.
“I guess we should just put everyone out of their misery,” Zara declares, and Sofia comes over with a huge box.
“Okay, so all you have to do is open one side and then open the other, and there will be a cowboy hat painted either blue or pink.”
“You hold one end,” I tell Zara, who shakes her head side to side.
“I can’t. My hands are shaking right now.” She holds up her hands, and I see she is shaking like a leaf.
“I got it.” I look over and see Viktor handing Matthew his beer before he comes up to stand beside us.
I look over at him, holding one side of the box and see Zara step to the side. Her whole body is shaking. I know immediately there is no way I’m doing this without holding her next to me. “Dad.” I look into the crowd for him.
“On it.” He doesn’t even know what I’m going to ask him, but he’s apparently on it. He comes to me, holding my side of the box. “Go stand by your woman.” I smile at him because I love how people know she’s mine. “Colson, come help me,” he calls my son over so that it’ll just be me and Zara.
I walk over to her. As I put my arms around her shoulders, I feel her shake under my touch. “It’s okay, Sweetheart.” I pull her closer to me, and she wraps her arms around my waist and smiles up at me. A smile I’ve grown to see when I close my eyes. A smile that lights up her eyes. A smile that makes me feel like I have the whole world in my hands. That is the power of Zara’s smile.
“Oh, I’m so nervous,” she admits with a nervous giggle.
“Okay, you two ready?” Viktor asks, looking at my dad and Colson. “One. Two. Three.” I literally hold my breath as the front flaps are opened. First one flap and I know right away when she sees the blue-colored hat because she screams at the top of her lungs.
She jumps up and down. “Ahhhhhhh.” She slaps my stomach. “I told you!” She smiles and sobs at the same time. The cheers around us are even louder than her scream as I bend my head and kiss her lips, tasting her tears. “I told you it was a boy.” All I do is kiss her, pulling her closer to me.
“Ready to let them in on the surprise?” I ask her, and she just nods.
I put my fingers between my teeth and whistle, making everyone turn their head toward me to stop the celebration. Some are even mid hug as they look over at me. “We have a surprise,” Zara declares, and everyone looks at each other.
“I told you it’s a wedding,” Matthew says, holding up his hand for Max to give him a high five, but he just puts his hand down.
“It’s not a wedding,” Zara refutes, looking up at me, and I suddenly know I want to marry her. Fuck, I’ve known her three months, and I want to spend every day of my life with her, and she doesn’t even live here. “You okay?” she asks me with a worried look.
“Fine, fine.” I play it off, even though I’m struggling right now. “I’m just happy.”
“Who is going to go and pick up the hat?” she whispers to me, and I can’t move from my spot. All I want to do is hold her in my arms.
“Colson,” I shout over my shoulder, “lift the blue hat.” He looks at me weird.
“Oh my God,” Zoey cries from beside us, her eyes big, her hands to her mouth.
“What’s going on?” my father asks, holding the box in his hand.
“Don’t tell me,” Viktor says as Colson picks up the hat. Under the blue hat is the hat I’ve been waiting for.
I have to let Zara go because I jump off my feet and raise my fists to the sky. “It’s a fucking girl!” I look over at Zara who is bent in half, laughing and smiling so big at the same time. Her hands go to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she sobs, and I make my way over to her.
“Told you it was a girl.” I take her in my arms and swing her around. “I felt it in my bones.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “A girl.”
“Twins,” Zoey says, jumping beside us. “Put her down so I can hug her.” She hits my arm as I put my girl down.
“I’m so happy it’s you and not me,” Zoey teases her as the two of them share a hug.
“Holy shit,” my father says from behind me, coming over and slapping my shoulder, “a twofer.”
“We’re not allowed to say that,” I mumble when Zara looks over at me.
“Sorry,” he says, walking over to Zara. “Congratulations, Sweetheart.”
“Nope, not allowed to say that either,” I tell him, “that’s mine.” Zara and my father laugh as he steps aside when Zoe comes forward with my mother. The two of them with tears streaming down their faces.
“I can’t believe it,” my mother says, hugging her first.
“I can, and I couldn’t be happier,” Zoe states. “Also karma, she was a horrible child. She cried for everything. And I mean everything. The light was on; the TV was too loud. I didn’t feed her quick enough. There was always something to make her mad or upset.”
“What are you talking about?” Viktor refutes. “She was the perfect child.”
“That was Matty,” Zoe corrects, then looks at Zara. “Sorry, it’s true.”
“Told you I was perfect,” Matty gloats to Sofia as they stand side by side in each other’s arms, with RC between them.
“Don’t listen to your mother,” Viktor says, going to Zara, “you were the best baby.”
“That’s because she was a daddy’s girl,” Zoe mumbles, and I roll my lips.
“She always will be.” Viktor holds her face in his hands, wiping away the tears that are streaming down her face. “Forever.” She sobs in his arms, and my father has to put his hand in front of me to stop me from going to her. I look over at him, and he shakes his head. “I couldn’t be happier for you,” he tells her, and she face-plants in his chest. “So proud of you.” I look up at the sky, wondering how long I can let this go on for before I pull him away from her and take her in my arms. I know that this is her father, but it’s now my job to comfort her. It’s my job to take care of her. It’s my fucking job. “He’s not good at sharing.” Viktor tries not to laugh as he motions toward me with his head, making everyone laugh. “She was mine first.”
“She’ll be mine last,” I declare, struggling with the fact I don’t even know what the fuck this relationship is called at this point.
“The throwdown,” Matty jokes, and we all laugh, but Viktor lets her go, and she comes over to me.
“A girl and a boy,” I tell her. “It really is a?—”
She puts her fingers on my lips to stop me from saying it. “It’s a surprise.”
“It’s a surprise,” I mumble from behind her fingers.
“I’m going to have another brother and a sister,” Colson cheers from beside us. Zara lets me go so she can hug him and pull him to us.
“The best big brother.” She leans down and kisses his head.
Everyone walks away from us even Colson, who runs up to Viktor and asks him about skating. He puts his arm around him and tells him that he has to come and visit him so he can take him to a game.
“Can you believe it?” I stand with her in my arms, not ready to let her go. Never wanting to let her go.
“I can’t.” She looks up at me. “I thought for sure when I saw the blue hat, we were having two boys,” she admits, “but when I saw the pink.” Her smile gets even bigger. “I don’t think I could have been happier. I thought I was going to fall to my knees.”
“Sweetheart,” I remind her softly, kissing her lips, “when are you going to learn that I’m never, ever going to let you fall.” I kiss her again. “I will always catch you.”
She raises her hand up to my chin. “I’m starting to get that, Cowboy.” She smiles, and there in the middle of I don’t even know how many people, it’s just me and her. Just the two of us and the words I love you lingering on my tongue.