Epilogue
EPILOGUE
GATSBY
T wo months later…
We should have left two hours ago, but we had to come to the house to pick up the stuff she promised her mom.
I love my live-in girlfriend, but sometimes she can drive me insane.
My brothers assure me that she’s exactly what I needed—someone to show me that people don’t have to be thirty minutes early to an appointment or keep everything neat.
“Maia, are you ready?”
“No. I need to find Mom’s present.”
I roll my eyes. “It’s in the luggage.”
“I’m talking about the painting I made her last weekend.”
“It’s in the shed.”
She’s coming down the stairs, almost running. I want to remind her that the railing is loose, and she can fall. I don’t because she’s just going to ignore me.
“You mean my studio.” She gives me a disapproving glare.
“Potato, tomato. I’ll go and get it, be ready. Owen is waiting for us.”
Her studio is the messiest part of the house—the same that has demolished walls, debris on the floor, and bare plumbing.
I hope that when I finish the renovations and move to the house full-time, I’ll be able to keep it clean.
It takes me about five minutes to find the frame.
I’m glad she already wrapped it, or it’d take another thirty minutes to leave the house.
When I’m back inside the place, I hear it. She’s throwing up again.
“I should take you to the hospital instead of San Diego. This is the second day in a row that you can’t keep any food, and you look green.”
“It’s Mom’s birthday.”
“Yeah, but if she sees you like that, she might quarantine you. Plus, you can get other people sick.”
“It’s food poisoning, not the flu.”
I should call Heath. He might know or check her to confirm that she’s sick—or not. “Food poisoning doesn’t last that long. Let me call the doctor.”
“I’m going to be fine.”
“Why are you so stubborn?” I growl.
“I don’t know, but that’s why you love me.”
“No. I’m pretty sure there are other reasons why I love you so damn much, and that’s not one of them.”
She bats her eyelashes. “Come on. If I throw up one more time, we’ll turn the jet around and come home.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, but if I have to do that, we’ll go to the hospital.”
“Deal.”
“Why do I keep making deals with you?”
“You claim to love me.”
“No. I adore you.” I kiss her nose and make sure that the velvet box with the ring is in my pocket.
Today is the day I’m proposing to her. I have everything set.
There’s the perfect spot by the beach right in the backyard of our new house.
Well, I also have that surprise for her.
I bought us a place close to her parents so we can visit them often.
I think it’s fair since we also got a house in Paradise Bay that we use almost every weekend.
“Ready to leave?” I ask.
She nods, and I don’t like that she looks like Kermit the Frog, green.
I make my way to the car to open the passenger door but stop when I hear her vomiting, again. I run to hold her hair and rub her back. “We have to stay, babe,” I whisper.
“Is everything okay?” I hear Aslan’s voice before I see him.
“I thought you guys were going to San Diego?” Keaton appears next to him. “Do you have plumbing? I could get some water.”
“Yes, but no glasses,” I say.
Keat pulls out a water bottle from her purse and hands it to Maia. “You don’t look good.”
“I’m fine.” She gives them a weak smile. “It’s just food poisoning or something.”
“We’re going to the doctor.”
“San Diego,” Maia insists.
“This hurts me more than it hurts you,” I argue.
Aslan, who knows what I prepared for tonight, gives me a look. “You’re staying, then?”
I nod.
“The roof?” He shrugs as if offering me an option.
That’s genius. He can set everything up on the roof. “Yes, can you take care of that?”
He nods. “Keep us updated about her health.”
Maia is hooked to an IV solution bag.
She’s dehydrated.
Luckily Heath is working in the ER, and he took care of her almost immediately. He thinks it might be a combination of food poisoning and stress. I don’t think he’s right. Since we merged Global GAAM with MarkTech, she’s had more time for herself and her art.
Still, I ask him to run some tests to ensure I’m wrong. That’s exactly how I phrased it because if there’s something my siblings like, it’s to prove that I’m full of bullshit. I’m not.
“It’s been hours. Maybe we can still go to San Diego.”
“Only one hour,” I remind her. “And we changed plans. Your parents will be here next weekend.”
Heath enters the room, pushing a machine. He looks at me and then at Maia. “How are you feeling?”
“Great, I want to go to San Diego. Tell him I’m okay.”
He grins. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. You know I usually like to team up with you against him, but I think I’m not going to be of much help today.”
“Is she okay?”
He nods. “It’s nothing life-threatening. At least, I hope it doesn’t become that in a few years. But I can’t guarantee it. You and your brothers terrorized our parents for years.”
I don’t understand. “What happened?”
“First, we have to do an ultrasound to confirm.”
I’m thinking there’s a tumor or something that might kill her. I’m sweating and almost coming to my knees. I just don’t understand why he’s smiling. As if he’s giving me the best news of my life.
“What? Why?”
He turns to Maia. “To confirm your pregnancy.”
“A b-baby?” I stutter.
Maia and I look at each other. Instinctively I take her hand. A baby isn’t part of our plans. Well, it’s in the five-step program I created when she was away, but we decided not to talk about it until we were ready to get married.
“A baby,” Maia whispers.
I kiss her lips. “Are you okay with it?”
She nods. Her eyes filling with moisture. “He’s us. I’m more than okay.”
I pull out the ring from my pocket and open the box, bending on one knee. “I was planning to do this tonight.”
Her eyes grow wide.
“One day you arrived into my life, brightening it. Circumstances tore us apart, but we found each other again, and this time we took our time to get to know each other. We’re mature enough to understand what love is all about.
“I’m here to offer you my heart. Endless love and dreams. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife and my eternal companion?”
She’s crying, and I know they’re happy tears, but still, my heart breaks as they fall one next to the other.
“I love you so much. I can’t wait to be your wife and start our family. We’re already a family.”
I place a hand on top of her belly. “That we are. Our tiny, beautiful family,” I say, kissing her with every ounce of my being.