Chapter Nine
“You want to do what?” Pete asked.
Caleb looked from Emily to Pete, and back again.
It was Monday morning. He’d already dropped Mae off at her shop, after spending Sunday night, into the early hours of this morning, making up for the past week. He’d made love, fucked, and worshipped every single inch of her body, and it had only cemented in his mind exactly what he wanted to do.
“I want to propose to her in front of the whole town on Halloween night,” Caleb said.
Emily’s eyes went wide and Pete’s mouth formed a perfect O.
“What?”
“It’s just ... why the sudden change of heart?” Emily asked.
“This is not a change of heart. I want to marry Mae. What she wants, I want. I want the family and the house and the matching Christmas sweaters. I want to wake up in the morning with her by my side, and I don’t want to go to sleep without her,” he said.
“Why Halloween?” Pete asked.
The whole town is going to be there, and so are tourists. It’s my way of telling Mae I love her, and also showing her that there is no one else I want. There is only her.”
Emily’s mouth dropped open. “You love her?”
“I’m crazy about her. I have been for a long time. Hasn’t he told you?” he asked, pointing at his best friend.
“Why would he tell me?”
Caleb rolled his eyes. “You guys don’t need to pretend with me. I get it. You tell each other everything and that is the way it has always been. I know he’s told you how I feel about Mae. Just as you know, he has told me what you’ve told him about Mae.”
Emily sighed. “That’s fair. We don’t have any secrets.”
“And when it comes to Mae, I want it all.”
“Then tell me why you didn’t just admit that when she asked you.”
Caleb was starting to slowly lose his patience.
“First of all, I panicked. I asked her and she sent the question right my way, so I thought I might have misread the signals that Mae doesn’t want to have kids.
I was feeling the water, because if you want me to be blunt, we’ve not exactly been careful. ”
He had not intended to tell their friends they were having unprotected sex, but he didn’t see the point in hiding it from them anymore.
Emily gasped. “What?”
Pete let out a cough, then glanced off to the side.
“Are you telling me that Mae and I could potentially be ... pregnant together?” Emily asked.
Caleb didn’t know if he should protect his private areas.
He looked from Emily to Pete, and he couldn’t exactly read the situation.
It didn’t look good. At least, he didn’t think it looked good, and then Emily stepped toward him.
With each step she took, he had a fleeting moment of wondering if he was ever going to be able to father children.
He didn’t even know if Mae was pregnant. She wasn’t showing signs, but all the times they were having sex, he’d not once worn a condom. There had to be a chance she was pregnant.
Emily threw her arms around him and pulled him in for a hug.
He wasn’t quite sure why she hugged him.
Maybe it was her pregnancy hormones. They had come home on Sunday night and declared they were pregnant.
He didn’t think it happened that fast, said so, and Emily told him she was already pregnant before they left. Of course, he was delighted for them.
“Why am I getting a hug right now? Is this a pregnancy thing, where you lure me into a sense of false hope and kick me in the balls?”
Emily stepped back, and he was a little startled to see tears falling down her eyes.
He turned to look at Pete. “I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s fine. It’s just that when Mae and I were little girls, we always said we wanted to be pregnant together, and now you’re saying there’s a chance we might get to feel that, and it is just .
.. we have wanted this for a long time. I also know Mae is crazy about you.
She loves you so much and I know this could be one of the most amazing proposals of all times, and that is so emotional. ”
Caleb didn’t know if he should be afraid or happy. They did look like good tears. Happy tears. Maybe he was reading into it wrong. Either way, he loved Mae, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“So, what is the plan?” Emily asked. Pete had gone behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, and started to massage them.
“Uh ... dress up, go into town, and have everyone there witness that I am in love with Mae, and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
“So, what you’re saying is you don’t have a plan at all?” Emily asked.
He looked to Pete who was no help at all. “No?”
Emily sighed. “There’s going to be a band, and Mae is going to open the shop till late, so we’re going to have to wait until the perfect time. Do you have a ring?”
Caleb reached into his jacket and pulled out the ring his father had given to him a long time ago. It was one his mother had worn, and his grandmother before her.
“Excellent.”
****
Emily had insisted this year she go as a sexy witch.
No warts and no long nose, just as herself, but in a costume her friend had chosen.
Mae looked down at herself, and it was a little too revealing for her taste.
Her friend seemed to love it, so she couldn’t exactly argue about it.
Also, Emily had bought it for her, she was very heavily pregnant, and there was no way she was going to argue with her friend.
“Are you okay?” Emily asked.
Mae smiled as Emily had been pretty insistent on staying close, even though Kasey and Leah had already gone trick-or-treating, and were currently at their grandparents’. She doubted they had been given any candy that would make their grandparents extra work.
“Yeah, I’m okay. It has been a full night. I am so tired.” Her feet ached from being in these heeled shoes, but they were pretty, and she did enjoy them.
“How are you feeling?” Emily asked.
This made her curious and she turned to her friend. “Huh?”
“I don’t know. I was just wondering if you felt any different?”
Mae frowned. “I’m not sure I follow.”
Emily pressed her lips together. “Uh, don’t worry about it.”
“No, no, you don’t get to tell me not to worry about something after you behave that way. Come on. Own up. What’s going on?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ve known you my whole life, Emily. I know when you’re lying, like you are doing now.” She put her hands on her hips and looked toward her friend. “Fess up.”
She looked to Emily, waiting, but the truth was, she did feel a little different.
Just this morning, she felt sick when she woke up.
Her stomach was doing all kinds of strange things, and if she was honest, her breasts felt different.
The sickness had abated with some toast, but she hadn’t thought about that until now.
Emily let out a squeal. “I think you might be pregnant.”
Mae’s mouth fell. “Emily, you’re the one who’s pregnant.”
“I know, and you and Caleb have been having unprotected sex, so I thought we could actually be pregnant together. Don’t you think that is great?”
She didn’t know what to say or think, it was all just a little too much. She looked at her friend, and then her hand went to her stomach, because there was a good chance she might be pregnant. Protection hadn’t been high on their list.
She and Caleb had also not talked about babies. The one time they had, it had ended with them not seeing each other for a week. Also, they had taken care of Emily and Pete’s children.
Emily winced. “Crap, this is not good.”
Mae didn’t quite know what was good or not, but she was still reeling from the fact she might be pregnant. If she actually turned out to be pregnant, Caleb could go running for the hills, and she might never see him again.
“Mae, will you follow me?” Emily asked.
“What if he leaves?” Mae asked. “I’ll have to raise a baby all on my own.”
Her friend rushed around the counter. “You know, that is not something for you to worry yourself with right now.” Emily grabbed her hands. “You know, I think I hear one of your favorite bands playing.”
She was so distracted in her own little world, that she wasn’t paying attention to what else was going on around her. Before she knew what was happening, she was being marched outside where everyone was. There were so many people.
The noise seemed overwhelming as she tried not to panic about what was going on inside her head. There was real fear in her heart. A panic unlike anything she had ever known.
She wanted to run back to the shop, but all of a sudden, the music stopped, and she heard Caleb’s voice. Like a moth to a flame, she looked toward the stage that had been placed in front of the main town building.
“Is Mae Blake out there tonight?” Caleb asked.
Emily let out a scream. “We’re here. We’re right here.” Her friend waved her hands in the air like a crazy person and Mae could do nothing but look on in shock as she stared at Caleb.
There was a light cast down on her. It wasn’t too harsh, but Mae held her hand out and knew she felt stiff as a board. She didn’t know what to say or do.
“I bet you’re all wondering what the hell is going on right now, but as you can see, something pretty damn special is going to happen.
” Caleb started to climb off stage and another light followed him as he started to walk down the street.
His voice seemed to fill every speaker. “You all know that Mae and I have been seeing each other. In fact, we’ve not been silent about it.
We’ve kept it pretty obvious. What you all don’t know is that I am completely and absolutely in love with this woman.
I know, I know my reputation says I’m just using her, but I know for a fact this woman is the real deal.
She is the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
She is the woman I love more than anything in the world. ”
Mae’s heart was pounding inside her chest.
“And you all should know that I want to marry this woman. I want to get her pregnant so we can have lots of kids and have a big happy family.”
Caleb was now standing in front of her, and Mae looked at him in absolute shock. She was just reeling from the fact she might be pregnant.
“Hey, Mae,” he said.
“Hi.”
And then, right there, in front of the town and the tourists on Halloween night, with Emily and Pete there as well, he went down on one knee.
“I love you. I want to have kids with you. I want to settle down and make a life with you. You’re all I want. Marry me, Mae.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening, but it felt like the most amazing thing in the world.
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
The whole town erupted in applause and Caleb let out a whoop, and he shocked her even more when he slid a big engagement ring on her finger.
Pete took the microphone from his hand, and then he gripped her chin, tilted her head back, and kissed her. The applause rang out again, and the mike was handed back to the band, and as he kissed her, the music started up again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tight.
“Excuse me, can we get in here, and, you know, congratulate the newly engaged?” Emily asked.
Mae laughed as Caleb reluctantly let her go. She hugged Emily and then Pete, and went to Caleb.
“You set this up?” Mae asked.
“Actually, I did,” Emily said. “I helped. Caleb wanted to do something in front of the whole town, but I wanted it to take center stage, and seeing as I know a lot of people, I was able to get my way.”
Her friend looked really happy about that.
Leaning up against Caleb, Mae felt amazing.
“You know, we should leave them alone,” Pete said.
They got another hug from their friends, and then she turned to Caleb. “I love you,” she said. “And I think now is the time to tell you that I’ve kind of had a crush on you since high school.”
“You have?” he asked.
“Yeah, uh, I don’t know if you remember this, but my books were pushed out of my hand—”
“I remember.” He pulled her in close so that his lips were against her ear. “And I spent a lot of time admiring your ass, Mae. Trust me, I had waited a long time for you, and I knew you weren’t ready for me. The moment you walked into that bar, you were mine.”