“Of course it is.”
“We're going to have a baby?”
“Yes.”
“This is our baby?” He reached for the photo in my hand.
I smiled, “Yes.”
His expression was so beautiful, tears instantly poured down my cheeks. “We're having a baby.”
I laughed through my tears and nodded my head.
Chase ran a hand through his hair and huffed out a laugh. He looked from the picture to my stomach once more, “I love you so much.” he breathed and closed the distance between us, crushing his lips to mine.
I didn't care that his family was watching, I threw my arms around his neck and let him lift me off the ground. After I was good and kissed, he set me back down and dropped to his knees. Running his hand over my gummy bear bump, he lifted my shirt and kissed my bare stomach twice. A sob broke out of my chest and I looked at Claire who was freely crying and leaning into Robert. Even Bree was wiping a few tears away.
Chase stood back up and cupped my face in his hands, “Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was scared,” I shrugged, “I still am.”
“You don't have to be scared,” he whispered and kissed my nose, “I'll take care of us.”
I looked up at the family, “Can you guys excuse us for a minute?”
Grabbing Chase's hand, I led him up the stairs and to his room. I hadn't been in here since that heated night and I was hit with flashes of it when we stepped in. I sat on the edge of the bed, but he pulled me down so I was curled up into his side. He brought my hand up and played with it over his chest, alternating between intertwining our fingers and bringing them down so he could kiss my palm.
“I can't believe we're going to have a baby.”
I blew out a hard breath, this is what I'd been waiting for and secretly hoped I could have skipped altogether. “About that…Chase –”
He groaned, “No, don't do this again, please.”
“Just hear me out, okay? You're twenty two, you're about to graduate college, I don't want to take your life from you. If you want to live your life, I won't stop you. Just because this baby is yours, don't think that means you're forced to be with me...with us.” I pulled myself up so I could look at him, “I want you to be with us, don't get me wrong. But I will let you go if that's what you need.”
“Are you done?” He was smiling.
“Yes.”
“Harper, I love you more than I could ever explain. Meeting you changed my world. Even when I thought you would never be mine, I couldn't continue to live a life I knew you hated. The night you told me you loved me was the best night of my life, up until tonight. I never want to let you go again, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to marry you someday Harper.” He paused and searched my eyes, “I would do anything for you. I don't know what to do to make you believe me, but I'll spend forever trying to show you.”
“You want to marry me?”
“You have no idea how much.” He brought me back so I was half laying his chest.
“Not just because I'm pregnant?”
He kissed me softly, “Not at all. I gotta admit, it’s a little bit of a shock, but I’ve always thought about being with you and starting a family. And even though it’s sooner than I thought it would be, I’m so freaking excited that it’s happening. When should we be expecting him?”
“Him?”
“Yep, it's gonna be a boy.”
I laughed and ran a hand through his hair, “I'm due October fourth.”
He mentally counted the months and smiled widely when he was done. “So six months, huh? Do you want to take next year off from classes?”
“I can't go back to school.”
“Of course you can, I'll help you.”
“No, not that. I know you would.” I bit my lip and laid flat on the bed, “I told Sir that I'm pregnant.”
He squeezed my hand once, “And?”
“He uh – isn't going to pay for school anymore and he said I'm not welcome back home.”
Chase cursed under his breath, “Are you serious? We'll figure it out, if you want to finish school we'll make it happen.”
I could make it happen if I wanted to, but Gummy Bear had changed all my wants in life. “Really, I don't even want to go back after this semester, that's not why I'm sad. I just hate how he is. I hate how he resents me for being born.”
He pulled me back into his side and stroked his hand up and down my side, “It's not your fault. He's a douche and it's his loss for missing out on an amazing daughter.”
“I was afraid you'd resent me too, for getting pregnant. You wanted to stop and I pushed you.”
“It's not like you had to push hard, I wanted you so bad.”
I nodded and ran my fingers over his chest.
“I don't resent you Harper, I never will.”
We sat there for a while longer, just holding each other and sharing sweet kisses. Bree popped her head in to let us know the movie would be starting soon and left right after to give us a few more minutes.
“Harper, I want you to be mine, and not just because we're having a baby, though I'll warn you, I'm about to tell everyone that we are.” He smiled and kissed my nose, “But I want to be able to hold you in public, I want to show everyone that you're taken and you belong to me. That you’ll always belong to me. Are we done torturing each other by staying apart?”
“Are you done leaving me?”
He hovered just above my lips, “I'll never leave you again sweetie.”
“Then I'm yours.” I closed the distance and kissed him hard.
11
Now that Chase knew about the pregnancy, and was completely on board, everything was so much different around the house. Everyone was happy, Chase was there daily and was even able to drag me to his house a few times so I could hang out with the guys, but it had been more than uncomfortable. Brandon had been there twice, and he knew that Chase was now in the know as well. The look on his face when he saw us together the first time almost killed me. Chase had flipped out when I started hyperventilating, but I wouldn't tell him what was going on. The second time, he'd gotten the hint and only took me around when he knew Brandon wouldn't be there. If that upset him, he never once mentioned it, and he definitely didn't show it. I think he was so happy we were finally together, nothing could put him in a bad mood. And I was happy too, I honestly was, I loved Chase and I loved the expecting daddy role he'd already taken on. Every day I fell more in love with him, but it didn't lessen the love I still had for Brandon. Instead, it was like my heart grew to hold both. Well, all three, if you count my Gummy Bear. Chase never asked me how I'd told Brandon what happened, to be frank, I think he didn't want to know. Deep down, he had to know I still loved him, and that was probably the reason for him to pull me in the opposite direction every time we saw Brandon after that second encounter at the house. I wanted to talk to Brandon, alone, to see how he was doing with all of this. But I wasn't sure I'd be able to handle the conversation, so I continued to talk myself out of it.
We were just getting into the ultrasound room and Chase couldn't stop smiling and was practically bouncing up and down. Dr. Lowdry had seemed excited to meet him and updated him on everything that had happened in the first two appointments, as well as what to expect this appointment and the ones following over the next few months. When the lights turned off and the ultrasound started, I finally understood why Mom had told me I'd only want to be here with Chase. This was...an out of body experience. It was magical. You could practically see the love and joy flowing through the two of us. Instead of closing my eyes to listen to the heartbeat, Chase and I stared at each other for a couple minutes just smiling and listening to our baby.
“I can't even believe how perfect of a position your baby is in right now! That is unreal.” Dr. Lowdry laughed as she clicked some keys to snap a few pictures. “Now, did you want to find out the sex of the baby, or do you want it to be a surprise?”
“I already know.” I smiled at the screen, there was no mistaking it.
Chase laughed and squeezed my hand tighter, “I told you baby. I told you it would be a boy.”
We both looked at Dr. Lowdry, “It is a boy, isn't it?” I asked. I mean, it looked like it was a boy, but I wasn't the professional.
“Oh he is definitely a boy.” She laughed again and took a few more pictures as he rolled slightly.
Chase leaned over and kissed me sweetly, whispering against my lips, “I love you,” He glanced down to my stomach and back to me, “and our son so much Harper.” He brushed his thumbs over my cheeks and kissed me again while Dr. Lowdry turned on the lights.
She handed us our new pictures and we walked out of the building. As soon as we reached the parking lot Chase grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him, slamming his mouth against mine. I giggled and wrapped my arms around him as he leaned me against his truck.
“That was...that was absolutely amazing!” He laughed and kissed me again.
“Having you there made it so special, all I could think about the last two times was how I wished you were there to experience it with me. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you.”
He shook his head and opened the door for me, “No sorrys today, I love you and we're having a son. Today is only allowed to be an I love you day.”
I smiled and got in his truck, completely blissed out. We stopped to grab some lunch and started heading home, so I was confused when we pulled into a Ford dealership. “Uh...?”
“So I've been thinking,” he started and grinned mischievously at me, “you're going to need your own car soon, and I happen to know that you want a blacked out Expedition.”
“Chase...”
“I may have had one brought to this dealership.”