Page 48 of The Princess & the Prospect

“Is that a yes?” He asked while grinning up at me.

“Yes, Evan.”

He jumped up and pulled me into his body, placing a sweet kiss on my lips as he moved my hair out of the way and clasped a necklace around my neck. I glanced down to see a gorgeous ring attached to the white gold chain. “Once you’ve gone through all the post-partum stuff we’ll have it sized for you,” he told me as his hands slid from my neck to my shoulders, and down my arms before they found a resting place on my belly. Then he got down on his knees once more and proudly told my belly, “She said yes!”

He received a swift kick as his response, just before the white-hot pain ripped through my body again.

“Anna!” He yelled. Then he was barking orders to Beth as I doubled over again. Within minutes, an ambulance was taking me to the hospital. Evan was sitting to my side out of the way of the paramedic lady who was hooking my body up to a bunch of monitors.

“It’s still too early,” I cried.

“You will be fine,” he tried to assure me.

“The baby!” I cried some more.

“Both of my girls are going to be just fine.” I was going to ignore that he just let the gender slip since he was worried about us.

“Ma’am, when was the last time you felt the baby move?” That came from the paramedic woman who had been attaching everything.

“Just now. The baby just kicked me.”

“That’s good. Don’t worry, we’re going to get you taken care of,” she insisted.

Two days later, I was finally being released from the hospital with orders to be on bed rest at home. The doctors had hooked me up to an IV with a drip of Magnesium to help stop the labor, and I was given a series of things to continue doing or stop doing while at home to increase the chances that I could carry the baby to a healthier date.

Evan stayed by my side the entire time I was in the hospital. He refused to leave, even when visiting hours were over. It was sweet to see how protective he was over the baby and me, especially when he practically threw one of the nurses out of the room when she couldn’t get the IV started properly. After the third unsuccessful stick, he told her if she tried to get near me with anything sharp again, she’d find that IV stuck somewhere she’d have a hard time retrieving it from without surgical intervention. Needless to say, someone else had managed to get the IV started after that without any problem.

You would think that lying around in a bed for nearly 48 hours straight would mean you’d have plenty of energy when you finally managed to get up, but just the walk to the truck tuckered me out, and I ended up nodding off on the way home.

“Anna,” I heard him whisper before he gently touched my arm. “We’re home, beautiful.”

“Okay,” I managed to get out, even though my voice was slightly muffled by the sleepiness still trying to hold me under its spell. He helped me out of the truck and then stayed by my side the whole way into the house. The moment we walked through the door, I noticed what he had done. The silver of the frame glinted from the sun coming in through the door drawing my focus. There, just above the mantel, was a larger version of the picture frame I’d purchased all those years ago to use for my wedding photos. Instead of it only holding two 5x7 images, this one held two 8x10 images and in the middle there was an engraving inside a silver heart that simply stated, Family First, Love Always.

The picture to the left of the engraving was a picture of Evan proposing to me. Beth must have been clicking away during the whole surprise engagement. The picture to the right was of Evan on his knees in front of me when he kissed my belly and then announced to the baby, “She said yes.”

I sniffled back the emotion I was feeling seeing those two pictures, knowing he understood the significance they would hold. He was trying to give me memories that I should have had from the beginning, and I loved him all the more for it.

“I think I want to stay out here on the couch instead of the bed,” I told him as I continued staring at the images on our living room wall.

“As happy as I am that you enjoy my present that much, I think you better stay in the bedroom. You’ll be more comfortable. I can move that into the bedroom for you, if you’d like.”

“No. It stays,” I pouted, and then reluctantly moved toward the bedroom leaving the images behind.

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