Page 101 of Never Forever

“I do want a baby,” he said in his deep voice, and the words pierced me. “This isn’t the way either of us ever thought it would happen, but we’ve talked about this before. You know where I stand on kids.”

“You’re talking about that time our senior year when I was late?”

“Yep.”

“Matt, that was like the scariest week of my life.”

“I know you were scared. I was too, but I was also excited. I told you I wanted kids and I meant it then. I mean it now, too.”

I looked at him, only to find him staring at the road.

I shook my head. “You can’t say that. Not after what you said when you broke up with me and expect me to believe you.”

“But you remember,” he pushed. “That week.”

It had been my first and only pregnancy scare. We’d been using condoms and one night the condom broke. It was the longest week of my life and…yes, Matt had been or hadseemedto be excited. Like being a dad at eighteen would have been fine with him.

In the end, my period came. After that I convinced my mom I needed a prescription for the pill and it just became a memory.

“I think deep down you were happy to have a reason to stay in Calico Cove,” I said. “My mom was wrong about a lot of things, but she was right about that. You are never leaving this town.”

“Is that what you think?”

“That’s what I think.” I said with a definitive nod. “It actually leads me to what we really need to talk about.”

“Baby names?”

My mouth fell open. Was he for real? Jokes? Now?

“My grandfather’s name was Millard,” he said.

“Like the duck?”

“That’s Mallard. He was Millard.”

“Never.”

“We called him Mick.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “No. Sorry.”

“Imogen if it’s a girl.”

“Matt. Stop. You’re joking.”

“I read that name in a book and I’ve always liked it.”

Of course. That would be the Matt Sullivan way.

“Imogen Piedmont,” I said. “She sounds like a suffragette.”

“That brings me to something I’ve wanted to ask you.”

“What?”

“Marry me.”

I laughed. I laughed so hard I had to brace myself against the dashboard. Only when I looked over at him, he looked dead serious.

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