Page 103 of Stone Rules

She smiles at me. “It’s the love goggles again.”

“If that’s the case, I never want to take them off. Because I love you. I love you more than I ever thought one person could love another. And I don’t want to spend one more second without you being my wife.”

“What?” Her eyes widen with surprise. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I want you to marry me. Here. Now. Today—not tomorrow.”

I’ve asked her every day for the past few weeks. Every day since we got our marriage license. But I’ve never asked her like this. We’d pass in the hallway and I’d ask her if today was the day she was going to marry me. She’d always say ‘not today, maybe tomorrow.’

She waves her hand at our surroundings in her hospital room. “I can’t marry you today, Ethan. We’re having a baby.”

“That’s exactly why you should marry me today,” I say. “Hospitals always have clergy around to do this sort of thing.”

“We don’t have our license,” she says. “And there is no way I’m letting you leave to go get it.”

I pull a folded piece of paper out of my pocket and show it to her.

“You brought it?”

“Of course I brought it. I need you to become my wife, Charlie.”

She studies me. “Why, Ethan? Why do you need it right now? What’s any different about today than tomorrow, or a month from now?”

I put my hand on her stomach. “Because if this is my baby, I want him born bearing my last name. And if it’s not, I want him to know I loved him enough to marry his mom regardless.”

“Or her,” she says. A tear falls from her eye and I catch it with my thumb. “Well, why didn’t you just say that before?”

I laugh at my stubborn fiancée. “I’ve been saying it for months, Charlie. Maybe you just didn’t hear it until today.”

I pull a small box out of my other pocket and open it to show her the wedding rings I had made for us.

She looks at the rings, identical platinum bands embedded with diamonds. She goes to pick the smaller one up, but I stop her.

“I want to see the engraving,” she pouts when I swat her hand away. “I know you put a rule in there.”

I shake my head. “Not until you are my wife.”

She shifts in the bed and I glance at the monitor to see another contraction starting. “Then you’d better get someone in here quickly,” she says. “Because I don’t know how much longer we have.”

In short order, the room is filled with everyone we love. The Mitchells were all in the waiting room, so that was easy enough. Kyle was in the hospital shadowing a doctor today, so he’s able to be my best man. And we’ve got my parents and Chad on Facetime.

I’m not sure how many people get married sitting on a hospital bed. But frankly, I wouldn’t care if we were married in a garbage dump as long as it means this woman is mine.

Jan Mitchell scoured the hallways, finding a pastor who was willing to marry us, so a mere thirty minutes after Charlie succumbed to my pleas, he pronounces us husband and wife. I kiss my bride to the applause and whistles of our impromptu audience.

Somehow, Kyle was able to scrounge up a bottle of champagne and a bunch of those put-together plastic champagne glasses. He’s handing them out to everyone, but Skylar declines.

Charlie laughs. “It’s okay, Skylar, you don’t have to refrain because of me.”

“It’s not because of you,” Skylar says.

Skylar and Charlie share a moment where they stare at each other and then Skylar gets a big smile on her face. Charlie squeals in delight. “Oh, my God, really?”

Skylar nods.

Mason asks, “What am I missing here?”

Skylar looks at Griffin and he smiles. She says, “We were going to wait until you delivered to tell everyone, but I guess now is a good time. We’re pregnant!”

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