Page 15 of Perfect Proposal
“No. It isn’t that. I… Oh, my God. I think I’m going to cry.” And I sank to the floor in one of her original creations that cost more than most people’s first cars.
Then I burst into tears.
Emily, calm as you please, just reached over for a box of tissues and placed it in my hand. “I remember my sisters going through the same thing each time. They were complete wrecks. Though admittedly, their husbands were worse.”
My head snapped up. “You know? How? I just figured it out myself.”
Emily hauled me to my feet. Taking my hand, she spun me toward the mirror. “Carys, it’s written all over you: the serenity, the blooming, the joy.” She placed the hand she was still holding on my lower abdomen. “If there’s two people who don’t know, it’s likely you and your David, and that’s because you’re so intent on making your wedding perfect you forgot something important.”
“What’s that?” My voice is husky to my own ears.
“The life you have with him already is. This is just an extra gift you’re giving to each other.” Emily squeezed my waist where I had a new secret for David. A secret so perfect, I wondered if I could wait to tell him until I got confirmation.
Some of what I was thinking must have been on my face because Emily began to laugh. “Now, do you still want a tight-fitting mermaid?”
“Hell, no. I might not be able to zip the sucker by the time the wedding comes in two months.” I didn’t care what arguments David used; I was still getting the wedding I planned with Angie. My brother was still going to walk me down the aisle.
And I was still going to carry the flowers I’d sent him for Valentine’s Day.
It was going to be perfect.
“Then let’s get you out of this dress. I have something in mind I think you’ll love.” Emily quickly helped me out of the dress before disappearing for a while. When she came back in, it was with a dress—the dress. “It’s a ball gown, embroidered bodice, and an embroidered cascading tiered skirt. It’s…”
“I’ll take it,” I declared without having tried it on.
Emily grinned. “Don’t you want to know its name?”
“It has a name?” I tipped my head to the side.
“All of my dresses do. This one is called ‘Love’s Perfect Rose.’”
Feeling tears prick my eyes over the perfect promise the dress held in so many different ways, I whispered, “Will you help me try it on?”
And once it slithered across my body, I knew it was it. Just like some part of me knew David was the man years before. “Will I be able to get it in time?” I asked the last question.
Emily had an odd smile on her face. “I went to pull the original, Carys. You’re the first person to wear it. It’s yours. All we have to do is the final fitting, which I suggest we do the week before the wedding.”
And as Emily turned to get her tablet and I stared at myself in the mirror, I realized that for the first time since my parents’ death, I wanted for nothing. I had it all.
Life was perfect.
Now, as I stand arguing about sex with my husband in our office, I grin as I waddle toward him. “Did you ever imagine it would be like this?”
He shakes his head as he reaches for me and spins me around. My stomach is protruding so much that when David wants to get close, he fits his body behind mine. But in all the ways that matter, we’ve become partners—by each other’s side always.
It’s a perfect balance of work and home life that works for us.
Even Ward has calmed down some of his wicked ways. More and more of late, I catch glimpses of my father in him. I wonder if that has to do with him finally recognizing what’s been in front of him the whole time.
Only time will tell.
I’m just about to ask my husband if he’s ready to walk home when there’s a strange tightening across my abdomen. “They weren’t kidding about the strength of those Braxton—” I don’t get the rest of the sentence out as a stream of fluid begins to leak down my legs. “No, it’s impossible,” I whisper.
“What?” David demands. As he spins me in his arms, I’m grateful he has such a tight grip on me. “What’s impossible, Carys?”
I open my mouth to answer him, but all that comes out is a low groan as a contraction snakes its way from my back across the front of my abdomen.
David pales. “No, it’s too soon. We’re not ready. It can’t be happening now.”
