“I don’t doubt that you loved her, but your eyes never held that sparkle like they do at the mention of Aubrey. It’s why your father and I had decided not to give it to you when you said you would propose to Hailey, and he agreed with me that she wasn’t the one,” she finishes with a soft smile.
“If you knew I wasn’t in love with Hailes, why did you let me marry her?” I narrow my eyes at her.
She raises a brow at me. “If your father and I told you we didn’t think that Hailey was the right woman for you, would that have stopped you from marrying her? Because I remember us having a conversation about it, and when I asked you if you truly loved her, you were convinced that you did.”
I sigh next. “You’re right. I probably would still have gone through with it.”
My mother clasps her hands together before taking her tea again and finishing it. “Now, when are you planning on proposing? Because you’ll probably need to get it resized.”
“I was thinking in a week or two. I’m not sure, I haven’t really thought about how I want to do it yet. I do have an old ring from her jewelry box that I borrowed for the size, so that won’t be a problem.” I pull out the ring, looking at it more closely.Yeah, Aubrey’s fingers are smaller than this.
“I think you should go with something simple. Aubrey doesn’t seem like the type to like big fancy things or want all the attention on her. Just make it small and intimate. Meaningful,” she offers as advice.
“Yeah, Aubrey would not like it if I got down on one knee in front of a huge crowd.” I chuckle, imagining her face turning a deep shade of red.
“Shane?”
My eyes widen as Aubrey’s voice travels toward us. I quickly place the ring back into the box, close it, and tuck it into my pocket. “Over here, Angel!” I call back seconds before she enters the room.
She smiles as she sees me, but her face lights up when she notices my mother. Apparently, the two got pretty close when my family was down for my birthday. “Pamela! What a lovely surprise! Shane didn’t tell me you were coming.”
Aubrey quickly walks over to my mother with open arms as she stands from her seat. “Oh, you beautiful girl, look at you.” She hugs her in return then holds her at arm’s length. “And look at that belly. My granddaughter is sure taking up some room in there.” My mom laughs.
“That she is.” Aubrey joins in. “How long are you staying with us?”
“Just a few days, if that’s all right?”
Aubrey grins at her. “Of course! You’re always welcome here.” She loops her arm through my mother’s.
“Have you eaten? I’m sure we can find something to have here, and later we could all go out for dinner somewhere nice.” She directs my mom out of the room as they chitchat and make plans together, completely forgetting about me.
At least it gives me an excuse to disappear for a few seconds and hide this ring.
~ One Week Later ~
“How long do you suppose this will take?” I ask the contractor as he inspects walls around the west side of the house where our bedroom is.
“I think my guys can have it all done in four weeks, give or take. It will be a lot quicker than adding an extension. I understand you’re on a timeline, so this would be the best option,” he tells me, looking over the plans he sketched up quickly.
“Four weeks can work,” I let him know with a nod. Aubrey is now twenty-seven weeks pregnant, which means she’ll be thirty-one weeks by the time the renovations are done. That’s enough time to set up the nursery and get everything ready for Stellina’s arrival.
“Shane?” The door to our bedroom opens at the end of the hall, seconds before Aubrey emerges and her tired eyes find mine. She’s been having extra naps during the day since our daughter has been keeping her up at night.
“I’ll show myself out. I’ll be in contact with blueprints of the plans by tomorrow and we’ll start work early Monday morning. Thank you for doing business with us.” He holds out a hand and I shake it.
“That sounds perfect. Thank you for doing this on such short notice,” I tell him as he nods and leaves.
“Who was that?” Aubrey asks as she walks over to me and into my arms.
“The contractor who will be doing the renovations for our daughter’s room.” I kiss the top of her head. “I know I told you tothink about it, but time is moving quickly, and after talking with him, we decided we would simply change the floor plan down here, to accommodate her room.”
“So, we’re not doing the addition?”
I shake my head. “No, he thinks that would take too much time and we would likely not be done before you give birth. I don’t want our home to be a construction site while we welcome our daughter into the world. But we can always build an extension later on when we’re settled and have more time on our hands.”
“Will our room be moved?” she asks, trying to figure out the changes that will be made.
“No, the only renovation to our room will be a door added at the end of your walk-in.”
