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“We can’t,” I whispered. I paired my blunt words by stroking my fingers gently up her arms. “We need to do it right and if we snuck off and did it without anyone being included...”
“Fuck that.” She sat up on her knees quickly, surprising me by how fast she moved. “They don’t matter.” She reached for my hand and entwined our fingers, resting them on the sheet that she currently had wrapped around her front. “All that matters is you and me.”
I tugged our clasped hands to my mouth and kissed near her ring.
“We’ll have our little one making their presence known soon.” She smiled. “No bride wants to walk down the aisle with a large bump.”
“We could plan it in the next couple of weeks,” I quickly inserted, trying to reason with her. “There are enough of us to pull it all together and—”
“No,” she inserted, cutting me off. She vehemently shook her head and I could see that getting her to change her mind was going to be harder than I thought. “It’s not aboutthem.” She said the word so forcefully that it surprised me. “They are my family and I love them but this isn’t about them. This is about me, you and our little bean,” she said while placing her hand on her stomach. “I want to be your wife. I want to be your partner in every way.” She glanced down between us before she gazed up at me from beneath her lashes. “I want to be Mrs. Christopher Matthews.”
“You’d take my name?” I grinned at her, kind of surprised that she would take it. “I know a lot of women like to hyphenate it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not most women, mister.” She giggled. “I’myourwoman. We just need to make it official.”
I swallowed harshly, trying to choke back the emotion. Her words while meant to be teasing had caused an opposite effect on me. I had never had anyone who wanted to be mine as much as this woman did. She wrecked me, destroyed me, cracked me open, pulled me inside out and then with one kiss or one touch, she could piece me back together like there was never any damage.
Being the man that I was, I had created so many walls between me and the outside world. Those that knew me before I enlisted saw past some of them but with everyone else, I made sure I bricked them up higher to keep the world out because I never wanted to be vulnerable with them. I didn’t want looks of pity or sympathy if they saw how broken I was. Keeping the world out had just become easier.
Isobel was different. She had smashed through my walls like a bulldozer and I felt like there was nothing that she could see in me that would make her leave me. As I stared at her, I let the final bricks of my last remaining wall between us crumble to dust. I needed her to see how much her being my wife and taking my name wrecked me.
“Sweetheart.” She wiped the tear that had fallen down my cheek. “What is it? We can wait if you’d like. I can be patient. It doesn’t matter that I—”
“No,” I choked out. I grabbed her wrist and held it against my chest. “I’m sorry, I…” I blew out a breath, trying to collect my thoughts so that I could explain it right. “I want to be your husband. I do. There’s nothing that I want more. It’s just…”
“Just what?” she asked.
“I just want you to be sure.” I tightened my grip on her hand. “Three years from now, I don’t want you to regret it. I don’t want you to regret ever rushing it.” I paused, just long enough for my words to sink in. “I never want you to ever regret vowing to spend forever with me.”
Her face softened with my words. “I could never regret being your wife. I’m yours. Whether we get married here or in Vegas. You’re mine Christopher, and I have been yours since that first moment I perved over you on the Skype calls with Luke when he was back in London.” We both chuckled at that. “I just want it to be me and you. Us. Forever.” She leaned down and kissed my lips and I could feel her pouring all her love for me into that kiss.
We slowly pulled apart and as she rested her forehead against mine, I could see that I could no longer argue with her reasoning.
“Forever sounds perfect to me,” I whispered.
* * *
It had been a couple of days since Isobel and I had agreed to take off after Friday’s shift. We had made a deal to not tell anyone. We’d booked a flight straight to Las Vegas and she’d bought a white summer dress and I had packed my navy blue suit. I originally was going to go with my black suit but I was my sexiest in navy blue according to my bride-to-be.
We were both working half-day and had agreed to meet in the bar and then we could take off. I had agreed to tell Luke that I would be spending the weekend at Isobel’s and she was telling Chrissie that she’d be spending the weekend with me at Luke’s. It was now clear to me that my girl was a planner and that she was wasted behind a reception desk.
“So, what are your plans for the weekend?” Luke asked.
I was so busy staring at the door, waiting for Isobel that he thought I was ignoring him.
“Hel-lo,” he sang mockingly while clicking his fingers in my face. “I know your fiancé is amazing and all that but can you concentrate? What are you guys doing this weekend because I was wondering…”
I slipped my hand into the inside jacket of my pocket and quickly reached over the bar. I placed the envelope down on his side and put my finger over my lips.
“What the fuck is this?” he muttered as he reached for it.
“Don’t open it,” I said, tapping his hand away. At that moment, Isobel entered the bar and headed in our direction. “Just open it when we’re gone and act normal,” I muttered quietly, talking fast before she could get here.
“Sorry I’m late.” She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. “Are you ready?”
“Of course.” I stood up and nodded my head at Luke, widening my eyes at him for him to wipe that wide-eyed expression off his face. “We’ll see you Monday, Luke.”
He flicked his eyes to Isobel and his easy, carefree expression quickly took over his face.
