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“Viper,” I sigh, tossing my hands over my eyes. Why can’t he just understand?
“Less than a week after I met you, your mother and I went shopping for this.”
I feel Viper sit beside me on the bed, but now I’m afraid to open my eyes.
“I knew instantly you were the one for me, I just needed to make you realize that I was the one for you. I hadn’t planned on asking you this until your parents came for a visit next week, but I don’t want you thinking for a second longer that my feelings for you are anything but what they are. Open your eyes, baby.”
Reluctantly, I listen. Viper has his hand stretched out with an open black velvet ring box sitting there. “Your Ma and I spent hours searching for this,” he tells me. “But, when we both saw it we instantly knew that it was meant for you.”
The ring is beautiful. The centerpiece is a brilliant-cut diamond that seems to catch the very essence of starlight. However, what makes it truly unique is the band—a delicate blend of white gold and black obsidian.
“Bitsy, this ring... it represents us,” he says, his voice a little unsteady. “The diamond is like the brightness you’ve brought into my life, the light that pierces through the darkness. The black obsidian, it’s a reminder of our strength, our ability to overcome anything together. A reminder that the family you’re coming into will always be your strength. Please, Bitsy, marry me.”
I reach out and touch the ring. The diamonds seem to come alive, casting prismatic reflections on my hand.
“Viper,” I say. “I love you so much that I don’t even understand it. But if I agree to marry you I’m afraid that it will only end in heartache. Let’s say that these treatments kill the cancer. What if it grows back? What if it ultimately takes me away from you and you’re left here alone? What if it doesn’t happen for years down the road and I leave you with kids to take care of? It just isn’t fair.”
Viper places the ring on my chest and crawls over my body, using his arms to hold his weight above me.
“Baby, if this cancer took you away from me tomorrow, I would be devastated. But I know for a fact that the time I spent with you up until that moment would be the happiest of my life. I wouldn’t change a thing. If you walked out of my life at this very moment, I still wouldn’t change the past we’ve had so far. I cherish every single second. So, yeah, what if this cancer takes you away from me? I’ll be fucking broken. But, if we have kids, I will live on to teach them how strong their Ma is. If we don’t have kids, I’ll mourn your loss and find some way to keep going. But, do you want to know what’s even more devastating than having you in my life only to die?”
“What?” I whisper.
“Not having you in my life, at all. So you are going to marry me. And it’s going to be soon.”
“You can’t demand me to marry you,” I laugh.
Viper leans his weight on one arm and picks the ring from the box with his other hand.
He doesn’t say a word and just looks into my eyes, waiting for my answer. He’s looking at me with so much love that it hurts.
So, I do the only thing in this world that makes sense.
I nod.
“Fuck yea,” he laughs, practically shoving the ring on my finger. “Thank you, baby.”
Leaning down, he kisses me softly.
“One day, I’m going to worship this body of yours,” he tells me, kissing my shoulders.
“I’m looking forward to that day,” I say.
“For now, let’s sleep. Tomorrow is another treatment day.”
Lovely. More treatments. My tri-monthly scan is next week and I’m so freaking scared that we’re going to find out the treatments aren’t working.
Trying not to think too much about it, I close my eyes and fall into a restless sleep.
Chapter Nine
Viper
“Brother, we have a major fucking issue. We need to have a meeting.”
“I’m not leaving this house,” I tell Ghost. “Bitsy isn’t well enough to be making multiple trips in a day and we’ve only just gotten home.”
“Would it be alright if we came over there?”
