AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Forever! No one else’s but yours. Never doubt that I am totally and truly yours.”
Before she can fall asleep, I help her into her clothes and kill the fire making sure it is all the way out. When we are back at the apartment, her mother and Mandy greet us at the door barely letting us come in.
“So…?”
“I think she liked the house.” She gasps beside me and turns to look between me and her mom.
“You knew about the house?”
“I wanted her to be alright with me and you and just like you, I wanted her to understand where it is going. To not doubt how much I care and love you.”
“You know he…? And I…?”
She gives Ember a smile and a big nod. “He told me he was taking you to the house. How was it?”
They excitedly talk about the new house for a little while before the conversation turns to Brenda coming to stay with us and the mother-in-law suite.
“Oh, I couldn’t…you two have your whole lives to live and won’t want me hanging around making…”
“We’re going to need you with us…when the babies start coming.”
“Babies!? Ember!” Mandy cries out excitedly but not Brenda. Her eyes widen and she looks from me to Ember’s belly.
“Later…not right now…right?” Ember tries to assuage their theories about whether or not we are or aren't already knocked up. But the end is a question mark even to her.
She turns and looks at me, the full weight of what we did hits her, and a look of fear and worry comes across her face.
“We’ll have them anytime you want to give them to me, baby. No worries about if I want them. I do.”
“I kind of do too.” She gives me a small smile before her mom clears her throat and more talk happens between Mandy and Brenda and Ember.
Eventually, everyone starts to drift off to their rooms, with Mandy taking the couch tonight so Brenda can get some much-needed rest in the guest room. I take my sweet girl into the room we share and both of us get ready for bed. We make love again and after, lay cuddled together coming up with plans for the future and what we each think about a multitude of important things, like me wanting to be married at Christmas time while she wants to wait until after we are firmly settled in the new house, what color we want to paint the kids’ bedroom when we have them, and how many we want. Dreams of the future follow us into our sleep as I dream of the day I can bring Ember to the home we make with each other.
Epilogue I
____________
Christmastime
Ember
I fall on the couch we’ve put by the fireplace and go back over all the happy times that happened today. The house still smells of turkey and pies and the gingerbread cookies that me and my mom baked together. Mandy kept us company and tried to help but she was better at decorating than actually cooking them.
I chuckle at the thought of the mess she made trying to ‘help’. She and my mom have gotten really close. My mom was worried that she would be in trouble for not going home or for her parents not knowing where she was, but Mandy quickly informed her that she was eighteen as of the summer and wasn’t about to let them tell her where to go since they typically don’t care where she is to start with.
Thankfully, Hunter knows everyone and set my mom up with a really good lawyer, so the divorce went through right away. Roger wasn’t about to fight anything when he found out all of us would testify to just why Mom wanted her divorce. He might be a complete sleazeball but at least he had enough sense not to drag it out and make my mom go through the stress of court.
The lights from the tree twinkle in the corner of my eye but the glow is nothing compared to the gleam from the ring on my finger. Hunter said he wanted everyone to be able to tell I belonged to him and the ring wasn’t a small one. I barely talked him into giving me, Mom, and Mandy time to plan a wedding. I wanted to wait until spring. Hunter reminded me what we had been doing every time we came to the new house. We compromised by planning for a February wedding.
A commotion behind me catches my attention. I turn to see Mandy standing in the hall looking upset.
“I’m not marrying you, you crazy bastard! We’re eighteen!”
“So is Ember but she’s going to marry your brother. And I’m not eighteen. I’m nineteen.” Dunn, the football player Mandy bums rides from is standing in the hall with her, arguing his case.
“Dunn…I just…I don’t want to marry you for the wrong reasons.”
“You mean the baby?”
