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“That one night.”I remembered the night we went there with our dates and Rachel ordered everything on the menu, on her dad of course, and brought all the leftovers home.She was good for like a week with all those leftovers.And, of course, Brooke and I came over every single night because the food was to die for.
“You’ll have to order the Serrano Ham Croquettes,” Rachel suggested.
“Oh, and the Skinny Lolita,” Brooke added.The “Skinny Lolita” was basically free-range grilled chicken paillarde, but it was seriously delicious.My mouth was watering just thinking about it.
I waved my hands in the air.“Okay, okay,” I told them.“What, do you want to order the entire meal for me?”
They crossed their arms and turned to one another.Brooke said what they were both thinking, “You know you already know the dessert you’re ordering.”
I did have a serious sweet tooth.“Fine!”I gave in.“There’s just no other option, is there?”I said my choice, the same choice I always had when it came to dessert at that restaurant.“Spanish cheesecake.”It’s hands down the best burnt Basque cheesecake.It’s so creamy.I only hoped I could keep it all down, but my morning-noon-and-night sickness seemed to have subsided recently, which I was eternally grateful for.
Brooke checked the time on her phone.“All right.Good thing you know what you’re ordering now because I promised Colt I’d have you home in half an hour, so let’s get going.”
Rachel gave me a hug and kiss and said goodbye.“Don’t make it so long before we see each other again,” I said to her, squeezing her tighter.
She held on, too.“I won’t.I’m really glad Brooke brought us together again to catch up.”
“I expect you to be there, you know?”I pointed a finger at her.
“I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world,” she said, smiling.
“Wait, what?”I swallowed hard.That wasn’t what I was talking about.Not even remotely so.“I meant birth of this little one.”I touched my belly.
“Oh, yes, that, too.I’ll be back many times.”Rachel tried to brush off her last comment, but the word “wedding” was still ringing in my ears.
I went back to what she said earlier.“What were you talking about?A wedding?Do you know something?”I turned to Brooke and she just shrugged, looking innocent.Which usually meant she was far from innocent.
“I have no idea,” Rachel said now.“I was just guessing that was what you were going to say.”Bullshit, I thought to myself.
“So you don’t know if Colt’s going to propose tonight?”I asked, knowing deep down that was so what was going to happen.I didn’t like surprises anyway, so this worked out splendidly.
Brooke answered, “No!”and Rachel nodded.“We don’t know a thing,” Rachel said.
I giggled, because I had a feeling they knew more than they were letting on, but I wasn’t going to say anything.“I guess I’ll have a rock on my finger the next time I see you guys.”
“Who you marrying?”Rachel joked.
“Yeah, don’t cheat on Colt.We really like him,” Brooke played along, too.
I laughed.“You’re both hilarious.”
“Come on, or you’ll be late,” Brooke said, leading us to the door where we parted ways.I really was going to miss Rachel and did hope that she came to visit again real soon.It had been too long since the last time I’d seen her.We were the three amigos and I really hoped that didn’t change now that we were all going in different directions again.I knew Rachel worked herself to the bone, but she deserved some time off every now and again, and hopefully she’d stand up to her father and tell him just that.
* * *
“You’ll look beautiful no matter what you wear.Meet you at the restaurant.The limousine will be out front at six.Can’t wait to see you.X”
I placed the note back down on the kitchen counter and looked at the time.That gave me approximately one hour to get ready and head out, apparently to my limo.I felt like a celebrity or something and was going to soak up every incredible moment.Of course, I wasn’t in on what was going on, but I had a feeling we were going to make a lot of happy memories tonight and I couldn’t wait.
Frankly, I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but I already knew that I was going to say yes a million times over again to becoming Mrs.Ryder.It was all I wanted.When I was a little girl, I would dream of having a big family, preparing Thanksgiving dinner for too many people to count, for spending Christmas with a jam-packed house of family.That was when we were a bunch of four, then the unthinkable happened and it quickly became a family of two.And Brandon and I were happy together, we were.We had always gotten along as kids and I always looked up to him.He was the best as far as brothers were concerned.But he had to become a parent too soon and I knew it took his toll on him.It couldn’t have been easy.Even after all of that, though, he had always talked about coming out of the Army and building a family of his own.He wanted a house full of children.He wanted to hear laughter filling the halls, trip over the kid’s toys when they left them all over the floor, repeat himself about cleaning their rooms even though he knew they wouldn’t listen.We had talked about our dreams for the future so many times before it was engrained in my mind.
I rested a hand on my belly and sighed.I knew Brandon wasn’t here and that he would never get to spend time with his niece or nephew, but there was a calmness in my firm belief that he was staring down at us right now, watching over us.And he had already met Colt, which made things even easier.In the many, many times we had written to one another, he had told me about his officer, how he was a man of integrity and compassion.He was loyal, kind, and supportive to him and the other men.Brandon always had good things to say about Colt and looked up to him.Which was why I knew that Brandon would give me his blessing if he could.Heck, he practically already had.Something told me divine intervention played a part in my needing car assistance when I got here.Maybe it was just the hormones talking.
I slipped on the white one-shoulder mini dress from the closet and headed to the bathroom where I went with soft curls, smokey eyes and red lipstick.In all the time we’d been together, Colt had never seen me go all-out on my glam and I knew tonight would be the perfect night to dress to the nines.
When I was done, I went back to the closet to grab a pair of shoes.“Tonight feel’s like a Louboutin night,” I muttered to myself.I put the one white heel on the foot that didn’t have a boot and smiled at myself in the mirror.Okay, so maybe the outfit would look better without the boot and crutches, but it was part of my story.Actually,ourstory, because Colt was right there by my side the entire time.He wasn’t going anywhere, he insisted, and that made me so happy.I began to tear up and then sucked in, determined not to ruin my makeup before I got to the restaurant.
“This is it,” I said aloud to myself.
