'Happy Birthday Princess'
I bit my lip and looked harder for a tall, tan, built, tatted up guy with shaggy blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a killer smile.
“Who are they from?” Bree grabbed the note out of my hands.
“Chase, do you see him?”
“No. That boy I swear, who knew he could be sweet?”
After another quick look, I reluctantly followed her into the classroom. No sooner had we sat down, than my phone chimed.
Chase - 'You look beautiful today.'
Me - 'Were you watching me?'
Chase - 'Maybe. I finally got to give you your lilies.'
Me - 'You already gave me my lilies a few months ago, remember?'
Chase - 'I couldn't forget that day even if I tried.'
Me - 'Well you could have given these to me yourself you know. I would have liked to see you.'
Chase - 'It was worth it to see that smile on your face'
Me - ':) Thank you for my flowers. I love them'
Chase - 'What are you doing for your Birthday?'
Me - 'Dinner with your fam tonight, movies at the house after. You're invited.'
Chase - 'I'll see what I can do.'
Once again, it wasn't exactly a no, but it wasn't a yes either and I tried to not let that disappoint me. Cryptic words were kind of his specialty.
“Gah, look at you Harper.” Bree whispered.
“What?”
“You already totally have that preggo glow, and now your face is lit up like the freaking sun after texting my brother.”
I looked at her confused, “How did you know I was talking to him?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, then raised her eyebrows. “Like I said, your face is lit up like the sun.” Nudging my knee, she turned to listen to the Professor.
I smiled at my flowers one more time, and tried to follow her lead. Class flew by and we went to lunch to meet up with everyone, Chase wasn't there, but a very shocked looking Brandon was. All the guys had given me big bear hugs, and after an uneasy hug from Brandon he froze and backed up slowly, his eyes trained to my stomach. It had finally been real for me at the first ultrasound, but I don't think it'd been real for Brandon until he saw the bump pushing out from my hips. My stomach churned and my heart ached thinking of the love I'd lost, but I knew I had to get over it. I was the one who had messed up, I needed to get over it so I could get on with my life too. None of the girls got to the table until we were already seated, and even with Brandon's wide eyes staring at where my stomach was hidden from the table, no one else saw the evidence. Since the restaurant was just down the street from campus, after lunch Bree and I went to a boba shop close to the school and did most of our homework before we had to leave for dinner.
We met Claire and Robert at the restaurant at six, and tried to have a great time sans Chase. Claire shared funny stories about her two pregnancies and hilarious things Breanna and Chase had done when they were little. We were all cracking up and wiping tears from our eyes by the time the waiter came with the bill. I checked my phone again and my shoulders dropped when there still wasn't anything from Chase. Claire talked to him today to invite him to dinner, and he'd flat out refused to come. I didn't understand. I thought after our few words yesterday that things were going to turn around, and then after the flowers today, I'd been positive they were. My heart sunk but I tried to keep a happy face for the people that loved me. Apparently I wasn't doing a good job, Claire reached over the table and grabbed my hand, her face sad.
“Sweetie don't worry about it, please. This will all work out, I'm sure of it.” But for once, no one looked like they believed it.
I nodded and flashed a smile, “Movie time?”
We looked at each other awkwardly, but left and headed for home. Bree had an arm slung over my shoulders talking about how much of an ass Chase is when we opened the front doors and all sucked in gasps. There were orange and white lilies covering every table and counter. Chase. A smile broke across my face as I looked around the entryway, dining room and living room for him, Robert let out a low whistle of appreciation and shut the door. My smile died as soon as I heard him in the other room.
“Are you f**king kidding me?! How could you guys keep this from me?” Chase's voice boomed from the kitchen as he rounded the bar and stalked towards us through the living room. “Where the hell is he? I swear to God I'm going to kill him!” With his tall muscular build, tattooed arms and outraged face, he definitely looked like he could kill someone. I grabbed Bree's arm and shrank back into Mom, pulling her with me. Until now, I'd never been scared of Chase, even that night he'd given me bruises.
“Chase!” Robert barked and stepped in front of us, “Calm down, what is going on?”
“I saw the books, I saw the effing ultrasound pictures!”
I flinched. Aw hell, it wasn't supposed to happen this way. Since he hadn't come back to the house in months, we'd left everything on the kitchen table ever since that first appointment.
Robert crossed his arms over his chest, “And?”
“And!? DAD! Bree's knocked up and all you can say is 'and'?!”
Bree snorted and took a step away from me, crossing her arms over her chest, “Please. I'm not as stupid as you, I'm not pregnant.”
“Breanna!” Claire hissed through her teeth. She gave me an apologetic look for her daughter but it was true and I know Bree hadn’t meant it as an insult toward me.
Chase shoved one of the ultrasound pictures in Bree's face, “Then what the hell is this?”
I stepped up next to her, took the photo out of his hand and spoke softly, trying to hide my shaking. “It's mine Chase.”
You could have heard a pin drop. Chase's face had softened as soon as he'd seen me, but turned into one of shock when he registered what I'd said. After a few minutes, a grin that reached his eyes spread across his face as he searched mine.
His eyes slowly trailed down to my stomach and grew wide, “You're pregnant Princess?”
“Yes.” I whispered.
He lifted his head to smile at me and dropped it again, gaze fixed on my bump. This time no one stopped me when I let my hand fall to cover it lovingly. “Is it – is it mine?”
“Of course it is.”
“We're going to have a baby?”
“Yes.”
“This is our baby?” He reached for the photo in my hand.
I smiled, “Yes.”
His expression was so beautiful, tears instantly poured down my cheeks. “We're having a baby.”
I laughed through my tears and nodded my head.
Chase ran a hand through his hair and huffed out a laugh. He looked from the picture to my stomach once more, “I love you so much.” he breathed and closed the distance between us, crushing his lips to mine.
I didn't care that his family was watching, I threw my arms around his neck and let him lift me off the ground. After I was good and kissed, he set me back down and dropped to his knees. Running his hand over my gummy bear bump, he lifted my shirt and kissed my bare stomach twice. A sob broke out of my chest and I looked at Claire who was freely crying and leaning into Robert. Even Bree was wiping a few tears away.
Chase stood back up and cupped my face in his hands, “Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was scared,” I shrugged, “I still am.”
“You don't have to be scared,” he whispered and kissed my nose, “I'll take care of us.”
I looked up at the family, “Can you guys excuse us for a minute?”
Grabbing Chase's hand, I led him up the stairs and to his room. I hadn't been in here since that heated night and I was hit with flashes of it when we stepped in. I sat on the edge of the bed, but he pulled me down so I was curled up into his side. He brought my hand up and played with it over his chest, alternating between intertwining our fingers and bringing them down so he could kiss my palm.
“I can't believe we're going to have a baby.”
I blew out a hard breath, this is what I'd been waiting for and secretly hoped I could have skipped altogether. “About that…Chase –”
He groaned, “No, don't do this again, please.”
“Just hear me out, okay? You're twenty two, you're about to graduate college, I don't want to take your life from you. If you want to live your life, I won't stop you. Just because this baby is yours, don't think that means you're forced to be with me...with us.” I pulled myself up so I could look at him, “I want you to be with us, don't get me wrong. But I will let you go if that's what you need.”
“Are you done?” He was smiling.
“Yes.”
“Harper, I love you more than I could ever explain. Meeting you changed my world. Even when I thought you would never be mine, I couldn't continue to live a life I knew you hated. The night you told me you loved me was the best night of my life, up until tonight. I never want to let you go again, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to marry you someday Harper.” He paused and searched my eyes, “I would do anything for you. I don't know what to do to make you believe me, but I'll spend forever trying to show you.”
“You want to marry me?”
“You have no idea how much.” He brought me back so I was half laying his chest.
“Not just because I'm pregnant?”
He kissed me softly, “Not at all. I gotta admit, it’s a little bit of a shock, but I’ve always thought about being with you and starting a family. And even though it’s sooner than I thought it would be, I’m so freaking excited that it’s happening. When should we be expecting him?”
“Him?”
“Yep, it's gonna be a boy.”
I laughed and ran a hand through his hair, “I'm due October fourth.”
He mentally counted the months and smiled widely when he was done. “So six months, huh? Do you want to take next year off from classes?”
“I can't go back to school.”
“Of course you can, I'll help you.”
“No, not that. I know you would.” I bit my lip and laid flat on the bed, “I told Sir that I'm pregnant.”
He squeezed my hand once, “And?”
“He uh – isn't going to pay for school anymore and he said I'm not welcome back home.”
Chase cursed under his breath, “Are you serious? We'll figure it out, if you want to finish school we'll make it happen.”
I could make it happen if I wanted to, but Gummy Bear had changed all my wants in life. “Really, I don't even want to go back after this semester, that's not why I'm sad. I just hate how he is. I hate how he resents me for being born.”
He pulled me back into his side and stroked his hand up and down my side, “It's not your fault. He's a douche and it's his loss for missing out on an amazing daughter.”
“I was afraid you'd resent me too, for getting pregnant. You wanted to stop and I pushed you.”
“It's not like you had to push hard, I wanted you so bad.”
I nodded and ran my fingers over his chest.
“I don't resent you Harper, I never will.”
We sat there for a while longer, just holding each other and sharing sweet kisses. Bree popped her head in to let us know the movie would be starting soon and left right after to give us a few more minutes.