Page 46 of Forever After Never

"This handsome bastard is Carter." I pull my brother into a hug and thump him on the back.

"Oooooh. Look, Uncle Cart. Pretty girl," Poppy calls over to my brother.

"Oh yeah, so she is!" Carter calls over to our niece, and the wink that he directs at Alice doesn't skip my attention.

"Hey, leave the girl alone," I whisper in his ear. "Autumn will cut your balls off."

"It'd be worth it!" he replies, flashing me a shit-eating grin.

Alice is completely oblivious to my knucklehead brother and Poppy is content with another girl in the house to play with.

"Where are you from? You sound funny!" Poppy giggles at Alice.

"Hang on, I'll show you!" Noticing the globe in my parent’s lounge, Alice stands from the couch and slings Poppy around herhip. "This is where we are." She points at the map. "And this-" she says, spinning the globe slightly "-is where I'm from! It's a place called England."

"Ooooh. Ummm. Like the queen?" Poppy wiggles in Alice's arms with excitement.

"Yeah. Exactly, kid! Like the queen." Alice fluffs up Poppy's hair and lowers her to the floor.

"Miss Alice. Can I play with your hair?" Poppy looks at Alice and sticks her bottom lip out. Knowing that she usually gets what she wants from her dad if she makes him feel sorry for her.

"Ha. Of course, you can, kid!" Alice pulls her hair free from the clip it was in, and it trails down her back like Rapunzel.

"Well, damn," Carter unintentionally says out loud.

"I'm watching you!" I shoot him a scowl and mouth the words to him.

Mom comes back into the room, holding a small blue velvet box in her hand.

"Now, this may not be much, but it was your Mamaw’s ring. Your grandpa asked her to marry him with this ring, your dad asked me to marry him with this ring, and I'd really love it if you asked Autumn to marry you with this ring." She cracks the box open and turns it to face me. In the box is an engagement ring made up of a blue stone, with a diamond on either side, sitting in the middle of a plain gold band.

"Mom. This is perfect." I hold my hand out to take the box from her.

"Ooooof. It really is." Alice is standing beside me now, nudging me with her elbow "Blue is Autumn's favourite color after all. Is that Sapphire, Claudia?"

"It sure is, honey!"

Chapter 37

Autumn

Ihaven't heard from Sawyer or Alice all day. I'm starting to get really pissed off.

"What the fuck are they playing at, boy?!" I talk out loud to Jed, like I will get a reply from him. Instead, he cocks his head to the side as if he were really listening to me, then proceeds to flop down on the floor in a heap with his belly in the air.

I wasn't going to message because I am not the clingy type. But things were all kinds of weird when they left this morning.

Me: Earth to Alice. Where have you been all day, and why haven't you called me?

*message undelivered*

Me: Hey, baby. Where did you go this morning? I thought we were going to do something this weekend. I don't know why you left, but honestly, I'm kind of pissed that you did!

Sawyer: Sorry, beautiful. I had to go to see my parents. Something came up.

Me: Is everything okay? Is someone hurt?

Sawyer: No, no, everything is fine.

---