Page 18 of Calling from the Heart
“Oh, Lord, that figures.” Owen settled back as they pulled down his street. “Of course that’s how it works, isn’t it? I sent my parents... Well, I sent them a picture of the sonogram, and then I sent them gift certificate to have a weekend out with movies and a dinner and a night at a hotel. I thought that they would like that more than anything else.”
“Oh, that’s super thoughtful. What should I send them?” Shit! He hadn’t even thought about that. God, he was kind of a jackass, wasn’t he?
Owen shook his head and grinned. “I put your name on it.”
Jeb pulled into the driveway and hit the button for the garage door. “You’re good to me. Thank you for thinking of it.”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Baby, I love you -- like, I genuinely love you -- but I have seen you forget your own birthday. You missed Valentine’s Day. Birthdays. Weird anniversaries. I’m not even gonna make you try. At least not my parents. Yet.”
Those last few sentences weren’t angry, more amused, thank God.
Jeb couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s what calendars are for. I’m just not at work right now. If I was sitting at my desk, I would remember.”
Really what he needed to do was put all of Owen’s parents’ special dates on his calendar, and then make notes to buy Christmas for his in-laws.
His future in-laws.
“Hey, did you want to get married?” He pulled into the garage as the words fell out of his mouth, and Owen gave him a wide-eyed stare, Jeb figured out that maybe this was not the way to ask his lover if he wanted to marry you.
At all.
He was batting a thousand today. Lord.
Owen took a breath, opening his mouth, but Jeb held up a hand. “Stop. Roll that back. I’m not unasking, but I want to do it right once we get inside.” He even had a ring. If he could find it. He’d tucked it away when they’d “broken up”.
Owen stared at him for a second, then the laughter started, filling the cab with just pure hilarity. It didn’t even sound like hysterical laughter, just genuine joy. And so Jeb thought maybe he wasn’t in as much trouble as he could possibly be.
Which was a lot.
“Does that mean you’re not mad?” he dared to ask.
“No, no.” Owen was still chuckling, hands holding his round belly. “No, this was absolutely, totally you, and if everything you do is going to make me mad, we’re going to have a really, really,reallylong and unhappy marriage.” He got a wink, Owen’s pretty eyes twinkling there as the sat in the garage.
Oh, shit. He turned off the engine. No carbon monoxide poison for his omega.
Owen reached out and took his hand. “In fact, I’m kinda shooting for a really long happy marriage. And just to let you know, yeah, I’ll marry you. Hell, if you want to do it before the first of the year, we can file taxes jointly. That’ll save us both some money.”
Practical man. “Okay, we’ll do it before the first of the year. I’m assuming you don’t want a big deal.”
“No. We’re awfully busy. Let’s save that for the baby shower.”
“Right. When your parents are here. We are going to tell them though, right?”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’re going to just tell them the truth. We’re just going to do something simple, like at the justice of the peace. Maybe we’ll have a big party here at the house later, but really I think we should be simple. I’ve got to work. You’ve got work, we’ve got to move, we’ve got to decorate the nursery...”
“We do. We could do the shower at the hotel, like Friendsgiving. That way we have room for all. But this is more just us and some friends, huh?” Because he wanted it done. He would apply for the license the day after tomorrow.
“Yes. You, me, Belinda from school, and whoever you want.”
“No one else from your side, baby?” He knew Owen had other friends. Right? Jen. Marcy. Charlie, who lived in the big house up on the mountain…
He guessed those were “their friends”.
“I think we have to invite the parents, honey. Even if your parents wanna wait or wanna do it via Zoom. I have to invite mine in this. My sister. Jen would be heartbroken. You need to invite yours.” He knew it was important -- one of those mistakes that would haunt them.
Owen sighed, but then nodded. “I bet they would like doing it over Zoom. I know that they really, really want to be here for the baby shower and come for a couple of weeks after the baby comes, but you know, they only have so much time off.”
“I know that’s how it is all over. Now--” He grinned, winked at his lover. “Can we please go upstairs where it’s warm before you freeze my baby into a little ice cube?”
