Page 102 of Only for Tonight
She starts to walk into the house and stops, making us all stop. “It’s fine, I think it’s gas,” Ariella says, and she rubs her stomach as we walk toward the table.
“Where do you want to sit?” I ask her and she looks up at me.
“Not on your dick, that’s for sure,” she mumbles and walks over to pull out the chair and sits down, grabbing the glass of water that is already poured.
I sit beside her as my parents sit in front of me and Candace and Ralph sit on each end of the table. “This might be your last meal as a pregnant woman,” Candace offers.
“Meanwhile, this jerk”—she points to me—“was busy flirting with the nurse.” I look up at the ceiling, ignoring the glare from Ralph and my father. “After being annoyed because I didn’t have Stevenson as my last name.”
“Well, whose fault is that?” Ralph points out. “You went backward there a little.”
“Yeah.” I lean back in my chair and put my hand on her leg, hoping she lets me keep it there. “I mean, it’s not like she’s going to let me drag her to the courthouse to get married.”
She looks over at me. “If you think I’m going to get married like this...”
“You can always get married in the courthouse and then have a reception another time,” my father suggests. “All those destination weddings, you have to get married in a courthouse before anyway.”
“The more I think about it,” my mother starts, “I think I would have preferred doing that. Having the day, just us.”
“We did that,” Candace adds and Ralph glares at her. “Oh, don’t even.” She chuckles. “We got engaged, and when we got back home, he rushed me to the courthouse.”
“I did not,” Ralph refutes and her eyes go up. “Okay, fine, I did.”
“See,” I say, pointing to her father, “it’s normal.”
“What does it matter?” She looks at me.
“It fucking matters, Ariella,” I declare. “It matters that you are going to give birth and I have nothing holding us together,” I admit to her. “It matters that people know we’re not married.”
“It does not,” she says softly. “The baby is going to be Stevenson.”
“Yeah, well, I want you both to be Stevenson,” I state, turning to her. “I want to go in there and all of us have the same last name.”
“That’s crazy.”
“So you won’t marry me?” I turn in my chair, asking her.
“You don’t even have a ring.” She throws her hands in the air and I look over at my father. He pushes away from the table and tosses me the ring box, making everyone at the table but my father and Ralph gasp.
“What about now?” I push away from the table and fall down on one knee. “What about now? What do you say?” I open the ring box. “What do you say now if I ask you to marry me?”
“Oh my God,” Candace swoons, putting her hand to her face.
“What if I ask you to spend the rest of your life with me?” I look at Ariella, who looks at me with tears running down her face. “What if I told you I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you? That I love our life and I’ll fight the rest of my days to make sure it only gets better. That going to bed with you in my arms and waking up with you in the morning is the best thing I’ve ever done. I want to grow our family, side by side, with your hand in mine. What do you say, Ariella?” I look up at her as she wipes away the tears from her face.
“I don’t know if I’m crying because I’m happy you are finally proposing,” she sniffles, grabbing my face in her hands, kissing my lips, “or the fact I think my water just broke.”
epilogue one
Ariella
One week later
I turn from my side onto my back as I open my eyes and look over to Jaxon’s side of the bed. Seeing it empty, the covers put back in their place as if he just snuck out of bed. The indent on his pillow is still there. I reach out my hand to his side and find it still lukewarm, which means he probably just got up. Raising myself on my elbow, I look over to our bedroom door that is always open, but now it’s pulled closed halfway. I sit up, listening to hear if there is any crying but the whole house is silent. My eyes go to the TV screen monitor sitting on my bedside table, aimed directly at the baby crib and finding it empty.
Tossing the covers off of me, I look over at the clock beside the television screen and see that I slept for a full three hours straight, which after the week with a newborn feels like a full eight hours of sleep. I feel like a brand-new woman as I get up and slip my feet into my pink plush slippers. I hear his soft voice. “I love you.” The smile fills my face immediately as I make my way toward them. The soft light is coming up the steps from the kitchen lights that are still dimmed. Something we’ve kept on since we've been going through the night feedings. Twice Jaxon went down to grab me a glass of water or something to snack on while I was feeding our son and blinded himself with the big strong lights, so this was the best solution to that.
“You are so loved, and I’m so proud of you,” I hear as I get to the nursery and look into the open door, finding him sitting in the rocking chair with our son on his naked chest, rocking him back and forth.
