“Ty.” Her smile is blinding, and then she sobers, tears welling in her eyes. “You don’t have to do this. We don’t even know if it’s positive.”
“That’s why I’m doing this now. No matter what happens, regardless of the result, it’s you and me. Forever. If you’ll have me. Reags, will you marry me?”
Tears race down her cheeks. “You really— I mean, you’re serious?”
Standing, I cup her face in my hands, wiping her tears with my thumbs. “I’m serious. I don’t have a ring, because well, I wasn’t expecting this, but I want it more than anything. I haven’t talked to your dad or even Ridge, but all that matters to me right now is that when you walk into that bathroom, no matter what the outcome, you’re going to be mine. For a lifetime.”
She nods.
“I need your words, baby.”
“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” She jumps into my arms, hugging me tightly. “This is crazy, Tyler.” I feel like I’m ten feet tall and bulletproof. She’s going to be my wife.
“It’s us, and that makes it perfect.” I kiss her softly before setting her back on her feet.
“I’ve never done this before.” She picks up a box and begins to read the back. I look on, not knowing what else there is for me to do. “I guess I just pee on the stick.” She wrinkles up her nose.
“Want me to come with you?”
“Yes.” There is no hesitation in her answer.
Grabbing the remaining two boxes, I place my empty hand on the small of her back and lead her into the bathroom. “Which one do you want to take first?”
“All of them.”
“Okay.” I open the two boxes, setting the sticks on top. “You sure you want me here for this?”
Her hands land on top of mine. “You said we were in this together.”
“We are,” I say, my voice calm, soothing. “I just wasn’t sure, you know, since you have to pee on the stick.”
“You’ve been down there and seen it all. If this stick results in the word yes, this one two lines, and that one with the word pregnant, you’re about to see more than just me sitting on the toilet.”
“Good point.” I take a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll hand them to you.”
She nods, pulls down her shorts, and sits down. “Just hand me all three of them.”
I do as she asks, not wanting to upset her. She’s staring at the wall, and I can only imagine how uncomfortable this is for her. Reaching over, I turn on the faucet and let the water run, creating noise, and hopefully helping her out in the process. It works. A few seconds later she’s placing one, then two, then three pregnancy tests on the counter.
I stand back while she washes her hands and then turns to face me, tears swimming in her hazel eyes. “I’m scared.” Fear is in her eyes, and to my surprise, I’m not scared at all. I know that no matter what happens, it’s the two of us in this together. Forever. I know that even if the results are negative now, that one day in the future, it will be yes. Even if it’s yes in the form of us signing adoption papers. I know she and I are going to be parents. Together. One day.
“Hey.” I pull her into my embrace. “I’m right here, no matter what happens.”
“No.” She shakes her head. Pulling back, she looks up at me just as the tears start to fall. “I want them to be positive. I promise I didn’t trick you or do this on purpose, but they told me it would be difficult, and I just… I want this.”
I exhale a breath and smile down at her. “Me too.”
“What?” she asks, whipping her eyes to mine.
“I want that with you. Only you.”
“I was so afraid to tell you. I didn’t want you to think I was trying to trap you. That night, it was all on me, and I truly never thought about it until it was too late. But now—” She stops and closes her eyes.
“Now we look at the tests.”
Her eyes fly open. “It’s time?”
“Yeah, Reags, it’s time. You want to look first?”
“No. We look together.” Slowly, she turns in my arms, and I peer over her shoulder. I feel her shoulders shaking as I try to process what I’m seeing.
Yes.
Positive.
Pregnant.
We’re having a baby.
Chapter 13
Reagan
* * *
Pregnant.
As I stare at the three pregnancy tests all telling me the same thing, my heart is in my throat. I never imagined it this way. What little girl dreams of getting pregnant before the wedding? Hell, in my case, when you’re newly dating? Then I think about what Ty said, and he’s right. We’ve been dating far longer than either of us were willing to admit. Our friends and families knew. Everyone was just waiting for us to catch up. Well, we’ve caught up and added our own little twist. A baby.
“Reagan.” His gravelly voice meets my ears. I turn in his arms and look up at him. His blue eyes are swimming with tears. “You okay?” I nod, unable to form words. He holds me close, burying his face in my neck. “You’re scaring me. I thought you would be okay with this. Please tell me that you’re okay with this?” he pleads.
“Are you?” I rasp.
“Of course I am.” He rests his forehead against mine. His hand is splayed out across my flat belly. “We’re having a baby,” he says with awe in his voice.
“We’re having a baby,” I repeat. Before the words are even out of my mouth, he’s lifting me off the floor and spinning in circles. This is a tough task considering the size of my small bathroom.
“Oh, shit,” he says, placing me back on my feet. “Should I not have done that?”
I can’t stop the chuckle that escapes. “I’m fine,” I assure him.
“Come on.” He takes my hand and guides me across the hall to my bedroom. I stand beside him as he pulls back the covers and motions for me to get in. Kicking off my flip-flops, I slide under the covers. I watch as he sits on the side of the bed and takes off his work boots, then climbs in beside me.
“Our clothes are on,” I state the obvious.
He chuckles. “I just want to hold you.” He pulls me close. “We’re having a baby, Reags. And we’re getting married.”
“We don’t have to. I know you were only trying to make me feel better.”
“What?” He lifts his head off the pillow to look at me. “No, Reagan, I did it because I love you. Because I want nothing more than for you to be my wife.” He says the words with such conviction it’s as if he’s speaking directly to my heart.
“I already said yes. You don’t have to convince me.”
“Then no more of this ‘we don’t have to’ bullshit.”
“Fine, sheesh. Easy there… daddy.” I hold my breath, waiting to see how he responds.
“I wish I could tell you how fucking excited I am. You’ve given me everything. Your love, this little one.” His hand rests against my belly. “All I really have to give you is my name.”
“Love, Tyler. You give me love. You take care of me without being overbearing. You let me be my own person, and love me in spite of it.”
“I can promise you something. No one will ever love you like I do.”
“That’s why I said yes.”
“What do we do now? Can we tell people? Should we tell them we’re getting married first? Shit, we need to go ring shopping.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Pull up the jeweler across town. Let’s see what you like.”
“We don’t have to do this.”
“Oh, baby, we’re doing this. You already said yes.”
“Okay,” I say, getting my emotions in check. “First thing Monday, I’ll call to make a doctor’s appointment.”
“And I’ll go talk to your dad, then Ridge.”
“Tyler, you don’t have to do that. This is my choice.”
“Yeah, I know, and regardless of what they say, I’m marrying you. I just feel like it’s the right thing to do. Your dad was like a second father to me growing up, and Ridge, well, we
’re tight, and I want them to hear it from me that we’re getting married.”
“Are you telling them that you already asked me? What about the baby? Are we telling them about the baby?”
“I’ll do it however you want. We’ll tell them as little or as much as you want.”
“Okay, let’s just… let me make my first appointment before we tell them about the baby.”
“Deal. Sometime in there, we need to go buy a ring. You might as well pick it out since I’ve already crushed the proposal,” he boasts.
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I mean, if I’d had the ring, it would have been epic.”
“It was still epic,” I assure him.
“The only other thing I can think of after telling our families about the baby is house hunting.”
“House hunting?”