“Hey, no cussing around the baby, Aid!” Briana scolded her brother. “But I think so, yes . . .” she added in a whisper.
I grasped Aiden’s hand tightly and looked at Bri. “How far along?”
“I’m not sure, not very long, maybe a month or two . . .” she said with confusion. “Please don’t tell Mom! I want to be the one to tell her. I just . . . I just wanted to be sure first,” she said desperately.
“A-And are you . . . sure, I mean?” Aiden asked seriously.
“According to the six pregnancy tests so far . . . yes,” she answered a little bleakly. She took a breath and looked at her brother. “Look, I know it’s not ideal… but I’ll be done with school before the baby comes and B is going to help you and Tom with the gym while in school for personal training. We’ll be fine . . . I hope.” She was shaking.
Brandon handed the baby to my sister and then wrapped his arms around his girlfriend. “We’re gonna be fine baby, we’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna be a family,” he said sweetly. “I love you,” he whispered as he kissed her cheek.
“Ha! I knew it! I knew I placed my bet correctly!” Tommy exclaimed with a fist pump in the air.
“Yeah, well, my bet is on you to get a STD before anyone else, so there’s that,” Bri said with a smirk.
“Shut your mouth and take that back!” Tom shouted with a look of fake hurt. “But seriously . . . Congrats, I know it’s not how you planned, but it’s still a miracle. You’re gonna have a baby!”
I nudged Aiden forward. He looked at me with confusion. I looked back at him and whispered for just the two of us to hear, “She needs support. You’re her brother, so support her.”
He sighed and walked over to her. “You’re going to be a good mom Bri . . . It’s going to be one lucky baby.”
He turned his attention to Brandon. “I want to kill you, but I guess you have to be here for your child.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’m happy for you man, even if it is with my little sister. You better treat them right and be the father that I know you can be,” he added at the end.
He hugged his sister for a bit and then pulled back a little to look her in the eyes. “It’s going to be fine; you just have to make it through telling Mom first.”
Bri’s eyes went wide. “Shit . . .”
I laughed lightly. “Well hey . . . She didn’t kill us after the whole Underground thing, so maybe she won’t kill you for this!” I said hopefully.
“Hopefully . . .” Brandon said and pulled Bri to his chest. “We have to worry about my mother too,” he added.
“We’re doomed,” Bri and Brandon said at the same time as they looked at each other, terrified.
I just laughed because I knew everything was going to be fine. We were all there to support them. We were all a family.
Nervous
Aiden
I was nervous. For what? I don’t know.
Aubry was my heart and soul. She was the most amazing thing that could have ever happened to me. She was the most amazing person that I had ever met. She was absolutely the most amazingly beautiful woman that I had ever laid my eyes upon. She was everything to me.
I looked at myself in the mirror on our apartment wall. My dark hair had the fresh haircut that Aubry always told me she liked so much. My eyes were bright blue with anticipation and excitement. I had on my black and blue board shorts and a black T-shirt.
I was just about to leave. It was only two hours before the party started, so I needed to get there to help set up. I was so excited; I was praying that she would love the surprise that I had planned for her.
It was May thirty-first, a whole year after she got out of the hospital. May thirty-first was the date that Aubry decided was our “official” anniversary. It was the day she was free. It was the day that I helped her escape from Demetri and death. It was the day that she says I saved her.
Little did she know that she was the one that actually saved me. She saved me long ago, the moment that I met her.
I got to the place and set up the things I needed. I had everything ready for her. She was going to love it!
I hope. My mom made spaghetti, potatoes, and salad, while I made mac and cheese. I had banana pudding, chocolate cake, and ice-cream all waiting on standby for after we eat. I had a projector to play, The Little Mermaid for us on the wall.
There were little fairy lights that Brandon and Tommy helped me string up. Kelsey brought a bunch of little candles to help light up the big room and give it a “romantic” feel. Then we all sprinkled rose petals around the pool. It all looked amazing.
I had everyone there. Kelsey and her small family, Tommy and his date, my mom, Cece, Brandon, his little sisters and mom, Doctor Reed and his wife. Even Doctor Mitchell came, or “Phil”, as he wanted us to call him. Aubry had gotten close with him over the year with all of her checkups and appointments.
Seeing the way my mother was talking animatedly with him in the corner, Aubry was not the only one. Briana was the only one not there yet, she was in charge of bringing Aubry on time. It was almost time.
Doctor Reed had let me use his mansion again. I was recreating her birthday date from the year before. This time, however, I had everyone she loves there. I had a surprise for her, and I wanted everyone to be there for it.
After a few more minutes and a bunch of me fiddling around nervously, we heard a car pull up. The nervousness pooled in my stomach as I looked around at everyone.
What was I doing? What possessed me to think that this was a good idea?
Before I could get too deep into my self-conscious thinking, I took a long breath and the door opened. It revealed Briana with a giant smile on her face. Her swollen belly made her look like she was about to pop and the dress she had on made her look even more pregnant than she already was at eight months along. It was almost time for their son to be here.
Bri audibly gasped as she looked around. It must have looked rather nice for Bri to have that reaction.
“What?” I heard my girlfriend ask. She had one hand on each of Bri’s shoulders for guidance as they walked since she was blindfolded.
Bri guided her in further. “You’ll see!” she said, excitedly. They stopped a few feet short of me, and Bri moved away.
I took in Aubry’s appearance, and it gave me heart palpitations. She had on a black summer dress that hit just above the knees, showing off a bit of leg. The spaghetti straps showed off her completely-healed scars on her pale arms. It made me want to run a finger down them. The lower cut bust of the dress showed off the milky skin of her chest and collarbones. Her hair was down in her natural waves, hitting the perfect spot right below her collarbones. Her lips were painted red and held a big smile on them. There was a black scarf tied around her head that covered her eyes.
She was breathtaking, and absolutely the love of my life. The most wonderful thing to ever happen to me. I love her.
I stared at her for a few moments and then took a breath. I was going to wait. I was going to have this amazing date with her, and all of our family. Then, at the end of the evening, I was going to do it. However, I couldn’t wait. The butterflies in my stomach were at full force, my head was kind of spinning, and my hands were sweating. I couldn’t wait, if I did. I would have lost out to my nervousness. I would have chickened out.
I looked around, no one really knew exactly what I had planned. Hell, even I didn’t know what I was doing. All I could think about was Aubry . . . my beautiful Aubry.
I walked forward and removed the blindfold from her eyes. Her bright green eyes bore into mine. Her gaze never left mine, she never once looked around, just at me. Her smile widened, and I couldn’t help but to kiss her lips.
“Happy anniversary . . .” she whispered as she hugged me.
Suddenly, the ring in my pocket felt like a thirty-pound weight. I had to do it before I chickened out. The moment was ours, and I needed her.
“Aubry . . .” I breathed out unsteadily. “I love you. I love you more th
an I can even comprehend. I love your fire, your drive, your determination, your forgivingness, your complete and utter selflessness. I love everything about you. Your uncanny beauty, your fight, your scars, your flaws, your demons. I love the way your eyes light up, and the way your smile widens when you say, “our family” or “home”. I love the way you love everyone so purely and uniquely. I love literally every single thing about you.”
I took a breath and a pause. Then I pulled out the ring box from my pocket and got down on one knee.
“I love you. I want to spend forever, making it up to you for those stupid two months that I spent being an idiot. I want to wake up with you everyday for the rest of my life. I want to look into your eyes and see all of that beautiful fire that’s hidden down in them forever.”
I stared into her eyes. “I want to love you through the bad times and support you completely. I want to make you so incredibly happy. I know we’re still young, and it doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, or in a year, or even in ten if that’s what you want. But Aubry, I want you to be my wife. I want to be with you forever, so please, Aub, please marry me and make me the happiest guy ever?” I finished hopefully.
Aubry’s eyes were leaking tears as she stared at me. She looked from the ring to me and back forth several times.
My stomach dropped at the look of shock on her face.
Oh no, she was going to say “no.”
“Aiden . . .” she whispered as searched my eyes. “Seriously? Like this isn’t a joke? You truly want to marry me?”
I looked at her and then self-consciously looked around the room. Even my family looked at me with pity due to her apprehension.
“Of course, I want to marry you, Aub. You’re the only one I want forever,” I answered solemnly. She was going to say “no,” and I had to accept it. “Aubry, it’s okay if it’s too soon. I unders—”
She smiled at me widely and then giggled. “Of course! Of course, I’ll marry you Aiden. I love you! You’re the best part of me, my beautiful light, my Aiden!” she said and held her left hand out to me so I could put the ring on it.
“Really?” I said in shock. She simply nodded with a giant smile. I stood up and kissed her several times feeling so elated. I was so damn happy!
I got the ring out of the box and looked at it with a grin. “It was the ring that my Pawpaw gave to my grams when they got married. He gave it to me when he found out that we broke up. It was the last thing he gave me. He said that he knew we’d find our way back to each other. He said that you are my Cecelia, my forever. He was right. He always was,” I said and kissed her again while sliding the ring gently onto her finger.
I loved her so much. I loved Aubry. My Aubry, my fiancée.
Future
Aubry
I smiled as I stared at the ring on my finger. It was silver with a big pearl in the center surrounded by smaller pearls and small diamonds. It was the most gorgeous thing that I had ever seen. It was given to be by the most beautiful soul that I had ever come to know.
Aiden’s words echoed in my head over and over again. He wanted to marry me. He wanted me forever. Tears pricked my eyes again; I was just so emotional over his wonderful words. They were words I never thought I would hear. Words that I always thought I didn’t deserve.
Even when he got down on one knee and actually proposed, it just seemed so surreal. I thought it was a joke or maybe even a dream. How could Aiden love me so much? It would never make any sense to me.
He loved me enough to marry me and spend the rest of his life with me. Me, even though I screwed his family up, in spite of all of my flaws, and because of all of my scars. He loved me and wanted to be with me for the rest of his life.
It made me so happy. He made me so happy. I loved him so much that it hurt. Forever would never be long enough with him. He saved me in so many ways. He helped me love myself when I thought I was the worst. He made me realize that I actually did deserve the world. He was my love, my rock, the best thing for me, my Aiden.
I switched my attention from my engagement ring and the wonderful words that Aiden had said to me three years before, to the mirror in front of me. I stared at my reflection. My eyes had extra flecks of gold in them, it reflected the happiness that I felt.
My hair was curled into big soft waves and left loose. Briana had braided my bangs back and fastened them with a beautiful intricate pearl and diamond clip that belonged to her father’s mom. It was my “something old”.
It was kind of Grandma Clark’s way of giving her approval and her forgiveness. She forgave me, they all did. They all forgave me for everything that I had done to their family. They all loved me in spite of all of my flaws. They loved me.
The clip matched the pearl earrings that Dana lent me for my “something borrowed” very nicely. Next, my gaze fell onto the blue necklace that hung around my neck. It was the necklace that Aiden had given me for Christmas all those years before, that was my “something blue.” My “something new” was my dress. My beautiful wedding dress. It was a short lacey dress that showed off my small figure with a low back. The lace sleeves stopped at my elbows showing off my forearm scars.
I stared at the bunches of scars in various colors on my arms and exposed legs. They used to be so ugly to me, so painful, and sickening, but now they didn’t even bother me. Now, they held a sort of beauty to me. A beauty that I would have never been able to see if Aiden hadn’t come into my life and showed me.
I was marrying him, the love of my life. My amazing Aiden.
It was May thirty-first, exactly three years after Aiden asked me to marry him. We were finally doing it; we were getting married! We decided to wait for Aiden to graduate college before we actually got married.
He had graduated two weeks before with a bachelors in Sports Medicine and also in business. He was finally able to focus mainly on the gym and its patrons. The gym was actually doing very well, especially with Brandon helping out as a personal trainer as well. Aiden was even thinking about opening a second location for Brandon to take control over. Everything was coming together very nicely. All of that didn’t really matter to me though; as long as I had him, I’d be happy with whatever our lives held for us. I loved him so much.
“You ready?” Briana asked me with a smile on her face. She was wearing a flowy dress with spaghetti straps that was almost the same shade of blue that Aiden’s eyes were.
“Here . . .” Bri took the red lip stain that I had been thinking about adding for the past few minutes and smiled. “Aiden loves this color on your lips. Were you gonna wear it?”
“I was thinking about it . . .”
“Let me help you,” she said and applied it. “There, beautiful,” she said simply. “Now . . . you ready?”
I looked around her old room and then to her as I took a deep breath. “Yes, I think I am.”
She smiled at me and nodded. “Good, Brandon has been calling frantically saying that Carter will have a meltdown soon if they don’t let him go play on the playground within the hour.” She shook her head at her son’s antics and laughed. She rubbed her slightly swollen belly and breathed deeply.
“I can’t believe you’re gonna have another one in just a few months,” I said and patted her belly. “I secretly hope this one is a girl though!”
She laughed and nodded. “Same! We’ll find out in a week though!” She grabbed her grandma Cecelia’s veil and slipped it on the top of my head.
“Come on, let’s go get you and Bozo married. You’re finally going to officially be my sister-in-law!”
She pulled me to the car and drove the short drive to the place Aiden and I picked to say our wedding vows. I smiled when we pulled into the parking lot. This was it, my last moments as Aiden’s fiancée instead of wife. I was so happy.
“Okay, stay here. I’m going to go tell them we’re ready. I’ll come get you in a few.” She smiled at me and hugged me across the center console. “You look gorgeous, Aub.”
After a few min
utes, B came and opened the door for me. He put me directly behind his body like he was my shield. “I was told to come get you and not to let Aiden see you. We have to get behind the building over there,” Brandon said.
I walked with him just like I was told as I rolled my eyes at the tradition. In all honesty, I would have had Aiden helping me get ready if they allowed it.
We got to the building, and all the wedding party was standing there. Tom, B, and Mark were all wearing light blue dress shirts with the sleeves rolled up to their elbows and dark wash blue jeans. I smiled at that. I had no idea what they were going to be wearing, so I was kind of relieved. Aiden picked it out, I just told him the color.
“Aww y’all got all dressed up!” I commented and laughed.
“Anything for you, Aub!” Brandon commented and hugged me tightly. I couldn’t help but to notice the green boutonnière with the gold ribbon around it on all of their pockets.
“You look absolutely amazing.” He kissed my cheek lightly.
“Whose idea was this?” I asked when I pointed to the green flower.
“Who do you think? Aiden said that it can’t be just your favorite color represented today. He had to add his green and gold somewhere. You’re just lucky we talked him out of the green and gold suits he was thinking about!” Tommy answered and hugged me.
I laughed at my soon-to-be-husband’s idiocy and rolled my eyes. “I would have killed him!” I laughed.
“I know! That’s what we told him to make him change his mind.” Tom said as he kissed my temple. “You’re stunning!” I smiled at him and squeezed his hand.
“Aww look at you, little stinging bee. You look almost sweet, almost,” Mark said with a laugh and hugged me tightly. “Just kidding you’re beautiful and glowing.”
“Don’t let the dress fool you! I’ll still punch you,” I said with a laugh and stuck my tongue out at him.
Fighting For Life Page 77
