Freedom

by Beth Maria

  “What do you think?” he asks, breaking into my thoughts. His hand is also squeezing mine a little tighter, anticipating my answer.

  I take in the cream colored walls, the brown corner sofa, and the little bits and pieces in purple that make up the room. In the middle of the room is a pine coffee table, along with a pine TV stand holding a reasonably sized TV. Again, there are a few pictures scattered around, but what grabs my attention is the big canvas picture hanging behind the sofa of me and my father. My hand shoots straight to my mouth of its own accord, the tears coming faster now. Stupid hormones.

  “I absolutely love it,” I try to get out through my tears, realizing that I’ve left it too long to answer.

  “You sure? You took your time to reply. Like I said, anything that you don’t like can be changed.”

  “No, I’m positive. I love it, especially the canvas. Where did you get the picture? I have the only copy.” I ask, turning to look at him and finding Jake with a guilty expression on his face.

  “Yeah, I took that from your dorm when I was waiting for you after class one day. I hope that’s okay?” he asks, biting his lip. I’ve never known Jake to be so nervous. He seriously has nothing to worry about. So far, I love how he’s decorated, and I’m sure I’m going to love the rest of the rooms as well.

  I take another look at the picture that will always be my favorite of my father and me. It was taken on my thirteenth birthday. I’m sitting on my father’s lap, and he’s holding up my birthday cake. I remember exactly what he said to me when this photo was taken. He was telling me to choose my wish carefully, and I was smiling up at him, already knowing what I was going to wish for. I wished that someday Jake would be mine. Like I said, I’ve been in love with him for as long as I can remember, and this photo reminds me that my wish came true. He is finally mine, and I know my father has a hand in it.

  I face Jake, tears blurring my vision, and tell him, “I couldn’t have chosen a better picture myself. This photo has more meaning than you could ever imagine. So is it okay that you took it from my dorm room without permission? Absolutely.” I smile at him, my tears running onto my lips, the saltiness of them on my tongue. It doesn’t stop Jake from giving me a passionate, all consuming, tingle all the way to the tips of your toes kiss. When he pulls back, I’m all but a puddle of mush on the floor- well, I would be if he weren’t holding me up. I smile lazily at him, lost in my own world that is all about Jake, which he returns with a smirk. The effect he has on me isn’t lost on him. He knows exactly what he does to me, and I hate that he knows.

  For the next twenty minutes, we check the other rooms in the house, all except one. The tears have been pretty much non-stop. Jake really has done a beautiful job on the house, and every time I enter one room thinking that he couldn’t do a better job, he proves me wrong as soon as we step into the next. I can’t wait to live here now, to be able to bring up my child and live as a happy family.

  “You ready?” Jake asks, holding the doorknob to the only room I have yet to see.

  “Yes!” I practically squeal, which causes Jake to laugh.

  “Okay, close your eyes, and no peeping.” I look at him in a ‘you have got to be kidding me’ way. He gives me a look that says ‘just do as you’re told for once’. I sigh and close my eyes. I hear the door creak open, but before I have a chance to peep, hands cover my eyes, ruining any chances that I had.

  Jake leads me into the room, stopping a few steps in. Then he removes his hands, and I take everything in. The walls are yellow, the color of a buttercup. It’s bright and eye catching, perfect for a boy or a girl. One of the four walls is covered in wall stickers; a tree where a monkey hangs from a branch, a giraffe, and other various animals. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen! In one corner of the room is a white wood wardrobe, with a chest of drawers in the same white wood sitting next to it. In another corner is a white rocking chair. Then my eyes land on the crib on the other side of the room. Again, this is also white wood and goes with the cute animal theme for the rest of the room. A mobile dangles from above the crib with plastic animals hanging from the strings. The room is stunning. I can already picture myself sitting in the rocking chair, rocking my baby to sleep after a feed, or just sitting there watching my child sleep while I read a book. It’s definitely going to be my new favorite place in the house.

  “Does it look like what you imagined?” Jake asks quietly from behind me.

  I spin around, throwing my arms around his neck.

  “Yes. Oh my God, yes! It looks just like I pictured and so much more. Thank you for all of this. It’s amazing!”

  Jake wraps his arms around me, being careful of the baby, but pulling me as tight as possible to his rock hard chest. “You’re welcome, Princess. I’m glad you love it. To see your smile, it makes me so happy,” he breathes in my ear, causing goosebumps to cover my skin.

  I sigh, loving the effect he has on my body and feeling content in his arms. I don’t want to ever leave them, but my stomach rumbles, reminding me that we are supposed to be meeting everyone for dinner.

  “Are my babies hungry?” Jake cooes, moving his hands lower to rub my protruding stomach. I laugh at the baby voice he puts on every time he talks to our little peanut, though I always fall in love with him just that little bit more every time he does. “Let me show you the garden really quick, and then we can go to dinner.”

  I nod in agreement.

  I step out into the nighttime breeze, the heat from today still in the atmosphere but no longer unbearable.

  “SURPRISE!” a chorus of people shout, causing a scream to involuntarily escape from my mouth and making me nearly pee myself.

  The lights illuminating the backyard help me spot the culprits, all who are wearing shit eating grins on their faces. Fuckers.

  “Happy birthday, Princess,” Jake whispers in my ear. My frustration simmers for a few seconds, but only until I see all of grinning faces staring at me.

  “Jesus Christ, people- pregnant woman here! Christ, I nearly peed my panties,” I mumble the last bit to myself. Apparently I wasn’t quiet enough, though, because everyone laughs.

  “I’m sorry, baby. Happy birthday,” my mother says after walking over to me and pulling me into her embrace. I’ve missed her this past month since she went back home. We’ve grown close since I left the hospital, finally building a bond that we’ve never had before. We’ve still got a ways to go, but I know in time we will get there.

  “Thanks, Mom.” We both pull back, and then it hits me. Why is everybody here when they should be at the restaurant? “Erm, guys, why are you not at the restaurant?” I ask, voicing my thoughts out loud. “Please tell me this is not a surprise party?”

  My mother, Maisie, Jessie, Brandon, and Evan all look at each other, over my shoulder, then to me. Something is going on. I put my hand on my hip and jut it out, letting them know I’m not in the mood for secrets. They all know I hate them, especially when everybody except me knows the freaking secret!

  Coughing behind me causes me to spin on my heel, coming face to face with a very sneaky looking Jake! Directing my death glare at him, I tell him sternly, “Spill it!” He just grins at me. Why can he not take me seriously? I start tapping my foot, showing him that I don’t find this funny, not one tiny bit. This just causes him to full on belly laugh. I huff and cross my arms, waiting for him to finish.

  “Alright, I’m sorry for laughing at you. It’s just that you’re so sexy when you’re mad,” Jake purrs when he’s calmed down. I can feel my heart rate increasing, trying to burst out of my chest. Every time he says something like that to me, this happens!

  My anger dissipates, being replaced with hunger, but not hunger for food. I’m hungry for Jake and his body, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it while everybody is around. I growl in frustration, and Jake raises one of his eyebrows, the smirk back in place. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me. Since becoming pregnant, I’ve turned into a sex monster. I just can’t get eno
ugh of it, and Jake knows that the littlest things will turn me on. I slowly walk toward him and growl quietly into his ear, “A pregnant woman is not one to be tampered with, Mr. Peterson. As soon as we’re alone, you are going to fuck me until I’m screaming your name.” I hear him audibly swallow, causing the smirk to jump onto my face. I turn around to face our guests like absolutely nothing just happened, even though my whole body is throbbing with an ache that needs to be relieved, and soon.

  “Is everybody ready to go to dinner?” I ask, changing the subject.

  “Chloe, I think Jake has something to ask you,” Maisie says excitedly, the biggest smile gracing her face. In fact, everybody has smiles on their faces, even the guys. What’s going on here?

  Jake makes his way around me, stopping in front of me before getting down onto one knee. I gasp, my hand going to my mouth and tears blurring my vision for the hundredth time today. I can feel my whole body shaking. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this. I look up from Jake to my family and friends, some of them who are crying like me, others just smiling, and then look back to Jake again.

  “Chloe, I know we haven’t been together that long, that we had a rocky start and I’ve had to prove to you that you can trust me, but I’ve never stopped loving you since that first day I met you. It just took me a little longer than necessary to realize that you are it for me. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone but you- hearing you laugh, seeing you smile, waking up and the first person that I see is you, and let’s not forget putting up with your temper, your sarcastic remarks and witty comebacks, and last but not least, I want to grow old with you. I want to watch our children grow up and our grandchildren, and have the chance to love you until I take my last breath. I promise with everything that I am, that I will be the best husband and father that I can be, showing you both how much I love you every single day. I can think of nothing better than having you become my wife. Will you marry me, Princess?” I watch through blurry eyes as he produces a ring from his pocket. He opens the little red box, the most gorgeous ring I’ve ever seen staring back at me. It’s simple, exactly what I would have chosen had I picked it myself. The ring is white gold, the diamond in the middle surrounded by four tiny aqua diamonds on each side, the small amount of light in the garden reflecting off each single diamond and shining straight into my eyes.

  I don’t even have to think about my reply. It rolls straight off of my tongue, coming out as a loud squeal.

  “YES!” I lunge, crashing into Jake and making him topple over with me landing on top of him.

  All I hear is a loud round of laughter coming from behind me. I had forgotten that everyone else was here too. My cheeks flame a bright red in embarrassment at the way that I just acted. Then I remember that it’s not every day that the love of your life asks you to marry him, so why on earth should I be embarrassed?

  “Thank you, Princess,” Jake whispers against my lips, giving me my first kiss as his fiancé.

  “For what?” I whisper back, moving back a sliver to get a good look at his eyes. As soon as I do, I swallow. He’s staring at me, his eyes intense, holding me captive like they always do.

  “For putting up with me and giving me another chance. For agreeing to marry me and for carrying my child. You have made me the happiest man in the world, and I swear to you that I will spend the rest of my life loving you.” Jake lifts up my left hand, slipping the gorgeous ring onto my finger. It fits perfectly, and it looks like it was made just for me; it’s that perfectly suited.

  I can’t help but hold my hand up to the light, admiring it.

  “Can we see it?” My mother asks eagerly, now standing in front of me to try and get a good look. Maisie is standing next to her just as eager. The guys? Well, they really aren’t that interested in my ring, so they’re just congratulating Jake, who is still underneath my heavy weight. Oh dear…

  “Help me up then, will you please?” I ask nobody in particular, just hoping somebody helps me up. It’s not as easy carrying this heavy lump on my stomach.

  “Ooooh, it’s gorgeous, Chloe. I’m jealous,” Maisie pouts, giving Jesse a look. He was looking at Maisie, though, and as soon as she said that, his head snapped in a different direction. Hmm, he’s obviously not ready yet, which is surprising. I thought that they were smitten with each other. I’ll have to get Jake to have words with him to see what’s going on.

  “You’re time will come,” I tell her sympathetically. Maisie just nods in reply before plastering the fakest smile on her face. We’ve spoken about this numerous times before. She wants to marry Jesse so much, and I always end up telling her that her time will come – to just be patient.

  “Shall we go to dinner to celebrate Chloe’s birthday and the engagement then?” Maisie pipes up, completely changing the subject. I’m thankful for it because my stomach feels like it’s eating itself I’m so hungry!

  We all head to our cars and drive to the bistro.

  A little ways into the drive, I turn to face Jake, my heart melting at the sight of him. I can’t believe that he’s really mine and we’re getting married!

  “Thank you for the best birthday ever,” I tell him, staring at him dreamily.

  “You’re welcome, Princess. I plan on making you feel this way for the rest of your life, so you better get used to it.” Jake takes my hand in his, rubbing his thumb along the back on my hand in slow movements. We stay this way for the rest of the journey and through the whole of the meal. Not once does he break contact with me through the whole night. In this moment, I feel loved. I know that if he is like this for the rest of our relationship, we will be very happy together, and I can’t wait to find out and spend the rest of my life with him.

  Chapter 17

  Jake

  These past two months since I proposed to Chloe have been hectic. I’ve been working overtime to make sure we have enough money for when the baby comes, to also be able to pay the rent, and Chloe’s eating us out of house and home, meaning the food bill is expensive!

  Thanks to Jesse, I’ve been working alongside him at the garage that he works at. It’s not something I wish to do for the rest of my life, however, it will do for now. It pays decent, and that’s all that matters right now. I work in the morning and afternoon, and then during the evening, I complete my college work. Chloe and I have argued on numerous occasions about me still attending college and finishing there, but I always tell her the same thing- I don’t need to actually go to college when I can do it online. This way, I can still go to work and earn the money, then come home and look after my family. I don’t expect her to look after our child, clean the house, and also try to finish her college degree online all by herself. We’re going to be a family, and families work together. I just wish she would start realizing this instead of fighting with me all the time. There are only so many times a man can keep repeating himself before he starts getting stressed. I already feel like I’m going grey, and the baby hasn’t even been born yet!

  When I proposed to Chloe, it wasn’t lost on any of us the comment that Maisie let slip, and it definitely wasn’t lost on us how Jesse reacted. I didn’t say anything at the time, in hopes that he may confide in me when he was ready, but I’ve had Chloe in my ear non-stop telling me to find out what Jesse’s problem is. Knowing my fiancé and my sister, they are both conspiring about the whole situation, and unfortunately for me, I’m the poor bastard who has to get the inside knowledge and then share my findings. Jesse will probably rip me in half when he finds out I went and told my sister, and I mean when, because he will find out. Chloe and Maisie have big mouths that they can’t keep shut when they are riled up. I have no doubt that they won’t be happy with the news I bring back.

  I slam my truck door before walking up the path to knock on Jesse’s front door. He opens the door a few seconds later with a confused look on his face. Yeah, he didn’t know I was coming over today, and neither did I, not until about thirty minutes ago when I was pretty much forced to come here.
Poor bastard doesn’t know what can of worms he has opened.

  “What are you doing here?” Jesse asks, leaning against the doorjamb in just a pair of shorts.

  I raise my eyebrow at his rudeness.

  “Sorry, not that I don’t want you around or anything, I just wasn’t expecting you is all, and Maisie’s not in.” He shakes his head, ridding his thoughts. “Come on in.” As he moves out of the way for me, I walk past him and straight into his living room, making myself comfortable on his sofa.

  Jesse sits on the single armchair and just stares out of the window, lost in thought. He looks really tired since I last saw him a few days ago.

  I just watch him for a few seconds, seeing as he hasn’t made any move to talk to me, intently watching everything that he does. He’s constantly running his fingers through his hair, making it look disheveled. He hasn’t blinked the whole time that I’ve been looking at him, just sits as still as a statue and watches what’s going on outside.

  “Hey, man, you alright? You’ve been staring at the same spot for the last few minutes. Want to tell me what’s on your mind?” I ask when I can’t take the silence anymore.

  Jesse sighs loudly, rubbing his hands down his face. “It’s your sister. She’s stressing me out, man. Ever since you proposed to Chloe, it’s all she’s gone on about, and I mean all that she has gone on about,” he stresses, looking me straight in the eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry her because I do. God, I do, and I would marry her tomorrow, but she deserves the best. A quickly planned wedding isn’t what she deserves.” He thinks for a few seconds before he says, “I’ve not told anybody this, so you best keep this to yourself, Peterson,” followed with a stern look.

  I laugh at how serious he is. “Mum’s the word,” I tell him.

  “Good. If I find out that you’ve told a soul, I’ll have your balls on a plate. Do I make myself clear?”