The Valentines Day Proposal

by Bella Winters

  “Baby,” she said in a panic.

  “Yes, sweetie, what do you need?”

  “No! Baby. I got up to get something to eat and my water broke.” She pointed at her soaking wet clothes.

  “Oh.” I ran over and grabbed her bag. “Let’s get you changed really fast.”

  She nodded her head, and I helped her pull on some dry clothes before making our way out to the car. She breathed deeply, the contractions hitting her hard. I reached over and grasped her hand, laughing as she forced a kind of terrifying smile. I whipped through the streets and pulled in front of the hospital. As soon as I got out, I helped her out of the car, grabbing a wheelchair and pushing her into the front. The nurses sent us directly upstairs to the maternity ward, and before we knew it, she was lying on the bed in a hospital gown and with a monitor strapped across her big, round belly. I could see the baby kicking, pushing on her skin like something from a horror movie.

  The doctor came in and checked her, looking surprised and then running from the room. I watched the monitor and grasped her hand as another wave of contractions moved over her. She breathed in and out just like the class she went to taught her, groaning as the contraction hit its peak. She was in so much pain, but she held tightly to her beliefs, refusing the epidural they offered her. When the doctor came back, he was dressed in a coat and was wearing gloves, the nurses scurrying along behind him.

  “It looks like this baby is ready to get moving,” he said with a laugh.

  They lowered the bed, and she scooted forward, sweat beading on her forehead. I held her hand while the doctor told her to keep breathing and not to push just yet. The nurse watched the monitor as the spikes began to rise, looking over at the doctor and nodding. He moved forward on his stool and reached his hands below her gown.

  “Okay, when I say so, I want you to bear down and push,” he instructed.

  Tiffany shook her head and breathed deeply, feeling her belly begin to contract. As the waves moved up on the screen, the nurse nodded again and the doctor took his position. I leaned down and pressed my head against her forehead and whispered “I love you” into her ear.

  “Now,” the doctor said.

  Tiffany grabbed tightly to my hand and held her breath as she pushed down hard. She screamed out as the doctor put his hand back in the air to signal her to stop.

  “Okay,” he said. “The shoulders are out, one more good push, and you will be a new mother.”

  She looked at me with tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. I kissed her lips and nodded my head, waiting for the doctor’s orders. As soon as he said push, she began, and after a few short seconds, he lifted a beautiful baby boy into the air. The baby began to cry immediately, and they rested him on her chest, cleaning out his airways and cutting his cord. Tears filled my eyes as we huddled together, just the three of us.

  “I love you,” I said, crying.

  “I love you, too,” she replied through laughter and tears. “I am thinking Justin is a perfect name.”

  “I love it.” I watched the nurses take him and start doing their weighing and blood work.

  They cleaned up the baby, wrapped him in a warm blanket, and handed him to me as they finished up with Tiffany. I walked out of the delivery room and down the hall where my mother, father, and Jordan were all waiting nervously. They looked up as I rounded the corner, and my mother burst into tears, looking down at the sweet blond-haired boy in my arms. He looked just like Tiffany, and even Jordan joked about making sure I was the father. My family took turns holding him before I could take him back to the room. It was late at night, so they kissed us both and went home, promising to come back the next day to give Tiffany love and see Justin again.

  By the time I got back, they had moved Tiffany to her room where she was patiently waiting for me to return. I put Justin in her arms and stood back, completely in awe of the two of them. The nurse had her feed the baby before she could finally rest, leaving him to fall asleep in my arms. I looked down at his little cheeks and back up Tiffany, who had fallen asleep right away. I leaned back in the chair in the room and soaked it up, knowing that life wouldn’t be this simple again for a very long time. Justin cooed and smacked his lips, looking up at me as I held him close. The nurse turned the lights down low, and I rocked Justin slowly until his eyes closed and he slept quietly in my arms. At that moment, I couldn’t help thinking about how lucky I was. I was sitting here with a healthy baby, a healthy wife, and the best life I could have ever dreamed. Justin was even more beautiful than I could have imagined, and I couldn’t believe how much you could love someone. My heart was bursting, looking down at his absolutely perfect little body. He had been made with love and brought into the world to two parents who couldn’t have been more excited to have him join the family. Even his Uncle Jordan teared up while holding him, which is something you didn’t see often. Life was perfect. The silence of the hospital was peaceful, but holding him like this, I didn’t want to fall asleep and miss a thing. Instead, I hummed a nursery rhyme to him and waited for his mom to wake up again. She had been through hell, so I wanted to make sure she got enough rest.

  Suddenly Tiffany gasped, sitting straight up in the bed and looking around frantically. Carefully, I stood up and walked to her side, taking my free hand and stroking her head. She focused in on me and looked down at Justin in my arms. Her face went relaxed, and she put her hand to her heart, letting out a deep breath.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “I woke up thinking I fell asleep with Justin in my arms. I just about had a heart attack.”

  “Say, no, Mommy, I’ve been sleeping in Daddy’s arms.” I walked back over to sit down with him.

  “It is so amazing watching you bond with our little boy,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine a better father for him. He is going to be so spoiled.”

  “Haha.” I laughed. “Maybe not by us, but definitely by his grandma and grandpa.”

  “And probably Uncle Jordan, too,” she added.

  “Oh, yeah.” I shook my head. “They probably already have a car full of goodies and a lifetime membership to the candy company.”

  “Oh, Lord,” she sighed. “Can we make a rule that if you feed him candy, you have to keep him for the night?”

  “Sounds legit to me,” I said, looking over at her and laughing. “You give him a sugar high, you pay the price.”

  “Done.” She laughed again. “Gosh, what a day. That definitely happened a lot faster than I expected.”

  “You were amazing,” I said. “Seriously, I love you so much and you were a freaking rock star.”

  “I thought I was going to break your hand there for a second.”

  “Me, too,” I scoffed. “But all is well. I love you, Tiffany, so very much. I’m so proud of you. You did such an amazing job.”

  “Meh.” She waved a hand. “It was easy being a human incubator—said no one ever.”

  “You’d do it again.” I winked at her, knowing I was right.

  “Maybe once I can walk straight again.”

  I stood up from the chair and walked over to her, leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. I gently placed Justin in her arms and stood back watching as she fed him, humming the same tune I was humming earlier but with much better vocals. I stared at the two miracles in the room with me and just couldn’t believe how lucky of a man I really was. I had the most beautiful wife and child I had ever seen. My life had been so empty before they came around, even though I didn’t realize it until now. Before Tiffany, I didn’t really live. I had simply gotten up every day, went to work, drank, and went home. I’d had nothing substantial to look forward to. When Tiffany came barreling through my world, it was like she shined her light into every dark corner of my life. Even the days I wanted to sit and mope, she was there to lift me up and bring her amazing smile to my world. In the ten months we had been together, my entire life had turned completely upside down and in such a good way.

  I pulled the chair over to the bedside, and Tif
fany and I talked as she nursed the baby and rocked him to sleep. We talked about life changing, we talked about what we wanted to show and teach our son, we talked about his future and our future, and we sat there bonding until the sun came up the next morning. She looked over at me and smiled as I poured her a cup of decaf and unwrapped the sandwiches I had grabbed from the cafeteria. Her eyes were light and hopeful, and she giggled as the baby grasped onto her finger.

  “I love you more than anything little man,” she whispered to Justin. “And I love your father that much, too. I can’t wait to get you home and all comfy in your new pajamas.”

  Looking at these two, I felt like the luckiest man in history. I couldn’t wait to get them home as well and all settled into their new life. Tiffany, Justin, and I were a family now, and I would never let anything come between us. It was the best gift I had ever been given, and I couldn’t imagine life getting any better than it was right then. No matter what sleepless nights, temper tantrums, or fits came our way, I had the most perfect family in the whole world.

  *** Turn ahead to read “Dirty Professor” ***

  Dirty Professor

  Blurb

  I am going to make her mine.

  Even if that means….going against my own self and breaking all rules.

  Elena is sassy, s*xy, gorgeous….

  F*ck…she’s everything a man could dream of.

  But there’s one problem.

  She’s my student.

  And f*cking her is against all rules.

  Do they make rules for professors too?

  Apparently yes,

  But who says you have to be compliant!

  You can be non-compliant…as long as no one comes to know about it.

  It’s HARD for her and I really don’t care about the rules.

  I am willing to take this relationship sh*t DEEP, really DEEP….

  The question is how long can she hide that baby bump from me and from the world?

  CHAPTER 1

  Elena

  I dropped onto my back and sighed, feeling the jolt that Liam always gave me when we were together. The sheets on the bed were messy and scattered haphazardly over the king-sized mattress as I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds in the condominium. Liam had gone to the kitchen to get us some water and the chocolate chip cookies for dessert that I knew he loved. I’d brought them over to go with the pasta that he made us for dinner, but we’d gotten distracted halfway through the meal and ended up in his bedroom.

  That always seemed to happen to us.

  I thought back to the class that I met him in during my Junior year at the University in Seattle. Liam walked in through the door near the front, striding confidently to the podium as I prepared myself for the Economics course. It wasn’t my favorite subject, but it seemed to be the lesser of two evils when it came to my choices, so here I was. I looked at the tall, handsome man that was looking us over with beautiful ocean blue eyes as he set some papers in front of him.

  I knew why the subject of students and teachers hooking up was so popular as I looked back. He was stunning and probably several feet over what I considered petite at my own five foot six. His body was clearly muscled underneath the worn jeans and dark blue Henley that he wore with black Converse, making him look like a college student himself. I knew that he wasn’t though just by the way he stood before the large class, guessing him to be in his mid to late thirties. He sure didn’t look it but the way that he oozed authority told me that he wasn’t one of the fumbling boys that had asked me out since I moved here from Portland. He had dark chestnut hair that was long enough to be considered tousled, framing his face in soft curls and covered by a dark green beanie. His hands were big as they organized his things and the smile that he flashed at us when he was ready to start made me forget my own name.

  I heard him speaking but got lost in the throaty sound of it more than whatever he was saying. He introduced himself as Doctor Liam Forsberg and told us a little about his degrees that ended with a doctorate in the subject of Economics. That helped me at guessing his age, knowing that he put in a few years to obtain all of that as I sat up in my seat halfway back and in the center of the room. He explained that he’d be passing around a seating chart to keep track of who attended class and that we should pick somewhere that we liked for the semester. That made sense with a class this size and I glanced around at the people that surrounded me, happy to see that they were anything but the jocks that were clustered more towards the front. The students that were sitting around me were just your average, run of the mill people getting an education like myself. I’d even call myself a little awkward and perhaps nerdy, more content with a book in my studio apartment than a night at a frat party.

  My best friend at school was a lot different, often urging me to hang out with her at such things. Ginger was a bubbly, beautiful auburn haired girl that had friends in every clique, knowing a lot more of the students than I did since she wrote articles for the paper. She had the chance to meet people whereas I just went to class and went home to my apartment, where I worked as a freelance in order to earn some money and still have time to study. I had a partial scholarship, but since I chose to live alone over sharing a dorm with some randomly selected roommate, I had to work as well. I was all right with that since it was such an isolated job and gave me a lot of time to myself. Emails and chats were a perfect way of keeping in touch in my opinion.

  I heard my name being called and I opened my eyes to see Liam looking questioningly at me. “Hmmm?” I asked as he sat down and set a plate of cookies down along with a big glass of ice water.

  “I thought you might have fallen asleep,” his voice was soft and rough from what we’d just done together, a memory that made me shiver.

  “Just comfortable,” I assured him as I propped my body up against his pile of pillows and reached for the glass. “Are you still hungry for the dinner that we abandoned?”

  “I stuck it in the fridge for the time being. It’ll reheat fine. I just wanted to come back here and be with you and these amazing cookies.” Liam winked at me as I blushed, the pink covering my pale skin. I knew just how much that surface reflected our relationship as I shivered under the scrap of cloth that covered the various marks on my body.

  I loved all of them equally and every act that gave them to me.

  Liam turned on a movie on the large television as I snuggled against his side, tearing off small bites of the cookie on the top of the pile as I drifted between what was playing on the screen and his warmth and scent. There was a fire to the left of the television, keeping the spacious room warm as I smiled.

  I didn’t plan to sleep with my college teacher. That was never a thought in my head and only happened in some of the books that seemed to be so popular. I was attracted to him, but so was every other female in the class as well as at the college. He was one of the hottest men I’d ever seen, but I didn’t expect the interest to be given back to me.

  It all started when I had a little trouble in the class and went to talk to him. His office wasn’t huge on campus, and I sat down, prepared to ask him my questions until I looked into his eyes. Their blue depths and varying shades captivated me as I opened my mouth to speak, making me forget everything that I was saying. “Miss Carter?” He asked as I remained silent, blinking, and taking a deep breath. Once I explained the issues, he directed me to the class tutor and gave me the email to contact the girl before leaning back in his seat. “You’re a stunning girl, Miss Carter.”

  His words caught me off guard. “Please call me Elena and…thank you.” No man had ever told me that before or anybody else for that matter. It thrilled me while a tremble went through me, knowing that this was my older teacher who was not supposed to think about me that way. I blushed as I wondered what it was about me that could be called stunning.

  I was a bit taller than some girls, and I had a curvy figure, but I didn’t think I was overweight. I had no desire to be stick thin as some girls were, but I
didn’t think that my dark, wavy hair and dark green eyes were that unusual. Some pretty girls were walking around this campus, and he had to notice them, too. Right? I looked up to see him gazing thoughtfully at me, just taking in my silence. “So, I guess I have the information I need. Thank you, Mr. Forsberg. Thank you so much.” I had a partial scholarship that I didn’t want to blow, making me work hard at all my grades.

  “It’s Liam,” he spoke urgently as I widened my eyes. “Here, like this. It’s Liam.” He gestured around the room as I let myself wonder where else we might see one another, before pushing that thought out of my mind. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. I stood as I forced myself to stop staring back at him, thanking him again before I stumbled out of the door and leaned against the wall. Holy hell, he was gorgeous and charming. I heard a noise behind the door and shuffled towards the exit that led me outside to the dreary, overcast sky.