“I want whatever you want.”
“Good answer.”
“What do you see when you look ten years into the future?”
That what a good question and I had the perfect answer.
“I see me sitting on a front porch with a couple of kids running around. I see you working on a car in our front yard. I see us making love, over and over again. I see us being happy. When I look into the future I see us,” I said as I rubbed his face.
Taking my hand, he intertwined our fingers and kissed my hand.
“That sounds perfect to me.”
Being with him felt right. Laying in his arms felt good but being his girl felt indescribable.
Chapter 38
Locking up the daycare center, I heard my phone ring. Fishing it from my purse, I saw Roman’s name light up on the screen. A smile instantly took over my face.
“Hello?” I said into the phone.
“Hey. Have you already left work?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m locking up now.”
“Can you come by the shop for a second? We need to talk about something. It’s important.”
My heart felt like it hit the concrete below my feet. We need to talk is something no one ever wants to hear. Walking to my car, I got inside and started the engine.
“Yeah, I’m on my way now. Is everything okay?”
“A costumer just walked in. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Before I could reply he hung the phone up. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. My mind instantly thought the worst. Had he gotten scared again? Was he going to run? I hoped not.
I felt my eyes well up and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears. I hated crying because I had done so much of it lately. I had done too much of it.
Pulling my car into the parking lot, I got out and slammed my door. Running into the shop, I looked around the room for Roman. But he was nowhere in sight.
Walking into the garage, I saw West working on a big truck.
“West! Where’s Roman?” I yelled.
“In his office. Have you been crying? What’s wrong? Is this pregnancy hormones?” He asked, as he walked my way.
“I’m fine. I just need to see Roman. and no, it’s not.”
“You don’t have to be so touchy. He’s in his office.” He said, as he walked back over to the truck.
Running towards Roman’s office, I wiped the tears from my eyes. Reaching his door, I turned the door knob.
I saw Roman sitting at his desk reading a letter.
“I’m here. What is it you wanted to talk about?” I said through countless tears.
“Pumpkin, why are you crying?” he asked, dropping the letter on the desk.
He was out of his chair within seconds. I felt his hands on face.
“When you said you wanted to talk I thought you wanted to break up with me. I thought you regretted coming back to me.”
“I promise you that is one thing you never have to worry about. I’m never leaving you. Either of you,” he assured me, as he rubbed my stomach.
I let out the huge breath I had been holding. And I felt the sickness immediately leave my stomach.
“Don’t ever do that to me again. I almost had the baby on the way over here. What did you want to talk about then?” I said, fanning my face.
“I went to check the mail at my house during lunch break and got quite the surprise,” he said, walking over to his desk to retrieve the letter, “Read this.”
Taking the letter from his hands, I read over everything and reread everything. It was a check made out in Roman’s name, with more than enough to take care of everything and everyone he needed too.
“Roman, where did this come from?” I asked, never talking my eyes from the check.
“My dad. He was always looking out for me. He must have struggled to pay it but I guess he didn’t want me to struggle like he did. He wanted better for me. If only he could see me now.”
“He can.” I whispered, pulling him in for a hug.
“I have another surprise for you.” He said, pulling away from me.
“I hate surprises, you know that.”
“You’ll love this one. I promise,” he said, pulling my hand and dragging me out the door behind him.
“West!” he called.
“What’s up?” West said from under the hood of the truck.
“I’m taking Emma to see her big surprise. Take over while I’m gone?”
“Sure thing. And Emma?” he said, looking at me with the most serious look on his face.
“Yeah?”
“Spoiler alert, the big surprise is not between his legs,” he said, shooting me a wink.
“Bummer.” I shot back.
Roman through his head back in laughter and walked me to his car. Getting in, I put my seatbelt on.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he got in the car.
“Pumpkin, it won’t be a surprise if I tell you, now would it?”
“Guess not.”
We drove through a small neighborhood not too far from Roman’s house. Feeling the car come to a complete stop, I looked out of the window and saw that we were in the driveway of the most beautiful home I had ever seen.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, getting out of the car.
“Welcome home, Pumpkin.”
I thought for sure I just heard him say welcome home but I had to have heard him wrong.
“Can you repeat that?” I asked with a shaky voice.
“I said welcome home,” he said, laughing.
“This is ours?”
“Yep. Do you like it?”
“No,” I said, looking at him. I saw his whole face drop, “I love it.”
“Thank God,” he said, sighing in relief.
Looking at the house, I saw it was white with black shutters and a red door. It was perfect. I could imagine raising our family here.
“Do you want to go look inside?” he asked, smiling from ear to ear.
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Walking toward me, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me bridal style inside. He leaned in closer to my face and gave me a quick kiss before sitting me on my feet.
“Roman, this place is amazing. I can’t believe it’s ours!” I shrieked.
“Believe it. I can’t wait to make this our home.”
Walking around, I checked out every room. Top and bottom. It was nothing like the house I had grown up in and that’s why I loved it so much.
“When do we move in?” I asked.
“Next week.”
“Wow, we’re not wasting anytime. Are we?” I said, laughing.
“I wasted too much time already. I don’t want to miss any more time away from you.”
After everything we had been through I finally felt like I could breathe easy. I felt secure, I felt like everything had fallen into place. And I was loving every second.
“Are you ready to lock it up? We can go grab something to eat. We need to feed our baby,” he said, rubbing my stomach.
“Yes! I’m starving.”
Laughing, he took my hand and we walked out of our house. I loved the sound of that. I watched as he locked the door and then double check to make sure it was locked. It was little things like that that reminded me how much I loved him.
“You know it’s empty, right? It doesn’t matter if it’s locked,” I told him, shaking my head.
“It matters to me, that’s where I’m going to raise my kid with the love of my life.”
And things like that me made fall even more in love with him. He was fierce when it came to our love. And I loved him that same way.
Chapter 39
Watching all our family and friends mingle made my heart melt. It had been two weeks since we had moved in our house and my mom threw us a house warming party. Looking around the room, I saw Roman talking to my dad. They looked as if they never had any turmoil. They had gotten along better than I could have even hoped
for.
Roman’s mom and my mom were laughing in a corner, picking out names for their future grandchild. They were placing their bets on a girl.
West and Maddie were avoiding each other, again. They had an epic fight the night before. I had no idea why but I needed to do some investigating and get to the bottom of it.
“Hey, Em,” Ethan said, swinging his arm around my shoulders.
“Hi, Ethan.”
“Thank you,” he said completely out of the blue.
“For what?”
“For loving my brother and for making him happier than I have ever seen him. He took on a lot, more than he should have. You gave him a way to escape, you made him feel alive. And I’ll never forget you for that. I love you, Ems.”
His speech brought a tear to my eye. What he had just said to me hadn’t been rehearsed, it was straight from the heart.
“I love you, too. You know wanna know something?” I asked, looking up at him.
“What?”
“I think your something special, Ethan Charles. And I think that there’s a girl out there that’s going to do the same thing for you. And she’s gonna be one lucky girl.”
It was true, he was one of the best people I knew. If not the best.
“Little bro, get your hands off my girlfriend,” Roman said, as he pulled me from Ethan’s grip.
“I was just telling her to ditch you and take a chance on me,” he said, winking at me.
“I’m the hot one,” Roman shot back.
“Keep telling yourself that,” Ethan said, walking toward West. Who was sulking on the couch.
“Can I have everybody’s attention?” Roman said, getting some curious looks from the crowd gathered in our living room.
Like he had any trouble getting people’s attention.
Taking a look around the room, I saw everyone looking at Roman. They were waiting on his announcement and so was I.
“What are you doing?” I asked completely oblivious to what was about to go down.
And then he dropped to one knee. Putting my hands over my mouth,
“Pumpkin, I always thought you that were the most beautiful girl in town but I was wrong, you’re the most beautiful girl in the world. That night at the party, I purposely spilled my drink on you. I just wanted a reason to talk you. Knowing I wasn’t good enough for you, I did it anyway because I wanted to be. I wanted to be the kind of man that you would want. I know I’ve messed up and I probably will again. But I know that with you and with our baby is where I want to be, forever. I want to hold your hand on our front porch, watching our kids play. I want to be the shoulder you cry on, the man you depend on. I want to be your husband. I’ll love you forever. Emma Everly, will you make all my dreams come true and marry me?” he asked, pulling a ring box from his pocket.
I stood there trembling. That was the most romantic thing I had ever heard and it was being said to me. I couldn’t believe how far we had come. In high school I never thought I would be marrying Roman Charles and having a baby with him. In fact, I never thought I would be happy. For so long Preston was supposed to be my future but now Roman was my future. And I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“Yes! Of course!” I squealed.
Rising up from his knee, he slipped the ring on my finger and I recognized it immediately. It was his mother’s ring. The one I had always loved.
Staring down at it, I admired the small diamond. It was a declaration of love that had been passed down. And I knew how much it meant to Roman to give me that same ring his father gave his mother. It meant the world to me. It was as honor to wear it.
“I love you,” I told him, looking in his blue eyes.
“I love you, more.”
Roman pressed his mouth against mine and we shared our first kiss as future husband and wife. I heard someone clear their throat just as it was getting good. Pulling away from Roman I saw that it was my father.
“We’ll finish this later,” Roman whispered in my ear.
Before I could answer we were hoarded by everyone. All I could hear was congratulations and people talking about my ring. I nodded and smiled at everyone. I was literally too happy to talk, I was still in shock. Everything I had ever wanted was happening.
I loved the simplicity of the way he asked me to marry him. I loved the man he was. I never thought things could have worked out like they did. But I was so thankful for it.
After the last guest were out the door Roman asked me to meet him on our front porch. Walking out the front door, I saw Roman sitting on one the wooden rocking chairs. Staring at him, I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have someone that loved me that much. I was the luckiest girl in the whole world.
“I love you but you’re so creepy,” Roman said, laughing.
“I’m not creepy! I’m just enjoying the view.”
“Well then, get over here so you can see it up close and personal.”
Following his orders, I walked over and sat in his lap. I had never felt more at home than I did in that moment. Everything we had been through had been so worth it because it led us to where we were at. Sitting on the porch in front of our beautiful house with our precious baby on the way and engaged. Yep, it was definitely worth all of the drama.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” I told him, rubbing his face.
“That’s how being in love is supposed to feel. It’s supposed to feel like your feet won’t even touch the ground because you’re on such a high. And lucky us we found that. We live that feeling every day,” he said, smiling at me.
He was right, we were lucky. But more than that we were blessed beyond compare. We had everything that mattered in life.
Feeling a sudden movement in my stomach, I immediately put my hands on it. Roman’s eyes followed my hand to see where it landed.
“What’s wrong? Do you feel okay? Is our baby okay? Do we need to go to the hospital? Quit looking at me like that! Get up we have to take you to the hospital,” he said, not stopping to take a breath.
I starting laughing and he looked at me like I was a crazy person.
“What’s so funny? This is no laughing matter.”
“I’m laughing because nothing is wrong, Roman. Our baby just moved,” I told him, placing his hand on the spot the baby was kicking.
Feeling the small jolt again, I looked at Roman’s face and saw it light up.
“That’s our baby! Emma, the baby is moving!”
I shook my head and watched his excitement.
“I know,” I told him through my laughter.
“This is your daddy, little baby. Can you hear me in there?” Roman said, looking at my stomach.
I watched him have a full conversation with our baby, even though the baby couldn’t reply. But he didn’t care he just kept talking. I felt a feeling coming over me and it was true happiness. This is what life was all about. It was the little things that mattered the most.
I felt like I was in a fairytale and I fell in love with Prince Charming. But the truth was I didn’t want Prince Charming. I wanted Roman Charles and I would pick him any day.
Tempted (Tempted #1) Page 17
