by Brenda Ford
“Yes,” I hear myself answering before I have had a chance to think about it. “Yes, that sounds amazing.”
Working together will be different if we’re on the same team, if we’re the bosses, I’m sure of it. But I also know that Wesley can do it alone if I decide to walk away because it’s too much as well. Saying no and running away from things hasn’t exactly worked out for me in the past, so I’m trying saying yes.
To celebrate, in front of absolutely everyone, Wesley grabs me and kisses me. I guess we aren’t going quite as slowly as we planned to, but actually that doesn’t matter. It’s going to last forever anyway, isn’t it?
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Wesley
Six Months Later…
“Where is Zoe?” our company receptionist, Meghan, asks me for what feels like the hundredth time. “She’s supposed to be helping me pick out bridesmaid dresses for my wedding and I haven’t seen her.”
“You know that we’re supposed to be here for work, not wedding shopping?” I tease back. “This isn’t a freaking social club, you know? It’s an office, a place of business.”
Meghan rolls her eyes at me. She knows that I don’t mind really. As long as the work gets done, I don’t mind what happens here. That’s because we have a friendly environment, which helps foster professionalism and comfort for the staff. The productivity levels are so much higher here than Andy ever had and that’s because we all get along and we want to do well. We are all aiming for the same goal and that’s success. A success that will benefit all of us when it comes our way. Because I run things in a way for all of us.
Plus, Meghan and Zoe have an amazing friendship. One that I’m sure Zoe needs. Of course, she has all of my family and she has Jessica in New York as well, but Meghan is a genuine work friend. That isn’t something that she has ever had before. It took her a while to trust after Hannah, but finally that is all in the past. She has let go of all of her hang ups and now has a great friend. I couldn’t be happier for her. I feel like it’s the last piece of her life that she needed and now she has everything. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.
“I don’t know where she is,” I finally tell Meghan. “She is supposed to have been here all morning.”
I grab my cell phone and call her, properly wondering what has happened to her now that I’ve taken my attention away from business for the moment. She loves this place and is here as much as she can be. The only thing that would take her away from here is Maddie, but if there was something to worry about, I would know.
“Hey, Zoe,” I say in to her voice mail. “Just calling in to check in where you are. No pressure or anything, just Meghan keeps asking when you’re coming to discuss bridesmaid dresses with her.”
Meghan smirks and rolls her eyes at me before walking over to her desk to carry on with her job. Well, that combined with endless bridal magazines, but I suppose she will be distracted planning a wedding.
“Anyway, just give me a call when you can and let me know that everything is alright. Love you.”
A sense of worry overcomes me as I hang up the phone. I feel weird, like a dark cloud is hanging above me. I need to see Zoe now to be sure that she’s okay. Things have been incredible between us for the last six months, I’m no longer worried in that respect, but she has been complaining of not feeling one hundred percent recently. I really hope that she isn’t ill. I might rush home quickly to check on her. The office isn’t too far from our apartment. That’s why I picked this place when first searching for a base…
“I’m here, I’m here…” All of a sudden, the door bursts open and my ray of sunshine bursts in. She has a giant grin on her face definitely hasn’t come from her throwing up all morning. “Sorry, it’s been a bit of a morning.”
She grabs me and kisses me, making all the worry just ebb away. With her arms around me, everything feels right with the world. I lean in to her and allow myself to relax for just a moment.
“I have some news.” She pulls back to stare at me, her eyes dancing with joy. “That’s why I’m late.”
“You are making me nervous,” I laugh. “What is going on? What is this news?”
She rustles around in her bag to pull something out. As she hands it to me, it takes me a couple of moments to realize what I’m looking at. Even as my brain clears, I still don’t process it instantly. The rationality is there but I can’t quite put all of the jigsaw pieces together. It’s a bit too overwhelming.
“What the…?” I dart my eyes between her and my hand. “What am I looking at here?”
“It’s a positive pregnancy test. Me and you are having another baby. Can you believe it?”
A baby. A second chance. An opportunity to have a child and be there from the beginning. I can’t believe it. And this is coming at a time that is completely right for me. I can handle everything now; I am in a much more mature better place. I’m overwhelmed with a rush of happiness. This is the best thing to ever happen to me.
“I’m going to be a father again,” I gasp. “Oh my God, we’re having another child.”
I grab Zoe and hug her tight, soon feeling the arms of Meghan and our other employees around us too. What a difference to the last time we discovered that Zoe was pregnant. Life really has gone full circle and led us back to the absolute best place. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here with all of these people.
Changing everything up and going for a clean slate was terrifying. I didn’t really know what was going to happen and how things would work out, but it’s all gone perfectly. I couldn’t be happier.
“I love you so much.” I kiss her about a million times. “I love you not only for yourself but also because you’re the mother of my child… well, my children. Oh my God, children. I can’t believe it; this is so exciting.”
“I love you too.” I can see the tears of joy in her eyes. “I’m so freaking happy.”
There is a small box in my pocket. A box containing a precious piece of jewelry that I have been carrying around for a while now just waiting for the right moment. I wanted it to be perfect, and I was thinking of making some advice from my brothers, especially the ones who have gone for big gestures in this department, but there is something about this moment that feels right. I wouldn’t have expected it, but it is.
So, without further ado, I grab the box out of my pocket and fall to one knee in front of her. Someone behind me gasps, I think it’s Meghan, reminding me that there other people here, but actually that’s okay. These people are a positive step in our love story, so I’m happy for them to see.
“Zoe Portwood, you really are a special person to me.” A moment ago, she was almost crying. Now the happy tears are in free flow. “When you first came in to my life, I didn’t like you, but that’s because I was so threatened by you. One, because you’re an absolutely amazing person. But also, because the feelings you made me feel were incredible. Overwhelming. I didn’t know what to do with them… until we fell in bed together.”
Laughter titters around the room, but it’s all kind laughter. Everyone here knows our story and they all think that it’s surprisingly romantic, considering it started with a one night stand after a failed attempt at a wedding, and traveled in to gossip and running away. Me and Zoe don’t mind sharing that piece of us with them.
I hope that as I say these words, she knows that she can trust me, because I would never leave her at the altar. I love her way too much for that. I could never treat her anything like she was treated in the past.
“Then we ended up pregnant with our lovely little our daughter. Maddie. Of course, things weren’t straight forward from there, to say the least, but fate brought us back together. Because we are meant to be. After everything that we have been through, I wanted to make this a very precious moment for us to share, but I couldn’t work out when would be best. Little did I know that you would come to me with news of a new baby.”
Shit now the emotion is choking me. I can feel it catching in my throat and maki
ng me stumble over my words. But I need to get the rest of this out because this is so important to the both of us.
“Zoe, I want you to be my wife. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, spending every single day making you and our children happy. I can’t wait for us to be official, to scream our love from the roof tops. So, what do you say? Will you do me the honor of being my wife? Will you marry me?”
“A family,” she gasps while clapping her hands to her mouth. “We will be a family at last.”
I know how important this is to her, because I feel the same way. I lost my parents but always had my brothers, while she has had no one. Not ever since her grandma passed away. She has my family now too, but it will be official. For her and Maddie this will be the best thing ever. I’m utterly over the moon.
I can just see our future stretched out in front of us. All of us, not just me and Zoe. But Brad, Oliver, Angelo, Alex, Nelson, and their families as well. If we live the incredible and close life that I’m seeing in my mind, then I just know that our parents will be proud. They didn’t get to be with us through all of this, they were taken from us much too soon, but we are managing to make it work in the best way possible.
“Is that a yes?” I ask her as my hand starts shaking with nerves. “Please tell me that’s a yes.”
“Oh my God, that’s a yes.” She falls to the ground and hugs me tight. “Definitely a yes.”
As we hug and kiss, everyone around us cheers like crazy. They are so genuinely happy for us which makes this all so much better. The clapping and the whooping makes me smile with so much joy.
I take her hand and slip the diamond ring on her finger, confirming this engagement and it feels incredible. I mean, this is the first time for me so it’s going to feel overwhelming and exciting. But looking at Zoe, I can tell that she feels the same way as well. This is the real engagement, the one which will end in marriage.
“A new baby,” she whispers to me. “And a wedding. We are going to be very busy.”
“Oh, and don’t forget the business as well… but we can do it, can’t we?”
“Of course. Me and you can do anything.” Her face lights up with a grin. “Absolutely anything.”
As we hug again, I really feel it as well. Like anything is possible. Me and Zoe can do whatever, can face anything and come out much stronger. After everything that we have already suffered and survived, I know that nothing will get in our way. I can’t wait to face the rest of my life with this amazing woman, to have the future that I always wanted with her. Finally, now it’s within my grasp at last. I bury my face in her hair and inhale deeply, breathing in the woman who is going to be my wife, and love explodes in my chest.
This is it, my place in the world, where I am mean to be. With Zoe and my family.
Now I can’t wait to tell Maddie about our wedding… she is going to absolutely love it.
Epilogue
Zoe
Eighteen Months Later…
“Do I look okay?” I ask Jessica nervously. “Does this dress look okay on me?”
“You look incredible, Zoe. Don’t panic so much. You look better than you ever have done before.”
“Like a princess,” Meghan agrees. “Which is good because this is your fairy tale day.”
“Now all you need to do is make sure that you don’t keep picking up James,” Jessica laughs. “Because much as I adore your little boy, he is almost one years old and permanently covered in chocolate.”
“I know, I know, and I’m sorry. But you girls managed to get the stain out for me. Best bridesmaids ever.”
“Yeah, and it took us ages. Never again.”
We all laugh together, but I can tell that I really do need to be careful because I don’t know if we’ll be able to get out another stain. We got lucky the first time around. My gorgeous little boy is adorable, but yes, he is very messy. Luckily, he has his sisters and his cousins playing with him and distracting him.
“Are you ready for this?” Jessica knows how heavy this is for me. Really, it’s a pretty crazy day, more than anyone who hasn’t known me for years can possibly know. But Jessica gets it. She was there for the last time that I was going to get married. She saw my face when I found out that my ex wasn’t turning up, she supported me.
Although in reality, much as I was shocked and upset, I think that there might have been a part of me that was relieved as well because it didn’t work out for a reason. It was never going to work out. It fell apart at the right moment before we were legally connected to one another. It was the best way, if not a little harsh.
But if the father of my children did the same thing to me, the real love of my life, then it would kill me. I wouldn’t be able to come back from that. Jessica knows that it would make me fall apart.
Luckily, I know that Wesley wouldn’t do that to me. I am confident in him and our love.
“I’m fine.” I breathe in deep. “This is going to be awesome. I can’t wait for it.”
I glance in the mirror to check out my wedding dress one last time and I really see what my friends were saying about me. It’s a sweet dress with a lacy floral design, to fit in with my love for everything hippy, but it has a princess feel to it as well. I’m sure that Wesley will be in one of his trade mark clean cut crisp suits, making him look the total opposite to me, but we are a classic case of opposites attract and it works well.
Our wedding symbolizes that as well. Right now, we are at a posh hotel. The reception party will be in the hall in here, where it is all posh and glamorous. But our actual ceremony will be in the orchard outside. It isn’t quite bare foot in the woods, but it’s pretty damn close. As close as I need. Plus, the outside element of it means that the kids can run wild out there and it won’t be an issue for anyone.
With such a big incredible family and an awesome circle of friends as well, we can’t expect it to be a quiet affair. But I have spent far too much of my life living in the quiet. I love the noise now.
I hope you are looking at me now, Grandma, I think, hoping that she is out there somewhere, in the afterlife, watching me live this awesome life of mine. Because I finally have it all.
God, I wish that she was here. I wish she could be here to walk me down the aisle. I’m okay with Brad doing it, since he’s Wesley’s father figure and a great friend to me as well, but I would have loved her to do it. There hasn’t been anyone in the world who deserves the job more. But since that isn’t possible, I can just hope that she’s up there somewhere, watching me proudly on the happiest day of my whole damn life.
“Okay, are you ready?” Jessica finally asks me. “Because much as I love this hotel room, it’s time for you to get hitched already. Unless you have cold feet and you want to run away.”
“Oh, no chance.” I grin. “I have been waiting for this day forever.”
“Right, come on then. Let’s get going. Let’s go and get you married to the love of your life.”
She holds out her arm to me and Meghan does the same. I link them both and we walk out the room and down the stairs towards the outside area. The sun is shining brightly, glittering through and making the whole set up that much more beautiful. Everyone else is there already, really enjoying the sun shine and the fun.
“This is lovely, isn’t it?” I comment to my friends. “A really nice day for everyone.”
“Only you wouldn’t want your wedding day to be just about you,” Meghan laughs. “Only you wouldn’t mind not being the center of attention. You really are something else, Zoe Portwood.”
“Portwood for now. Soon to be Smith.” God I can’t wait. The Smith name comes with so much love and affection, so much family, so much everything. It makes the world a brighter place. “Oh look.” My breath gets caught in my throat. “And there is my husband to be now. Doesn’t he look handsome.”
I watch as he holds James in one arm and hugs Maddie with the other, loving how he’s become the most doting father ever. He’s really made up for not being around at t
he early stages in Maddie’s life by taking on such a massive role in his son’s life. He actually does the lion’s share of the harder jobs.
“Okay, we need to get started,” I say impatiently. “I need this man to be my husband already. I can’t wait.”
Meghan rushes off to get Brad, to get this started, and I try to curb my nervous anticipation as I do. I’m excited, thrilled, but anxious as well. Nervous because I don’t know if I can hold myself back.
“This is going to be amazing,” Jessica whispers reassuringly to me. “And remember, I’m the one who always wanted you to be careful, but I know now that this is the right thing for you to do. The wedding will be perfect, and you will have your happy ever after as well. You and Wesley are meant to be.”
I love the way that those words feel because I know that she’s right. We haven’t been through all of these things, suffered all those dramas, not to end up apart.
“I think we are as well, and I can’t wait. He’s a great person and I’m glad we got a second chance.”
“Just make the most of it. Really enjoy it because that is what you deserve.”
“Thank you, Jessica, you are an awesome friend as always.”
Brad comes to my side with a big smile and he hugs me. “My brother is a lucky man to be marrying someone so lovely,” he tells me gently. “I’m so glad that you’re finally getting married.”
“We took our time to get here,” I admit. “But I’m glad that it’s happening.”
“Then, let’s get this show on the road.”
The harp music and steel drums start up, giving me a shiver up and down my spine. I cling on to Brad as my friends and bridesmaids walk up the aisle in front of us. At one point, Maddie runs out and nearly trips Jessica up because she’s so desperate to hug her, but that only makes everyone laugh. It isn’t a big disaster.
