Chapter Two
1323 Words
Chapter Two
Hayden sang happily as he washed the day’s work off his body. He was more than excited for the baby. It wasn’t exactly the way he wanted. He had always envisioned being married and then having babies but this would work, too. He switched off the shower and grabbed a towel, then made his way to the bedroom.
He sat down at the edge of the bed and reached into the back drawer of the nightstand. He pulled out a small black velvet box. He held it in his hand and ran his thumb along the soft velvet, then popped the lid open with his thumb. Inside was a platinum ring, with a two-carat, pear-shaped diamond, and two smaller princess-cut diamonds on either side of the center diamond.
He’d searched for the perfect ring for months before he finally came across this one. He didn’t care how much it cost. Of all the rings he looked at, this was the only one that he could picture on Eliza.
He could remember his father telling him and Theo the story of how he had proposed to their mother. It was her birthday. He had planned every last detail and had proposed to her in their favorite campsite by their favorite lake under a sky splattered with stars. He used to say that the stars were dull in comparison to the beauty of their mother.
Hayden smiled. He could say that about anything with Eliza. Everything in his life was dull in comparison to her. He’d gone over thousands of different scenarios in his head about how to propose to Eliza.
He could take her on a long romantic drive out into the woods and propose by the lake, like his father did. Or he could take her to a really nice restaurant and hide the ring in a plate of spaghetti or in the cake she ordered for dessert. Another thing he thought of was just taking her to the old cabin and spending a romantic night alone with her and proposing there.
There were so many different options, but none of them seemed to be perfect enough. She was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with and he only had one chance to get it right. He needed to make sure that it was a night she would never forget; a night that she would look back on and smile. A night that she would share with their children just like his parents had shared the story of his father’s proposal to his mother with him and Theo.
He knew Eliza well enough to know that she would probably tell their family and friends about the pregnancy all at once. So they would probably all be gathered in one place for the announcement. That was when he would propose. It was perfect. Announce the pregnancy, and then propose. He smiled at his perfect plan and put the black box safely away in the nightstand before getting dressed and heading downstairs to help Eliza with dinner.
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The day had finally come when Eliza and Hayden would tell their family and friends about the baby. Hayden loved the original plan that Eliza and Melissa had come up with so that was the plan they were going with.
They were having everyone over for Chinese. Melissa and Hayden helped prepare all the food and the homemade fortune cookies. Now they were all sitting in the living room waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive.
Hayden jumped up when the first knock came to the door. He rushed to the door and opened it, immediately inviting Theo inside.
“It smells really good in here. When do we get to eat?” Theo teased as he took a seat next to Melissa on the couch.
“I thought you were picking up Naomi?” Melissa gave him a worried look as she waited for her mother to appear from the kitchen.
“I did, she had to make a phone call. She’ll be in soon.” Theo smiled at her and gave her a small nudge. Melissa’s worried look faded and she continued talking to Eliza.
Naomi eventually made her way through the front door, followed by Brienne and Tom.
“Oh, wow, everyone is here.” Brienne looked at Eliza with a knowing smile. “What’s the occasion?” She hung her jacket up in the closet.
“No occasion. Just thought it would be nice to get us all together again. It’s been so long.” Eliza smiled casually, not revealing anything. “We are just waiting on Martin and Jeanette and then we can dish up.”
Right on cue, there was a knock at the door.
“That’s probably them now.” Eliza hurried to let her parents inside. She then set out all the Chinese dishes they had prepared and gave everyone the go ahead to dish up and start eating.
Once everyone was finished, Eliza got up and started clearing the dishes. Hayden got up to give her a hand and left the rest of the company chatting happily at the table. After the table was cleared, Hayden brought out the homemade fortune cookies and set them in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.
Hayden took a seat at the head of the table and pulled Eliza onto his lap as they waited nervously for everyone to c***k open the fortune cookies and reveal the special message they had written on each of the papers hidden inside.
Theo was the first one to c***k open his fortune cookie. He read the paper and smiled, looking directly at Hayden and Eliza. Hayden threw Theo a wink, and Theo munched on the cookie and sat quietly, waiting for everyone else.
Jeanette squealed loudly, startling Martin as she threw herself across the table and wrapped her arms around Eliza. The others quickly read the papers in each of the cookies. The room was immediately filled with squeals of joy, hugs, and congratulations.
When everyone had settled down a bit, Hayden excused himself to use the washroom and went to grab the little black box from the nightstand. Now it was time for his surprise. He wandered back downstairs and saw that everyone had migrated into the living room. Even better. He knelt down on one knee in front of Eliza.
“I need you to know that no matter what, I will always love you and our little baby. You are my soulmate, the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I needed it to be memorable, and I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill your life with all the love that you deserve. I figured that this was the perfect moment, having all of our friends and family here when I reveal just how much I love you. I want to spend every day telling you how wonderful you are and how much you mean to me. I want to spend the rest of my life showing you and our little baby and all our future babies what true love really is. I love you and I always will. Will you make me the happiest man on Earth and become my wife?” With that, Hayden opened the black velvet box, revealing the beautiful diamond ring.
The room fell completely silent. Eliza put her hands over her mouth and her eyes filled with tears. She tried to say yes but it came out a squeaky sob. She managed to laugh and started fanning herself and nodding frantically before throwing herself into Hayden’s arms.
“I think that’s a yes, bro.” Theo laughed and held Melissa, who was also crying, close to his side.
Hayden laughed and held Eliza just far enough away to slip the ring on her finger and then covered her face with passionate kisses. This night was absolutely perfect. Eliza looked around at everyone she loved. Everyone was happy. She wanted it to stay this way forever. With Hayden, she had no doubt that her life would always be filled with this much love and happiness.
- Writer
