Page 75 of British Daddy to Go

“I want to tell Don and Nancy about the baby.”

We’ve hardly spoken about her parents since I took her from her apartment. They’re not on speaking terms. Maggie had tried to speak with them once, about a week after the escape. They had refused to talk to her unless she came back home. Obviously, she didn’t take them up on it.

“Why?” I ask.

“They’re my parents; they deserve to know. And I think maybe they’ll soften up a bit if there’s a grandchild involved.”

I’m not so sure about that, but I squeeze her hand anyway. “I support your decision, and I’ll be there when you talk to them.”

She wipes a tear from her eye. “Thank you, Sean.”

I reach into the bedside table and pull out a box while Maggie is distracted by her sudden tears. I’m guessing they’re a combination of emotions from the pregnancy and sadness about her strained relationship with her parents.

“You know, I think your parents would take the baby news better if you were married.”

Maggie gasps and stares into my eyes, trying to figure out my meaning. She asks a silent question, and I answer by getting down on one knee.

“Maggie, I love you. I want to love you for the rest of my life because I can’t imagine spending any second of it without you. Will you marry me?”

With tears in her eyes, Maggie throws her arms around my neck. “Yes!” she cries. “Of course I will!”

I pull the five-carat diamond ring from its cushioned box and slip it onto Maggie’s finger. It’s a perfect fit.

“I love you so much!” she says.

“I love you more,” I respond. “And you know, you’ll have to design and make your own wedding dress.”

Maggie laughs. “Well, obviously!”

We stay on the floor of our bedroom, holding each other for a while. It’s uncomfortable, and we still haven’t put our clothes back on, but neither one of us wants to move. We’re together, and that’s where we love to be.

I squeeze her, and she squeezes me. Between us, waiting inside her until he or she is ready to come out, is our child. We’re going to be a family. We already are a family.

Maggie has always been my forever, my happily ever after. The ring on her finger just makes it official, and the baby in her belly makes it real.

I kiss her forehead and then her lips so that she knows just how much I love her. I’ll remind her every day until I can’t remind her anymore because that’s what you do when you find the one. And Maggie is my one.

THE END