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At that point, I fell even more in love with him since he was so nice, and I hugged him, which surprised him.
“What?” He exclaimed in shock as he hugged me back.
“I love you,” I said, and he laughed a lot. “I love you too, Sophie.”
EIGHT MONTHS LATER…
Sophie’s point of view:
I muttered quietly, “Lanky…” as I looked down at my baby girl’s little, weak body as she cried. I kissed her forehead softly.
I looked up at Liam, who was standing next to me, and was too thrilled and startled to say anything. His mouth was slightly open, and his eyes were full of emotions as he looked at our infant.
“Can I h-hold her?” he managed to say.
I nodded and cautiously gave her to him. His fingers were practically shaking as he carefully held her, afraid he may drop her.
He smiled and gave out a little, frightened laugh. A tear ran down his face.
“She is still crying…” He grimaced. “Why won’t she stop crying? Is something wrong?” I chuckled at him instead of answering.
“Didn’t you learn biology in school?” His face twisted in pain. “I hate biology.”
I laughed and said, “No wonder you don’t know anything.” This made him frown.
The nurse came and asked Liam if she could give her the baby so she could wash her. Liam nodded and gave her to her.
The nurse took her away, and he bent down and kissed my forehead for a long time. “I love you.”
I grinned. “I love you too,” he said, and then he kissed me.
“I told you it would be Lanky,” he said with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever…”
“Congratulations!” Alley said as she rushed in the door with Nathan and Saffron behind her with her baby son in her arms.
“That’s the tenth time you’ve said congratulations.” I rolled my eyes as she hugged me and gave her son to Nathan.
We all agreed to have a modest celebration at Liam’s house with only family. Alley’s family, Liam and Nathan’s parents, and ourselves. A week after, I had Lanky.
Nathan questioned me, “Where’s Liam?” and I searched about but couldn’t see him. “I don’t know…he was here a little while ago…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find him.” He moved past me to look for him.
Lanky was in Margaret’s arms, or should I say “mother,” as she urged me to call her. I couldn’t be happier.
Everyone sat down on the couch and talked to each other while Helen brought them refreshments. And God knows where Liam and Nat were.
I said I was sorry and went up to hunt for them. I was about to knock into Liam when I turned my back on everyone. He grabbed my forearm to support me.
“Hello, Sophie,” he said gently so that no one else would hear.
“Where were you?” I whispered and yelled.
He didn’t listen to me and took my left hand in his. Then he pulled the engagement band off my ring finger.
“What are you doing?” I inquired, confused by what he was doing.
He said, “The ring looks boring, doesn’t it? I think we should change it.”
I hit his hand away. “Are you crazy? You can’t just throw away an artificial ring. It’s Ruby and diamond for God’s sake!”
“You can keep it if you want, but wear it on a different finger.” He put the ring on my right hand’s ring finger.
“Why?”
“Cause I am trying to propose you for marriage, honey. You are making it difficult.” He whined in a childish way.
I gasped and laughed a little. “What’s that?”
Nat was there too, watching us from a distance with a slight smile on his face. Everyone else had also gotten quiet and was watching us.
Helen came out of the kitchen with a tray of food and Liam mumbled something funny to Nat. “Brother, please take the tray from her before she drops it in shock.”
Helen was confused by all she saw. “What’s going on?”
Nat grabbed the tray from her and walked into the kitchen to store it. Then he came back out.
Liam took a big breath and held both of my hands in his. “I read all of my romance novels again last night, but they didn’t help me get ready for this moment.” He looked deeply into my eyes.
Okay, he means it. I guess.
“I love you, Sophie. I know I’ve said this a lot before, but it never seems like enough. Thank you for coming into my life, for giving birth to Lanky, for loving me, and for giving me a chance to love you.”
I started to cry, and to my astonishment, he too had tears in the corners of his eyes. He smiled tightly, pushing back his emotions.
“Marry me, Sophie, and I’ll give you all the love and happiness in the world. I need you, just you, by my side as my wife.”
He took another long, anxious breath and looked across to Nat, who took a little box out of his pocket and threw it to Liam, who caught it with no trouble.
He dropped down on one knee, holding the box in one hand and my left hand in the other. “Please, Sophie, will you marry me?”
I grinned big and nodded my head, even though I was crying. “Yes!”
He pulled the ring out of the box, slipped it down my ring finger, kissed my knuckles, and then stood up and hugged me tightly. And everyone clapped.
He kissed the side of my head and said, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I murmured back, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.
“I knew it!” Saffron’s statement made us draw back. “I knew you two would get married one day.”
Everyone laughed at her as she bounced up and down with joy and her face lit up with enthusiasm.
She complimented us, and Liam bent down and kissed her forehead. “Thanks, best friend.” She grinned at him, and he winked back.
Liam came out of the bathroom and sat next to me on the bed as I was breastfeeding Lanky. He kissed me on the forehead and then Lanky on the forehead.
He put his head on my shoulder and quietly watched Lanky. I saw the faint scar on the left side of his chest because he wasn’t wearing a shirt. It made me sigh and brought back thoughts of what occurred. I lightly touched it with my finger, and he looked at me.
“Liam…” I said softly. “Yes, dear?”
“Are we going to be okay?”
“Yes, Sophie. Why are you saying that?” “I don’t want to lose you, Liam or Lanky.”
He held my hand and intertwined our fingers. “You won’t, honey. You won’t.”
“Blake…”
“He’s far away…he can’t reach us now. Plus, he’s in the rehab centre,” he said to me.
After that, I had nightmares for a few weeks, but Liam was there to comfort me and hug me close.
The dreams are long gone now, yet there is still some terror that won’t go away.
“And if something like this happens again, please don’t plan anything so stupid. Ask Nat, he has better ideas that don’t involve dying.” I said this to make him laugh.
“I swear that wasn’t part of the plan… it just happened, okay?” I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.”
He kissed my neck and then kissed all over it. I gently pushed him away. “I see a kid in here,” I remarked with a smile.
“That’s asleep and too young to understand anything,” he muttered in a husky voice as he nibbled on my ear.
I pushed him away and picked up Lanky, which made him moan in displeasure.
I put her in her crib when I was done nursing her and she was already asleep. I kissed her forehead and then walked back outside.
As soon as I closed the door, Liam rushed up behind me and picked me up in his arms like a bride, making me scream.
“Got you!” He said as he walked back to our bedroom. I lightly punched his shoulder.
He said in a husky voice, “You are mine for the rest of the night,” as he put me on the bed and got on top of me.
“No,” I said, trying to make him mad. “I’m going to bed.”
“Oh, you aren’t.” He put his nose in the crook of my neck. His fingers gently slid under my t-shirt and rubbed my waist in circles. “I’m going to make love to you over and over again, honey.”
When he put his lips over mine, my legs tightened and I stopped protesting. It was if my body was responding to what he was saying.
He whispered against my lips, “You and Lanky are a blessing to me, Sophie. I love you both.” I kissed him back.
THE END