Taking Chances (Taking Chances #1)(95)

“If you were any other girl, I would be. But you're my world Harper, no matter how strange our situation may be, being with you and starting a family with you feels right.”

“I completely agree.” I whispered against his neck and pressed my lips there twice. “Are we all clear now? Anything else we need to cover?”

“Will you move in with me, let me take care of you and marry me?”

“Are you proposing Brandon Taylor?” I teased, looking up into his brown eyes.

He smiled and caught my lips with his, “Not until I have a ring for you sweetheart.”

“Good because that would have been a horrible proposal. And in the words of the man I love, yes to all of the above.”





15


Brandon and I had found a townhouse that weekend and were moving in tomorrow. It was a three bedroom, two and a half bath, two car garage with a backyard and it was perfect. It was less than ten minutes away from Mom and Dad's, and even though they were sad I wouldn't be living with them, they were really happy that Brandon and I were moving on with our lives. Mom said she was going to set up another nursery in the room anyway so she could babysit and to insure we would still come over often. Yesterday we had finished picking out and buying everything we needed to furnish our new place, and the things that weren't already stored in Mom and Dad's garage were being delivered tomorrow morning. We were currently starting the ultrasound at my first appointment with Brandon since he and I had gotten back together. As suspected, Dr. Lowdry wasn't surprised to see Brandon, and was genuinely happy he was there with me.

Brandon's breath caught and he squeezed my hand as soon as Gummy Bear's heartbeat filled the room and he was on the screen. “Oh my God, Harper.”

I smiled at him and looked back to the screen. Going through this right now was completely different than it had been with Chase. It had been almost magical with Chase, emotional since he died, and felt like a perfect new beginning with Brandon.

“Okay Harper, as you can see, the baby has already turned head down and dropped. That usually doesn't happen for a couple more weeks, so unfortunately I am going to have to put you on bedrest. He'll probably still come early, but honestly with how things are going it could happen at any time now. We need to make sure he stays in there at least a few more weeks so everything can be fully developed. If it comes down to it there are medicines we can use to help with that, but I'd prefer to not do that. So the less active you are now, the better.” Dr. Lowdry turned to Brandon, “Now I'm counting on you to make sure she takes it easy, okay?”

He grinned at me, “I promise she'll be taken care of.”

I rolled my eyes, he knew I could only handle being babied for so long before I started going crazy. I usually didn't make it past two days.

The next day was ridiculous, I wanted to be putting everything away in our new home, but once the furniture had been moved in, everyone made me lie on the couch and tell them where I wanted boxes to go. I continued to whine and complain until Brandon came back with another load of boxes and frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon for me. That shut me up and I decided to play nice the rest of the day. I ordered pizza for everyone that helped four hours later when they'd finished, and we had the house to ourselves by eight. Brandon and I walked from room to room so I could see how the furniture looked in the rooms, and I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. We had just left the new nursery when Brandon stopped me in the hall.

“Close your eyes sweetheart.”

“Why?” I dragged out the word a bit.

Brandon stepped close and placed his lips to my ear, his fingers gently rubbing my swollen stomach. “I have a surprise for you, will you please close them?”

I obeyed and he took my hands to lead me to another room, my jaw dropped when I finally opened them. “When did you do this?” I glanced around at our bedroom that was dim, the only light coming from candles, and the huge bouquets of orange lilies. At least another two dozen lilies had the stems cut off and were lying on the bed.

He kissed me gently and walked me to the bed, “I made sure you were kept busy for a while. You really thought Bree wouldn't know where to put the nursery and kitchen items?” He sat me down and bent over, kissing me again.

“Thank you Brandon, for everything.”

“Harper, I will love you forever, and I promise to take care of you and our kids for the rest of my life.” He leaned over and pulled something out of a nightstand drawer, then dropped to one knee, my mouth popped open and my eyes widened. “Will you please marry me?”

Of course tears started streaming down my face as I nodded my head and managed to squeak out, “Yes!” I pulled Brandon's face to mine and kissed him until I couldn't think straight anymore.

I gasped when he opened the black box and there lay a thick white gold band with three large round diamonds on top. He pulled it out and gently placed it on the ring finger of my left hand. I laughed when the ring instantly fell to one side from the weight of it and pressed my lips to Brandon's, pulling him onto the bed with me. His large frame curled around my body as he kissed me passionately and slowly made his way to my stomach, which he kissed tenderly and told Gummy Bear that Mommy and Daddy were getting married. There was fire in his eyes when he brought his face back to mine and began unbuttoning my top. To be honest, with how big my stomach is, I thought he wouldn't even want me like that right now, but the way his lips moved over my throat and chest, and his fingers caressed my body, it didn't seem he thought the same. I was craving to be with him, but after a while he groaned and fell to his side on the bed, both of us breathing hard.