years.” His voice rose in frustration. My God he was starting to sound like Sam. Was this what maturity did to a person?
“Right,” she said. She took a long sip of tea. A euphoric look crossed her face. “What kind of tea is this?”
Smiling, he responded, “Chamomile.” He decided to calm down. Be calm. This woman was carrying his baby. He intended to marry her. He would spend the rest of his life in love with her. This was a time for them to enjoy.
“Let’s go pick a ring,” he said. “And then once we have the ring, I’ll go with you to meet your parents. We’ll take them to dinner tonight. I’ll ask your father’s permission. And on New Year’s Eve, in one of the most beautiful places on earth, we’ll get married. Sound like a plan?”
“Sure,” she said, rather flippantly. “Why not?”
Ring buying…was an experience. He kept selecting these gorgeous rings, loads of diamonds, lots of style, and all she kept wanting was something simple. So they began their first experiment in a lifetime of compromising. Her ring was a 1.3 carat Tiffany Etoile because she refused to let him buy her anything bigger. The style had a matching band so he purchased that, too.
“What will you wear?” She asked while they stood in the flagship Tiffany’s.
“A simple band.” She raised her eyebrows at his response. “I know. You see me pushing you toward something big, but it’s just because I want you to have everything you want. I want spoil the hell out of you.”
“I don’t need much.” She shrugged.
“Just tell me you need me,” he said seriously. He grabbed her hands. “Tell me…because I can’t imagine my life without you.”
She stared at him. She looked at his hand holding hers. She pulled her hand away. “Would we be getting married if I wasn’t pregnant?”
“I wanted to be with you. I have ever since the Hamptons. Would I have already asked you to marry me if you weren’t pregnant? I had already asked you to live with me. That’s practically the same thing. That’s the direction I was heading. But, if you are asking if the baby has sped up my master plan…of course it has. It should.” He pulled her closer to him. “I know what you’ve thought of me for so long. I deserve your mistrust. I just hope that you can see beyond that to know that I am a good man. Even when I did bad things, I was honest about my intentions. You have to know that.”
She nodded quietly. Yet he knew that despite what she showed, she was still riddled with doubts. All he had was five days to make her believe.
After lunch at his favorite diner, he saw how worn out she seemed. “Let’s go take a nap,” he said. “We’ll get some rest before we take your family out to dinner.”
“Okay, no arguments here.” She smiled.
Before they even made it home, she had fallen asleep in the seat. He worried. Was this normal? Was she working too hard? He made a quick phone call. “Doctor, good to speak to you again. Do you still make house calls? Excellent. Can you be at my loft in two hours? Perfect.”
While she napped in what he was now thinking of as their bedroom, he paced around the living room. There had to be something he could do. There had to be some way he could lay all her doubts to rest. He started playing on the laptop. He brainstormed. Finally it came to him. Without a moment to waste, he went to work.
The doctor arrived just as he had finished his little project. Adam glanced at the clock and realized he would have to wake her up anyway, since it was getting later. “Just give me a moment, unless you want to examine her in the bedroom?”
The doctor shrugged. “Actually, it might be easier in there.” He followed Adam into the bedroom and stood off to the side while Cammie was woken up.
“Doll, the doctor is here to examine you. Can you please wake up?” He kissed her forehead a few times and was rewarded with another one of her stretches.
“Who’s here?” She asked sleepily. “Did you say something about a doctor?” Her eyes shot open. She made eye contact with the doctor, then with Adam, then with the doctor, and finally she spoke to Adam. “What the hell?”
“Okay, you can’t fault me for being concerned. So, the doctor is going to