Her eyes widen, and she lets out a puff of air. She doesn’t say anything, though, at least not immediately. “You need to tell me what’s going on,” I softly demand.
“Well, you see…” she begins. “Remember that time a few weeks ago when I was getting over being sick?”
“I do…” My words trail off because she was really sick with pneumonia for a few weeks. Thankfully, she was able to get over it relatively quickly with antibiotics and rest. But it scared the shit out of me. Hell, I still jump any time she coughs.
“Well, see, I wasn’t thinking. The doctor told me and everything, but I was so sick I wasn’t really listening.”
“Wrenly,” I warn.
My heart races as I begin to sweat. What the fuck is she trying to tell me here? And why isn’t she just telling me whatever it is? At this point, I need to know just so I can stop feeling sick about it and deal with whatever it is that’s coming my way.
She rocks from foot to foot as she continues to stare at me, still not saying a damn thing. Ryan, thankfully, doesn’t wriggle around too much, his head resting on my shoulder, no doubt hearing and feeling my heart slam against my chest.
Then Wrenly clears her throat, and she inhales a deep breath before she holds it for a moment and lets it out with a whoosh.
“I’m pregnant.”
My whole world freezes. It pauses at this moment. Even the air around me becomes thick and stagnant. I stare at her, my throat completely closed, my heart pausing its beating in my chest.
If I thought my world changed the moment Wrenly and Ryan appeared in my life. It doesn’t hold a candle to this.
And it doesn’t hold a candle to this because instead of feeling panic, I’m freaking the fuck out with pure unadulterated joy.
WRENLY
Eli stares at me in silence for what feels like an eternity. Then I watch as he bends slightly, placing Ryan on his feet. But before he straightens, he drops to his knee. My eyes widen, and I lift my hands, my palms facing toward him as I begin to tell him no.
This is not what I wanted. This is not what I expected. But as he continues to move, I watch as he shoves his hand in his pocket and pulls out a box, and that’s when I drop my hands. I don’t know what to do, what to say. I stand stock-still and stare at him, my lips parted in awe.
“I don’t know how it happened this way. I actually had a whole thing planned, and I picked this up today from being sized on my way home from practice.”
My eyes fill with tears, and as much as I try to blink them away, it doesn’t work, and they end up falling down my cheeks. Thankfully, I’m not wearing any makeup today since it’s my day off. I spent it cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking, along with going to the park and playing with Ryan. So there are no mascara streaks dripping down my face.
“Eli?” I whisper.
It’s the only thing I can say. I don’t know what to do right now. I’m frozen, my muscles completely seized as I stare at him in awe and wonder. Then he opens the box, and my whole body jerks as if someone has pushed my back from behind.
“What the—?” I ask in a whisper.
Nestled in the little turquoise velvety box is the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen in my life. A marquise solitaire on a plain rose gold band. It’s stunning. No, it’s beyond stunning. It’s perfection. And as tears well in my eyes, I can’t help but wonder how this is happening.
We’ve only been living together for five months. I moved after the team won the Cup. It was such an exciting time. There was a break in the schedule during which Eli came to Texas, and we packed up everything and drove it to Ohio.
Then, as if we weren’t crazy enough, we packed our bags and jumped on a plane to North Dakota. That’s where I met Eli’s parents and his sister. Our relationship has been short, a whirlwind, to say the least, but I didn’t expect a ring anytime soon, maybe not even ever. I don’t know what I expected or when, but this seems to be fate, happenstance, whatever you want to call it.
“This isn’t too soon?” I ask.
Eli chuckles as his eyes search my wet ones. “Sunshine,” he says, “nothing about our lives has been on any kind of normal timeline. Nothing is too soon when it comes to us.”
He’s right. Nothing is too soon or too late when it comes to our lives. I just can’t help but think that we’re rushing into this. But then I hear Ryan clap and giggle from the living room, and I realize that we’re a family. Even if it’s at warp speed, it doesn’t change that.
“Yes, Eli. Of course, I’ll marry you. I love you so much.”
So damn much.
I truly do.
I walked into his life with no idea about what was going to happen, and he didn’t just accept the fact that he was Ryan’s father—heembracedit. He didn’t make me feel like shit for running scared.
