Part two : Chapter Eighteen

“Oh, God. I think I might throw up.”

Ryle puts his thumb under my chin and tilts my face up to his. He

grins at me. “You’ll be fine. Stop freaking out.”

I shake my hands out and bounce up and down inside the elevator.

“I can’t help it,” I say. “Everything you and Allysa have told me about

your mother makes me so nervous.” My eyes widen and I bring my

hands up to my mouth. “Oh, God, Ryle. What if she asks me questions

about Jesus? I don’t go to church. I mean, I read the Bible when I was

younger, but I don’t know answers to any Bible trivia questions.”

He’s really laughing now. He pulls me to him and kisses the side of

my head. “She won’t talk about Jesus. She already loves you, based on

what I’ve told her. All you have to do is be you, Lily.”

I start nodding. “Be me. Okay. I think I can pretend to be me for

one evening. Right?”

The doors open and he walks me out of the elevator, toward

Allysa’s apartment. It’s funny watching him knock, but I guess he

technically doesn’t live here anymore. Over the last few months, he

just sort of slowly began staying with me. All of his clothes are at my

apartment. His toiletries. Last week he even hung that ridiculous

blurry photograph of me up in our bedroom, and it really felt official

after that.

“Does she know we live together?” I ask him. “Is she okay with that?

I mean, we aren’t married. She goes to church every Sunday. Oh, no,

Ryle! What if your mother thinks I’m a blasphemous *****?”

Ryle nudges his head toward the apartment door and I spin

around to see his mother standing in the doorway, a layer of shock on

her face.

“Mother,” Ryle says. “Meet Lily. My blasphemous *****.”

Oh dear God.His mother reaches for me and pulls me in for a hug, and her

laughter is everything I need to get me through this moment. “Lily!”

she says, pushing me out to arm’s length so she can get a good look at

me. “Sweetie, I don’t think you’re a blasphemous *****. You’re the

angel I’ve been praying would land in Ryle’s lap for the last ten years!”

She ushers us into the apartment. Ryle’s father is the next to greet

me with a hug. “No, definitely not a blasphemous *****,” he says.

“Not like Marshall here, who sank his teeth into my little girl when

she was only seventeen.” He glares back at Marshall, who is sitting on

the couch.

Marshall laughs. “That’s where you’re wrong, Dr. Kincaid, because

Allysa was the one who sank her teeth into me first. My teeth were in

another girl who tasted like Cheetos and . . .”

Marshall doubles over when Allysa elbows him in the side.

And just like that, every single fear I had has vanished. They’re

perfect. They’re normal. They say ***** and laugh at Marshall’s jokes.

I couldn’t ask for anything better.

Three hours later, I’m lying on Allysa’s bed with her. Their parents

went to bed early, claiming jet lag. Ryle and Marshall are in the living

room, watching sports. I have my hand on Allysa’s stomach, waiting to

feel the baby kick.

“Her feet are right here,” she says, moving my hand over a few

inches. “Give it a few seconds. She’s really active tonight.”

We remain quiet while we both wait for her to kick. When it

happens, I squeal with laughter. “Oh my God! It’s like an alien!”

Allysa holds her hands on her stomach, smiling. “These last two

and a half months are going to be hell,” she says. “I’m so ready to

meet her.”

“Me too. I can’t wait to be an aunt.”

“I can’t wait for you and Ryle to have a baby,” she says.

I fall onto my back and put my hands behind my bed. “I don’t

know if he wants any. We’ve never really talked about it.”

“It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want any,” she says. “He will. He

didn’t want a relationship before you. He didn’t want to get married

before you, and I feel a proposal coming on any month now.”

I prop my head up on my hand and face her. “We’ve barely been

together six months. Pretty sure he wants to wait a lot longer than that.”

I don’t push things with Ryle when it comes to speeding things up

in our relationship. Our lives are perfect how they are. We’re too busy

for a wedding anyway, so I don’t mind if he wants to wait a lot longer.

“What about you?” Allysa presses. “Would you say yes if he

proposed?”

I laugh. “Are you kidding me? Of course. I’d marry him tonight.”

Allysa looks over my shoulder at her bedroom door. She purses her

lips together and tries to hide her smile.

“He’s standing in the doorway, isn’t he?”

She nods.

“He heard me say that, didn’t he?”

She nods again.

I roll onto my back and look at Ryle, propped up against the

doorframe with his arms folded over his chest. I can’t tell what he’s

thinking after hearing that. His expression is tight. His jaw is tight. His

eyes are narrowed in my direction.

“Lily,” he says with stoic composure. “I would marry the hell out of

you.”

His words make me smile the most embarrassing, widest smile, so I

pull a pillow over my face. “Why, thank you, Ryle,” I say, my words

muffled by the pillow.

“That’s really sweet,” I hear Allysa say. “My brother is actually

sweet.”

The pillow is pulled away from me and Ryle is standing over me,

holding it at his side. “Let’s go.”

My heart begins to beat faster. “Right now?”

He nods. “I took the weekend off because my parents are in town.

You have people who can run your store for you. Let’s go to Vegas and

get married.”

Allysa sits up on the bed. “You can’t do that,” she says. “Lily’s a girl.

She wants a real wedding with flowers and bridesmaids and shit.”

Ryle looks back at me. “Do you want a real wedding with flowers

and bridesmaids and shit?”

I think about it for a second.

“No.”The three of us are quiet for a moment, and then Allysa starts

kicking her legs up and down on the bed, giddy with excitement.

“They’re getting married!” she yells. She rolls off the bed and rushes

toward the living room. “Marshall, pack our bags! We’re going to

Vegas!”

Ryle reaches down and grabs my hand, pulling me to a stand. He’s

smiling, but there’s no way I’m doing this unless I know for sure he

wants it.

“Are you sure about this, Ryle?”

He runs his hands through my hair and pulls my face to his,

brushing his lips against mine. “Naked truth,” he whispers. “I’m so

excited to be your husband, I could piss my damn pants.”

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***