“To do? Like what?”
“Like have you marry me and then spend the rest of our lives together, loving each other like no one else can.” He took a hold of my hand. My heart melted to hear him say that. We’d only known each other for two months. It was insane to hear him say that, but we did love each other.
“Donovan Wood, is that a marriage proposal? You’d better be careful. I might believe it and then I’ll say yes. You’ll be screwed,” I teased him.
His face got serious. He stood up. “Ilara Graham, I’ve never been more serious in my life. I love you and Hope. I want us to be a family in every way. If you’ll let me, I want to adopt her. And if he so chooses, I pray that God might see fit to give us another child one day. However, even if he doesn’t, I’ll always have Hope.”
“Bear, what about Tarin? What is she going to think? She just found her dad. She’s stayed around Hunters Creek to be near you. I know she wants to get to know you. How’s she going to feel if she has to compete with a little girl who isn’t your daughter? She’s your blood,” I asked him. I didn’t want to cause trouble between them. If she stayed around, she’d be a part of our lives. I didn’t want her to see us as adversaries.
“Tarin is my daughter, but she’s going to have to learn that Hope is too and you’re my wife. I want her to be a part of our family, however, her having my blood isn’t going to place her above Hope or any other kids we might have.”
I saw that he was serious. I smiled. “Well, when you get the ring, come see me and ask again and I’ll give you an answer.”
He dropped down to his knee and then took something out of his cut. He held it up. It was a red velvet ring box. My breath caught in my lungs and my mouth fell open. He opened it. Inside was a rose gold ring. It had three stones, The largest was a pink color. I think they call it morganite. On each side was a white diamond. The band was twisted like a vine and had smaller diamonds embedded in it, with a leaf motif at the base of the pink stone on the band. The other half of the twisted band was silver.
“Ilara, will you marry me?” he asked, as he took it out of the box and lifted my left hand. He held the ring just at the tip of my finger, waiting. I took a deep breath and I nodded. He slid it on. It fit perfectly. He stood up and kissed me. It was a claiming kiss for everyone to see. When he was done, I noticed the clapping. I looked around to find all the nurses and visitors in the hall and at the desk were smiling and clapping. I admit, it made me blush. I’d just gotten engaged in a hospital!
“This isn’t what I planned, but the timing felt right. You’ve made me so damn happy. No matter what those tests show, we’ll get through this, just like we will Hope’s leukemia,” he whispered. Tears gathered in my eyes. He was holding me when Zara came back down the hall. Outlaw had stayed by the desk.
She held a paper in her hand. She must have some results. I steeled myself to hear something possibly bad. “Ilara, Bear, come with me.” She gestured to an empty room beside Hope’s. I was still in the wheelchair, so Bear pushed me inside. She closed the door.
“I’ve got the results of the first test. I added this one after we came back up here, Ilara. I had a hunch. Remember I told you I didn’t want to say in case I was wrong? Well, I was right. The test came back positive. Ilara, you’re pregnant,” she said with a tiny smile on her face. I sat there speechless.
How was that possible? We’d only been together-together for less than two months. Though, I guess I could be. I had gotten pregnant with Hope immediately. Oh God, he wanted kids, but did he want them now? What about Hope and her treatments? How could we deal with that and a baby? He didn’t know how much work went into that first year. His whole life and his house would change even more than it had already. We’d have two kids under the age of three. As it sank in, I began to breathe hard and fast.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“I’m pregnant. Oh my God, what’ll we do? You realize that means night feedings, Hope’s treatments, two in diapers and under the age of three. You’ll have to get another car seat for your truck,” I said inanely.
He cupped my face between his hands. A huge smile spread across his face. I saw joy and happiness in his eyes along with excitement. He really did want this, every single insane bit. I took a deep breath and then nodded as I smiled. “Okay, it looks like we’ll have three kids. Thank goodness Tarin isn’t a toddler too. Maybe we can bribe her to stay and help us once in a while. I’m not above bribery.”
He threw back his head and laughed. Zara was smiling and congratulated us before she opened the door and in came Outlaw. We told him our news but swore them to secrecy. We wanted to surprise the others. They promised. We didn’t tell Mitch. It was maybe a half hour later that all the other results came back negative. Zara said she’d get me scheduled to see Dr. Foreman, her OB/GYN. She also said I was a tad anemic, so he might put me on iron. I couldn’t wait to tell everyone the news. Even in the middle of Hope’s cancer and Todd, I was so damn happy. The happiest I’d ever been in my life. Things were going to be alright!
Bear:
It had been five hours since we found out the good news. I still couldn’t believe it. I was going to be a father. I’d have another child to love. To think, all those years thinking I couldn’t have any, and I had one out there, and now Hope and the new baby. They were worth the wait.
I’d asked Bull to get everyone, including the old ladies, gathered tonight. He’d given me a worried look, but he didn’t ask. I was bursting to tell him why. Also, I called Tarin and asked that she come to the compound too. She asked why, but I just told her there were things we wanted her to be aware of. She said she’d be here.
I looked across the room. She was talking to Ilara, which I loved seeing. They seemed to be trying to feel each other out. Hell, my soon-to-be wife was the same age as my daughter. I knew that would cause some people to talk, but I didn’t give a shit. It took me a long time to grow up and be ready to do this. Not to say if I’d known about Tarin, I wouldn’t have taken care of her. I would have, but I don’t think I’d have been as prepared as I was now.
I saw Outlaw watching Tarin through narrowed eyes. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on there. They seemed to rub each other the wrong way every time they met. She’d given him a smart remark when she came in and he’d made one back. He acted like he didn’t trust her, however, his background check didn’t reveal anything odd. It matched her story of how she was raised.
Seeing that everyone was here, I went over to Ilara. “Are you ready, baby?”
“I’m more than ready,” she told me as she smiled. I looked at Tarin.
“Come over here with us.”
“Ooookay,” she said a little slowly. We went to stand in front of the bar. Payne gave an ear-splitting whistle. Because of Lash and Tinker from the Punishers and Thorn and Tiger from Dublin Falls, we’d been able to get all my brothers and the prospects here. They were watching over Hope at the hospital.
“Thanks for coming. I’m the one who asked Bull to call this meeting. Ilara and I got some news today that we think all of you should know.” I paused to hold in a yell.
“Please don’t tell us Hope’s cancer is worse,” Jessica said with a catch in her voice.
“No! No, nothing like that. I was the one that had to have some tests today. We got the results back quickly, thanks to Zara,” Ilara told them softly.
“What did you find?” Tank asked. All of them were tense.