Taking Chances (39 page)

“It has been
way too long since I've woken up with you in my arms,” he kissed the top of my
head, “and I'm glad you like your ring.”

“I love my
ring, and I love you.”

“I love you
too, my beautiful fiancée.”

I smiled and
scooted away so I could roll over to face him, big stomachs tend to get in the
way sometimes, “And I
love
that.” I kissed under his jaw and his arms
tightened around me, “How does Christmas time sound?”

Brandon started
and looked down at me, “For what?”

“To get
married. I don't want to be pregnant when we get married, I don't want it to
look like a shotgun wedding. And I really want to wear a pretty dress, not a
maternity dress.”

“Four and a half
months?” I nodded and he smiled wide, that dimple that I love so much flashed
at me, “Sounds perfect.” He kissed me chastely and got out of the bed, “I'm
going to make us breakfast, you're going to turn our phones off and meet me in
the kitchen when you're ready. Breanna's gonna hate me, but we're ignoring the
outside world and not leaving our place for the rest of the weekend. They can
find out about our engagement on Monday.”

Brandon and I
had done exactly what he said; I turned off the phones, grabbed a quick shower
and dressed in comfortable pajama shorts and stretchy tank top. He made ham and
cheese omelets, coffee for him, decaffeinated tea for me and cut up a melon. We
sat at the kitchen table, my legs propped up on Brandon's lap, eating breakfast
and staying long after it was gone just to talk and enjoy having our own place.
The rest of the weekend was either spent on the couch watching movies, sitting
out back in the evenings or curled up in bed. After complaining all throughout
lunch the first day, he finally conceded to letting me stay standing long
enough to help cook our meals, even though I did notice he seemed to make meals
that didn't take much time to cook after he did allow my help. My family and
his were coming for dinner Monday night to have everyone in our place now that
it was completely done being decorated – Brandon had only let me work for five
minutes an hour, and had done the rest himself, but I had to admit it looked
amazing and I loved seeing him make our new place our home – and also to share
our news.

There's
something I had been thinking of since Brandon and I had decided to get back
together, and after he asked me to marry him, all I have been able to do was
think of a way to talk to him about it. I was sitting on the bed waiting for
him to get out of the shower Monday evening, and as soon as he stepped into the
bedroom in only a pair of jeans, I decided right now was as good a time as any.

“Hey, can I ask
you something?”

“Of course,” he
crawled onto the bed and kissed me hard before sitting down and pulling me into
his arms, “what's up?”

I bit my lip
and took in his ridiculously handsome face. His eyes were full of love and joy
when he looked at me, and coming from this intimidating looking guy, it made
him just that much more attractive, “I've kind of been thinking about a name
for him.”

“Yeah?” His
smile was playful and patient, we continued to go over the ten names Chase and
I had decided on, and still couldn’t narrow them down, Brandon thought it was
hilarious, “And what have you been thinking?”

I took a deep
breath and sat up, “You have to promise you'll tell me if this bothers you,
okay?” I thought back to that day in his mom's kitchen in Arizona after
Christmas, and how he'd looked in Chase's kitchen the day I told him I was
having a boy.

His smile fell,
“I promise babe.”

“Well,” My body
was shaking, I couldn't believe how nervous I was about telling him this! He'd
already told me he wanted a son named after his dad, and I knew he thought of
Gummy Bear as his, but I didn't know if the baby not
actually
being his
would make a difference to Brandon. “I was thinking we could name him Liam
Chase Taylor.”

Brandon's next
intake of breath was audible, his mouth opening slightly. His brown eyes
searched mine for what seemed like an eternity before he smiled and brought his
mouth to mine, “Thank you Harper.” he whispered against my lips and continued
to kiss me fiercely. “I love you, thank you so much.”

“I take it you
like the name?” I asked a little breathlessly when he moved to my neck.

“I love it,
it's perfect for him...for us.” He cupped one side of my face and kissed my
nose, “I understand why you would think it would bother me, but I promise I've
never been happier than this weekend. I'm so lucky to have you Harper.”

“I'm the lucky
one.” I whispered.

The doorbell
rang, and he jumped off the bed to put a shirt on, “Can we tell them the name
tonight too?” he asked pulling me towards the entryway.

“I think
tonight would be perfect.” I kissed his cheek and answered the door. I was engulfed
in hugs and kisses from my family, Mom of course started asking why I was
standing, “Mom, I'm fine. I literally just got off the bed when you guys got
here.” I hugged her tightly and Bree gasped.

“Oh my God!
You're engaged?!” She screeched and hugged me again, bouncing over to Brandon
to hug him too. She must have seen my hand on Mom's back.

“Congrats Kid.”
Konrad kissed the top of my head and shook Brandon's hand.

“Let me see,
let me see!” Mom and Bree were holding my hand while Dad hugged both of us,
“Konrad, are you seeing this? Take notes.” Bree showed him my ring, then went
back to inspecting it, “Did he just ask you?”

I raised an
eyebrow at Brandon and smiled, “He asked me Friday night after everyone left.”

Breanna dropped
my hand, “Whoa wait, what? And I'm just hearing about this? You're supposed to
tell me these things right away, not wait…” she counted on her fingers, “three
days!”

“That would be
my fault, I told Harper it was going to just be us during the weekend, I asked
her to wait to tell you.”

She turned her
glare to Brandon, “For the next five minutes, we are not friends.”

We all laughed
and I drug her over to the living room, before we could sit down the doorbell
rang again and Brandon let in his mom and Jeremy.

“Oh Harper,
look at your cute belly! You look like you've gotten bigger just over the
weekend! You look great honey!” Carrie hugged me and when we pulled back I
flashed my ring. She squealed and grabbed my hand, “Oh my goodness,
congratulations you two!” She smacked Brandon on his arm, “How could you not
tell your own mother that you were going to ask her! I would have given you
pointers.”

Jeremy hugged
us and was smiling wide, “I'm really excited for you guys.”

“Thanks Jeremy,
and Carrie trust me, he did a great job!” I laughed and told everyone how he
proposed while we walked them through the house to show off everything.

Everyone gushed
over our home, and by the time the tour was finished, all the women were
ushering me to the couch. I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything, I was just
glad to have them there. The guys went out back to put the burgers on the
grill, while I talked wedding with the women. They all loved the idea of a
Christmas wedding and agreed that waiting until after the baby was born would
be best. Carrie and Claire started discussing watching their grandson so
Brandon and I could have some sort of a honeymoon, even if it was just a night
or two alone in our house.

“Hey, Bree?”

“Yeah friend?”

“Are you mad at
me for not telling you sooner?”

She snorted,
“Not at all, I was joking. I'm so excited for you!”

“Well since
you're
not
mad,” I smiled and winked, “will you be my Maid of Honor?”

“Um, YES! Of
course I will! Who else are you going to ask?”

“Just you. I
know sometime while they're out there, Brandon is going to ask Konrad and
Jeremy. It will be uneven, but I'm not really friends with anyone else other
than everyone here. Brian and Marissa haven't talked to me since the funeral,
so I can't ask her.”

“I think it
will be just fine to only have Bree. Either both guys can escort her up the
aisle, or they can be with Brandon already and she can walk herself down.”
Carrie added.

“Do you think
we'll be able to put something together by then? It really doesn't have to be
anything extravagant. I just want to wear a dress, I want all of you there, and
I want to marry him. Other than that, we can get married here for all I care.”

“Oh no,” Bree
shook her head, “Mom has connections. It will be awesome.”

“I do indeed!”
Mom agreed, “We can definitely come up with an amazing wedding by then.”

I smiled,
“Okay! I think Brandon and I decided on December fifteenth, if we can't get
that day, we can do the weekend before or after. Oh my word I can't believe all
this is happening.”

“Are you happy
Harper?” Mom asked.

“I'm so
so
happy.”

The three of them
smiled wide at me and we went back to talking about the baby and wedding plans.
When dinner was ready, we ate outside, adding the guys into our earlier
conversation. Brandon had already asked Konrad and Jeremy to be in the wedding,
we got the colors figured out, and figured out a few venues to look at this
week. Most of Brandon's friends had graduated this year, and though we planned
on sending them invitations, we weren't sure if they would all fly back out
here. The majority of the guests would be his, and the Grayson's, extended
family. Mom said we could try to reach Sir again, but I wasn't going to get my
hopes up. I hadn't received even an e-mail back from him since I told him I was
pregnant, and didn't expect that to change now. After it got dark we went back
to the living room and were all lost in different conversations when Brandon
spoke up.

“So we have
something to tell everyone.”

“You're getting
married?” Bree guessed.

I gasped,
“How'd you know!” Everyone laughed and Brandon tried again.

“Okay we have
something
else
to tell you.” He looked at me and his face was so elated
my breath caught, everyone snickered. “Sweetheart, you want to tell them?”

“We decided on
a name for the baby.” I was smiling so wide my cheeks were hurting, I tore my
gaze away from Brandon to look at our family, “We're going to name him Liam
Chase Taylor.”

It sounded like
they all gasped at once, and instantly started on how perfect it was, and how
they loved it. Soon everyone was crying and hugging each other. When we all sat
back down, Brandon held me tight.

“I don't think
there could be a more perfect name for him.” Robert said, and the rest of the
group agreed.

“That's what we
think too.” Brandon responded “Thank you all, for being there for us through
everything. We've all gone through a lot of hard times to get to where we are
now. But Harper and I are very thankful for your support, it means a lot to
us.” 

I kissed his
jaw and rested my head on his shoulder. I couldn't have said that better
myself.

“Breanna,” Mom
leaned over and gave her a look, Bree quickly got out of her seat and walked
toward the kitchen and came back with her large purse, “We made something for
you two. Do you still plan on telling him about Chase?”

My throat
locked up so Brandon answered for me, “We do. We think it's important for him
to know.”

Mom nodded
while Bree handed us a large scrapbook. “If for whatever reason you didn't,
that would be fine, no one would blame you for that. But in case you do, we
made this so you could show Liam who Chase was, instead of just telling him
stories.”

Brandon sat the
book on his lap and opened it, so the top was on mine. I gasped as we flipped
through page after page of Chase. Pictures from right after he was born, to
funny toddler, first day of school to sports and first time surfing. Watching
him grow up right before my eyes was incredible, and as we neared the end,
tears started falling down my face. This was the Chase I had known. The tall
handsome tatted up artist. There were pictures of all the guys at the house he
had rented for his friends to live in over the last two years, pictures of him
and Bree, ones of him at the shop, and pictures of us together at the end. The
first was on my birthday after Chase and I had come back downstairs. He was standing
behind me, holding the picture of my second ultrasound on top of where my small
bump had been and I had my neck craned up so we could kiss. A second was of us
sitting on the tailgate of his truck with Bree and Konrad at the beach one day.
The last two were hard for me, but I was so thankful they were in there. One
was after Chase's last class of college, we had our arms wrapped around each
other and foreheads pressed together. The next was of the last full night of
his life, we were standing outside Mom and Dad's talking. I remember that
conversation perfectly, he was giving me reasons for him not to go to the
party, and I was standing my ground telling him he had to go. I hadn't even
known someone took a picture of us, but it was beautiful. The sun was setting
behind us, Chase was kneeling on the driveway and I was laughing while running
my hands through his shaggy blond hair. He was holding my stomach with his face
close enough that his nose was touching my belly button. Chase kept saying that
if Gummy Bear kicked for him, he wasn't going to the party, so Chase had
continued to talk to my belly, hoping the baby would wake up. But he hadn't and
eventually Chase had left. That had been our last happy time together.

When we shut
the book, Brandon turned to me and ran his thumbs over my cheeks, wiping the
tears away and pressed a soft kiss to each cheek. He stood up and walked to the
other side of the room, pulling Mom out of her chair, he wrapped his big arms
around her and thanked her while she cried. This was one of the many reasons
why I loved him. Beyond the tough guy exterior, was the most gentle and caring
heart. What Chase and I had done had ultimately crushed Brandon. He had quietly
stepped aside when he found out instead of taking it out on either of us. He
had been there for me when I thought Chase broke my heart, and had helped me
out of my catatonic mourning period when he died. He loved me and my baby,
despite the mistakes I had made, and was now holding and thanking Chase's
mother for a book to help us tell Liam stories of “how great his dad was”, as
Brandon had put it that day. After Mom finished crying, I hugged her tightly
while Brandon hugged Bree, Dad and Konrad.