I Won't Give Up (27 page)

“Can we decorate the tree now?” She beamed causing me to sigh
.
I was exhausted
but couldn’t deny her happiness
.

Luke and
both
our dad’s had been here earlier helping
us get situated
but they all finagled their way out of staying
for
more than a couple hours. I handed her each ornament so she could decorate the lower half I did the high ones since I didn’t want her getting on a ladder. Once she was satisfied I demanded bedtime. I loved bedtime with her; we’d spent every night at either one of our houses since I got out of the hospital but now we had
our
house. We walked hand in hand up the stairs to the master bedroom
.
I
stripped down to my boxers and handed her my shirt,
she pulled my shirt over her head like she did every night
and rubbed her hand over my newest tattoo
.
Fiona
. I had it tattooed over my heart where it belonged.
We climbed into bed and I pulled her close to my side rubbing my hand over our son or daughter when she screamed.

“Are you okay?” I asked
in complete panic.

“Did you feel that?”
She asked breathing heavily.

“Yeah the baby kicked
.
H
aven’t
you been doing your reading?
” I teased. I read every parenting, birth,
and
fatherhood book I could get my hands on
and she teased me relentlessly
because of it
. I even got a DiaperDude diaper bag
when we were out looking at furniture for the nursery
.

“That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever felt in my life, I’ve only felt little flutters up until now.” I kissed her
passionately
. I
pulled her close
and drifted to sleep.

The
next morning I moved out from under
a sleeping
Fiona
and looked out the window facing the backyard
only to see it had snowed last night.
I headed downstairs to make her breakfast in bed. I whipped up some scrambled eggs and toast
.
I grabbed a box of orange juice
putting it all on a tray
and headed back up the stairs when I heard
what sounded like
glass shatter
ing
.
I placed the tray down on the stairs and looked out the window next to the door, sure enough the windshield on Fiona’s
R8 was completely gone. I scanned the outside of the house but didn’t see anything. We’d had the house set up with security cameras so I’d check it out while Fiona was eating her breakfast. I picked the tray up and headed back to our bedroom.

“Wake up sleepyhead.” I said placing the tray on the end table.

“Morning.” She said groggily. I felt bad for waking her up since I knew how much the pregnancy took out of her but
really should
go to school
and if she didn’t eat when she woke up she didn’t feel good
. I walked over to my side and opened up my MacBook pulling up the security software. I zoomed in on the driveway camera to see a black Tahoe doing a drive-by tossing what looked like a brick or something towards the car.
I needed to go check it out.
I’d let her
Fiona
fall
back asleep, I decided since it was right before winter break I
’d just let her sleep
they wouldn’t be giving out any assignments anyway. I threw on a pair of sweats and headed downstairs. I pull
ed on my jacket and boots walking
cautiously to the car. There was a
rock
with a note attached.

You will pay for getting away!

Garrett…
I couldn’t think of who else it could be. H
e was supposed to be held on bail. I jogged back into the house and called Luke.
Once
I filled him in on
what happened he was on his way.
Him and Levi
were going to
call a wreaker to
take the car so Fiona wouldn’t know anything happened I didn’t need her being stressed
,
it wasn’t good for the baby.
When Luke came inside I showed him the note and he seemed just as confused as I was about Garrett being out on bail, Levi
put in a call
to see if he could find out who put up the bail which was set at one-million no ten percent. Luke and I played x-box for a while until Fiona came downstairs loo
king mussed up and sexy,
my t-shirt
’s were
starting to strain against her midriff.
I made a mental note to pick up some bigger ones next time I went to the store.

“Morning.” She croaked walking over and climbing into my lap wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Morning princess.” I said kissing her lips lightly. I knew Luke approved but I still didn’t think he’d like to see me mauling his sister in front of him.

“
Hey
Luke what are you doing here
? W
hy didn’t you wake me up? We missed school.”

“I know baby but you looked exhausted and I didn’t want to wake you up plus I doubt there’s much going on today anyway.”

“Good morning to you too sis.” He teased. “Why don’t you go back to bed you look exhausted.”

“’Kay.” She mumbled
trying to climb
off my lap
but I picked her up
and
carried her back up
stairs.
Levi got a call back saying the bail was confidential but it would seem
from the description of the
surveillance
video
that Gigi had put up the cash. When they were together he has apparently added her to his bank accounts. He was furious, but knew she was a women scorned and who knew what she was really capable of. While we were sitting around Carl arrived
saying that he was on his way
. We filled him in on what happened.

“What did you say her last name was?”

“Cipriani.” Levi said.

“That’s Joey Cipriani’s daughter, he’s a crime syndicate in
Biloxi
, we’ve had dealings with him in the past. He’s a mean son-of-a-bitch.”

“This just keeps getting better and better.” I mumbled.

“Listen just keep extra vigilant and make sure Fiona doesn’t go anywhere alone.
I doubt he wants anything to do with this he’s more into the drug and weapon trade.
” Carl said.

“Well as you know I’m planning the proposal tonight. Can one of you trail behind to keep an eye on anything suspicious? I’d cancel but it took so much planning I don’t want to have to reschedule everything.” I’d put so much thought into this I wanted it to be perfect.

“I’ll trail you.” Carl said.

“I’ll come with you.” Luke said. I felt better knowing they wouldn’t let anything happen.

“Thanks. Listen I better go have her get ready.
Let’s try and keep this quiet I don’t want to upset her.
” I
headed
upstairs.

“Hey princess. Time to get up. We have plans tonight.”
I slid in bed behind her.

“Hey.” She said giving me a shy smile. “I can’t believe I slept most of the day.”

“You obviously needed it.”

We both got ready. I made sure she dressed warm for what I was planning. Once we were in the car I put a blindfold on her
partly because I wanted her to be surprised but I also didn’t want her to see that Luke and Carl were trailing behind us
.

“Where are we going?” She asked.

“It’s a surprise.” The ring in my pocket felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I wasn’t concerned with her saying no since I’d already asked her and she accepted but I wanted her to have a real proposal
something that she could tell our kids about
.

We arrived at The Barn where I had the entire back
of the restaurant
closed off. I had ordered buffalo wings, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and iced tea as well as chocolate cake and ice cream. Her face lit up like a kid on Christmas. I had made a compilation CD of all our songs playing lowly in the background.
She loved when I sang for her so I
decided to sing part of
The Gaslight Anthems ‘Biloxi Parish’

“I’ve been f
umb
ling with your heart strings and that’s good enough for me

and if I’ve rained on one of yours for hours then I know I must be working

Try it on for size my darling see what a man you can make of me

I will eventually haunt you
but
you’ll eventually be my queen

And I’ll be with you through the dark so that you do not go through the dark alone

On your own

I’ve been down at Biloxi Parish and that’s all t
he same to
me

I found that nothing truly matters that you cannot find for free.

I love you more than I can tell you and when you pass through from this world

I hope you ask to take me with so I don’t have to wait for long

But until then I’ll be with you through the dark

Yes until then I’ll be with you through the dark

Who else can say that about you baby

Who else can say that about you now

Who else can take all your blood and your curses

Nobody I’ve seen you hanging around

She clapped
happily
while
devouring her food
and I was enjoying watching her.
I went to take a buffalo wing
off her plate
and she slapped my hand away just like the first time I saw her here. She moved her hand and put on a playful pout I made sure to moan when I took the first bite. I felt her hand trail up my thigh and instantly got hard.

“Baby, just eat.” I
didn’t
want to
walk
around sporting wood all day, it was hard enough to control it on a normal day
cause she was so fucking hot but
pregnancy had made her insatiable
; a she devil, but trying not to think about had only made me harder. She was lightly stroking me through my jeans so I moved my hand over up her skirt until I found pay dirt, I brushed my lips lightly against hers and she deepened it to a full-blown make out session. I felt her stiffen before coming around my fingers.

“I need you.” She whispered, her voice thick with lust.

She deftly undid my zipper freeing “little Cooper” before lifting the back of her ski
rt and lowering herself onto me
inch by inch.

“I didn’t know that you were such an exhibitionist baby.”

“I blame pregnancy.”

She lifted up and down picking up the pace, I felt her let go again moaning my name loudly causing me to follow shortly after. My favorite place
in the world was inside of her. I
t made me feel whole.
Once I was sure she was satisfied I fed her chocolate cake before telling her it was time to go. I felt my nerves jumbling. Once we walked out the door there was the horse drawn Cinderella carriage I had booked for the night.

“Is this for us?” She asked with a shocked look on her face. I nodded. She said when she was a little girl she wanted to be like Cinderella. I helped her into the carriage putting the blanket over our legs and wrapping my arms around her making sure she was warm enough. She was smiling brightly the entire time. We stopped at a light, the same light that she almost killed me at, the light that I saw her for the first time. I pulled my arms free and looked her in they eyes.

“Fiona, you are the earth beneath my feet, my gravity. You are my lifeline, my everything.” I dropped to one knee and pulled the ring from my pocket. I opened the box and revealed my moms engagement ring that belonged to my grandma before her. It was a princess cut diamond in an antique setting nestled in white gold. “
Fiona, please accept this ring. I
t will symbolize my promise to always be true, to never pressure you, to listen to your problems and be the solution. I vow to always make you feel safe, happy and loved. I promise to move all your heavy furniture around,
leave the toilet seat down and put my dirty laundry in the hamper,
always. Will you marry me?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” She
beamed
. “Thank you for not putting it in my food, I definitely wo
uld have eaten it.” She laughed making me laugh knowing that it was closer to the truth than either of wanted to admit.
I pulled her into a kiss. This was one of the happiest moments of my life, the other being when she told me she was pregnant but the best were yet to come, our wedding and the birth of our baby.