“What do we do?” she asked.
She saw Blaze tense up. “Do?”
“I’m … do…” She didn’t want to get rid of the baby, but she and Blaze didn’t know what they were. “Are you happy?”
“With you being pregnant?”
“Yes.”
She felt like her future rested on what he was about to say, and Blaze chuckled.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I’m not laughing.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Fay, babe, you haven’t figured it out yet, have you?”
“Figured what out?”
“You were a virgin. I could have slid a condom on, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to fill you full of my spunk so that I’d knock you up. I want you. Only you. That is why I made your parents kick you out at eighteen.”
This made her gasp.
“That’s why I paid half of your rent and dealt with all the repairs. It’s why I stopped pathetic little boys from asking you out. It’s why I have spent the last couple of years waiting, planning to give you this. I know this is what you wanted.”
“How?”
“I think you were ten,” Blaze said.
“What?”
“Don’t start thinking I’m some kind of creepy weirdo. I’m not. You were given this assignment to see where you would be in ten years’ time. I don’t even know what class it was for. Blair said she wanted to be a nurse, a doctor, a beautician, a vet, and she always wanted to travel the world and raise elephants. She wanted to be everything and anything. Do you remember what you put?”
Fay was in shock. She hadn’t thought about that assignment in … forever. She’d gotten an average grade for it as the teacher didn’t think it was very imaginative.
Fay turned back toward the window, feeling her heart race.
“How did you—”
“What did you write?” he asked.
“I said that when I was twenty years old, that I would like to wake up one day, loved, cherished, and to be staring out the window of a place I could call my own. That couldn’t be moved. I wanted to mean something to someone. To be loved. To … have a family.”
Blaze stepped behind her, his hands on her stomach. “I thought your wishes were sweet, I honestly did.” He kissed her neck. “I had forgotten about them until the night I kissed you. You don’t remember it, but you were so drunk, and I knew, I knew I wanted to love and protect you, and to give you a place to call home. A safe place. It’s why I started fighting again. Only this time, I didn’t stop. I knew what I wanted.”
“Blaze.”
“All of this. It’s all for you. For us. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. To get to know every single little detail about you. Not just as my little sister’s best friend, but as my woman. My wife. I want you to belong to me.”
She spun in his arms. “What are you saying?”
He slowly lowered to one knee in front of her, and Fay couldn’t be sure if she was seeing this right. Blaze Carter on one knee before her. Only, he wasn’t done. He pulled out a small ring from his back pocket. “I bought this for you when I made the decision to claim you as mine. I never knew when to give it to you, or how to give it to you, but I know now.” He took her hand. “Sweet Fay. My Fay, will you do me the honor and make me the luckiest man alive?”
“Nah, but with you, you never know.” Blair smiled at him.
“Where’s my bride?”
“Getting ready.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping her?”
Blair rolled her eyes. “I got her ready. She just needed a few moments, and she was panicking a little.”