She dropped her head. “What would we do if that’s why I was sick this morning?”

I tipped her chin up with my index finger so she’d look at me. “We’d get married of course.”

She pulled away. “You can’t marry me because you feel guilty if I’m pregnant. I’m not Sophie.”

“Hey.” I wrapped my arms around her waist. “What we have is real. Sophie doesn’t even exist on your level. A baby for us wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

She shook her head. “I still wouldn’t want you to ask me solely because of it though. This isn’t the 1800s. We can have a baby and not marry.”

The temptation to dig the ring out of my luggage was overwhelming. If I gave it to her now, she’d never believe I’d had it before there was even a possibility of a baby. She would think I bought it on the way down here because I suspected she was pregnant after the way I had just jumped to the conclusion right off the bat.

I would just have to wait and plan out a beautiful proposal to make things perfect. She needed to know we could be perfect together and my reasoning for wanting to get married came straight from the heart.

She laid her head against my chest. “Now curiosity is killing me. Do you mind sitting with Mom while I run to the drugstore to buy a test?”

I ran my fingers through her dark hair. “Sure.”

A half an hour later, Lane returned from the drugstore with a plastic bag in her hand. While she snuck off to the upstairs bathroom to take the test, I drummed my fingers on the arm of the couch and watched television with her mom. It was hard to believe the balance of my life would be determined by a ten-dollar test.

“Noel!” Lane called from upstairs.

I swallowed hard. “I’ll be right back, Kathy.”

I took the steps two at a time as I raced up to Lane. She waited in the doorway of her room. After she yanked me inside her bedroom, she plopped down on her bed. Tears filled her eyes before they rolled down her cheeks.

I instantly dropped to my knees in front of her and took her hand in mine. “Whatever it said, it’s going to be okay.”

She sniffed and batted away a couple tears. “You think a baby bed will fit on that tour bus?”

“Oh my God.” I wrapped my arms around her waist. It was true, we probably weren’t ready for this, but it didn’t change the fact I was excited about the news.

I bit my lip and pulled back. I took her left hand in mine and peered up at her. “Lane, will you marry me?”

She shook her head. “No. I told you I won’t marry you just because of a baby. This is just a decision on a whim for you. I don’t want you to regret asking me or resent me later in life.” She stood up, leaving me still kneeling on the floor by her bed.

“Where are you going?”

She stopped just short of walking out the door. “I need time to think and adjust to this news.”

Watching her walk out and tell me no to one of the biggest dreams I’d ever had nearly crushed me.

I needed advice, and since I couldn’t ask Lane for it, I went to my go-to person. I pulled my cell from my pocket and dialed my mom’s number.

“Hi, honey. How are you?” Mom answered.

“I’m in need of some advice, actually. You got a minute?”

“All the time in the world for you. What’s up?”

I cleared my throat as I stood and walked over to the window. The dock was in perfect view from here. My hand pressed against the warm glass when I saw Lane at the end of it looking out over the lake. It hurt me to know she was sad and didn’t take my proposal seriously.

“Noel, you still there?” Mom’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Sorry, Mom, I’m here. I need your help. I want to plan the perfect proposal for Lane,” I said.

A giddy laugh echoed through the phone. It had been a long time since I’d heard Mom laugh like that. “I’d be honored to help. What do you have in mind?”

From there I broke into the entire story of how Lane and I reunited and how we were nearly torn apart by Sophie’s lies. I didn’t have to explain why I loved her so much to Mom. She knew. She always knew. I remembered how she would tell me how much she liked Lane and couldn’t wait until the day she officially became part of the family.

The only thing I couldn’t tell her was about the baby. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t feel right telling people before Lane was comfortable about the idea of letting our families know.

“So you’ll help me? Lane is taking Kathy for a follow-up appointment tomorrow, so we’ll have to work quickly.”

“We’ll decorate the dock and make it the most romantic thing she’s ever seen. There’s no way she won’t take you seriously after we’re done,” she gushed. “I’ll email you a list of everything you need to buy tomorrow. Just call me when you’re ready for me to come over to help.”

Chapter 12

The dock was quiet, and I knew I only had about three hours or so to pull all this together while Lane took her mother for a follow-up appointment at the hospital. I set the boxes and bags down on the wooden planks and went back to retrieve more supplies. The Escalade was crammed full of decorations. Mom’s list was nuts, and it cost me a shit-ton of money for all of this, but it was worth it. It almost felt like Christmas. I couldn’t wait to see the look on Lane’s face when the dock was adorned in a massive amount of flowers and soft-glowing candles. She’d know what I was doing the moment she saw it.