36. Love Makes Us Do Crazy Things
Thanks for the feedback on my last chapter! I hope you'll like this one ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
36. Love Makes Us Do Crazy Things
The cabin and the woods were covered in inches of snow and the lake was completely frozen when Erin and Jay arrived in winter wonderland on late Thursday afternoon and it was even more magical than Erin had imagined and maybe even more beautiful than Jay had remembered. He hasn't been here in winter for a while, so coming back to this place covered in white was truly something special.
When Erin got out of the car she felt like she was directly stepping into a fairytale forest. It was completely silent around them, the firs and trees were sunken in snow that slightly sparkled in the faint winter sun that was shining from the sky. The cabin almost looked small compared to how it looked when it wasn't surrounded with inches of fresh powder. And it was cold up here, even colder than in Chicago and Erin couldn't wait for cozy days inside the cabin, for snuggles at the fireplace, for hot baths and for relaxing under dozen of blankets in their giant bed.
″And, what do you think?″ Jay asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and her ever-expanding stomach from behind.
″It's incredible,″ she smirked and turned around to him. ″I think it's going to be some great days.″
″For sure,″ he nodded smilingly. ″How about we go in, turn the heaters on, make a fire at the fireplace, you lie down and relax a bit and I will unload the car and cook something for dinner?″
″I have to admit, that sounds pretty attractive,″ Erin chuckled.
The drive here had been quite crazy, not only because Jay'd had to fit snow chains to the tires for the last few miles as there was of course no winter road clearance on the road up to their cabin, but also because the roads had been full with drivers who should better not drive a car in winter and because they had to stop at every highway rest stop as Erin had to pee all the time and needed stretch her legs and her aching back. After spending more than seven hours sitting in the car it was needless to say that she was more than relieved that they were finally at the cabin now where she could just lie down or walk around. Everything was better than sitting at this point.
″Okay, come on,″ he winked, took her hand in his and together they cleared a way through the snow to the front door.
Of course it was more than chilly inside of the cabin but thanks to the heaters and the fireplace in the living room, it got warmer really fast. Covered with two cozy blankets Erin lay down on the couch and watched the orange flames of the fire and listened how it spitted quietly. Meanwhile Jay first cleared the small path from the car to the front entry from the snow and then unloaded the car and brought all their belongings inside. When he started to cook Erin decided she had rested enough and suggested she could unpack their bags and put their stuff in the dresser but Jay denied it instantly as there was this velvet box in his bag he didn't want her to find. So he told her that he could rather need a hand in the kitchen and ordered her to cut some cucumbers and tomatoes for their salad, teasing her that she should be able to do this by now as she's become quite housewifely within the last few weeks.
Their first evening was perfect in every single way, they enjoyed a delicious dinner and ice cream as dessert and spent the rest of the evening on the couch with watching movies. And the following days that led to New Year's Eve were just as perfect. Long morning cuddles were followed by making snow-angels in the garden, by strolls through winter wonderland until it became too strenuous for Erin, by playing Uno and Jenga and Sequence in front of the fireplace, by watching the snow fall down in front of the window, by cooking dinner together, by taking hot baths in the big bathtub, and by late night snuggling in their king-sized bed before their eyes fell shut.
The morning of New Year's Eve came and it wasn't any different than the days before, wasn't more special. And other than that the year would change from 2016 to 2017 at midnight it was a normal day. Up here in the middle of nowhere they wouldn't even see the fireworks and they hadn't bought one for themselves as it seemed to be unfair to frighten all the animals around them which weren't used to these loud noises deep in winter. So for Erin this day wasn't a big deal but little did she know that things were completely different for Jay and that it wasn't just a normal day for him but rather one of the most important of his life, one he was as nervous as seldom before, maybe as nervous as he's never been before, one where his heart skipped a beat more than once whenever he was thinking about the things to come...
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
The evening came and they ate raclette, the only light came from some candles they had placed on the dining table. Afterwards they played some more board games which was their favorite activity at the moment, always trying to beat the other and when one of them lost they wanted to start the next game immediately to take revenge and maybe win this time.
Around 11.40pm Jay told Erin he needed to go outside to bring in more wood so they could keep their fire going for a little while longer but when Jay wasn't back more than five minutes later she wondered whether he maybe froze to death outside or didn't find his way back. On the other hand she wasn't really surprised that it took him so long as he seemed to be confused all day already, distracted somehow, even nervous. Maybe she would simply ask him what was going on with him when he came back. She couldn't think of something that had happened that would explain his weird behavior but obviously something must've happened and she wanted to know what was going on and wanted to be there for him in case it was something bad.
″I need to show you something,″ his voice interrupted her thoughts and once again she could've sworn that there was a nervous undertone in his voice.
″Is everything alright?″ Erin frowned, scanning her boyfriend from head to toes.
″Yeah, sure, why not?″ he winked. ″I just need to show you something,″ he added and brought her her jacket, her beanie and her boots he was carrying in his hands.
″Outside?″
″Obviously,″ he chuckled. ″Now come on, otherwise it'll be gone.″
No later than now she was more than just curious. His weird behavior all day and now he wanted to show her something in the garden in the middle of the night when it was all dark outside. And cold. Maybe he'd seen an animal he wanted to show her and that was the reason why he'd been outside for so long. But why would he make such a big deal out of some animal. It wasn't like they hadn't seen wildlife here before and she was sure they would see more within the next days or the the next times they were here.
″Erin?″ Jay asked and his voice was impatient.
″Uhm sorry,″ she grinned, got up from her chair and took her jacket, beanie and boots from him.
″It better is something really special that you make me go outside that time of the day,″ she chuckled while she put on her boots. Yet she had no clue how special it was going to be.
″It'll be worth it,″ he smirked and then pulled her with him outside when she was finally done with clothing herself. He guided her to the frontyard, the one part of the garden Erin hadn't been able to see from inside of the cabin and in the moment they walked around the corner she knew what had taken him so long. He's made a little bonfire and next to it were lots of oversized, enlightened sparklers stuck in the snow. Sparklers that formed a big heart and spread their sparks all over the snow. Her heart flipped a little by the inevitable thought that rushed through her head in this very moment. Butterflies that surely had the size of airplanes started to take-off in her stomach as she assumed this wasn't just arranged because it was New Year's Eve.
″Erin,″ Jay whispered and took her hands in his. She turned her gaze away from the heart in the snow and looked into his heart-eyes instead. Although the dark night was only enlightened by the bonfire and the sparklers she could see how his eyes blue sparkled.
Jay took a deep breath as he looked into the face of the woman he loved more than anything else in his life, as he was about to speak out the words that would change their life forever. Hopefully. His heart beat unhealthy and nervously in his chest when he tried to remember the words he wanted to tell her and for a moment he freaked out inwardly as he thought he would mess up this moment that he wanted to be perfect.
″You are the most stubborn, headstrong, grouchy, sarcastic and determined girl I know, quite a handful to handle sometimes, and you're surely the only person I know who always, always, always needs to have the last word. But you also have so much heart, empathy and loyalty and you're the smartest, kindest, bravest, strongest and most amazing woman I know. You drive me nuts every single day in the most positive way. You are my biggest challenge, my greatest distraction, my only addiction. You're all I have and all I need. Every time when I look at you, I am amazed, not just because of your looks, because you are the most beautiful, unique woman in the world, but because of the fact that everything I've ever wanted is right in front of me.″
Jay's eyes never left Erin's while he spoke with the softest of voices. He put his hand in the pocket of his jacket for a second and then revealed a velvet, black box. He opened it and a perfect diamond ring sparkled right into Erin's face as he knelt to the ground, into the snow, his other hand never letting her hand go.
″You once told me that I don't know a good thing when I see it. But I can tell you, although you might don't wanna hear it, you were wrong. Because the best thing was already right in front of me then and I knew it very well. From the moment I saw you for the first time I knew you are the one. The one for me. Being with you I feel complete. You are my best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life. For this life and the next life. Meeting you changed my life and no matter how strong we are as individuals, together we are unbeatable and will master all the challenges life will come up with like we did in the past as well. Thanks to you I have the feeling I'm living the dream and I do never want to be without this feeling ever again,″ he said and inhaled deeply again as popping the one question was only seconds away now. And although he was nervous and it was too dark around them to see things properly he was sure to see tears welling in her eyes, ready to slide down her cheek any second. Hoping that it were tears of emotion and joy he spoke the four final words out loud, the most important words that would ever come from his lips other than the two words he was hopefully allowed to say, to promise her, in a couple of months.
″Will you marry me?″
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Jay paced up and down in front of the door of Hank's office in his house. Until a couple of minutes ago he had helped Olive in the kitchen while Erin and Justin were in the garden with Daniel. Until a couple of minutes ago Hank had also been with them but he had then disappeared to his office as he had to take care of something, how he had told them. When Hank hadn't been back after ten minutes Jay had decided to look for him as this was possibly the one moment he's been waiting for and he had to take this chance to talk with Hank all alone. He didn't know how many more chances he would get this evening and he had to ask him before they would leave for Wisconsin, otherwise the plan he had would literally fly away in the distance.
Until a couple of minutes ago he had also felt brave enough to do it but now he didn't have the guts to knock on the door and he rather had the feeling that his stomach would turn any second.
He didn't even know what exactly held him back, why he didn't simply go in. Hank seemed to be in a really good mood today so it shouldn't be a big deal to ask him for his blessing to marry his pseudo-daughter, should it? Maybe it was because he still thought that proposing to Erin was kinda crazy. But this was what happened when people were in love. They did crazy things. It was not that long ago when he had answered the question of his cousin about when he was going to put a ring on Erin's finger with someday. And back then he hadn't thought that this someday would come so soon. But during the last three months their relationship has grown even stronger, they've become even closer and on more than one occasion Erin had showed him how much she trusted him, how much she needed him, had leaned on him when all of this had always been her biggest struggle. He had the feeling that she was ready for this next step, for answering this one question with a word that consisted of three letters, that this someday was here. And he wanted to do it right all the way along.
In this moment he turned around and knocked on the door without thinking about it any longer. Now or never, these were the options he had. And he wanted it to be now.
″Yeah?″ he heard Hank's voice from inside. Slowly, almost shy, Jay opened the door and looked into the room. Hank was standing in front of the large windows with a glass of scotch in his hand, obviously watching Erin, Justin and Daniel building the snowman in the floodlight of the garden. He turned his head around and slightly frowned when he saw who was joining him. For whatever reason he had obviously expected it would be Olive instead of Jay.
″In case you were looking for the bathroom, that's the wrong door,″ he smirked.
″Uhm...I wasn't,″ Jay spluttered. ″I was looking for you,″ he said and stepped into the room, suddenly having the feeling that it was unbelievably hot in there.
″Huh,″ Hank nodded and looked at Jay with a piercing glance, the latter having the feeling that he was looking right through him. ″You want one, too?″ he then asked, showing Jay his glass.
″Uhm...yeah...why not?″ Jay answered and took the few steps to stand next to Hank's side, looking through the window into the garden for a moment and seeing Erin, Justin and Daniel laughing dearly.
″Here you go,″ Hank said after filling the liquid into the glass and handed it to the younger man.
″Thank you,″ Jay answered with a smile and clinked his glass with Hank's, pouring down parts of his nervousness with a first, long gulp.
″Christmas is always hard,″ Hank said into the silence, never turning his gaze away from the three people in the garden, and Jay was sure he's never heard his voice sounding like this before.
″It is,″ Jay nodded and when Hank turned his head to him for a split second, when his blue eyes met his brown ones, he was sure to see the same silent pain in Hank's eyes that was in his own eyes. Pain that not every beloved member of the family was here with them today. Pain for the people they missed and wished they could celebrate Christmas with. And he was also sure that Hank saw this pain reflecting from his eyes as well.
″But seeing this makes up for it,″ Hank said, motioning his head to the beautiful scenes outside. ″Seeing them all being so happy makes up for it,″ he added and took another gulp from his scotch. ″I just wish Camille could see this.″
″That's what I've wished with my mother for so many times within the last few months. That she could see and meet Erin and could be with us during this exciting time. And I guess it will be a lot harder once the baby is here,″ Jay sighed and was surprised about saying these things to Hank. But he couldn't help but having an unknown feel of sympathy and empathy for him. ″I'm always telling myself that she's sitting somewhere, looking down to us with a big smile on her face because she wanted me to be happy and that's what I am. And Camille is doing the same. Looking down at her kids and grandkids all proud and all happy because they are happy.″
Hank looked at him again and for a moment it seemed like words failed him. Then he turned his head away again, emptied his glass and focussed his gaze on the garden, letting an awkward silence occure.
″I'm glad Erin has you, Jay. She deserves to be happy and I can tell she is. She only deserves the best and it seems like you are the best for her,″ Hank said and Jay couldn't believe his ears. This conversation went into the right direction all alone and the only thing he had to do now was to seize the chance.
″I hope I am,″ Jay nodded and took a deep breath of air, ready to speak out his request.
″Hank,″ he started and cleared his throat so the nervous undertone in his voice would fade. ″Erin is the greatest gift I've ever been blessed with. She changed my life for the better and the feelings I have for her are unreal. I love her and I will forever. With the birth of our daugher we'll be a little family and there's only one thing that is still missing: that we all have the same name and that I can call her my wife,″ he said and took another deep breath. ″So I wanted to ask you for your blessing to marry her.″
The words were out and Jay already felt how it took a load off his mind although he didn't know Hank's answer yet. The older man turned his head to him again, scanned him sternly for a brief moment and for the second time this evening, Jay had the feeling Hank was looking through him and his glance literally burned on Jay's skin.
″Why would you ask me?″
″Because I want to do this right. I know it's important for Erin that we have your blessing and I was raised and teached that you ask the father of the bride for his approval instead of doing it behind his back. It's maybe a bit outdated but it seemed to be the right thing for me to do,″ Jay said and a short, nervous chuckle escaped from his mouth before they fell into another short moment of silence as Hank seemed to think about how to answer this big request.
″I like this attitude, Jay,″ Hank nodded. ″Actually I like most of your attitudes which is quite hard for me to admit. And because of these attitudes, because you are gentle and patient and caring and protective and calm, because you are serious when something requires you to be serious, because you can make Erin laugh when she needs a good laughter, because you make her happy every single day which is exactly what she needs, I give you my blessing Jay. I only hope you know what you're doing because I'm not sure whether she's already ready to walk down the aisle and make a marriage promise.″
″She is,″ Jay answered emphatic, for a moment forgetting that he had gotten Hank Voight's blessing to make Erin Lindsay his wife and only paying attention on Hank's last words.
″I hope you're right and she won't break your heart,″ Hank said, giving him a meaningful glance. He cared about him. Jay couldn't believe it.
″She won't,″ Jay said and shook his head. Although he was a little insecure now he knew deep down inside that she wouldn't break his heart. She was ready for this next step and he would make this proposal so perfect that she would only answer with yes. That was at least what he dreamed of.
″At this point you seem to know her better than I do, so when you think it's the right thing to do, then do it,″ Hank answered pensively, placing his glass on the sideboard in front of him and filling it with scotch again.
″Thank you, this really means a lot to me. And I know it means even more to Erin,″ Jay said, a thankful smile forming on his face as he clinked his glass with Hank's once more.
″Cheers! Keep on being you.″
″I will,″ Jay nodded. ″Cheers.″
When the scotch burned down his throat, which was completely dry, Jay started to realize what had just happened and his heart jumped up and down in his chest in excitement and happiness. He had Hank Voight's blessing. He was going to propose to the love of his life. He would see her walking down the aisle in a couple of months, would make a promise for a lifetime, would put a ring on her finger, a ring for eternity, would make her his wife, would make her Erin Halstead...
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
All the time Erin has looked directly into Jay's blue eyes, has almost forgotten to breathe while soaking in this moment and listening to all of Jay's words. Words that made her tear up because they were chosen so perfectly, because they were so much Jay, that they sent her to the edge of her emotions. Because they were for sure some of the most beautiful words he's ever told her yet. Because the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with showed her the most stunning ring she could've asked for and then knelt down in front of her to ask her to become his wife.
Just as Camille had predicted, she didn't even have to think about the answer she was going to give him. She has thought quite a lot about whether marriage was something she wanted ever since Liv had asked her a couple of weeks ago and in the beginning it was hard to admit to herself that it definitely was something she wanted. She's even been surprised about how much she actually wanted this and how small her commitment issues have become. So small that she wanted to give him the one and only answer to his question. And although it was a word that only consisted of three letters, it maybe was the craziest answer she would ever give him. But this was what love did with people. Love made them do crazy things.
″Yes,″ she breathed. ″A thousand times yes,″ she said smilingly and a little louder this time, but her voice came hoarse and shaky as a tear slid down her face.
″Did you say yes?″ Jay asked, letting out a long breath he didn't know he had held back and an unbelievable smile appeared on his face as all the tension fell from his body.
″I guess so,″ Erin smirked and in the same moment Jay jumped up to his feet, lifted her up and swirled her through the air.
″She said yes!″ he yelled laughingly into the dark night, telling the wildlife or whomsoever, before he let her back down to the ground, cupped her cheeks with his hands and placed an intense kiss on her smiling lips.
″So let's make this right,″ he grinned afterwards, took the ring out of the box he was still holding in his hands and put it on the wedding finger of her left hand. His hand was still shaky and so was hers and both of them had to chuckle as they seemed to be too clumsy to put the ring on properly.
″We made it,″ Erin laughed when the diamond ring finally found its spot on her finger and she couldn't do anything other than staring at it in awe while her heart still wanted to explode in her chest, while the airplanes in her stomach slowly turned back into butterflies. This was real but felt so unreal. She was going to marry her best friend, her hero, her rock, the love of her life. She was going to be his wife and he was going to be her husband which sounded so weird but yet so perfect at the same time.
″Uh-huh,″ Jay grinned, crashed her lips again and wrapped his arms around her to hold her tight. Erin's answer has made him the happiest man in the world and he was sure, that in this very moment, no one all around the world was happier than him, no one felt more blessed than him and no one was more grateful than him.
He was holding his whole life in his arms as he placed soft kisses on her forehead, as he buried his head in her beanie, as he raised his hand behind her shoulder to check his clock and realized it was three minutes after midnight. The year had changed in silence from a really exciting 2016 to a 2017 that would for sure be even more exciting, more special and they had missed it while exchanging soft kisses and fond glances with sparkling eyes which reflected their smiles.
″Happy New Year,″ he whispered and his hand travelled down to her stomach, his fingers stroking softly over the fabric of her pullover that kept her belly warm.
″Happy New Year,″ she smiled and placed her hand with the sparkling ring atop of his, stroking his knuckles as they both looked down to her big belly that made it impossible to close her jacket, before they both lifted their heads again. Their lips melted in another soft but passionate kiss, in the light of the bonfire, under the clear, starry sky, in full anticipation of the things that were about to come in this new year.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
They spent the following day being all lazy again and as it was snowing the whole day they didn't leave the cabin for even one second but after all they motivated themselves to clean out Will's and Jay's old room, that was more of a storage room at the moment, in the afternoon so it could become Emilia's room. They also repositioned some of the furniture they would keep and the stuff they didn't need anymore Jay chopped into pieces in the garden later so they could use it to make a fire. They had even brought some of the baby stuff they had bought multiple here, so while Jay was outside in the garden, Erin accessorized the room with the few things they had. Some pillows for the small couch, some stuffies she placed on the dresser, some baby blankets and an activity mat.
Of course they didn't know yet when they would come here next time, maybe somewhen in the summer when their baby wasn't a newborn anymore, but at least her room would be more or less finished then and they only had to bring a travel bed and some other stuff they needed on a daily basis.
When they lay in their bed later in the night, listening how the wind howled outside and watching how a snowstorm occured, they both hoped that after this snowstorm it would finally stop snowing and the sun would make a comeback so they could enjoy some more time outside in winter wonderland before they had to drive home in two days as Jay had to go back to work.
But after Jay's eyes fluttered open on the following morning, taking a look outside the window he couldn't believe what he was seeing as everything was white in white with an abnormal amount of snow and he knew immediately that driving home on the following day would become a mission impossible. It was still slightly snowing but the significant problem was that they had so much new snow that they were basically snowed in. He went down the stairs into the living room and stepped out on the porch.
″Holy shit,″ he sighed as he couldn't even really see their car anymore because it was covered in so much snow and he was sure if he tried to walk through the garden the snow would reach him to his hips. There was no way they would be able to leave this place tomorrow and yet he wasn't sure when they ever would. He went back inside and upstairs, grabbed his phone from the bedside table as he wanted to call his old neighbor Bill so that they could arrange that winter road clearance would also take care of the streets up here so that all the cabins and farms wouldn't be cut off from the outside world for too long. But his brilliant plan got foiled when he only heard the free-line-signal. The service up here has never been the best but obviously the telephone lines were completely damaged now thanks to that snow chaos.
″Damn it,″ he cursed while he walked back into the bedroom, tossed his phone on the bedside table again and crawled back under the covers, hoping that the power lines would withstand the masses of snow, so that they would at least have warm water, electricty and heaters during the days they would be caught in the cabin. And it was a good thing that they had more than enough food brought here so they would at least be able to cook and eat proper meals.
″What's wrong?″ Erin yawned next to him, streched her body and rubbed her still tired eyes.
″Nothing,″ he assured her immediately and sighed. ″We're just snowed in.″
″We're what?″ she frowned while she snuggled closer to his side.
″The snowstorm last night snowed us in,″ he said and wrapped her arm around her to pull her as close as it was possible at this stage of her pregnancy.
″That means...we can't leave for now?″ she asked and instead of freaking out about it she smiled a little. She liked the thought of spending some more days here with him instead of returning to Chicago where he would go back to work and she would be bored all day while playing the waiting game.
″Yep. You're stuck here with me,″ Jay sighed and kissed her forehead.
″Oh well, I could imagine worse things than being stuck here with my fiancé,″ she smirked and this statement also brought a smile back on Jay's face. Her fiancé, this was what he was now.
″Me too, believe me,″ he grinned and placed a kiss on her lips, the stubbles of his facial hair softly scratching on her face. He hasn't shaved ever since they've come here and she had to admit, she really liked this look on him, maybe even wished that he would keep this little beard as she found it pretty sexy.
″Great, so we just have to tell Hank that we're unfortunately snowed in and can't leave for now,″ she chuckled.
″Well, that's the next problem,″ he sighed. ″I guess the snow was too heavy for the telephone lines so we don't have any phone service at the moment and I'm afraid it will take a while until someone repairs it.″
″So we're not able to get in contact with anyone?″ she asked and raised her eyebrows.
″That is pretty much correct,″ Jay confirmed.
″Hank's going to kill us,″ she said all dry but she still didn't sound like she found this situation particularly tragic while Jay didn't like the thought that they were caught here, especially with Erin being close to 37 weeks pregnant which basically meant that she was full-term and their baby could be born any day now. Although they both doubted that she would come that much early, but still, it was a possibility and the fact that it was impossible to get to the hospital made him more than just a little nervous. And he also didn't like that no one knew anything about them and would most likely worry. Unless there was the same snow chaos in Illinois as well and the media reported about what's happened in Wisconsin, so all their people in Chicago could put two and two together. ″But I guess he's going to kill us anyway, so what?″ she added, interrupting his worries, and a chuckle escaped from her lips as she looked at the diamond ring on her hand.
″He won't, at least not because of this,″ Jay said, stroking her hand with the ring that rested on his chest, and a bright grin spread over his face as he saw how Erin was furrowing a brow by these words.
″Is that what you're telling yourself?″ she teased him.
″Believe me or not, I KNOW he's not going to kill you or me or the both of us together,″ he smirked all convinced.
″How's that?″
″He gave me his blessing,″ Jay answered casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world, and Erin's eyes widened in disbelief.
″Uhm...sorry?″ she spluttered, making sure that she's heard right, and Jay's grin grew even wider.
″I asked him for his blessing to marry you and he gave me his blessing. I'm officially allowed to make you my wife.″
″You...you asked him for his...blessing?″ Erin repeated his words slowly.
″Uh-huh,″ Jay chuckled.
″Why would you do that?″
″Because I knew this is important for you,″ he said and out of a sudden his voice was all serious. He looked down into her face, saw that she was slightly emotionally affected by this gesture, so he cupped her cheek with his hand and pressed a gentle kiss against her lips.
″It is,″ she whispered after the kiss. ″Thank you.″
They fell into a comfortable silence of just holding each other and enjoying their closeness. It was indeed important for Erin to know that Hank was okay with them tieing the knot. When she'd said yes she hadn't thought about Hank, he'd in fact been the last thing on her mind in this moment, but now knowing that they had Hank's blessing made her feel even better than she already felt, made the anticipation even bigger.
″So we have to find a date I guess,″ she blurted into the silence as she wanted to express her anticipation somehow.
″Yeah, we have to. I thought about spring, maybe April or May or so, when everything is in full blossom.″
″Cheez Jay, at least give me six months to get back into shape,″ she laughed.
″You won't need six months,″ he murmured and gave her a playful twinkle.
″You can't know that and as I plan to only marry once in my life I want this day to be perfect what means I want to look perfect.″
″Er, you look perfect every single day.″
″That's not what I mean, Jay, and you know that, don't you?″ she asked and raised her eyebrow while glaring at him
″Alright,″ he sighed. ″So what about summer? End of July maybe?″
″That sounds better,″ she nodded approvingly, hoping that six to seven months would be enough time to plan a wedding and get herself in a shape she liked to see herself in.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Of course the TV also didn't work on this day, and didn't on the following day either, so they had no chance to find out whether Chicago was covered in inches of snow as well, whether their friends and family hopefully knew what was going on in Wisconsin. They spent the majority of these two days inside of the cabin again, reading books, cooking together or playing more board games. Fortunately they had a lot of different and also older games here, so it didn't get boring at all. When it stopped snowing in the afternoon they even went outside, slashed themselves a way to the lake and then walked back to the cabin as further strolls simply weren't possible.
It was around 10 in the evening on the 3rd of January, they've already been cut off from the outside world for more than 36 hours, they sat on the couch and the armchair close to the warming fire of the fireplace and they were playing their fifth match of parcheesi in a row as both of them had lost two and won two, when Jay recognized that Erin seemed to be a little strained, uneasy, anxious and distracted. She still tried to laugh when he said something dorky or teased her when he diced a number that would him allow to kick her meeple but her laugh wasn't real, more forced, and instead she was inhaling and exhaling deep breaths quite often.
″Is everything alright?″ Jay asked, hoping that it was just Emilia's feet in her ribs again and nothing more.
″Uhm yeah, sure,″ she nodded, biting her lower lip with her teeth. ″Your turn,″ she said and pointed to his dice.
″Erin,″ he sighed but his voice also came strict and just speaking out her name like this made her look to him instead of the game board. Once again she bit her lower lip while she glanced at him for a brief moment, an expression of insecurity surrounding her face and she inhaled deeply again before she spoke out the words that let any color fall from Jay's face and let his heart drop not only to his knees but to his smallest toe.
″I might have contractions...″
Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! I'll try my best to not leave you with this cliffhanger for too long!
And as baby Halstead's birth is definitely happening soon, I'd like to know what you want to read as soon as Emilia is born! Of course I already have some ideas but I'd like to hear yours! Leave your suggestions in a review or a PM and I will try to write them in! :)