“Darling, you look fine, nothing like the beach ball you’re calling yourself,” Theodore responded to my constant whining.
“I look huge,” I whined, staring daggers at my bulging tummy.
“Uh no, you’ll look bigger in about three months,” Theodore muttered, making me narrow my eyes as I directed my wrath towards my husband.
“What did you say?!” I asked in a deadly calm, and the way Theodore gulped, looking everywhere but me, I knew he knew that his word had pissed me off.
“You look beautiful,” he corrected himself before coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.
“What did you say about me getting bigger in three months?” I didn’t let the feeling of his hand caressing mine effect me. I had to stay strong.
“I said, you’ll get bigger in three months, bigger and more beautiful,” he whispered lovingly, stroking my bulging tummy with his finger.
“I’ll go back to normal after having the babies, right?” I questioned, looking at my body worriedly.
“No, you might not go back to your skinny self or you might, I don’t know, but what I do know that if you do go back to being skinny then it’s going to take some time, and I also know that no matter how you look, I’ll love you, forever,” he murmured before kissing my cheek from behind, smoothing out the frown on my forehead, making me smile.
“I love you, too,” I murmured, smiling at seeing our reflection in the mirror. Right now, Theodore and I looked like the perfect couple. With smiles on our faces and a couple of babies on the way, there was nothing more I wanted.
“Officer Steven called,” Theodore informed me after a few seconds.
“Oh? What did he say?” I enquired, frowning. Officer Steven was the one who came to arrest Cindy and he was the one who took our statements both times; once when Ian caused problems and now when Cindy attempted to murder me.
When Officer Steven asked Theodore and I about Ian, both of us told him that it was self defense, the CCTV footage, which the camera in Theodore’s office recorded, was additional proof of what Ian tried to do. As for Cindy, well Theodore didn’t hurt her enough to warrant any solid evidence like that of a CCTV footage.
“He said that both Ian and Cindy have been sentenced to 40 years of prison, and that they’ll both be getting serious psychological help,” Theodore answered.
“40 years? Isn’t that a little too much?” I didn’t know what prison laws were, but forty years seemed a little too much.
“They were sentencing them to less but I pulled some strings to give them a greater sentence,” he confessed sheepishly.
“Why would you do that?” my husband was one vicious man.
Theodore breathed out a heavy sigh. “Because I want them to suffer like I suffered, and because they tried to hurt my wife and my unborn children, and that’s something I can’t and won’t forgive. Now that I think about it, forty years seem really less,” he muttered.
“I think you were an executioner in your past life,” I commented.
“I’ll take that as a compliment, because I brought justice,” he replied smugly making me roll my eyes.
“Aren’t you a narcissist,” I responded drily.
“Hey, one needs to have some amount of confidence in themselves,” he defended.
“Yeah, but you seem to have a lot of it,” I argued with a smile.
“Well that’s something you love about me,” he stated making me roll my eyes.
“No,” I lied. Truth was I loved everything about Theodore. The good, the bad and the ugly. Arrogant or not, rich or not, confident or not, I would love him unconditionally-always.
“Liar.” Theodore bit my earlobe gently making me gasp.
“When are we leaving for the restaurant?” I queried, opening my jewelry box and rummaged around, looking for the pair of earrings that would best compliment my dress.
“As soon as you’re ready, we don’t need to hurry, mom and dad aren’t blowing my phone with calls and messages at the moment,” Theodore replied, before taking out a pair of small emerald earrings. “Wear these,” he suggested. I nodded and took the earrings from his open palm one by one. I was glad when the earrings complimented my emerald necklace.
Theodore’s parents had invited us to a family dinner in this posh restaurant which had a name more complicated than my husband. All of Theodore’s relatives were going to be there as well. Which was why, Theodore and I were all dresssed up.
“How do I look? Am I missing something?” I asked Theodore, looking at myself to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.
“You look perfect, however, there is one thing you’re missing,” he answered.
“What?”
“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Theodore lightly jogged out of the room, then came back a minute later holding a medium sized, rectangular, red, velvet box.
He placed the velvet box on the vanity table in front of me. I eyed the velvet box with curious interest. The box looked like it contained some highly expensive jewelry, or maybe an heirloom. There was a golden lock in the front center of the box.
Before I could ask Theodore what was in the box, he put a small, golden key in the tiny hole of the lock and turned. Taking out the key and placing it next to the box on the table, Theodore removed the latch and opened the box.
My eyes widened when I saw the contents of the box. There were numerous hair accessories inside it, all made of some expensive looking gems and stones. They ranged from hair combs, to hair clips of every shape and size, along with fancy hair pins and various other things. I couldn’t tell exactly how many hair accessories were there as the box was nearly full of them. But each individual piece was more beautiful than the next.
Picking an emerald flower pin from the box, Theodore gently stuck the pin in my hair. When he saw my reflection in the mirror, he nodded and smiled.
“Now you look absolutely perfect,” he stated proudly.
“Theodore, these are beautiful,” I told him in awe, staring the gorgeous hair accessories.
“They are all yours,” he replied.
“Mine?” I couldn’t believe it. These breathtaking pieces of jewelry were mine?
“Yes, I had them custom made just for you. Every single piece in this box is the only one in this entire world. No other woman in this world is going to own anything exactly like these, they are all one of a kind,” he informed me arrogantly.
“They are truly beautiful, thank you so much,” I responded, fingering the other pins and clips, afraid to break them. I was grateful for the day I met this man, who loved me so much.
“You’re welcome, princess, and they are not as beautiful as you,” he replied, making me smile.
“I love you,” I told him with a smile, turning around kissing his cheek affectionately.
“Will you always love me? No matter what happens, will you always be with me? Support me?” Theodore questioned seriously, making me frown.
Shouldn’t he already know the answer to all this? Maybe he wanted me to reassure him. But why?
I shook my head to get rid of my internal questions and smiled at him. “I will always love you, no matter what happens, I’ll always love you, and wouldn’t even think about leaving you, and will always support you. You have me for life, Theo,” I told him honestly.
“Good, that’s all I wanna hear.” He pecked my lips.
“Shall we go? We don’t want your parents waiting.” Theodore nodded taking my hand and leading me out of the bedroom and out the front door of our house.
When the maitre d’ opened the door for us, my jaw dropped open as I stared at the opulent interior of the restaurant.
The lower half of the walls was made of bricks, and the top half was cemented with intricate fixtures with bulbs throwing off a soft golden light around the restaurant. Tables, both long and small were placed neatly around the whole restaurant, with a white table cloth covering the wooden surfaces. On the tables were neatly folded napkins placed next to stark white plates and shiny, silver cutlery, and crystal glasses were placed in the right corner of the plates. There was a small, beautiful lamp on every table which gave excess light and made the whole dinner experience quite romantic.
Theodore led me all the way to the end of the restaurant, the maitre d’ ahead of us. We stopped when we came to a long table that went on forever. Okay, I was slightly exaggerating, but the table was really long. It had the same set up as the rest of the tables in the restaurant.
However, what had my eyes widening were the people already seating at the table. Not only Theodore’s entire family was present, but my cousins, Ingrid and April were there, too; not to mention Amanda who was sitting next to April, bickering with Trent.
When Amanda saw me, she instantly got up and hugged me tightly, while I stared at everyone im shock. How come my family was here? I thought only Theodore’s family would be here. What was going on?
“What are you doing here?” I questioned as soon as Mandi released me.
“We were invited. All three of us,” Mandi informed me with a smile.
“Oh.” Was all I could say.
Seeing as I was still in the process of wrapping my mind around the fact that my family was actually here, I didn’t protest when Theodore sat me down on one of the two empty chairs right in the middle of the table and then took a seat right next to me.
“Yes finally, now we can have food, I’m starving,” Harry stated while everyone agreed.
Before I could say anything, the waiters arrived carrying trays of delicious, steamy food that had my tummy growling so loudly I was afraid people around the table heard me.
The waiters put the food on the table and then left without saying anything. Immediately, the Bensons dug into the food as if they had been waiting for Theodore and I for hours.
I let my gaze run around the table, observing everyone laughing and chatting amongst themselves. But I let my gaze linger on my cousins for a while longer, gauging their reaction to the quirks of the Benson family. When I was satisfied that my cousins were having a good time and were not feeling left out, my gaze landed on Amanda who seemed to be constantly bickering with Trent. I shook my head as they fired insults at each other while shoving food in their mouths.
When I was done looking around, I glanced at Theodore who was sitting silently eating, which I found odd considering he was perfectly fine a couple of moments ago.
“Are you alright? You’re very quiet,” I whispered to Theodore.
He nodded but didn’t say anything which had me frowning. What in the world was going on with him? Was he okay? Did he not like it here? Did he want to go home?
“Are you sure?” I asked again, to which I got another nod as a response.
Without saying anything, Theodore picked up the crystal glass which was filled with water and drank it all in one gulp. He then grabbed the crystal water jug and filled his glass with water then gulped it down in one go. He did this a couple more times before finally putting the glass down.
“My throat feels a little dry,” he explained after seeing my bewildered expression.
“A little?” I asked rhetorically. It looked as if his throat wasn’t a little dry but as dry as the Sahara.
Theodore nodded once again before shoving a spoonful of rice in his mouth. I didn’t know what was going on with him, but whatever it was, it was serious. Serious enough to have my husband acting crazy.
“He’s just nervous, darling, relax,” Mrs. Benson stated with a smile, then glanced at Theodore, a knowing expression on her face.
What did she know that I didn’t?
“Relax bro, you got nothing to worry about, at least now,” Harry piped in, making my confusion mount.
“Theodore, what’s going on?” I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed.
Taking a deep breath, Theodore stood up, gaining everyone’s attention. He muttered something softly before turning to me. Gently taking a hold of my wrist, Theodore pulled me up until I stood facing him.
“Theodore, are you okay?” I asked again, worry beginning to gnaw at my insides.
Without saying a word, Theodore slowly lowered himself until he sat on one knee. I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth as tears pricked my eyes. Was he really going to do what I thought he was going to do?
“Hailey, I am not a good man. I always hurt others and was utterly selfish. Becuase of that, my life was surrounded with darkness. With nothing. Until you came along.” I lost the ability to speak as Theodore’s words had my heart blooming.
“You were the flower that grew in a place I thought wasn’t capable of life. Your fierce personality and your unique sense of humor had lots of flowers blooming in my life. I felt as if I had conquered the whole world when I forced you to marry me, and now, now I want to conquer the world again. So Hailey Jane Benson, will you marry me?”
I was too shocked to say anything, so I simply nodded as tears fell from my eyes. A huge grin broke out onto Theodore’s face as he slipped the diamond ring onto my left ring finger. The ring had a huge cushion cut diamond, while the platinum band had tiny diamonds encrusted in it. It was breathtaking.
Theodore stood up and planted a kiss on my lips as hoots and hollers erupted throughout the restaurant. I looked around to see my family hugging and cheering while the Bensons were hooting and hollering. This was the moment where I felt that Theodore had truly given me everything.
“Are you happy that your family is here with us?” Theodore questioned as we took our seats at the table.
I nodded enthusiastically. “Very happy, I can’t believe you did all this.”
“You said you wanted your family at your wedding, so now you have your wish,” he told me, making me feel like the luckiest woman alive.
“I love you, you know that, right?” I whispered with a smile.
“I love you more,” he responded.
“Forever?” I asked.
“Forever.”