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Chapter 14

"I'm sorry you had to postpone the funeral." Alan apologized.

Carter hugged him. "It's not your fault."

Alan leaned down to kiss her passionately. "I love you," He whispered.

Carter kissed him back. "You need to sleep. I'll be in the living room if you need me." She smiled.

"How does he feel?" Mary inquired.

Carter sighed, "Better, I convinced him to get some sleep before the funeral."

"He's going to need it." Mary concluded.

Later that afternoon was the memorial ceremony. It was nice and small. Just like Carter's father wanted. Alan held Carter's hand through the entire memorial.

"Are you not hungry?" Alan asked Carter at the reception.

Carter shook her head. "Are you?"

"Not really." Alan confirmed.

"Do you know how much I love you?" Carter said bringing his lips to hers.

Alan wasn't sure how long the kiss lasted. He was happy to remain this way forever.

Someone in close proximity to them cleared their throat loudly. Alan and Carter quickly pulled away.

"Dad, we are busy. Do you need something?" Alan snapped rudely.

Carter slapped his shoulder. "Be nice." She lectured. "I'm going to find my brother. You two talk."

"You two haven't..." Jeff hesitated.

"That's not your business." Alan rebutted angrily.

"Yes it is Alan. You will always be my son." Jeff argued.

Alan refused to answer. He knew if he opened his mouth he would start a fight.

"Alan, I know you and Carter are serious. I just want you to think before you let your hormones get in the way. You're only seventeen. There is plenty of time for you to be with Carter in that way." Jeff explained.

"I'll be eighteen next week." Alan reasoned.

"I'm sorry I brought Carter into our issues. You listen to her without hesitation. I thought if she wanted you to stay home you would." Jeff stated.

"I know you guys were just trying to protect me. But I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I need you to trust me to run my own life." Alan continued pushing down his tears. "I hate fighting with you over the dumbest things. My biggest fear is that one of our fights is going to permanently ruin our relationship."

"I will never give up on you Alan. We both say things that we regret. From now on let's just try to listen before we start throwing blame." Jeff compromised hugging his son.

"I think Carter and I should go back to the island with you guys until school starts." Alan admitted.

Jeff smiled placing a hand on Alan's shoulder. "Does Carter know about us?"

Alan nodded, "At first I questioned telling her. Then her dad got sick and I knew she needed to know before we went further."

"Do you know when you're going to propose?" Jeff eyed his son nervously.

Alan wasn't entirely sure his family was comfortable with him getting engaged. Jeff was a traditionalist.

"Yea, I think I decided to wait longer. There's no rush." Alan informed.

"It's good that you're letting things settle a little. Losing a father can't be easy for Carter." Jeff acknowledged.

After the reception was over Carter and Alan headed over to sort through some of Dave's belongings. Carter wasn't keeping much.

"Alan?" Carter questioned in curiosity.

Alan was in the other room still going through boxes. "Did you call me?" He asked meeting Carter in her father's old office.

"I found this crammed in my dad's seat. It has your name on it." Carter said staring him down.

"Oh yeah, he told me about this. It's just the information on the house. I looked for it, but it didn't turn up." Alan lied.

Thankfully, Carter shrugged before returning to work. Alan was so glad he had just stumbled across the house deeds in one of the boxes he was sorting through. As soon as he was out of earshot Alan opened up the note Dave had left him. The crumbled paper read;

Take the risk.

Carter's father was so cryptic it made him chuckle to himself. Dave must have known Alan would wait before asking Carter.

"I think Winston should stay with my grandmother. He's too old to fly and my brother would miss him." Carter said walking into the room. "What do you think?"

Alan hesitated cramming the note into his back pocket. "Yeah, I think your brother needs Winston here." He agreed calmly.

It felt like the entire day had blown away by the time Carter left for her grandmothers. She desperately wanted to spend one last night with her brother before leaving. After finishing a few things at Carter's Alan headed home too. His head was pounding and he desperately wanted to take his medications and pass out.

"How were things at Carter's?" Mary asked noticing his tense demeanor.

"We got it all done." Alan mumbled.

"Did ask Dr. Harris if it's safe for you to be on a plane?" Mary reminded.

Alan nodded, "Yeah, he said as long as I'm taking my medicine I should be fine. I'll probably get a headache though."

"Good that's one thing scratched off your father's insanely long overbearing list of duties." Mary laughed.

Alan was glad he was coming back to Galveston. He loves spending time with his aunt. Galveston felt like home now.

The following day was long. Jeff thought it would be better for Alan if they broke the longer flights up. Being up in the air for long amounts of time was giving Alan a migraine. The more time he spent on the ground the better.

"How does your head feel?" Virgil asked for the thousandth time since they landed.

"I just want to get home so I can sleep." Alan said rubbing his hands over his face.

Virgil gave Alan something to help with the pressure before the next flight. It made him sleep all the way to Tracy Island. When he woke up he was lying with Carter in his old room.

"Good morning," Carter greeted kissing him.

"I thought my dad would have made you sleep in your own room." Alan chuckled.

"Oh, he did. I just tiptoed down the hall this morning." Carter smiled mischievously. "I had to make sure I kissed the princess before the evil witch got to him."

"Don't you mean prince? I'm a guy." Alan corrected.

"Shh..." Carter said putting her hand over his mouth. "This is a covert operation! What part of sneaking in did you miss?"

Scott was happy that Alan had finally talked to Dad and decided to come home. The island wasn't the same without him.

"Have you seen Alan this morning?" Virgil asked before taking a bite out of the apple he was carrying. "I wanted to make sure he was feeling better."

"Nope, but I'm pretty sure he's with Carter. Tin Tin said she wasn't in her room this morning." Scott advised.

"Guys, Alan hasn't left his room this morning. I checked before I came down here." Gordon laughed thinking about the teenager's rebellion.

The boys had known their dad was worried about Alan and Carter sleeping in the same room. He had made that perfectly clear when he interrogated Scott. 'Is Alan having sex?', 'How often do they kiss like that?', 'Is there any supervision at Mary's house at all?', 'Have you talked with him about being responsible?'. Scott had always had his suspicions, but knew it would piss Alan off if he got involved.

Carter had kissed Alan when his brothers started banging on the door. "Now you know why our limit is two kids." Carter smirked opening the door. "Preferably girls."

"What were you and Carter doing upstairs this morning?" John interrogated while Alan finished his lunch.

Alan shrugged, "We were only talking."

Gordon snorted, "In that case I need to do more talking."

Virgil shot his younger brother a nasty look. "Allie, you know how Dad feels about Carter and you being in bed together. It was different when she was upset. Now it just looks like you two are messing around." Scott stated rationally.

"Why should it matter what it looks like? We're almost adults." Alan justified.

"It matters because this is Dad's house. He makes the rules. Dad made his feelings on this matter perfectly clear." Scott argued.

"Okay, then why doesn't he get mad at Gordon for bring girls home?" Alan jabbed.

"Because I'm in my twenties and I don't mess around with girls at home. You and Carter are not eighteen and you are not married. That's a big deal for Dad." Gordon pointed out. "I'm honestly surprised he's taking the engagement so well."

John chuckled, "Me too. I thought Dad was going to fight you on that. Not that he could change your mind anyway."

"Back on topic," Virgil interrupted. "I think it scares Dad that you and Carter are close enough to consider having sex."

"No, I think it scares Dad that he cannot tell if you two are having sex." Scott explained.

"If this is your way of getting me to confess it isn't going to work. It no one's business, but me and Carter." Alan stated stubbornly.

John sighed, "See now I understand why Dad is so concerned. It's comments like that. You sound like there actually is something to hide. If there wasn't then you'd probably just deny it. I mean that's what you did the first time I asked you, when I came down for a visit."

Alan rolled his eyes annoyingly. His father had his brothers on digging duty. They were going to make his life hell until they found the truth.

"Sorry, your brother's gave you so much grief." Carter apologized.

She took his hand as they walked down the beach. "Yeah, I'm so nervous they're going to find out I'm getting all itchy." Alan admitted.

"What?" Carter asked sharply.

Alan continued to scratch his outer thigh through his pants. "You probably just have sand in your pocket, idiot. Did you shake your clothes before you put them on after swimming?" Carter said reaching into his packet and pulling out the ring.

"This was my grandmothers. How did you get it?" Carter cried.

"Your father gave it to me. He left it in his desk a few months ago." Alan enlightened taking the ring from Carter and getting down on his knee. "Will you marry me?"

Carter threw Alan a shocked look. "No, you've had this ring for months. I can't believe you waited this long." She said sarcastically. "It hurts."

"And you say I'm the dramatic one." Alan claimed slipping the ring on her finger. "I love you."

"Who doesn't love me? I'm totally adorable." Carter laughed wrapping her arms around his neck.

Alan kissed her before she would continue babbling. Alan and Carter spent the entire day exploring the island and the beach.

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