Chapter 50 – Second Anniversary

When Riley woke up the next morning she was on top of Lucas's bare chest, and although she remembered what they had done she felt completely embarrassed to wake up naked next to him. She was happy that he was still sleeping so it would give her a chance to find her clothes at least because her carry-on was still downstairs. As she looked around but she couldn't figure out where Lucas had thrown her underwear. His pants and boxers were on the floor and her shirt was nearby, she decided she would have to wear that until she could get to her bag to look for a fresh set of clothes. As she moved forward off the bed she fell onto the floor head first, she hadn't realized that her legs were tangled up in the sheets. She was half naked on the floor with the sheets tangled up to her waist.

"I'm such a spaz," she mumbled.

"No you're not," Lucas said. "But why are you trying to get out of bed, lets sleep in. It's our anniversary."

Riley looked down at her bare chest and quickly started pulling the sheet towards herself to cover up. "Lucas, I can't be naked all day. We have to get back to Philly."

"Yeah I know it's just that I don't want to move," he said.

She knew he still felt sadness in his heart but they couldn't leave their lives behind, they had scholarships. But she also knew that he needed the time to mourn the loss.

"Sorry about what happened," she said looking around at the room for the first time. Before she had only looked at the clothes but now it was a different story. "Um Lucas is this… um…"

"Yes, it's Pappy Joe's room, and no before you freak out he didn't die in this bed. He died in the barn," Lucas said as he pulled himself closer to the edge of the bed. When his head popped out over the side Riley couldn't help but feel tears in her eyes. "Don't cry," he put his arms around her. "I've felt enough sadness over the last few weeks and honestly I just want to feel happiness for once. I know he would have wanted that too, in fact he told me so."

"What do you mean he told you?"

"Well…" Lucas told her about the letter that Pappy Joe had left him, and about how stupid he had been staying in Texas for so long. He told her about how he felt lost, and about how Pappy Joe had left him the farm and his parents the house, but they decided to leave it for him.

"Does that mean that you want to stay here?" she asked him afraid of what he would say.

"No, Riley I'm not staying. The farm will run itself and maybe one day I would love to live here but for now I just want to finish school and be with you."

She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding inside, she was afraid of losing him. "Lucas, I have a compromise for you, if we finish school and I get through medical school I will do my residency here in Texas so you can run the farm, but this… is… um I sort of ten-year plan. I want to go to med school in New York to be close to our parents for a little while, and when I finish we could move down here, raise our family, run the farm."

"That sounds like a plan," he smiled at her. "How long have you been thinking about this anyway?"

"When you didn't come back after the funeral, I waited for you, and waited, and waited. I got scared that you wouldn't come back so I started thinking that maybe you never wanted to go back, and I didn't want to be apart so I started making plans in my head."

He kissed her head and looked into her eyes, "You're the best person in the world you know that."

"It's not that I try to be, it just comes naturally when you want to hold onto something that's special in your heart."

"I also came up with a plan, it's not as detailed as yours but it's still a plan," he said sliding down to the floor next to her.

"Let me hear your master plan," she said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Let's get married for real, not wait until graduation but get married on Christmas since it's the best time to be a Riley," he smiled at her.

"My dad would flip out if we did that," she told him thinking about how her parents would react to her just having sex but marriage on top of that they would freak out completely. "But," she started before Lucas could say anything. "I will."

"Really," he smiled at her, like a thousand stars had exploded around him and showered them with their blessings.

"This Christmas is going to be perfect," she smiled before kissing him. "But first we have to get back to Philly, you've missed too much school and you have to make up some time you've missed with me."

"Let's get dressed and head to the airport," he said as he stood, the sheets wrapped around his waist like a toga. Riley couldn't help but smile, everything was changing so quickly but she knew it was for the better. She felt nothing but happiness as she stood up and walked downstairs to grab her clothes.

They rode to the airport in a cab, Riley held onto Lucas's hand the whole time wondering if she was dreaming about what had happened. Would she wake up in their room alone hugging his pillow hoping that it would still smell like him? She wanted it to be real and she felt that if she closed her eyes it would be a dream. They couldn't get a flight until late Sunday morning but when they arrived at their little apartment a few hours later she knew it was the best day of her life because it had been real. They both fell asleep as soon as they got inside, when Riley woke up Monday morning alone, she was afraid that it had been a dream except for a note from Lucas saying that he went to work.

She jumped out of bed and skipped towards the bathroom only to stop when she saw Maya sitting on top of the toilet seat staring at the wall.

"Maya are you okay?" she asked worried that something was wrong. Maya just looked at her and started crying. "Peaches what's wrong? Why are you in my apartment?"

"I'm late," Maya said after crying for another minute.

"Maya you don't have to be worried about being late for class, just send the professor an email."

"No Riles, I mean my period is late. I don't know how this could have happened Josh and I are always safe but I realized this morning that I hadn't gotten my period and it's six weeks late."

"Oh," Riley said as the realization hit her. "Okay first things first, you have to take a pregnancy test, and you have to tell Josh, and you should probably wash those tears off of your face. Remember you're a fierce warrior."

Maya laughed at Riley before getting up to wash her face. Riley ran to her room and threw on some clothes before running back out to the bathroom to wash up herself. Leaving Maya in her room she left to go to the nearby drug store to grab a pregnancy test. By the time she got back she realized that she was going to be late for her class only to check her email on her phone to remember that it was a holiday and she didn't have class. She had caught a lucky break and she knew it.

"Okay Maya off you go just read the instructions and do what it says," Riley said setting the box down on her nightstand. "Maya come on Peaches, just go to the bathroom and read the instructions, it's not that hard."

Maya nodded and stood up walking to the bathroom. Riley brought back four boxes, and each on had two inside. She had given Maya only one box hoping that was all she would need. After a few minutes Maya opened the door and stood in the doorway.

"It says to give it a few minutes," she whispered.

"Okay… um, when it's done I'll check the results and we will know for sure okay?" Riley said putting a timer on her phone

Maya nodded and started pacing back and forth, Riley just followed her with her eyes not knowing what to do. Everyone she loved was going through one crisis or another. When the time went off Maya ran to the bathroom, Riley went after her only to see her best friend slumped over on the toilet.

"What am I going to do?" Maya said, Riley took the test and saw the two lines and took the second test and saw the same thing.

"Maya this isn't the end of the world you know," Riley said hoping that she would be able to get through to her friend.

"Are you kidding me you saw what happened to my mother when she married my dad, if it wasn't for luck I wouldn't have gotten a chance to have Shawn as my dad now. I don't want that to happen to me. I don't want Josh to leave me."

"Maya listen to me," Riley said pulling her crying best friend towards her. "Josh loves you, he told me a million times in the last two years."

Maya collapsed in Riley's arms and started crying until she couldn't cry anymore, Riley laid her on the bed and covered her with a throw she had for when she took naps. Walking out into the living room she did the only thing she could think of and sent a text message to Josh for him to come over as soon as possible. When Josh showed up at her door frantic she pulled him in knowing that she would have to explain everything as fast as she could.

"Riley what's wrong? I was picking up the ring, I was going to propose tonight," he said when he saw the look on Riley's face. "What's wrong?"

"You have to talk to Maya," was the only thing she could say.

Riley walked Josh to her bedroom and let him in, she stood in the doorway watching as Josh sat down on the bed and looked at Maya's tear stained face. He shook her trying to wake her up, it took a couple of tries before she woke up but as soon as she did she started crying again.

"Maya what's wrong?" he asked between her broken sobs. "Love, you have to tell me so I can help you, I don't know what to do."

Maya was still crying when she handed the positive pregnancy test to Josh before trying to pull away, instead Josh pulled her close and put his arms around her.

"Maya, not matter what happens I will always be there for you, and for this little baby," he said hugging her close to his chest. "I'm not leaving you, I'm not your father. I love you more than anything I could ever have imagined."

"But why?" Maya hiccupped.

"Because you have a heart that embraces change whether good or bad, you have the biggest capacity for love as anyone I have ever known, and you love me someone who has constantly pushed you away thinking that it was for your own good when it hurt us both the most. You're a strong person, someone who has had to go through a lot in her life to be able to appreciate the little things, like tacos and the friends and family who are close to you. How your art can bring life to the world around you, and even to those little kids that you will one day teach and even the kids we will have. I won't leave you remember that, because you have my heart and if I leave I wouldn't know how I could live without you next to me."

When he finished Maya stopped crying and looked at his eyes, Riley knew that her best friend had finally found the ultimate happiness. Something that she had looked for all of her life, she no longer needed to hold herself together because she had so many people around her who truly loved her.

"Maya Penelope Hart," Josh said standing up from the bed. "I was going to wait until tonight to do this but now is the best time to offer you forever," he kneeled down on one knee never taking his eyes off of Maya. Pulling out a small wooden box and opening it to reveal a small diamond engagement ring. "I went to New York to get your mother's permission, and I even got Shawn's so now I just need your permission. Can you make me the happiest man in the world and become my wife?"

Maya looked at Josh and looked at Riley who stood at the door watching everything that was happening. Maya smiled at Josh and nodded as more tears began to fall down her face. Riley was smiling at her best friend who was about to become her aunt, and give her a niece or nephew someday. Maya was officially going to be her family.

Riley walked out of the room to give the two of them some privacy, she walked into the kitchen and took out a glass to get something to drink. She heard the front door slam, as she looked towards the sound she saw Lucas's smiling face coming towards her. She smiled at him and told him about everything that had happened, the only thing she hadn't been able to do was tell Maya and Josh that she was getting married to Lucas on Christmas day. That would have to wait until another day.