Thank you so much to everyone who has read and those who review! You have no idea how excited I get when I see those emails :) X
Eddie had never accidentally spoken aloud in his entire life, but he chose now to start? Rachel was wide-eyed, shocked as she stared at him and he felt like a rabbit in the headlights, unsure whether to confirm what she'd heard or brush over it and pretend it had never happened.
"Eddie?"
He'd been silent for too long, he realised, and swallowed thickly. "I didn't mean to say that aloud…"
"Did you mean it?" Her voice sounded choked, disbelief still evident on her face and Eddie threw caution to the wind.
"Of course I meant it." He came closer, didn't dare touch her yet. "I'd have married you months ago if I'd thought you'd agree."
She let out a strangled laugh, hand rising to cover her mouth. "Really?"
"Honey, an hour ago we were having a discussion about children," he pointed out. "Is this really that surprising?"
She swallowed hard. "A little."
She wasn't angry, or panicked and Eddie found himself relaxing, hope growing deep inside him. He took her hand in hers, interlaced their fingers. "I don't have a ring," he said slowly, and heard her breath catch as her eyes grew wider. "And I always imagined a far more romantic setting. But I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life beside you. Rachel, will you marry me?"
For a long, heart-stopping moment there was only silence.
"Yes."
Eddie blinked. Had she really just-?
"Of course I will."
She had a second to see a look of elation that flashed across his face, before he'd scooped her up into his arms with a joyous laugh, spinning her around before quickly putting her back on her feet so he could pull back and look at her. "You mean it? Really?"
His smile was infectious. "Yes." She cupped his face in her hands, laughing. "I will marry you."
He kissed her then, hard and enthusiastic and both of them completely joyous, laughing as they half clung to each other, Eddie nuzzling into her. "I love you."
She smiled, closed her eyes as she rested her forehead against him. "I love you too."
"We're getting married." He could scarcely believe it, stomach practically doing somersaults.
Rachel giggled, stole a kiss that had him glowing, tugging her as close as he could. Their mouths moved together, the world falling away until she abruptly broke away, breathless, cupping his face in her hand. "Why didn't you say anything?" she demanded, no heat to her voice.
He blinked hard, a little dazed. "About what?"
"How much you've wanted all this. Marriage, children... you think I can't tell how happy you are?"
He quirked an eyebrow at her, dropped a kiss to her palm. "Of course I'm happy..."
"Eddie. How long have you been hiding this from me?" she insisted, and saw the look on his face. "That long?"
He exhaled hard, brought his hand up over hers. "I didn't want to push you. I know how everything has affected you, you haven't exactly had it easy. I didn't want to make anything harder on you."
She leant forward, brushed her lips over his before she leant their foreheads together. "You wouldn't have. You should have told me, Eddie, this relationship isn't just about me."
"It is from my point of view."
She shot him a withering look. "You should have told me," she repeated quietly. "Did you think I'd say no?"
He hesitated. "I thought you might panic a bit," he admitted reluctantly, but to his relief she didn't take offence.
"Ye of little faith." She kissed him again, dropping back to her heels as her fingers played with his hair. "I haven't panicked over anything in a while now."
He saw what she was doing, grinned. "No, you haven't," he admitted, pulling her closer to him. "I should trust you more."
"Yes, you should," she agreed, sliding her arms around his neck. Their lips met again, and again and Eddie couldn't stop himself from pressing her up against the side, as little space between them as possible.
"We're getting married," he repeated, mumbling it against her lips as he grinned.
"This is important to you, isn't it?" she murmured. "I never realised…"
"I love you," he said, kissing her again. "Marriage or no, I'd have been happy. But I want this, want to tell the world how I feel about you, how we feel about each other, that I'm yours and you're mine, no matter what."
She inhaled sharply, eyes darkening as she drew her head back to stare at him. His brow furrowed, and he was just about to question her when her lips crashed against his. Somehow, it was even fiercer now, tongue flicking and teeth nipping and fingers digging into him as she pulled him as close as was physically possible. "Say it again…"
The words were barely coherent, and Eddie was baffled, flipping through the conversation of the last minute as he tried to figure out what she meant. "I'm yours and you're mine…"
He hadn't even thought about it properly before he'd said it. It was just the truth- not even in a possessive way, he'd never dream of thinking of her as something to be owned, but more in a belonging way. They belonged to each other and they were going to fumble through the rest of their time on the planet together, and he loved the idea of that. And judging by the way she was kissing him, Rachel did too.
Which was why he was so surprised when she pulled away without warning, an odd look on her face. "Do you smell something?"
Now that she mentioned it, he did. He frowned, but Rachel recovered her wits first, jumping to the floor and darting forward to yank the chicken out of the oven. "I think dinner is ruined."
He snorted in laughter. It was practically black, and smoking so much he hastily opened the windows and doors while Rachel desperately tried to fan the smoke away, both of them snickering with pink cheeks and grins on their faces. Once the smoke alarm was no longer in danger of going off, Eddie wrapped his arms around her from behind, dropping a kiss to the curve of her neck. "I love you."
"We're getting married." It was her turn to say it, and her grin was infectious. He chuckled, tightened his grip.
"Yes, we are."
W.R.
It wasn't until the next morning, when they were laying together in bed and enjoying the delicious feeling of having nowhere to be, that Eddie raised a point, reminded when he entwined their hands together. "You don't have a ring."
Rachel blinked, a little taken aback at the sudden comment. "Oh. I don't need one…"
"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "Of course you do."
She couldn't quite hide her smile, head rested against his shoulder.
"You've got two choices though," he said thoughtfully. "Either I can surprise you with one, or we can go out and you can choose one." He fully expected her to opt for the latter. He loved her dearly, but she wasn't good at giving up control, and he couldn't imagine her being okay with leaving him with such a big decision without any input.
"Surprise me."
Eddie's eyes widened. "Sorry?"
"Surprise me," she repeated. "I trust your judgement."
It took him a minute to pick his jaw up. He hadn't even considered that as a possibility. "Okay," he agreed, still slightly stunned. She hid her smirk, knowing exactly what was going through his head. But she'd meant what she said- he had impeccable taste when it came to buying things for her, and if she were honest, there was a very girly part of her hidden deep inside that loved the idea of him picking out a ring for her.
Unbeknownst to her, a plan was beginning to form in Eddie's mind. She deserved the best ring he could find, but for that, he needed a few hours to himself, preferably without her knowing where he'd gone. So it was only too easy for him to surreptitiously text Kim, asking her to keep Rachel out of the house for a few hours while he planned a surprise. One confirmation text and a phone call to Rachel later, he had a few hours where Rachel wouldn't even know he'd left the house, let alone gone shopping for a ring.
When Sunday came around, the pair parted in a well-practiced routine. Eddie picked up Michael, and took him swimming while Rachel went to the market and the shop. What Rachel didn't know, however, was that Eddie cut their usual swimming session short and instead, he and Michael began to scheme. When she got home, the first she knew about it was the yellow rose lying in front of the door, on a piece of paper with an arrow drawn on it.
Her brow furrowed, a small laugh escaping as she wondered what on earth that man was up to now. Particularly as the arrow had obviously been drawn by a child. Still, she dropped the shopping bags in the hallway and picked up the flower, immediately spotting another in the hallway. Only this time, to her confusion, it was an amaryllis. A red camellia on the door handle to the kitchen, a daffodil on the centre island. A red tulip, a hydrangea, gerbera- a clashing collection that didn't quite form a matching bouquet as she held them in her hand, beginning to smile as she realised what was going on. She'd been around enough to recognise some of the meanings of the flowers she held, and absently she wondered how Eddie had pulled this off in the space of a day. Eventually, she held well over a dozen flowers and was stood at the end of the garden, where a blanket of red rose petals had her pausing, not wanting to crush them.
"Come on, Rachel!"
She giggled at the impatient cry from a little boy, obediently stepping forward and spotting him waiting out of sight behind a tree, beaming at her. "Hi Rach!"
"Hi Michael. What's your daddy up to?"
He came running to her, tugged on her top to bring her down to his level. "I have to ask you something!"
"What is it, sweetheart?" She knelt, and it was only then he pulled out a lily from behind his back, handing it to her with a toothy smile.
"Will you be my step-mummy?"
Rachel was speechless, an embarrassing lump in her throat stopping her from responding as she added the lily to the others. She had to swallow a few times before she could her words out. "Would you be okay with that? If I become your step-mum?"
He beamed, and nodded. "But you have to say yes to daddy as well first!" He pointed over her shoulder and she turned, rising to her feet and somehow unsurprised to find Eddie standing behind her.
She let out a choked laugh. "I thought I already had?"
"You deserved this done properly," he grinned, and withdrew the box he was holding from behind his back. "Will you marry me, Rachel?"
"You already know I will." She was laughing, joy exploding through her as she kissed him fiercely, just registering the small, triumphant 'yes!' that sounded from behind them. Eddie beamed, slid the ring onto her finger and she looked at it properly for the first time, her breath catching. "Eddie, it's perfect…"
"You like it?"
"I love it."
"I want to see!" Michael exclaimed, and Eddie chuckled, scooping him onto his hip.
"You've already seen it," he reminded him, his other arm wrapping around Rachel as she leant into him, tipping his head to kiss her again. "You really like it?"
"I really do," she confirmed, resting her head against him. "I love all of this, Eddie, thank you."
"I'd have given you so much more if I'd thought you'd want it."
"And I love that you knew I wouldn't."
They smiled at each other, unable to resist leaning in again, their mouths meeting. But a certain little boy made his presence known, and they broke apart again, both grinning and almost delirious with joy. "So?" Michael looked between them impatiently. "When do you get married?"
Eddie snorted in laugher. "I see we need to have another conversation."
W.R.
To no one's surprise, Chris had dashed into the morning staff meeting with seconds left until he'd have technically been late, shooting an apologetic look towards Rachel, who'd rolled her eyes at him. At this point, it would have been more of an event for him to make it to a meeting on time, she thought with no small amount of exasperation. Luckily for him, however, there were a few standard notices to give out and a new rota to draw attention to, but beyond that the meeting wrapped up quickly and teachers quickly began to trickle out.
"Have you seen the LEA's email?" Kim made a beeline for Rachel as she was tucking her notes away, not bothering with pleasantries.
"I haven't seen any emails yet. What's it about?"
"They want us to write a report on the success and difficulties of the merger," Kim explained tightly as Chris drifted over to listen. "Unofficially, to examine the possibility of doing the same with other schools."
Rachel snorted, unimpressed as she grabbed her coffee from the table. "The executive head sacked for assaulting a pupil, the rise of a gang problem, a ridiculously large increase in violent incidents… I'm not sure they're going to like that report."
But Kim wasn't listening. "Rachel!"
"What?"
Kim grabbed her hand, snatching away the coffee cup in the process. "What is that and how could you not mention it sooner?"
Rachel's cheeks heated as she bit her lip. "Oh, right…"
"Eddie proposed!"
Kim's exclamation drew the attention of multiple others in the room who hadn't managed to leave yet, and Rachel suddenly found herself the reluctant centre of attention. "Twice, technically," she murmured in amusement, aware of a lot of eyes on her. Kim looked like she wanted to question her, but Steph had already darted across to look at her hand.
"Look at that ring! Did you choose it or did he?"
Rachel was sure she was crimson. "He did."
"Good taste- I'm very impressed."
"Congratulations, Rachel." Chris's voice was warm and genuine.
"Thank you."
Kim was practically bouncing on her heels. "How did he propose?"
She was definitely red. "Kim!"
"The bloke proposed last time right here," Steph snorted. "I'm not holding out much hope."
Kim elbowed her, glaring. "Steph!"
"I have a meeting in ten minutes," Rachel interrupted, shifting on the spot. "I'm not discussing this right now."
Steph practically pouted. "You've got to give us something!"
"Actually, I don't," she grinned. She plucked her coffee back from the table. "See you all later!"
She turned and escaped the clutches of the two, but paused when she found her gaze inexplicably drawn to Adam, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. For a long moment, neither moved, until without a word Adam turned on his heel and stalked out the room.
Rachel blinked, bewildered. A touch on her shoulder had her looking round, to where Kim was staring in the same direction in confusion. "What's his problem?"
"I have no idea."