Chapter 89: Lexa
I wake up early the following day feeling tired. I look over and see Clarke still sleeping soundly. I get up slowly and go to the fridge to get some juice, hoping it will help revive me. Abby notices that I am up and asks, "How are you feeling?"
"Honestly, I feel like I barely have the energy to move. I was hoping the juice might help give me some energy."
"It might help some, but what you really need is some food. There is a café around the corner, what would you like? I will run out and get it."
"I'm not picky, whatever you think is best. Maybe get Clarke some bananas and yogurt also. Actually, you may want to get her some eggs and hot sauce, or maybe just a jar of hot sauce. That's what she was craving last night. Thanks, Abby. I think I'm going to go back and lay down."
Abby shakes her head, laughing, "Alright, I will be back in a bit."
A little while later, Abby came back with three bags of food. Clarke and I got up, sat at the table, and enjoyed the extensive breakfast. Once we were finished, Abby gave us a quick checkup and said everything looked good. After a hot shower, I started feeling better.
I ask Abby, "Do you have everything you need for the camping trip?"
She replies, "I think so. I just need to stop by the plane and get the equipment that I will need to check Clarke's blood count. It could take two to six weeks for the graft to fully take effect, but I need to keep a close eye on the progress. I will meet the rest of the doctors in about an hour to pick up everything we need. Then we will meet you at the boat rental dock by one. I would suggest that the two of you stay here and rest until then."
"What? I want to go shopping now that we know we are having girls!"
Clarke laughs, "Babe, we still have almost six months before they get here. So we have plenty of time."
"Fine, but as soon as we get back home, I'm going shopping. First, though, I have to figure out where to put the nursery. Which reminds me, we still need to figure out where we are going to live. Do you want to stay on the yacht or buy a house?"
Both of them start to laugh at me. "What is so funny?"
Clarke says, "Cielo, it doesn't matter to me as long as we are together. What would you be more comfortable with?"
"I think the yacht is safer, I mean, no one can get out to it without a boat, and it would be challenging to get aboard without anyone knowing it…but I want you to be comfortable so…."
"The yacht is fine with me. I have loved staying there with you when we are home. Plus, there are plenty of people there to help us if we need it."
"Yeah, but are you okay with there being so many others living with us. A house would be more private, but the Untouchable just feels like home. Then again, I don't care where we live as long as it's with you three." I say as I place my hand on her stomach over the noticeable baby bump.
"I feel the same way, so how about we start by staying on the Untouchable, and then if we decide it's not the right fit for us, we can go from there."
"Alright, that sounds like a plan. When we get home, we will figure out where we want the nursery, and then I will call the designer back out to make the necessary adjustments."
Clarke
Lexa and I spend the morning lounging around the hotel room, talking about everything from where we want to live to what kind of nursery we wish for our baby girls. Of course, most of the talk revolves around the babies and planning for them, but I finally get up the nerve to ask about the wedding.
"Lexa, babe, I know you are excited about the babies and everything, but…um…."
She raises her eyebrows at me, "Clarke, what's wrong? You know you can tell me anything, right?"
"I know. It's just that we haven't actually talked about getting married. I know everything is moving fast, and then there are all the other things going on, but…I've always thought that I would be married before I had kids. I know that we threw together a really nice wedding for Ash and Callie, which will be fine, but I have always dreamed of…well, a fairy tale wedding, with all the bells and whistles."
"Ya Amar, we can have the wedding of your dreams whenever you want it. I just didn't want to pressure you into one. I'm simply happy that you accepted my proposal. I wasn't sure if you would want the added stress of planning a wedding on top of being pregnant with twins, but if you want to be married before you have the babies, that is fine with me. I want you to have whatever you want whenever you want it. All you need to do is say the words."
"Oh…I thought that maybe you…maybe you wanted to wait until…hell, I don't know what I thought actually. I just knew that we hadn't talked about it at all, and I was worried that you may not want to go through with it or something."
She starts to speak, but I raise my hand to stop her. "I know, I heard the way it came out, and that's not what I meant at all. I know that you want to marry me eventually, but I guess I thought that you may want to wait until we have been together for longer or something. I'm really fucking this up, so I'm going to stop talking."
She leans in and kisses me, "You are cute when you ramble. Seriously though, if you want to get married before the babies arrive, that is fine with me. Like I said, I didn't want to add any more stress to your life by adding a wedding to your pregnancy, especially with all this other stuff that we have going on right now. I want to marry you, and the sooner, the better as long as that is what you want. I want you to have your dream wedding. I never in a million years thought that I would live long enough to get married, so I never gave it any thought. You and your mom get together, talk, figure out what you want, and then just let me know. Besides, you should have plenty of time to think in the next week or so while we are in the middle of nowhere camping."
"Thank you!"
"For what? You never need to thank me. I want to give you whatever you want and need. I need you to know that you and the two gummy bears are the most important things in my life, and I will do anything to protect you."
"I know. It's just that you always know how to make me feel better, and I want to do that for you too."
"Babe, you do just by being with me. You make my life better. Never doubt that, and never doubt that I will always be by your side even if we are apart. I will always be there when you need me. We should probably get ready and head down to the docks. I want to stop by the store and stock up on peanut butter and hot sauce."
I chuckle and smack her playfully, "Are you making fun of me?"
"Not at all! I just want to be prepared."
Lexa
By five, we have found a suitable island to make camp. It is situated in a group of islands near where the Dnieper and Pripyat rivers merge. It is off of the main fishing area and secluded between a few different smaller islands. There is an abandoned house with a few outbuildings in reasonably good shape, at least to provide some shelter other than our tents, and it shouldn't be hard to create a hidden area if we need it. It only takes about an hour to get the camp set up, then we start to build our firepit. By the time it is dark, we have a nice firepit area set up with the tents surrounding it in a circle.
All in all, it is an excellent little setup. The house isn't too far from the camp, and the most significant outbuilding is in the middle of the island, surrounded by a patch of trees. I will take a better look at it tomorrow. We spend the better part of the evening sitting around the fire telling stories and drinking. Jose, Ash, and I talk briefly about exploring the island in more depth in the morning before doing a little training. Hopefully, by mid-afternoon Bellamy and Reed would join us with the information we need. Pav was going to take a small group out fishing early, and then later in the evening, Ash, Reed, Jose, and I were going scouting up toward the village. I briefly overheard Clarke talking with Abby and Callie about planning the wedding.
Ash must have overheard it too because she asks, "So, when is the big day?"
"I have no idea. I didn't realize that Clarke wanted to get married before the babies until this morning when she mentioned it. So I just thought we would wait."
"Why do you want to wait?"
"It's not really that I wanted to. It's just I didn't want her to stress over anything else right now, you know. I just want her to take care of herself and not worry any more than she already has to with everything that is out of our control."
"I get it. Hopefully, all of this will be over soon, and we can maybe have some normalcy."
"That would be nice. I think I'm going to turn in. See you in the morning."
Clarke and I head back to the boat where we will be staying, and she decides to take a shower. While she is in the shower, I google private island weddings. I think I didn't give Clarke the epic proposal she deserved, so I need to make up for it with the wedding. If I can rent out a private island resort, it would be safer for one, but also epic. Not to mention, I could have them take care of all the planning with Clarke's input, of course, which would take all the stress off of her. I find a couple of places that I think would be amazing. I just hope that I'm not overstepping on her plans.
Later while we are lying in bed, I say, "Um…I've been thinking about our wedding ever since our last conversation, and I know it is something that you want to do before the babies arrive…but I don't want you stressing out over all of the details of a big wedding…."
Clarke interrupts me, "I have been talking with mom and Callie about it, and they are going to help plan it, so it won't be so stressful. But if you want to wait…that's fine also. I know I kinda dropped a bombshell on you telling you I wanted a fairy tale wedding…."
"Hear me out, I have an idea that will hopefully solve the issue of the stress but give you the wedding of your dreams at the same time. I have found a couple of private islands that we can rent out where they take care of all the setup, decorations, and planning. Then, all we need to do is show up with all our family and friends."
"Okay, that sounds great, but I sort of want to help plan it. I have certain things in mind that I would like to have, like I'm thinking of a beach wedding with lots of rose petals…."
I stop her with a kiss, "Ya Amar, you will have as much say as you want in the planning of the wedding. I've talked to one resort in particular, and they have a couple of different packages that can be tailored to whatever you want. Here look…" I pull up Gili Lankanfushi in the Maldives and hand her my phone. "Look at this and see what you think."
She takes her time flipping through all the pictures and different packages before looking up at me. I can't read her expression at first, but then she tears up and kisses my neck. "Cielo, are you sure? This looks awfully expensive and…."
"Yes, I'm sure. I want you to have the wedding you want and deserve. All I need is for you to pick a date, and I will make it happen. That is if this is okay with you."
"Babe, this looks amazing. I can't wait to tell Callie and mom about this tomorrow."