A Womb With A View by Kakie

Chapter 8

"We are quite a pair, Larry." Ally had her head on his chest and he had his hand on her swollen stomach.

"How so?"

"I am twelve weeks away from having this child and the only thing we have decided on is her name. We have a lot to discuss before I leave tomorrow."

"I guess we do. I think we should get married."

Ally froze for a moment. Then she sat up and turned to him. "That's a nice offer but it's really not necessary."

Larry frowned as her words sank in. He up and stared at her. "Nice offer? Not necessary? Do you think I want to get married just because you're pregnant?"

Ally was confused by the anger in his face and his voice. "Larry, what are..."

"Did you think that maybe I want to marry you because I love you? People get married for love all the time. Or hadn't you heard?"

One step too far. Ally grabbed her robe and slipped it on. "Don't talk down to me, Larry Paul. I know most people marry for love but you are not most people. You once told me that you couldn't see yourself getting married again because you were no good at it. You say you love me but the one time you propose, correction, you suggest marriage it's because I'm pregnant."

Larry got out of the bed and pulled his pants on. "Stay right there." He left the room but was back within seconds. "I'm going to prove you wrong." He handed her a small velvet box.

"What is it?"

"Open it and find out."

Ally opened the box to find an exquisite diamond ring inside. She couldn't find her voice. "It's..um. beautiful. Whose is it?"

He lifted her face so they were eye to eye. "The ring is yours, Ally. I bought it for you."

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Oh. I can't believe you bought me an engagement ring." The lawyer in her began to sort through the fog in her head. "Why do you have an engagement ring for me? You didn't know I was going to be here this weekend and you certainly didn't have time to shop for a ring in the last two days. Where did the ring come from?"

"I bought it at Quinlan's."

"Quinlan's? The only Quinlan's I know of is in Boston and it closed in June when Mr. Quinlan retired."

Larry knew he was in deep trouble. "I bought the ring in late April."

Ally tried to swallow over the lump in her throat. "You bought me an engagement ring in April? I don't remember you proposing to me. I'm pretty sure I would remember that."

"I didn't propose. Sit down while I tell you what happened."

She sat and listened as he explained about the mix-up with the dessert and everything that followed.

Ally closed her eyes. "Let me see if I have this right. You wanted to marry me enough to buy an engagement ring but not enough to propose?"

"I was going to propose but the ...."

"Dessert fiasco. Yes, you mentioned it. The Larry I knew would not have let something as insignificant as a confused waiter stop him from doing what he wanted to do. The Larry I knew would have stopped on my front stoop, where he once left me a snowman, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him."

Larry's cell phone interrupted their conversation.

"You better get that."

He shook his head. "No, it can wait."

"It might be important. Go."

Ally quickly dressed and was nearly packed when Larry returned.

"It was Sam. He did some research on babies on the internet and had all sorts of questions and suggestions for me." He noticed she was dressed and packing. "Ally, please don't leave."

"I have to. I can't stay here."

He touched her shoulder. "Please. Let's talk about this."

She took a deep breath. "There's nothing to talk about. Seven months ago you decided to ask me to marry you but when it came down to the wire, you changed your mind and left me." She took another deep breath and ordered herself not to cry. She had shed far too many tears over this man. "I convinced myself that coming here this weekend would be a new beginning for us. Maybe I was looking for a love that never existed in the first place."

He gently took her hands. "It did exist then and it still does. I love you and I want us to be a real family. Not co-parents like with Jamie but real parents, parents who love each other. It's what I've wanted since John showed up in my office that day. It's what I wanted all along."

She shook one hand free and placed it on his cheek. "I love you, Larry Paul, with all my heart and soul. But Kelsey needs more than two parents that love each other. She needs two parents who will give her stability."

"That can be us."

Ally removed her hand from his face and pulled the other one free from his grasp. "How? You ran at the thought of marriage to me."

Larry turned and faced the mirror. He could see her in the reflection. "I've said it to you, to myself and to other people that leaving you was the worst thing I have ever done. I regretted it the second I stepped on that plane."

"Then why didn't you come back?"

"Because I knew I had done the one thing I had promised I would never do." His eyes locked into hers in the mirror.

"That you would never leave me."

Neither one said anything for a long moment.

"I knew that any faith and trust you had in me was destroyed so I let the plane leave with me on board."

Ally's eyes stung and her throat hurt. "I can't do this again, Larry. I can't go through it. It nearly killed me the first time. She grabbed her suitcase and reached for the door. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal but she didn't move. "I'm tired, Larry. I'm so tired of us constantly hurting each other."

He stood several feet back. He was afraid to move any closer for fear she might leave. "So am I."

She stared at her hand on the doorknob. "I wish we could go back to the beginning when everything was new and romantic and I thought we'd be together forever."

He took a step closer. "I don't. It was too easy then."

"Too easy? How can you say that?"

"I don't want easy anymore, Ally. I want hard." He wished she would turn around but maybe this was better. "I want to take turns getting up in the middle of the night to take care of Kelsey. I want to take her to school and watch her dance recitals. I want to tuck her in bed and then crawl into bed with you. I want to argue with you over bills and who's going to cook dinner. I want us celebrate the good times and lean on each other when things are bad. I want it all and I want it forever. I love you and I want us to be a real family."

Ally's hand shook as she listened to every word he said. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "That's what I want too." She gently set her suitcase on the floor and released the doorknob.

Larry made his move. "Please turn around."

She slowly turned until they were face to face.

He held out the opened ring box. "Ally, I love you. Will you marry me?"

She closed her eyes. It was exactly the way she dreamed it would be.

"Yes, Larry. I'll marry you."

With the biggest grin on his face, he slipped the ring onto her finger and then pulled her into his arms. "I love you so much. You won't regret this." He pulled back and kissed her.



Larry added another log to the fireplace and resumed his place next to her on the carpet. "You keep staring at that ring."

"I know," she said with a grin, "I can't believe it really happened. You asked me to marry you."

"I should have done it months ago," he said partially in disgust.

She laid her head on his shoulder. "Forget about that. You did propose and I accepted. That's the important part."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Let's talk about weddings for a minute. I know you'll probably want a big wedding so I'm thinking maybe May or June. That way Kelsey will be a few months old. What do you think?"

"May or June is nice but I was thinking a little sooner."

"How much sooner?"

"Christmas Eve."

He turned to her. "Christmas Eve? But that's only a few weeks away."

She smiled at him. "I know when Christmas is, Larry."

"But there is no way we can plan a wedding in that short of time."

"We can if it's just the two of us."

"You want to elope?"

She moved until she was facing him. "Larry, do you remember last Christmas?"

"Yes," he said with some uncertainty.

"It was the first time you told me you loved me. Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember. I remember everything about it."

"That was probably one of the happiest days of my life."

"Mine too."

"It's been nearly a year since then and look what we have been through and put each other through. Between the breakup, you leaving, the pregnancy and everything that went with it, we survived it all. Our daughter will arrive in a few months and we're finally getting married. Can you understand why I feel an elopement is the best thing?"

As Larry pondered this, Ally grabbed a pillow from behind her and laid her head in his lap. He placed one hand on her stomach and took her hand with the other.

"If things had turned out differently, if that waiter hadn't made that fateful mistake, we'd be engaged and possibly even married by now. In that situation, a big wedding with all the trimmings would be appropriate. The fact is, Larry, I don't want all the hoopla, I just want you. Besides, I can't think of a better way to wake up on Christmas morning than as your wife. What do you say, Mr. Larry? You want to run off and get married?"

A dozen arguments ran through his head as to why it would be better to wait but there was only one that held any ground and that was Sam. Could he do this to his son? He thought about all the times Sam encouraged him to call Ally and ask her for her forgiveness. He thought about the joy in Sam's face when he saw Ally in the apartment and realized she was pregnant. His son would understand. He glanced down at Ally. Everything he ever wanted was being handed to him on a silver platter. All he had to do was take it.

"You got yourself a deal..and a husband."

Ally smiled into the fire.