"It's really nice of you to organize all this for your future bride-to-be."
"Well, she's certainly earned it." Liam mused out loud, striving to keep the wave of guilt trying to hit him at bay. "I haven't always treated her the way she deserved in the past."
Bill couldn't refrain a satiric comment, "To say the least."
"But that is all in the past. Today is about the future… and from this day forward, Steffy and our child will be my very top priority, and they will know it too."
"If Steffy doesn't hold you to that, you can be sure I will."
"Oh, I believe you." Liam smiled, not doubting his father's statement for a moment and counting on it. He would most assuredly screw up at some point over the years and need someone to knock some sense into him and remind him of how fortunate he was to have such a wonderful wife. And who better to do that than Steffy's number one supporter?
"Quite ingenious on your part too." Bill remarked thoughtfully. At his son's confused expression, he explained himself. "The wedding I mean."
Liam knit his brows further. "I'm still not following."
"With the way you've set everything up, you're not leaving Steffy much of a choice, are you? It's not like Steffy is going to say no to you in front of your closest friends and family members." Bill reasoned.
"You -you don't think Steffy wants to marry me?" Liam hesitantly stammered, to which Bill first raised an eyebrow and then narrowed his eyes. "You think she doesn't -she won't…"
"Liam! I was joking." Bill said as though it were obvious, before shaking his head, disconcerted, "What has gotten into you?"
"Nothing at all. I was just-" Mercifully, a knock on the door stopped him from finishing that reply.
Eric poked his head through the small opening of the door. "Liam, could I speak with you for a moment?"
"Yes please!" Was Liam's eager reply, which earned him a pointed look from his father. "Come on in." Once he walked inside, Liam acknowledged, "Thank you again for letting me use your home for this."
Eric merely smiled in return. "You're welcome."
"What do you wish to talk about?" Bill questioned.
"Actually, Liam, I was hoping we could talk privately."
Liam turned to give his father a meaningful look, silently asking the latter to leave. Bill uncrossed his arms and made to leave. "I will go check on Katie."
Liam focused his attention back on Eric. "What's going on?"
"I would like to turn the question around to you."
"What do you mean?"
"What is going on between you and my granddaughter?"
Liam frowned. "I'm not sure I'm following you, Eric."
"Steffy has arrived. She's in one of the rooms with her mother."
"Oh good, is she getting ready?"
"I strongly doubt it, son."
"Why is that?"
"She seemed rather…" Eric paused as he searched for the appropriate word. "…reluctant to proceed with this wedding ceremony. It appears that she has some concerns. Strong ones. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He asked rhetorically, his tone implying that he knew Liam did.
Liam sighed quietly. This was not a conversation he wanted to have at all, but Eric was Steffy's grandfather, so he figured he owed the man an explanation. "I presume it has to do with Hope…"
"Hope? Why? Did something happen between you?" Eric calmly asked.
"No, not at all. At least, not recently." Liam answered. "I don't see what else it could be." He shrugged.
"Hmm" Eric nodded and then made a bit of a face. "One cannot really say that your behavior and your back and forth between Hope and Steffy has contributed in making either one of them feel secure in your love."
Such words spoken by anybody but Eric would have infuriated Liam, not to mention vexed him, but because they came from Eric, he couldn't let them upset him. He knew the older man was speaking from a place of complete honesty only, not of judgment.
"No, that's for sure." He paused. "But I'm working on changing that, Eric. I know I have a tremendous amount of work to do, but I truly love your granddaughter, Eric, only her, and I will do everything in my power to make her believe that."
It was a bit stupid to say and mostly hard to believe, but Liam felt like he was a changed man. Ever since he'd had that horrible scare months ago when Steffy was urgently admitted into the ER, Liam understood how fragile life was and how precious Steffy truly was to him. That incident had been a blessing in disguise; a complete revelation of the full extent of his feelings for Steffy. Now that she was additionally carrying their first child, there was no way he would ever let her go.
Liam had grown a lot since his last walk to the altar. No more indecisiveness, no more conflicted feelings. Liam knew precisely what he wanted now and as any Spencer man, he intended to do whatever it took to get it.
"Call me old-fashioned, Liam, but I believe you're supposed to prove yourself before you get married." Eric mused out loud, emphasizing on the preposition.
"True." The young man conceded. "But Steffy and I are anything but old-fashioned." He reminded.
"That's right. You two are the opposite of conventional."
"Thank God! Can you imagine how boring we would be if we weren't?"
Eric laughed. "No, not really. My granddaughter has never been the traditional type."
"And I doubt she will ever be. There is one convention that we will be respecting though." Liam added.
"What's that?" Eric inquired.
"We will get married before our son is born, and before you even say anything, no, the baby is not the reason why I want to marry Steffy." Liam stated, anticipating Eric's comment.
"What is then?"
"Love."
Eric offered a small tight-lipped smile in response. "Good answer. Well, I'm going to head back downstairs and make sure all is going smoothly. I came up here to make sure that you had your feelings sorted out and that your thoughts were clear. I needed to know that you fully realize what a strong commitment marriage is and that you were ready for it. It appears that you are." He paused before sincerely adding, "So you have my blessing."
"Really?"
"Just do me a favor, will you?"
"Of course. Anything!"
"Be good to Steffy. Treat her better than I did her namesake or than her father did her mother. Love her, and make sure that she knows it. Show her every single day. You know, it's good to say it, and it's always nice to hear it, but…"
"Actions speak louder than words." Liam finished for Eric.
"Exactly. Keep that to the forefront of your mind."
Liam nodded solemnly. "I will. I promise, Eric."
/
By the time Steffy finished reading Liam's letter for the second time, she was so overcome with emotion she couldn't refrain from exhaling a loud sob.
Every word in that letter tugged at her heartstrings. Liam had always known all the right things to say to Steffy, but this time, he had well and truly upped his game. She wanted to believe his words, and in a way, she did. She believed that Liam genuinely loved her and was committed to her. She just didn't know how long that would remain true. Lately, her faith was shaky, at best. The fact that they loved one another was no guarantee at all that they would survive the trials of life and the harsh test of time. How many couples who thought themselves to be desperately in love split up every day? The odds of her and Liam not ending up like all those couples were quite slim -like 0.05 probability.
Steffy was anything but a quitter. She was a fighter. There was no doubt in her mind that she would always fight for Liam, that she would do everything in her power to keep them together, to protect their family. But what if Liam was not willing to make the same efforts? What if one day he woke up and decided to stop trying? What then? She didn't want to have to hold her marriage together all by herself.
She sniffed quietly as she recalled a conversation she had with Liam a few weeks before.
They were both lying together in bed, her back pressed against his torso, their legs tangled in a natural embrace.
"Babe?" Liam spoke, rubbing Steffy's stomach gently. He knew by her breathing that she was not asleep yet.
"Hmm?" She slowly turned around to face him. She looked up at him with a loving gaze.
He ran his thumb across her face tenderly, going from her forehead down to her cheek, cradling her hair. "You're beautiful."
Steffy smiled and let out an embarrassed laugh. She looked down shaking her head, feeling a blush creep onto his cheeks. Liam grinned widely, loving the fact that he could still make her blush so easily after all this time. She brought the back of her hand to his forehead. "Oh no" she feigned a surprised expression. "You don't have a fever."
Liam arched an eyebrow at her, then rolled his eyes. "You're stupid. I was being serious."
She ran her fingers over his light stubble. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He took her hand that was on his face and kissed her knuckles. "I want to make a plan for our wedding."
Steffy stiffened a little and slightly recoiled. Retrieving her hand from Liam, she sat up and covered herself up with the bed sheets.
"You ok?" Liam frowned at her reaction.
"A plan for our wedding?"
"Yeah, I mean we can't stay engaged forever now, can we?"
"I guess so." Steffy said, diverting her gaze from Liam to stare at the sheets, trying and failing to hide her reticence.
Liam's frown deepened even further. "Well, mask your enthusiasm."
"No, I am enthusiastic."
Liam nodded and arched a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "Really? You could have fooled me."
"Ok fine, I guess I could be a little more excited. It's just -Liam, listen, I am over five months pregnant, and your baby is giving me and my insides quite a hard time. I am starving every waking moment, I eat everything and anything I can get my hands on; soon enough, I'll be as fat as a whale. Things are kind of hectic at Forrester Creations. I have a lot on my plate right now. Planning a wedding is the last thing on my mind! I don't have the time, or the energy!" Steffy went on a rant, frantically trying to explain herself to Liam.
"Ok, ok, I hear you. Relax, take a breath." Liam rubbed her back and left shoulder soothingly in an attempt to calm her down. Steffy heaved a loud sigh. "Shouldn't we at least set a date?" he still insisted.
Steffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You're not listening to me." She said, shaking her head.
"I am!" Liam protested.
"No, Liam, you aren't!" she countered. "Planning a wedding requires time. I would need a dress, tailor-made, you would need a suit. We would have to… come up with the perfect venue, draw up a guess list, invite people, wait to receive their confirmation that they will attend, book a caterer, come up with a menu, etcetera. It's a lot of work, Liam." She paused and moved a little closer to Liam, cupping his face to bear her eyes into his disarming brown ones. "We already had a rushed wedding. Remember Aspen?"
"Of course."
"I don't want another one like that." She said thoughtlessly and at Liam's stunned and pained expression, she quickly amended herself. "Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful moment, one that I will never forget, but this time around, I want a more conventional celebration. I want it to be extra-special, meaningful. I want us to be surrounded by our loved ones, our families. You understand that, right?"
"Yes, of course I do, but… you do want to marry me, right? I mean the time and effort required for the actual planning are all that's giving you pause, right?"
"Of course." Steffy answered quickly, a little too quickly. She leaned in to press a loving kiss upon his lips.
Liam pulled back enough to gaze into her beautiful emerald eyes. "It's getting late. We should probably get some rest, yeah?"
Steffy silently nodded her head in agreement.
As he reached out for his bedside lamp to turn it off, Steffy's previous statement came to Liam's mind. "Hey, you mentioned you were constantly starving lately, do you want me to get you anything before we turn in?" He offered.
"Some ice-cream perhaps?"
"Some ice-cream please?"
They spoke at the same time and laughed as they did.
Liam swiftly pecked her on the lips and then made to get out of the covers. "I'll be right back."
"Thank you!" she acknowledged, giggling. "Peanut butter and chocolate please."
"I know." Liam turned to give her a look before disappearing out the door.
As her thoughts returned to the present time, Steffy brushed away a tear from her lashes. Liam had completely seen through her. She'd tried to put on a happy front. She'd acted like everything was ok and she was just too tired to focus her mind on planning the perfect wedding. She hadn't lied to Liam, exactly, but she certainly hadn't told him the whole story either. She'd shared with him only what she was comfortable with him knowing and omitted the rest, hoping that the true fears that tortured her mind would remain buried deep within.
However, that hope was without considering how well Liam knew her. She'd believed herself to be astute and sly, but Liam had seen right through her veil of disingenuity. And with his letter, he'd addressed her concerns without Steffy even having to voice them.
By the time she'd finished reading said-letter for the final time, her decision was made.
You can find me on (patre)(on)(.com)/nikscaroline. Remove all the parentheses.
Happy Holidays to you & yours :)