Early the next morning, I found myself alone in bed. Lulu's side was empty, the sheets still rumpled from her sleepless slumber. Neither of us slept much; instead, we stayed up and talked about all the plans that we had for our future. Lulu wanted to guess what our baby would be like, whether she would like me or act like her. She'd also started talking about names, still certain that it was a girl. She wanted to name her after our mothers but hadn't yet decided on the right combination. I thought it was still too early to be picking out names, but she was the mother and I wasn't about to tell her that.

"Dillon, come down to breakfast!" she called up the stairs. Her warm voice filled the room, drawing me toward her. The aromatic scent in the air finally caught up with my nostrils. It smelled like bacon and blueberry pancakes.

I grabbed my hooded sweatshirt from the back of the only other piece of furniture in the bedroom, a leather chair. We didn't have anything in the house to cook with, so I'm not sure how she had managed to produce a full breakfast. "How did you cook anything?" I asked as I came bounding down the stairs.

Wow. Married? Oh, this is -- this is -- this is so surreal.

"Alice," she explained simply, "sweet, wonderful Alice. She had Cook whip this up and then brought it over."

"Well, my sweet fiancée," I mused, "it smells amazing. You smell amazing." I kissed the top of her bare shoulder before pulling her robe up over her skin. She smiled and turned to kiss me over her shoulder, quickly losing herself in the moment. I turned her around in my arms and pulled her close to me until she stopped it.

"Breakfast, we need to eat," she declared. "We have plans for this afternoon."

"Oh., we do?"

"We're telling your family."

"Um, now, already?"

"Why not?"

"You're right. We can tell them. In fact, we can have a big dinner and tell everyone at once," I decided. "Not just my family but yours, too. We can invite Elizabeth, Nikolas, your grandmother, Bobbie and your dad. It will be one huge family affair."

She put up her hands defensively. "Are you crazy?"

Oh, of course. I would love to, yes.

I nodded. "There is no time like the present. They're all going to have to be in one place at once eventually, so why not now? I'm sure Grandfather would love to host it at the estate."

Lulu shook her head defiantly. "We can have it at Wyndamere. I don't want to hear your grandfather bark on and on about how we are always taking advantage of Quartermaine money. He already holds it against my father and me enough. I don't want my engagement party to be ruined by it."

"Fine, who else do we need to invite?"

"Carly and the boys, Jason and Sonny," she listed.

"Jason?"

"He's related to you. He might come if Carly and Sonny do."

"Fine. What about Georgie?" I teased.

She smiled and stuck out her chin. "Why not! I'm sure she'd love it. She could bring Maxie, and we could watch her try to hook up with my brother. Are you crazy?"

"You keep asking me that?" I teased as I pulled her in my arms. "In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am crazy. Crazy 'bout you."

"That was too cheesy, even for you, Quartermaine."

But you are here now, so that's all that matters.

Lulu left me alone in the kitchen to dive into a plate of sizzling bacon. When she returned, her ear was already pressed against her cell phone, talking a mile a minute to Elizabeth. "Do you think you could help me with it?" she asked. "Great! I will call Nikolas and make details. See you at Spoon Island in an hour?"

"So, what's the plan?" I inquired once she hung up the phone.

"Liz and I are going to set up. I am going to tell her beforehand because someone is going to have to help with crowd control. They won't push a pregnant woman in case there is an uproar," Lulu explained.

"They're going to be happy for us, honey," I promised.

"You don't know that."

"I don't, but I'm going to pray that they do," I murmured. "Listen, even if they don't, it doesn't matter. I have your father's permission, and I have a feeling that my mom is going to be okay with it. Much past that, what else do we need?"

"I'd like my brothers' blessing," she answered. "And your mother does approve."

"Oh, yeah? How do you know that?"

"I kind of asked her if I could propose to you."

"You hadn't told me that," I gasped, leaning my forehead against hers.

I am starting to get that. It's just -- hasn't been an easy awakening. I kind of -- I have a hard head.

"I wanted to marry you. You just beat me to the asking. And I'm glad you did because I knew then that you wanted to marry me as much as I wanted to marry you."

"You know that I can't wait."

"Well, Young Spielberg," she ribbed, "you're going to have to wait. At least for now, but I promise it won't be long. I want to marry you within the month."

"That gives us two weeks."

"Think you can manage?"

I shook my head. "I don't know how I'll wait, but I'll find a way. You're worth it."

Mom told me not to expect perfection out of the people that you love.