A couple weeks later…
"I want it that way," Gran sang, out of tune and none too quiet either. Lucas laughed quietly as he watched her moving her ample hips to the music coming from somewhere. "Tell me why," she continued. "Ain't nothin but a heartache. Tell me why, Ain't nothin but a mistake!"
Lucas laughed a little louder and she kept going but she turned and looked at him.
"Dance with me, Lucas, my boy," she said, holding her arms out.
"Gran, I'd love to dance with you, but this isn't a slow song."
"Well, this is as fast as I get. Don't want to break something."
He laughed again and swept her into his arms, her head barely coming up to his shoulder.
"How's your Elizabeth?"
"She's perfect," he told her. "I love her, Gran."
She reached up and patted his cheek. "I know. Have you and she…"
"Have we….?"
"Been intimate?"
"Gran! I am not discussing that with you."
"I know how it is to be young. Don't think me and your Grandpa didn't fool around after we met. Why do you think we got married so quickly?"
"Lalala!" He sang, fingers in his ears. "I don't want to hear about what you and Grandpa did."
"Oh relax, Lucas. It's a perfectly natural…."
"Where's Grandpa? I came here to speak with him about something."
"He's in the study snoozing."
"Great."
Emma turned and laughed, took a remote from somewhere and turned up the music.
"Its tearing up my heart when I'm with you," she sang.
"Gran, that's not Backstreet Boys!" he shouted.
"I know that! I'm not partial!"
….
Lucas stayed for dinner at his grandparents feeling much better about the future. Now he just wanted to see Elizabeth.
She was going to be waiting for him at his apartment. Once he arrived home, he was ready to bring up what he and his Grandpa had discussed.
"Babe?" he called as he walked in to his place.
"On the couch, sweetheart."
He turned right and smiled, sitting down and kicking off his shoes, leaned to her and kissed her noisily on the lips and neck, his beard tickling her. She giggled and moved to his lap.
"What have you been up to?"
"I just came from Gran and Grandpa's."
She smacked his chest and put a fake pout on her beautiful face.
"What?"
"I would have loved to see them!"
"I wanted to chat with Grandpa about something."
"Oh yeah? What about?"
"A house."
She rested her hand on his chest and looked at him, a question in her eyes.
"For whom?"
"Well, us."
"You and me, us?"
"Yes, babe. Who else?"
"Well, you have like ten months left of your lease and we aren't engaged and…"
"He owns a duplex ten miles from here. It was just renovated and one side is already rented, but the other is empty. So I thought maybe it would be good for us."
"Lucas, I feel like you're leaving details out."
She sighed and moved to the cushion next to him, hugging her knees.
"It has two bedrooms, one and a half baths."
"Lucas, why are you looking for a house now if we can't move into it for almost a year? Why if we aren't engaged or married? Why if I'm still going to college in Raleigh?"
He felt her mood heading south which was the opposite of what he expected.
"Elizabeth, why are you upset? You are the one who loves to have a plan. I thought you'd love this idea. We have a place."
"I'm not upset. I'm confused. It just doesn't make sense. You said it wasn't the time for us." She stood and walked into the kitchen, putting a mug into the sink, keeping her back to him.
"Elizabeth."
"What?" She turned, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"What's happening?"
"Pms. I'm grumpy and emotional and I feel like I can't control it."
He nodded and wrapped his arms around her for a long moment.
"Come here," he said, taking her fingers and leading her into the bathroom.
"What are we doing?"
He kissed her softly and turned to start bath water. "I'm drawing you a bath."
"You are?"
"Yes, ma'am."
He pulled her body wash from the cabinet and added some to the water and swished it around to make bubbles. Then he lit a couple candles that she had put in the hall closet and turned out the light.
She reached up and gave him a hug and a long, slow kiss. "I love you so much, Luke. Thank you."
"You're welcome, love."
After a warm, relaxing bath, she realized she hadn't grabbed any clean clothes.
She wrapped a towel around herself and headed to the living room where her bag was.
Lucas was dozing on the couch, some movie playing quietly on the TV.
She walked over to her bag and knelt down to find the things she needed.
"Do you have any idea how stunning you are?" he asked quietly.
She turned and found him lying there, taking her in.
"Thank you."
His eyes swept from her bare toes with that bright pink nail polish, up her long, toned legs where the towel ended mid-thigh.
"You're welcome."
His eyes continued their trek to the curve of her hips and her trim waist to the soft skin of her arms and shoulders. Oh and her neck. He loved to kiss the curve of her neck up to her ear. It made her shiver.
He groaned and covered his face with a pillow.
He still struggled with their decision to wait to be intimate. He knew without a doubt it had been the right thing to do. To only stare up at the stars from the beach instead of acting on their impulses and desires.
But right this second, he was questioning everything. He wanted to blurt out "Marry me!" but he didn't. Soon though.
"I'm going to change."
"Yes, please," he groaned, his voice muffled behind the pillow.
….
"Let's play a board game," he suggested a few minutes later.
"Sure. I'll pour us a glass of wine," she told him.
As they played Scrabble, Elizabeth was deep in thought. All throughout her bath, Lucas' bomb that he had dropped kept playing through her head.
"Hon?"
"Triple word score!" he shouted, laughing. "Ten, thirteen, fifteen times three…45 points, babe."
"Good job."
His eyes flicked to hers and he stopped. "What's up?"
"Will you take me to see the duplex tomorrow?"
"Of course."
"I'm sorry I reacted the way I did."
"Its fine."
"I guess I still don't understand the timing of this but I'd like to see it."
"Okay. We will go grab breakfast somewhere and then head over."
"I love you, Lucas."
He covered her hand with his and winked. "I know. I never doubted."
"Good." She put her word down and laughed when hers matched the points of his. "Take that, handsome."
….
The next morning, Lucas and Elizabeth drove to the duplex after breakfast.
"Its adorable," Elizabeth commented as they pulled up into the driveway. She could imagine them living there. She also could imagine renting out the other half as her first air bnb property, if it wasn't already taken.
She imagined mowing the lawn, planting flowers…
"Is there a deck out back?"
"Let's go see. I'll get your door," he told her, but she'd always assume he would. Lucas Bouchard was always a gentleman.
Lucas loved seeing Elizabeth's eyes light up as they wandered into the house.
"The wood floors, sweetheart," she gasped, loving the dark color. "I love that there's no carpet."
The place was much larger than it appeared on the outside. The living room with the gas fireplace and real wood mantle was perfect. She immediately wanted to cuddle up with Lucas there during the chilly winter nights. Feed their babies there.
"Marry me, Luke?"
"What?" he asked, completely taken off guard.
"Please. I love you and I don't want to wait to be your wife. I want to live here with you and our babies. I want to cuddle right there with all of us, keeping warm by the fire. I can see us having a barbecue out back," she said, walking to the sliding door and out onto the deck.
"I can see you playing with our kids right there in the yard. I want to rush home to you every night, right here. Make you dinner. Fall asleep in your arms. Watch you sleep next to me."
"Babe…do you think it's the right time? We are so busy."
"I do think it's the right time. We can do this. Marriage is never easy but I know that life is too short to put things off."
He tucked her hair behind her ears, knowing she was speaking of her mom and her dad's grief when he lost his wife of almost twenty years.
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, let's get married."
…..
After leaving the duplex, he took her to a jewelry shop in town to pick out a ring. She of course, went with a simple, classic solitaire and matching gold band and they also purchased a gold band for him.
Her rings needed to be sized so they left without hers. However, as they walked downtown Charlotte, she smiled and made a show of putting his wedding band on his left ring finger.
He didn't care that people saw her kneeling down and slipping the ring on him. As a Bouchard, he was used to being somewhat unconventional.
When people clapped as they watched him lift her off the ground and kiss her passionately, he blushed but loved every minute.
"Let's call Rosie and Lee," she said as he put her down. He kept his hands on her hips and a smile on his lips. "I can't wait to tell them."
They headed to a park a few blocks away and sat on a bench. "Better yet, let's FaceTime them."
After a moment, Elizabeth saw her best friend's beautiful face and she immediately missed her.
"Rosie!"
"Beth! Oh I miss you so much! When are you coming to visit?"
"I…um, I'm not sure. School starts in two weeks and we've got some big things happening," Elizabeth told her, grinning at Luke.
"Like what?"
Lucas held up his hand and Rosie gasped. "You got married? Without us there?!"
"No," Lucas said. "Elizabeth proposed."
"You go, girl," Rosie squealed, clapping. "Honey Bunny! Guess what!!" she yelled.
"What?" Lee asked, sitting beside his wife. "Oh hey, bro! Hi, Beth!"
Lucas held up his hand again.
"You got married?"
"Nope. Elizabeth proposed. I need you beside me when we get married, Lee. I couldn't do it without you."
"And Rosie, will you be my Matron of Honor?"
"Despite the fact that the term makes me feel like I'm fifty, I'd love to."
"Great."
"We'll make some plans and let you know."
"Um, bro, I'm headed to boot camp in three weeks and it's eight weeks long."
"Elizabeth and I will keep that in mind. Talk to you soon?"
"Yeah. Congratulations," Lee told them. "To both of you."
"Thank you."
"What are we going to do, Luke?"
"Well, if we wait until after boot camp, it'll be December. That gives us time to plan, right?"
"Three months," she said quietly. "Yes. Three months is a lot better than nine."