Eight months later …
I didn’t know how it happened, but Carter started living with me about three months after we’d finally made love. Wait, scratch that. I knew exactly how it happened. Carter started sleeping over more and more often, bringing his things over and taking over my space. And then I looked around one day and realized he had put half of everything in my house there.
“Uh, C?” I asked. “What’s all this?” I waved my arm around my home.
“Furniture?” he responded in the form of a question.
“I mean why has my house become a place to deposit all the things you don’t want?”
“These are all the things that I want, Em,” he said as if he was saying, “duh.”
“Oookay,” I responded. Yep, Carter hadn’t kicked the habit, and apparently, I’d started in on it too.
“Which is why they’re all here,” he said, and even though I didn’t fully get what he was saying, it kind of made me smile knowing he wanted his things near me.
“Carter Anderson, you had better start explaining,” I demanded, but it wasn’t forcefully at all.
“Well, I live here now, so I wanted some of my things here too,” he said with a shrug.
“What?” I screeched. “You live here now?” I repeated, knowing full well I was probably bright red and my face looked like I had been shocked to hell.
“Your place is nicer than mine is, and I had a feeling you wouldn’t really like change too much, so that’s why we’re here,” he responded nonchalantly.
“No, that’s why I’m here. What do you mean we’re here? This is my place, Carter, and I don’t remember your name being on the deed.”
“Semantics,” he said and waved his hand as if he was brushing it off. “It’s our place now. I rented mine out last week.”
I hadn’t even noticed he hadn’t gone home for a week. I mentally slapped my head with my hand.
“When the hell did we decide this?” I screamed, starting to panic on top of my obvious frustration.
“Em,” he said as he walked over to me and stood right in front of me. “I love you more than I ever thought possible. We stopped spending time apart a while ago. Why? Because I can’t bear the thought of not being with you all the time. I did what I had to do to be with you always,” he said unapologetically.
“You can’t just decide something like that for both of us,” I hissed.
“Em, baby, you would have never approved. And I couldn’t stand another minute away from you. If you want me to be sorry I manipulated you, I’m not. But come on,” he said with a charming smirk. Damn him and his smirk. “It’s what I do when it comes to you. I trick you until I get my way. Remember Friday movie night?”
He chuckled.
I swatted him.
Then he caught my arms and pulled me toward him until his lips pressed lightly against mine. He wasn’t kissing me so much as breathing me. “I love you so fucking much, Em. Don’t be mad at me for that,” he said against my lips. “Just let me continue loving you, being right by your side. Right here where I belong. With you.”
A girl really couldn’t stay mad at that. And if she could? Well, two seconds later, Carter’s gentle lip caress turned into something carnal, fierce, and passionate. He showed me just how much he loved me, and a girl definitely couldn’t stay mad after that.
We continued to banter, send each other funny pictures all day long, spent time alone, spent time with his friends and sister and Beth even introduced me to a few of her friends too. I now had a little circle of girlfriends. And I got closer to my cousin, Jacqueline, after she returned from her honeymoon. I’d always been closer to her than I had anyone else, aside from my mom and Don, but I had kept her at arm’s length. Now, we were practically sisters.
My family thought the moon and the stars of Carter, and his ego grew larger, if you could believe that. My Aunt May was especially fond of him, particularly whenever she saw him without a shirt. “Oh my,” she’d say as she fanned herself. “You hold on to that one.”
“As long as he’ll have me,” I responded with a giggle. Oh, and that? I started giggling… a lot. What grown woman giggled? Me. That was who. Happiness would do that to a girl.
When Carter met Don, Don pulled him aside and had a little chat with him. I could take a highly educated guess and say he threatened him bodily harm if he hurt me. Then I saw them pat each other’s back, and they got along great after that. And I was pretty sure Don might have even had a crush on my mom. I wouldn’t blame her if she felt the same. He definitely had that older, rugged, handsome thing going on.
I still wasn’t one-hundred percent comfortable in my own skin at all times, but every day got better, especially when I’d catch Carter staring at me like he’d just seen the sun for the first time after being trapped below ground for years. “My God, you’re beautiful,” he’d tell me. I’d blush, and then he’d add, “Inside and out.” And my doubts would disappear a little more each time.
His jealousy didn’t get much better, but he was able to cope with guys and even a few girls staring at me with hungry eyes. He’d just lean in closer and give people what I termed “the death glare.” Because if looks could kill, his would.
I even let go of the anger I was feeling toward my father and continued to visit his grave often. Carter even came with me a few times. He’d stand beside me, his arm around me, just holding me up. The first time, though, he asked for a few minutes alone. I walked away and saw him put his hand on my father’s gravestone. He stood, his lips moving for a few minutes, and then he turned and walked toward me.
“What’d you say?” I asked.
“That I was sorry.” He shrugged. “And that I loved you more than anything, so he didn’t have to worry about you.” I knew there was more, but I didn’t push him. I did, however, feel tears burning my eyes from the sheer force of my emotions toward this man next to me.
“No tears, Em,” he said as he wiped a tear from my cheek.
“Happy tears, C,” I told him, and he nodded like he understood.
All in all, everything was great. Even with Carter’s little shenanigans—and let me tell you, that whole moving in stunt was not the first or the last— everything was fan-freaking-tastic. I was almost waiting for someone to pop out and say, “It’s too good to be true.” Almost.
Carter’s friends wanted to hang out, and Carter was working on a case late, so he asked me just to meet him at the usual bar.
When I walked in, though, I felt like I’d entered the twilight zone. There, in the middle of the bar, stood my boyfriend in a dress.
“Dear God, C, what’d you bet this time? And why is it always a dress?” I asked, chuckling as I made my way over to him, surrounded by his friends, correction, our friends. Shortly after we got together, Carter admitted everything to them about our fake relationship and my part in the bet. They gave him shit about it, but only because they could. Then they were just completely happy for us, saying it was meant to be. Beth and some of my new girlfriends were there too. That wasn’t unusual nowadays, especially after I started spending more time with Beth. Carter didn’t want to stay away, so he’d join, and drag his friends, and voila, our version of Friends was born, only bigger and louder. And I was pretty sure Beth had absolutely no issues with Lance being around more often, but she still hadn’t said a word. I’d break her down, though. After all, she did that to me, so it was only fair I’d do it to her.
Carter pulled me into a hug when I made it to the table, and then kissed me not so PDA-friendly. I’d gotten used to that too. We argued at first, but Carter would just say, “Be happy it wasn’t more. You’re lucky I show this much restraint around you.” I gave up.
“What’s this about?” I asked as we broke apart. “And why didn’t I know you had some bet going on?”
He took a step back but held onto my hands with his.
“Exactly one year ago today, I made a bet with these clowns,” he said as he nodded toward the guys. “And it was the best decision I’ve ever made. But as you know, the loser was supposed to wear a dress.”
“But the bet was called off,” I interjected.
“Technically, yes.” He nodded. “But technically, I lost. So I figured it was time to pay up.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, and I could tell I was furrowing my eyebrows.
“I lost, Em. I lost my heart to you. And I’ve never been happier.”
“I love you,” I whispered, tears glistening in my eyes at how sweet Carter could be.
“The bet was about finding someone to fall for me, and then parting ways. But I fell for you, Em. I fell in love with your witty comments, with your sharp tongue, your sense of humor. I fell in love with how strong you are, with how independent you are. I fell in love with how fiercely you care about the people you love. I fell in love with your beauty, all of your beauty. What’s on the outside and the beauty beneath. And when it was all said and done, I couldn’t let you go. So I lost.” He shrugged.
“And in true dramatic fashion”—he smirked—“I figured what better way to make it known that I had no qualms about losing that bet than to pay my dues.”
“So you wore a dress to tell me just how happy you are you lost that bet?” I asked, shaking my head at his antics.
“No, I wore a dress to show you just how far I’ll go to keep you so that when I get down on my knee and ask you to marry me, you won’t say no.”
“I … What?” I asked, completely shocked.
“Uh, guys,” he said over my shoulder and let go of one of my hands to take a small black box from Dan. “Sorry, not much room to hide this thing under here,” he said as he lifted the skirt up a bit.
I knew people in the bar around us were hushed, their eyes glued to the scene, but the rest of the bar was packed and noisy. But all I heard was Carter. He was all I’d ever heard.
And then he got down on one knee, and I gasped, my free hand flying to my mouth as Carter still held onto my other one. This time, tears weren’t just glistening in my eyes, they were free falling all over the place, and I didn’t care one bit.
Carter tried to open the box with one hand, but that didn’t work. “This seemed much more graceful in my head,” he muttered as he let go of my hand. I couldn’t help but chuckle. Just like with everything else in our life, this was weird, and quirky, and serious, and even funny.
He opened the box, and a beautiful ring sparkled, catching the light as Carter stared intently at me.
“Emerson Elaine Higgins,” he said, and I gasped again. “I took a look at your birth certificate,” he said with a wink. “Elaine, I like it.” He shrugged, and I giggled. Damn me and my giggling. “Em, baby, I love you so fucking much. And I’m going to get you to marry me one way or another, even if I have to trick you,” he said with all seriousness, and I didn’t doubt he meant it. “But I’d much rather you did it on your own. So do me the honor of saying yes. Tell me you’ll marry me.”
What could a girl really say to that? “Yes,” I responded, and all our friends roared and yelled all at once.
“Yes?” he asked over their cheering as if he couldn’t believe what I’d said.
“Yes, Carter, I’ll marry you. In a heartbeat,” I said as he slipped the ring on my finger.
And then I threw myself at him, and we tumbled to the floor. I was pretty sure his dress rode up, and he flashed some people his goods, but I didn’t care. “I thought I might have to manipulate you into this,” he whispered against my lips.
“I love you, Carter. And I’d be honored to be your wife,” I told him.
“God, I’m so fucking lucky,” he groaned as he kissed me.
“Stop molesting each other so we can congratulate you,” Beth said standing right over us. So we got up and spent the night celebrating.
When we made it home, Carter pulled me to him and held my face in his hands like he did often, staring right into my eyes. “I can’t tell you enough how truly happy I am with you, how incredibly lucky I am to have your love, how unbelievable it is that you forgave me and gave me another chance, and how fan-fucking-tastic it is that you broke out of your shell for me. I promise you, Em, I’ll never hurt you again. And for as long as I live, you’ll never doubt my love, and you’ll forever have my protection. I’ll make sure you never feel like you have to hide or bury your beauty beneath pain and scars ever again. I’ll heal any marks left behind. I promise you that.”
“I know, Carter, I know,” I told him. “This ugly duckling found her white swan thanks to her handsome prince. And we’ll live happily ever after,” I teased.
“As long as we’re together, Em, we will.”
And we did.
~The End~