"I love you, Will," she mutters into my mouth. "I love you, I love you, I love you."

I gently pull her face away from mine. "I'm not finished yet," I laugh. "Stop butterflying interrupting me!" I roll her over onto her back and prop myself up on my elbow beside her.

She starts kicking her legs up and down in a fit. "Hurry up and ask me already, I'm dying here!"

I shake my head and laugh. "That's just it, Lake. I'm not asking you to marry me…"

Before I can even get the rest of my sentence out, a look of horror washes across her face. I immediately put my finger to her lips and shush her before she interrupts me again.

"I know how you liked to be asked and not told. But I'm not asking you to marry me." I roll on top of her and lean in as close as I can while still looking her in the eyes. I lower my voice to a whisper. "I'm telling you to marry me, Lake…because I can't live without you."

She starts crying again…and laughing. She's laughing and crying and kissing me, all at the same time. We both are.

"I was so wrong," she says between kisses. "Sometimes a girl loves to be told."

***

"Are you knocked up?" Eddie asks Lake.

"No, Eddie. That would be you."

We're all sitting in the living room. Lake couldn't wait to tell Eddie so she called her immediately to tell her the news. Eddie and Gavin were here within an hour.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited for you. I just don't get it. Why so sudden? March 2nd is only two weeks away."

Lake looks at me and winks. She's snuggled up next to me, sitting on her feet. I lean in and kiss her lips. Like I said, I can't help it.

Lake turns back to Eddie and answers her. "Why would I want a traditional wedding, Eddie? Nothing about our lives is traditional. None of our parents would be there. You and Gavin would be our only guests. Will's grandparents probably wouldn't even show up…his grandmother hates me."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," I say. "My grandmother actually likes you. A lot. It's me she wasn't really happy with."

"Really?" Lake says. "How do you know?"

"She told me."

"Huh." She smiles. "That's nice to know."

"See?" Eddie says. "They'll show up. So will Sherry and David. That's nine people right there."

Lake rolls her eyes at Eddie. "Nine people? You expect us to pay for an entire wedding for nine people?"

Eddie sighs and falls onto Gavin’s lap in a defeated slump. "I guess you're right. It's just that I was looking forward to planning a big wedding someday.”

"Well, you can still plan your own," she says. Lake looks at Gavin. "How many more minutes until you propose, Gavin?"

Gavin doesn't skip a beat. "About three hundred thousand or so."

"See, Eddie? Besides, I still need you to do my hair and makeup,” Lake says. "We need witnesses, too. You and Gavin can come and Kel and Caulder will be there."

Eddie smiles. She finally seems a little more excited once she finds out she’s invited.

I was hesitant at first with Lake's plan, too. But after hearing her logic…and especially after hearing how much money it would save us not having a wedding, I was easily convinced. The date of the marriage was a given.

"What about the houses? Which one will you guys live in?" Gavin says.

Lake looks at me and nods. We've been talking about it for two weeks now, even before the proposal tonight. After having her stay here, we both knew it would be impossible to live in separate houses again. We came up with the plan about a week ago, but tonight seems like the perfect night to share it.

"That's one of the reasons we wanted you guys to come over," I say. "I had about three years left on my mortgage and no less than two weeks after Julia passed away, the title came in the mail. She paid it off before she died. She paid the rent on Lake's house through September, that's when her lease is up. So now we'll have an empty house with six months of pre-paid rent. We know you guys are looking for a place before the baby comes…so we're offering you Lake's. Until September, anyway...then you'll have to sign your own lease."

Neither one of them says anything. They just look at us in shock. Gavin shakes his head and starts to protest. Eddie slaps her hand over his mouth and turns to me. "We'll take it! We'll take it, we'll take it, we'll take it!" She starts clapping and jumps up and hugs Lake, then hugs me. "Oh my god you guys are the best friends ever! Aren't they Gavin?"

He smiles, not really wanting to appear desperate, but I know how much they need a place of their own. Eddie's excitement eventually outweighs Gavin’s modesty and he can no longer contain himself. He hugs Lake, then hugs me, then hugs Eddie, then hugs me again. When they finally calm down and sit back down on the couch, Gavin's smile fades.

“Do you know what this means?" he says to Eddie. “Kirsten's about to be our parallel neighbor."

Friday, March 2nd, 2012.

It’s worth all the aches,

All the tears,

the mistakes…

The heart of a man and a woman in love?

It’s worth all of the pain in the world.

Chapter Eighteen

I’ve spent the last two weeks giving her every opportunity to opt out of doing things this way. Lake insists she doesn’t want a traditional wedding, but I don’t want her to regret her decision someday. Most girls spend years planning out how they want their wedding to be. But then again, Lake’s not most girls.

I take a deep breath, not really understanding why I'm so jittery. I'm sort of glad it's so informal. I couldn't imagine how shot my nerves would be if we had more of an audience. My hands won't stop sweating, so I wipe them on my jeans. She insisted I wear jeans, said she didn’t want to see me in a tux. I’m not sure what dress she picked out for today, but she didn’t want to wear a wedding dress. She didn’t see the point in buying one if she was only wearing it once.

We aren’t doing the traditional aisle walk, either. In fact, nothing about this is traditional. I’m pretty sure her and Eddie are down the hall in the courthouse public restroom doing her makeup right now. It all seems so surreal…marrying the love of your life in the same building where you can register a car. But honestly, it wouldn’t matter where we got married…I'd be just as excited…and just as nervous.

When the doors open, there isn’t any music. No flower girls or ring bearers. Just Eddie. She walks in and takes a seat in one of the chairs next to Kel. The Judge walks in right after Eddie sits down and hands me another form to sign.

“You forgot to date this,” he says.

He gives me a pen so I take the form and press it down on the podium in front of me and date it. March 2nd, 2012. That’s our day. Mine and Lake’s day. I hand the paper back to him and the door to the courtroom opens again. When I turn around, Lake’s walking in, smiling. As soon as I lay eyes on her, a wave of relief washes over me. I'm immediately calm. She has that effect on me.

She looks beautiful. She’s wearing blue jeans too. I laugh when I notice the shirt she has on. She’s wearing that damn ugly shirt I love to hate. If I could have hand-picked myself what she would wear on our wedding day, it would be exactly this.

When she walks up to me, I wrap my arms around her, pick her up and spin her around. When I plant her feet back on the floor, she whispers in my ear.

“Two more hours.”

She isn’t referring to the marriage, she’s referring to the honeymoon. I grab her face and kiss her. Everyone else in the room fades into the distance as we kiss…but only for a second.

“Eh-hem.” I look up and the officiant is standing in front of us with an unamused look on his face. “We haven’t quite gotten to the kissing of the bride yet,” he says.

I laugh and take Lake’s hand as we position ourselves in front of him. When he begins reading his wedding sermon, Lake touches her hand to my cheek and pulls my gaze toward hers, away from the officiant. I turn toward her and take her hands in mine and pull them up between us. I’m pretty sure the officiant is still talking, and that I should probably be paying attention, but I can’t think of anything else right now I'd rather be paying attention to. She smiles at me, and I can see she isn’t paying attention to anything around us, either. It’s just me and her right now. I know it isn’t time yet, but I go ahead and kiss her anyway. I don’t hear a single word of the wedding sermon as we continue to kiss. In less than a minute, this woman is about to become my wife. My life.

Lake laughs and says, “I do” without pulling away from my mouth. I didn’t even realize we had gotten to that part yet. She closes her eyes again and gets right back into rhythm with me. I know weddings are pretty important to some people, but I have to fight back the urge to pick her up and carry her out of here before it’s even over. After a few more seconds, she starts giggling again and says, “He does.”

When I realize she just said my line, my lips separate from hers and I look over at the officiant. “She’s right, I do.” I turn back to her and resume where we left off.

“Well, then, congratulations. I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may continue kissing your bride.”

And so I do.

***

“After you, Mrs. Cooper,” I say as we exit the elevator.

She smiles. “I like that. It has a nice ring to it.”

“I’m glad you think so because it’s a little late to change your mind now.”

When the elevator doors close behind us, I pull the room key out of my pocket and check the room number again. “It’s this way,” I say, pointing to the right. I take her hand in mine and begin walking down the hallway. I’m forced to an abrupt stop, however, when her hand jerks me back.

“Wait,” she says. “You’re supposed to carry me over the threshold. That’s what husbands do.”

Before I can bend down and take her in my arms the traditional way, she puts her arms on my shoulders and jumps up, wrapping her legs around my waist. I have to grab hold of her thighs before she slips. Her lips are right in proximity to mine now, so they briefly get kissed. She grins and runs her hands through the back of my hair, forcing my mouth onto hers again. I try to grip her legs with one hand and her waist with the other, but it feels like she’s slipping so I take two quick steps until she’s propped up against a hotel room door. It’s not our door, but it does the job. As soon as her back hits the door, she moans. I remember the bruises from a few weeks ago and think I may have just hurt her. I break apart from her with a concerned look on my face.

“Are you okay? Did I just hurt your back?”

She grins. “No. That was a good sound.”

The intensity in her eyes is magnetic. I’m unable to break our stare as I stand there, holding her up against the door. I grab the underneath of her thighs with my hands and hoist her up even higher, pressing my body against hers for more leverage. “Five more minutes,” I say.

I grin and lean in to kiss her again, but she’s suddenly further away. As soon as I realize the hotel room door we’re leaning against is opening up behind her, I do my best to catch her. Instead, I fall to the ground with her and we both end up in a heap on the floor of someone's hotel room. She still has her arms around my neck and she’s laughing until she looks up and sees a man and two children staring down at us. He doesn’t look very pleased.