Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight Caleb Hopedoesn't have any family that she needs to invite to be there when we getmarried, but I do. My family knows that I intended to marry her one day, buthaving to tell them that "one day" is going to be tomorrow is going to be alittle rough. It's not that they will not accept Hope and Nathan, but runningan empire of hotels makes it difficult for everyone to pick up and take off outof state at a moments notice. My father will beconcerned about protecting our money also, but I've already handled that withthe lawyer. Hope will get half of anything I make from the day that we getmarried, if we ever get divorced. After we left Nathan's room, I took her to myroom and discussed with her the terms of the agreement my lawyer had written up.I told her that she didn't need to sign anything now because I'm going tochange it to include some more money for our baby. At first I wasfearful that she'd be offended that I was asking her to sign something, but herface showed me she was relieved. She told me that she felt protected against myfamily thinking she was marrying me for my money and welcomed signing theagreement. My lawyer is drafting the revised version now and is having it sentover by currier. I just need to get Hope out of here long enough to call myfamily and get Vegas set up for all of us. Right now it's notpossible to have a wedding that she has planned for months like my sister, butI can still give her a beautiful beginning to our lives together. I'll make acall to the event planner at our hotel in Vegas and tell her that I want her todo what she can to make this look like it had been planned for years. I canalso have her book our flights and make arrangements for any of my family thatis going to attend. I decide to giveHope the keys to my car and tell her to take Nathan to grab some dinner andstop by a store and pick up anything that they might need for the trip. It isgetting late now, but there are a few stores around here that stay open late. Shetakes my keys with a little reluctance, but I promise her that it's only a carand is replaceable if she scratches or dents it. She tells me that she has alicense but hasn't driven in years. Getting Hope a carwill be our first purchase when we get back. I won't ever have her get onanother bus again. When Nathan and Hope leave, I get on the phone with mysister first, filling her in on the change of plans due to the visit from thesocial worker. She congratulates me and tells me to count her and Jackson infor Vegas and then wishes me luck with telling my dad. Before we hang up I tellher the best part of all of this, which is that Hope is going to have my baby. Madeline'sso supportive, but I knew that she would be. Of all the people in my life, sheis truly the most gracious. My dad was my nextphone call. He told me that he understood why I was getting married, but that I'dneed to work extra hard to build a strong foundation for our life togethersince we were going to pass a significant amount of courting. Eloping is notusual in our circle of friends, but my dad knows better than to try to force meto follow any social graces dictated by our circle. I'll get married when Iwant to get married and those people will have no say in it. Dad told me thathe would be there and to let his secretary know the details so that he could bea part of the whole thing. I told my dad that I would, and then asked him if hewanted me to let his secretary know about when he should be expecting the birthof his grandchild. I wasn't sure how my dad was going to take the news, but hechuckled into the phone and told me that any news about his grandchild shouldbe told directly to him. He congratulated me and told me that he was excited tomeet the newest members of the Stone family. Calling mybrothers was easy and quick. They were both together so I had them put me onspeaker and shared the news. Both congratulated me and then laughed at me forgetting Hope pregnant so soon. There's nothing they could say that would takeaway from the happiness I'm feeling knowing that Hope and I are expecting. Ihadn't thought about having kids yet, but I was never opposed to the idea. Nowthat I'm in love with Hope, the thought of having a baby that we createdtogether makes me happy and excited to see what the future brings. With my familytaken care of, I place the call to the event planner in Vegas. She was justabout to leave for the night but upon taking my call she agreed to stay laterto handle the details. She asked me a few questions about Hope and thenpromised me that she would be in touch in the morning. Within a few minutes ofhanging up with her, an email confirmation of the flight itineraries for Hope,Nathan and I are in my inbox. Hope and Nathanreturn about an hour after they left, with food for us, and a small bag ofitems they bought for the trip. I let them know that they need to pack fastbecause our driver is picking us up in an hour. Nathan is super excited aboutthe flight and runs to his new room to pack his things. Hope and I eat ourdinner and then head to our room to pack. It feels like for the first timetoday she has let go of the fight and is giving into the idea of becoming mywife. The flight toVegas goes quickly as always, especially when you get to sit next to the mostexcited kid I've ever seen. The event planner sent a car to pick us up from theairport and Nathan loves the fact that it's a limo instead of just a dark blacksedan like the one that took us to the airport. He rolls down the window andsticks his head out so he can look at all of the twinkling lights. Everythingfeels so surreal as we drive down the strip on the way to our forever. The twinkling signoutside our hotel let's us know the temperature and then flashes to a welcomemessage specifically for Hope and Nathan, congratulating them on becoming partof the Stone family. Nathan points at it and Hope ducks her head to see out hisopen window. The look on her face says it all when her mouth gapes open and shelooks back to me like she can't believe what she's seeing. I grab her hand andkiss her knuckles. The planner hasset up the penthouse suite for us, and Nathan is already catapulting himselfonto the bed in one of the three rooms. There's a basket of fruit, a plate ofchocolate covered strawberries, a bottle of champagne and another of sparklingapple cider. She didn't know about Hope's pregnancy, but it worked out wellthat she planned for Nathan. Hope ushers areluctant Nathan into a shower and then puts him into a pair of pajamas. Theexcitement of the day shows on his tired little face. I tell Hope to take ashower and that I'll sit with Nathan so she can have some time. When she comesback into the main room smelling clean and her skin flushed from the heat ofthe water, Nathan is already asleep on my lap. I carry him into his room andtuck him in. It's a job that I could get very used to. I step into thehot shower and relax as the heat from the water fills the room with steam. I'veheard that before the big day, men are supposed to get cold feet. I wait forthat moment, but it never comes. Climbing from the shower, I dry off and thenwrap the towel around my waist and make my way back into the master room of theposh suite. Hope is on the bed with two glasses of sparkling liquid and thetray of chocolate covered strawberries. I catch her midbite as I make my way to her on the bed. She giggles at being caught as thejuice from one strawberry coats her lip. Every other thought exits my head andmy blood begins to pump at a quicker pace. She's gorgeous and I want to touchher. Slowly, I lean over her and run my tongue along her sweet lips, loving thethought that tomorrow this beautiful, sweet-tasting woman will be my wife.