Chapter 49.

The news of Holly and Ryder's engagement spread like wildfire since Holly made the brutal mistake of telling her sisters first. Holly sent the pictures to her eldest sister Ella who in turn sent it to the entire family. The picture that Holly had taken in bed with the engagement ring had been circulated by her mother, Crystal and even Ryder.

Holly and Charlie had a long conversation, where they were both gushing about the amazing details on the ring. Charlie was so genuinely excited that Holly was finally happy with Ryder that she cried.

After a blissful morning with the love of her life, they were off to spend lunch with her parents in a restaurant. It turned out that Ryder had slipped up and exposed the fact that Holly was pregnant, so her parents already knew. But no one was expecting the engagement news either. Because Ryder had shocked himself by walking into a wedding rings shop in Fifth Avenue and bought the prettiest ring they had right after his meeting with Reggie and the owner of the building.

He knew Holly was the one when he couldn't stop thinking about her, when the sight of other women didn't make him feel as good as he used to feel before and especially when he felt utterly miserable without her.

Dressed in a floral print dress and flats, Holly was excitedly getting ready for her lunch date with Ryder and her parents. Louis and River had been taken by Crystal who promised to take them to the park for the day.

Her mother was the happiest of all in the group. She kept on talking on and on about how the wedding was going to be big and fancy.

Holly and Ryder didn't have the heart to tell them that it was going to be in Vegas. They hoped that during the lunch they would summon up the courage to tell them.

It was chilly in New Jersey, so Holly had to take a coat to prevent the cold from getting to her. They were going to be eating at a new Mexican restaurant in town and Ryder had suggested they invited her parents.

At Maria's Holly and Ryder were marvelled by the sheer ambience and warmness of the restaurant. It had a mariachi band playing romantic Spanish songs.

Holly was feeling a little better than before since her sister had prescribed a drug that helped with morning sickness.

Ryder had rushed out to get it, after Holly's terrible case of morning sickness had her puking everything they ordered for breakfast from the hotel.

"I feel like so much happened already this morning!" Holly commented as they all checked their menus.

"Yes! Today alone, I had to receive a lot of calls from my friends and family. By the way, my parents can't wait to meet you."

Ryder said as he squeezed Holly's hand and Holly smiled nervously.

She was nervous about meeting Ryder's parents, she had talked to them briefly on the phone and they seemed refined and elegant. She hoped that she was good enough for their son.

"We can't wait to meet them either. I guess that means we'll be planning a trip to New York soon honey."

Her mother said happily to her Dad and he nodded in agreement.

"Sure! I'd like to see the shop you got there. See how it looks and all."

Her Dad commented.

"Oh it's going to be beautiful, Ryder told me about his idea to make it bigger and I think it's a wonderful idea."

Holly said and Ryder nodded enthusiastically.

They had talked long into the night about so many things. They didn't sleep a wink throughout the night. Instead, they were mapping out the way they wanted their life to be. They even briefly discussed baby names and Holly's ideas for baby names had been so goofy that Ryder kept laughing.

"That's good. I can't wait to see it. But I wonder what's going to happen to the space I bought here for you. Will you consider what I told you about?"

"Grandma's space?" Holly asked as she cocked her head in thought.

Her mother nodded her head as she entwined her arms with her Father's.

"Yes, your father and I did a lot of work cleaning it up for you. We hope that you'd reconsider having another bakery here."

"Well, that's not a bad idea. But maybe it's something I'll consider later. There's so much to think about right now."

Her parents nodded slowly in approval as they watched Holly and Ryder exchange looks. The waiters came in and took their orders.

"Any particular date? Any place in mind?"

Her mum asked out of curiosity. Holly and Ryder exchanged nervous glances.

"Not really, but we want a really small wedding. Nothing outrageous."

Holly said and her parents looked at her with confusion and interest.

"Why? Is it because of the baby? I assure you, if we start planning early enough, no one would know that you're pregnant when you're in a wedding dress."

Holly shook her head.

"It's not that! It's just what we want."

"Ryder? Is that true?" Her Dad asks and Ryder nodded

"Yes. We were thinking Las Vegas."

"Las Vegas!!" Holly's parents said simultaneously as they looked horrified by the thought of it alone.

"That's so tacky!"

Holly's mother shouted as the waiters came around with their meal.

Holly's Dad looked at Ryder.

"What do your parents think about a Las Vegas wedding?"

He asked and Ryder shrugged.

"We haven't told them yet but I believe they would respect our decision."

There was a long pause with growing tension at the table. Holly focused solely on her food as she watched her parents uncomfortably shift in their seat.

"Well, I think you both should get everyone's opinion on having a wedding in Las Vegas. I know you want it to be something small and intimate but you must think of the family and friends that want to celebrate your special day with you."

Her father said and Holly nodded her head slowly. He was right in a way. They shouldn't have to deny their families and close friends the joy of sharing their happiness all because they wanted a intimate wedding.

"We'll think about it."

Holly said and Ryder nodded in agreement as they all dug into their meals.

"Will you be staying for Christmas or you've changed your mind?"

Felicity Michaels asked her daughter, a bit scared of the outcome.

"We'll be staying for Christmas. Then, Holly and I will be spending New Year with my parents. We hope we have the wedding as soon as possible."

Ryder answered with a bright smile on his face. Holly had decided against a Christmas wedding. Holly was a winter baby, her birthday fell on Christmas. As much as it would have been nice to have a wedding on Christmas, she just didn't feel comfortable about having so much celebrations cramped in one month.

They both decided that early January was best.

"Early January hopefully. Then we'll have all the time in the world to focus on our baby and our relationship."

"That's beautiful. I think that's a great idea."

Holly's mother replied with a warm smile as she watched Ryder plant a kiss on Holly's cheeks.

Kim Owens was slowly starting to hate her life. Things were not going as planned for her and she hated the fact that her life was a dull drab of what it used to be.

For starters, she had been fired from her job after her boss decided that she was unfit and incompetent. He also mentioned that there had been numerous reports of her slacking off her job.

Secondly, she was slowly getting broke. The old married rich dude she was seeing had managed to kick her to the curbs the minute his wife suspected that they were having an affair.

Jake was still nowhere to be found, and it hurt her even more that he was probably somewhere on a beach, sipping pina coladas and starting a brand new awesome life with a new woman.

Holly and Ryder were most likely on their way to getting back together too, with the way that Ryder had stepped in and intervened. She also learnt that he had bought the entire building in Holly's name.

She wished that she could just leave for a while and get rid of it all, but she was broke and drowning in debts.

Reggie had run away with the money she paid for Holly's bakery after Holly reported him to his boss. Everything in her life was thoroughly and painfully messed up.

She was sitting on her couch while sipping iced tea and scrolling through her Instagram when she found a new post from Charlie's social media page. She was relieved and surprised that Charlie had not blocked her yet when every other person had.

It was a picture of Holly. With Ryder. And a ring on her finger.

Kim spat her iced tea out of her mouth. The taste of it suddenly foul and rancid to her. Pain gnawed at her chest with every second she spent staring at the picture. Holly and Ryder engaged?

What the hell? She asked herself as she tried to check Holly's Instagram for clarification. She was blocked so she couldn't see anything. Ryder's too.

But Holly's mother had posted a similar picture with a heartwarming caption.

"How could this be?"

Kim asked herself as she wondered about why Ryder proposed to Holly. It was too soon, too early. He couldn't truly love her that bad. He shouldn't even be in love with her. She was fat! Kim thought as she studied the picture.

Kim told herself as she suddenly felt a strong headache coming up. She staggered to her kitchen and picked the first bottle of drugs on the counter. She didn't bother to check the labels. Nor did she care. She poured about a quarter of the content in her mouth.

She struggled to swallow it with tears pooling at her eyes. Her eyes were still glued to the picture as she thought about how painfully sad that Holly was going to be living the life of her dreams.

And it was all her fault. She pushed Holly into Ryder's arms. He could have been hers. If only she hadn't trusted Holly with him.

With a strong resolve and a heart set on revenge, Kim forced herself to vomit the tablets she took as she gagged and gagged till the bitter tablets were all out of her system.

She splashed some water on her face and massaged her neck that was still tender and sore.

She looked at the picture again, with a cruel smile on her face. She knew what she had to do.

"Enjoy being happy while it lasts Holly. I'm going to be having the last laugh."