Chapter 48

Max's POV:

I checked my phone for the fifth time in the past hour checking to make sure that we were still moving along on time. Lizzy had come home in a hurry 15 minutes ago and I could still hear the water running upstairs from the shower.

You owe me a beer. The flowers are there at the restaurant like you wanted them.

I texted Marc back thanking him and promising him that drinks were on me next time we went out. Since I didn't want Lizzy to suspect anything, the guys were helping me out and making sure that everything went smoothly tonight.

Not romantic, my ass.

As long as we got out the door on time, everything would be perfect. Checking on the velvet box I had already slid into the breast pocket of my suit coat, I sat back and tried to remember if there was anything I hadn't thought of for tonight.


Eliza's POV:

"Oh my god. He's going to propose!"

I winced taking a quick look around the restaurant to make sure that the entire city of Pittsburgh hadn't heard us.

"Vero! You don't know that! Or do you? Do you know something?" Of course she knew something! Marc had the loosest lips around and Max told him everything. Even if he told Marc something, Marc would definitely tell Vero who would tell me!

"I swear I don't know anything about this. I haven't seen Marc all day and he hasn't answered his phone." She held her hands up defensively and I knew that she probably wasn't lying. She couldn't keep a secret either.

I slumped down in my seat a little feeling disappointed. I would be so much more excited about his "surprise" if I knew what it was ahead of time. "We haven't talked about marriage at all though! I mean, I know that I want to be spend the rest of my life with him but it's like he's still afraid to even bring up the m-word."

Lately we had been side-stepping the discussion all together. Between doctor's appointments and spending time with each other's families and friends, we hadn't had a lot of time to talk about it anyway.
"Oh sweetie, believe me. He wants to be with you too. Men just take a long time to come around to things but Max is smart. He'll get there eventually." She held my hand knowingly and squeezed it.

"Do you think so? I mean I know he loves me but I've tried to bring it up before and he just brushes it off." His avoidance of the topic made me nervous but then again, hadn't I learned that I just had to trust Max? He had been nothing but wonderful to me, for me, our entire relationship and healthy relationships were built around trust. Therefore, it was time to start having some faith in the man.

"Honey, he's been a reformed, monogamous man since you walked into his life. Trust me, he loves you and I wouldn't worry about it."

"It's just so difficult. I can't help but want to marry him now, especially now that we'll always be in each other's lives, no matter what, because of the baby. It's hard for me to be patient about this."

"Well, you don't know what's going to happen tonight. This just feels like a proposal dinner to me. Especially since I think I overheard him talking to his brothers about marriage at your party a few weeks ago." She leaned forward conspiratorally. "After you guys announced that you were having a baby, I overheard him and his brothers using the word 'marriage' quite a bit." 

I couldn't help it. A big fat squeal burst out of my mouth while she was finishd and we both bounced in our seats in excitement. The waitress bringing us refills looked at us skeptically. "Do you ladies want to order something to eat?" We both ordered dessert for lunch to celebrate and shooed the waitress away so that we could continue to talk excitedly.

Even though I felt like I was getting ahead of myself, Vero and I spent the rest of the lunch hour making plans and giggling over the potential prospect of a wedding. Everything felt like it was falling perfectly into place

Max's POV:

I glanced at my watch again feeling the first prickle of nervousness as I noted that we only had a half an hour to make it to the restaurant on time. The hair dryer had turned off a long time ago and now it seemed like it was only silent upstairs making me wonder what the hell she was doing up there for so long.

"Babe, seriously. We need to leave soon!" I yelled as I climbed up the stairs to see what she was up there doing. The light in our closet was on with the door open as I entered our bedroom and I heard her call my name from inside.

"Can you zip me up? I can't reach anymore" she smiled turning and giving me an enticing view of her back in a peach sundress. "My bump isn't letting me reach around to pull it up myself" she said resting her hands on her swollen abdomen.

"I have a better idea" I said trailing my lips up the back of her neck and to the spot that made her melt. "Let's just forget about the zipper and stay here tonight." She relaxed against me and for a minute I thought that I had actually convinced her until she turned around to face me.

"Forget it Maxime. You're taking me out." She poked my chest with one of her nails before kissing my cheek and turning back around.

I grinned and dutifully zipped up her dress. "Tu me fais arrêter coeur, mon amour" I whispered in her ear enjoying watching her squirm. I had never gotten her to admit it, but me using french really turned her on.

"What did that mean?" she asked straightening my tie. I didn't fail to notice that she was only fixing my tie so that she could hold me in place.

"Hmm?" I asked playing dumb and taking in the sight of her. She had curled her hair into big sexy tendrils and was wearing her sex kitten heels that I knew would be hurting her later. She hadn't been able to wear heels as much lately because it hurt her back too much with the baby. I was so whipped at this point that I would probably still find her incredibly sexy even with swollen ankles. Besides, I was usually rewarded if I gave her a good foot massage.

"I swear to god, I'm going to start taking french classes just so I know what you're saying half of the time" she said frowning and walking to her dresser to slip her jewelry on. I sat on the bed watching her finish her ritual and relaxing in the moment. How many times had my parents done this very same thing before going out to dinner together?

There was something so peaceful and normal about it. It was so different compared to how my life had been a year ago, the summer before I even really knew her.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked coming to stand between my legs and rest her hands on my cheeks.

I kissed her wrist over the spot where her pulse beat and stood up. "Nothing. You ready to leave?" She nodded and I led her downstairs, excited for the night to begin.

Eliza's POV:

I found it incredibly sweet that Max's hand never left mine the entire drive over to the restaurant and as soon as I was out of the car so he could lead me into the restaurant. Even though dinner hadn't even started yet, I could tell that he had put a lot of effort into making the evening special and it was so nice to be taken care of that he could have led me off a bridge and I wouldn't have minded. 

"Are you hungry?" he asked resting his feet near mine underneath the table. His feet always found mine so that our legs could twine together.

"I'm always hungry lately" I smiled gesturing to my belly. The only thing that made me feel better about gaining baby weight was the fact that Max seemed to really enjoy what the weight gain did to my ass and chest. Typical man.

"Baby, you're eating for yourself and a little Talbot. Of course you're going to be hungry."

"You keep calling it a 'he'" I commented watching him over the rim of my menu. "Do you want it to be a boy?" I hadn't thought too much about the subject but we had an appointment next week to determine the sex.

He grinned sheepishly taking a sip of his wine. "Actually, I don't know why I keep calling it a boy. We just have so many boys in my family that I automatically assumed it would be a boy."

"But do you have a preference?" I asked curiously. I could see him with both a boy or a girl. Or maybe one of each at some point.

"I guess a girl would be kind of nice. She'd probably be a replica of you which would be funny to see. I wouldn't mind either though."

I nodded agreeing with him even though I secretly wanted a boy for the same reason he was leaning towards a girl. A little boy would mean that there was another Max running around in the world and it would be adorable to watch them doing 'man' things together.

The waiter stopped over to top off our wine glasses and we both ordered food to start with. Max had taken me to one of his favorite restaurants in the city that served a mix of different mediterranean cuisines. It worked out perfectly though because he got a little bit of the french food he craved and I got to eat spanish dishes.

While we talked and ate, I couldn't help but feel anxious wondering if tonight was the night. After giggling with Vero for an hour today about the possibility of Max proposing, I had gone back to the office resolved to not expect anything out of the evening except for a nice time. So far I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening but I couldn't escape the idea that was lingering in the back of my mind.

Why would he have gone through all of this trouble of a romantic evening if it didn't mean something big was about to happen? Sure, he took me nice places but tonight just felt different. It seemed like he was even looking at me differently with his dark blue eyes glinting over the candles. My instincts were sounding alarm bells telling me that tonight was the night.

Why was it that I could so clearly see us together and married and he was taking forever to see it too? Then again, maybe he finally was.

"Do you want dessert?" he asked taking my hand in his again. I wasn't a huge public display type of person but tonight I never wanted to let him go and slid my fingers in between the crevices of his.

"Actually, no. I think that I would burst if I ate anymore." He nodded giving me a mischievious little smile.

"Good, because that means that I can give you your present now."

My heart skipped a beat at the word 'present.' "Present? Why did you get me a present?" I asked feeling like my heart would burst out of my skin.

"Just because you're you" he replied kissing my palm. "Now close your eyes."

My eyes snapped closed almost immediately while I waited for him to do whatever he was going to do. I felt him take my hand and place it on the table palm side up. "You know, this is the first time you've ever listened to me so quickly" he teased.

Even though he couldn't see with my eyes shut, I rolled my eyes and sighed indicating that I was getting impatient. Very impatient.

I almost died at the feeling of a velvet box being placed in my hand and opened my eyes as soon as Max let go.

I stared down at the long velvet box and back into Max's eyes again. He looked so excited and eager for me to open it but I couldn't move.

The only thing I could think of was that this long, bracelet shaped box was not a ring box. It's not a ring.

"Aren't you going to open it? I promise that there's something inside." He smiled trying to open it for me. I couldn't do it. I couldn't look at what was surely something beautiful and special but not what I wanted at all.

"Max you really shouldn't buy me things like this" I insisted still not allowing him to open the box.

"Lizzy, I wanted to. I love you and I wanted to show you." He looked so confused about why I wasn't excited about the present that I felt bad. Still, I knew that I wouldn't be able to bear looking at the bracelet when all I really wanted was a simple band. No diamonds, rubies, whatever. Just something that showed our committment to each other for the long term. I would even be happy with a piece of string tied around my finger at this point.

He finally pried the box out of my grip and opened it up revealing a diamond tennis bracelet. It was beautiful and so something that Max would pick out for me. Still, nothing about it was right.

"Max, it's beautiful" I said trying to smile when really I just wanted to cry. How could I act unappreciative of such a beautiful gift though? It would hurt his feelings and it would be wrong.

He slid the bracelet out of the box and placed it around my left wrist where I really wished a different piece of jewelry was instead. He started to ramble on about how it was a refurbished antique bracelet from the 1920's and that he knew someone who had found it for him. I continued to ask questions about it and admire it on my left wrist while we waited for the check to arrive.

I should have been content. I should have been ecstatic that there was someone in my life that wanted to buy me presents like this, didn't mind that I was turning in a pregnant cow and gave me extra foot and back massages because of it. Instead my mind was whirling with uncertainty over what was to come in our relationship. If he didn't want to propose to me now, when would he want to propose to me?

Would he ever? It was terrifying. He loved me and I loved him but did that mean marriage? For me, yes but at this point I had no idea what was going on in Max's head. He never wanted to talk about it and maybe if I never asked, I would never get an answer.

"So was that dinner romantic? Will you ever read one of those romance novels again?" Max asked leading me out into the balmy summer air. His arm was wrapped tightly around me while we waited for the valet to bring the car around. I stared down at my wrist that was glinting up at me painfully with the shimmer of diamonds, reminding me of all of my trepidations.

"Max?" I asked turning my head to face his.

"Hmm?" he asked waiting for the car to appear.

"Do you want to get married?"
Sorry for the cliffhanger guys! Hope you all enjoyed that chapter which will have a conclusion soon- I promise.

Also, since this story will be ending very soon, I have begun a new one since I will have a void in my life without these characters. The link is up in the sidebar :)