{UNEDITED}

        Jason had been sitting, waiting for us, for an hour now. I was still waiting for the doctor to come and discharge me and then I would be able to get Matthew’s surprise underway.

        Jason had agreed to do the two hour drive to where the caravan was situated. I didn’t even have to bribe him when I asked him, he was more than willing to take the two of us there and he was even prepared to pick us up whenever we gave him the call. I had packed my bags days ago and I had asked Vivienne to pack some things before Matthew before they went, so everything was ready and nothing was going to ruin what I had planned.

        Nothing other than a doctor who couldn’t turn up when he said he was going to. I knew that he wasn’t happy about releasing me before he wanted to, but Jason had convinced him it was for the best. He told him we were going away from the weekend and, being away from everything, was the best way to keep my blood pressure at a normal level.

        “Ergh. Where the hell is he?” I asked for the thousandth time, throwing my hands above my head as I checked the time. He told me he was going to be here almost an hour ago. I understood that doctors could be late. But he was just taking the piss now and it was making me hate him.

        “I don’t see what the hurry is to get out of here,” Matthew said once again. Of course he didn’t see what the hurry was but, unless I was out of here in the next half hour, we would be too late to have our dinner on the beach because the tide will have started to come in.

        I swear, if tonight doesn’t go to plan, then I will never forgive that arse who calls himself a doctor. I will make his life a living hell and he regret ever daring to mess with a pregnant, emotional woman.

        “Can we just leave?” I said to no one in particular. I was simply seeing who was still listening to me complain and who had stopped listening a long time ago.

        “I’ll go and see where the hell he’s got to,” Jason said. As he walked over to the door. He didn’t have the chance to open it though before tall, dark and handsome walked into the room.

        He moved right to the end of the bed I had occupied, picking up the notes which had been written about me over the last three days. Honestly, if they wanted to know things about me, all they had to do was ask. I could give them enough to write a book, they could be rich and famous with the stories I could tell.

        “So, I believe you here to be discharged is that correct,” he paused for a moment as he checked my name on the form, “Miss Parker?”

        “Yes. Now, I have been waiting for over an hour and I am not happy. I have plans, plans which could have been ruined due to a simple problem of incompetency,” I snapped. I didn’t even bother to admire the looks both Matthew and Jason were now giving me for the comment I had just made. I could have said so much worse, I wanted to say so much worse. They should be thankful I kept it as pleasant as I did.

        “I would like to apologise on behalf of the hospital. And on behalf of Dr Roberts,” the guy said with a smile on his face. “I do hope you can still continue with your plans.”

        “If you let me the hell out of here then I would be able to. So, just sign whatever piece of paper you have to sign, and get me the hell out of here,” I snapped. I was already fed up with being messed around, so I didn’t need same lame guy attempting to flirt with me. I especially didn’t need him attempting to flirt with me when Matthew was in the room and, if he caught on to what tall, dark and handsome was doing, then they would be requiring a bed for one of their own.

        “There. All done. You’re free to go,” the doctor continued to smile. I was almost certain he’d had the smile surgically placed on his face so that he would never be able to look miserable again. I bet he told people that their loved ones were dead with that smile on his face or when he was punched, the smile never even faltered. He was definitely the type who was too happy with life. “Any chance of you--“

        “Back off mate. She’s already taken,” Matthew said before the guy even had a chance to ask the question he was going to ask of me. Matthew wrapped his arm protectively around my waist, pulling me into the side of him as we walked out of the room without bothering to give the doctor a second glance.

        Jason had my bag in his hand. He looked feminine holding a bright pink handbag and it would seem everyone we passed agreed with them. Wolf whistles rang out along the corridor from other men while laughter erupted from the women. Jason didn’t let that bother him though as he walked through the hospital, parading the bag like it was his latest fashion accessory.

        We reached the spot where Jason had parked, badly parked I should say, the car. Sometimes I wondered how the hell he had managed to pass his test because, with the way he drives and parks at times, I think he bribed the examiner into letting him pass after he convinced her it was nothing more than a bad day.

        Matthew opened the back door for me and I sat myself on the seat in the middle. I had never liked sitting anywhere other than the middle, it was a weird fear I had. If I was going to die in a car, then I wanted to be able to see when it was coming so that I had the time to prepare myself for my fate. If I was sitting behind one of the seats, I wouldn’t know what was coming and I would be dead before I even knew what was happening.

        Matthew moved into the seat beside me while Jason wordlessly started the engine, checking we both had our seatbelts on before he pulled out of the space. I looked towards the front, seeing Jason was grinning at me like he was about the burst. And I looked to the side of me, seeing Matthew was just staring at me with a vacant expression.

        “What are you looking at?” I asked self-consciously. He had been doing nothing but staring at me since I woke up this morning and I was beginning to get freaked out by his constant looks. It made me think I had something on my face.

        “Nothing. I just can’t believe you’re my girlfriend,” he chuckled with a smile on his face. “Who would have thought it? The bad boy actually finding someone who was worth the fight and settling down?”

        “I always knew you two would end up together,” Jason said proudly, his attention never leaving the road as we finally set off to where we needed to be. If we continued at the speed we were at, and didn’t run into any major traffic, then we should easily be there within the two hours and I would still have time to pull off the perfect birthday present.

        “Firstly, I am your fiancé and, secondly, you can’t have always known since I spent most of my time hatting the guy,” I shrugged before allowing my head to fall onto Matthew’s shoulder. I wasn’t tired, but I just liked knowing he was there and that he wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry. It made me feel genuinely happy and I don’t think there was anything which could spoil the moment.

        “Exactly. The good girl always ends up with the bad boy and it always starts with them hating each other. Don’t you ever read all the cliché teen shit?” Jason asked. I didn’t know whether I should be concerned for the fact he was reading things like that, or whether I should take it and accept that he was embracing his more womanly side.

        “Thanks Jase. Perhaps you should just shut up and focus on the driving?” I suggested, though I couldn’t stop laughing when I said that. I was more than aware of how unlikely Matthew and I were as a couple, I didn’t need to read any cliché teen romances to know that.

        I also know how, in most of those stories, it turns out both them had always actually had a secret love for each other. I, personally, never experienced that. When he left me without a good reason or proper explanation, I genuinely hated him and had planned how I could get my revenge on his more than once; nothing was ever good enough to make him understand my pain though. There was no secret love or admiring him from a distance when I thought he wasn’t looking or constantly bringing him up in conversation with my friends over lunch.

        There was nothing other than pure, unadulterated hate for the guy. I guess that makes it all a thousand times worse though when I think about it.

        I just fell to his knees, telling him that I loved him. He didn’t even have to try to make me love him, he just showed me the real person he was beneath the façade he had going on and that was enough to have me giving him my heart. There would probably come a time when he broke said heart and made me feel like a total idiot but, until that happened, I wasn’t going to let it bother me and neither was I going to entertain those kind of thoughts.

        “Either way, at the end of the month, we will be a proper family. You, me and Amanda,” Matthew grinned at me. I knew I didn’t need to say anything so, instead, I settled for looking out the front window to admire the views which were rushing past us. We were already out of the city and well on our way to our destination.

        ✖✖

        The rest of the journey passed in silence. There wasn’t really much to be said which hadn’t already been said and I enjoyed the relaxing sound of silence. It gave me time to think and it gave me time to take in what my life was going to be like in less than four months now.

        I was going to be a wife. I was going to be a mother. I was going to be my own person. And, honestly, I couldn’t wait for all of that to happen.

        “Am I allowed to know where we’re going now?” Matthew’s voice broke the silence and I decided now was the time to give a little idea of what was happening. I wouldn’t tell him everything because it was a surprise and I wasn’t willing to ruin that surprise until the time was right.

        “Our Nan, when she died, she left the two of us this caravan she owned. It’s not anything special, but it’s a nice little place. It’s right on the beach and it was the place where I was last genuinely happy,” I smiled, memories of the summer I spent there coming back to me. There weren’t too many since I was only three, but Jason had told me all about the things we got up to and the trouble we caused. Even at a young age we were terrible and loved to play jokes on people.

        “I didn’t think you had any grandparents left?” Matthew asked.

        “So, the first thing you ask is about my family? Not a single word about the effort I’ve gone to,” I joked, feigning an expression of hurt, though I couldn’t hide the amusement which kept appearing in my eyes.

        “Sorry. I was just curious. That’s all,” Matthew replied. The apology was a sincere one, he was actually sorry for asking about my family instead of saying something about what I had done for him. I didn’t really mind, I never talked about my grandparents because I had never really liked what I had left. They had never seen me as anything other than a mistake and I had never seen them as anything other than two miserable old bats who were only happy when everyone else was miserable.

         It explained where my father got it from though. The whole ‘not giving a damn’ attitude was catching apparently.

        “My Nan, the one this caravan belonged to, she was my mother’s mum. She died just after my fourth birthday but, from what little I remember about her, she was completely mad and had a thing about knitting jumpers for people as presents. She didn’t even have to try to make you smile because her calm and loving demeanour meant that everyone loved her, so they instantly smiled the moment they saw her. I was too young to really get to know her properly though,” I sighed. I had often wished I got to spend more time with her before she died, that my parents had been willing to take me to visit her whenever I asked about her. I may have been able to see her one last time before she died and been able to tell that I loved her.

        “She was amazing. I am telling you now, Clo, she would be so proud of you right now. She always said you were something special and you were her favourite. But it didn’t bother me when she told me that, I was ten and had got to spend far more years with her than you did, you were three and she adored you. You should have seen mum’s face when she found out Nan had left all her money to you in an account which wasn’t to be touched until your eighteenth birthday,” Jason spoke up as he took a right down a quiet country lane. I knew we were almost there now and we didn’t have much time before I would be able to give Matthew his birthday present.

        “What about your other grandparents?”

        “Well, we never got to meet our mother’s dad. He died when she twenty of a heart attack caused by a blood clot,” I muttered, I always remember my mother telling us about her dad and how much he would have loved both Jason and me if he had gotten the chance to meet us. You could tell that our mother got on a hell of a lot better with her dad than she did with her mum. There was always something bitter in her tone whenever she mentioned her mum. “My father’s parents have never liked me though. Jason was always their favourite, so much so that they offered to put him through private education in his secondary years while I wasn’t even given that offer.”

        “They are the type of people who aren’t happy unless everyone else around them is suffering. They don’t do the whole ‘family’ thing and the last time we saw them was dad’s fiftieth birthday three years ago. The travelled down here from Wales, only to spend the entire evening moaning about how they hated everything. We haven’t seen them since then, although I do get regular money deposits into my bank from them. Their way of making sure I never go without,” Jason laughed. I had never really cared for that side of the family though, even when I was younger, I never wanted to entertain the idea of our family being any bigger than Jason, my parents and my Nan. That was all the family I needed and I didn’t need to be introduced to a whole bunch of people I was never going to see again simply to feel like I was part of a family.

        “Wow,” I heard Matthew muttered from beside me as he took in the view in front of him. Despite it being January, the sky was surprisingly clear and there was even the faintest glimpse of the sun setting on the day. There seemed to be very little wind and the sea was calmer than I remember it being the last time I came here.

        The caravan was surrounded by five other caravans, all of a similar size but all empty which meant we really were all alone. Something I didn’t really mind and I hoped that Matthew didn’t mind either. It was the perfect time to relax before the madness of the wedding really hit home with the both of us.

        The caravan was relatively small. There was a living room which had an electric heater, it used to be firewood but we had that moved to the master bedroom instead, and a small TV on a stand in the corner. The kitchen was designed for one person and one person only. I would ask Matthew to cook for the both of us since, if I step foot in the kitchen, the caravan would become nothing more than a pile of ash. There was a small bedroom with a double bed and not a lot else, which was the room Jason and I used to share as children, while the master bedroom took up the entire back of the caravan.

        Jason paid for the extension which made it a little bigger and gave us more room. There was a king sized bed with the wood burner at the end of it, a set of French doors which opened out on to the decking making a lovely spot to sit and watch the sun set in the summer, an en-suite bathroom with a shower fit for the Queen and enough storage for you to be able to move an entire walk in wardrobe into the place.

        “I know it’s not much, but I just thought I would show you how much I really do appreciate you,” I smiled shyly as Jason pulled up outside the caravan.

        “It’s amazing. Thank you Clo,” Matthew grinned. He wasted no time in pulling my face towards his so that he could kiss me for the second time that day. It was beginning to feel like my lucky day and I knew nothing was going to be able to bring me down for the high which I was currently on.

        “No sex in the back of my car please. If you two wish to do the dirty, there are two perfectly good bedrooms for you to pick from,” Jason laughed, adding a wink for good measure. I could feel my face going bright red while Matthew just looked at my brother awkwardly, unsure of what to say in response to his comment. “Now, have fun kids, and remember to use protection.”

        “Go. Now. Just. Leave,” I demanded as I slapped Jason round the back of his head. He may have been seven years older than me and a guy, but I could still kick his arse if the time for it to happen ever occurred.

        “I even took the precaution of putting some protection in your bag. See what a thoughtful brother I am?” Jason burst out laughing. While I was finding the entire thing highly embarrassing, Matthew seemed to be enjoying just how awkward my own brother was making everything for me right now. I could have killed the both of them right there and then, but I just did the mature thing and walked away from the two of them.

        I allowed them to say their goodbyes to each other while I brought our bags in and dumped them on the sofa. I opened the pocket on the side, seeing Matthew’s present which I had wrapped two weeks ago. I didn’t need him to tell me when his birthday was because I remembered that, I remembered all the smaller details about him.

        When you spend as much time together as Matthew and I did, then you tend to remember things such as their birthday. Even when you hate them, you still find yourself remembering the smaller details about them because they’re always the hardest to forget.

        The present wasn’t much, but it meant a lot to me and I hoped that he would feel the same about it. I had even bought him a Christmas present and I hoped he loved it as much as I did.

        “Has he gone?” I asked Matthew the moment he walked in and closed the door behind him. He threw himself down on the sofa with a grin on his face before nodding a little too happily for my liking. “Good.”

        I walked over and sat myself down beside him, putting my chin on his shoulder so that I was looking at him. I couldn’t help but smile, knowing we were finally alone with each other and no one was about to ruin any of the memories we were going to create while we were here.

        “What you got there?” Matthew asked, finally spotting the two boxes I held in my hands.

        “Well, this one was your Christmas present,” I said, pausing as I handed him the smaller of the two boxes, “and this one, this your birthday present.”

        He looked at the two boxes in shock for a second before he smiled back at me and pulled a box of his own out of the pocket of his jacket. “I know we can’t control anything to do with the wedding, but I just wanted there to be something a little personal.”

        I opened the box, surprised when I saw a silver ring sitting in there. It looked like it had been recently cleaned since I could see my reflection in the band and, when I looked on the inside, it had been engraved with the words I love you. Always.

        “Oh my god. It’s beautiful,” I said, throwing my arms around Matthew’s neck in an appreciative hug.

        “It was my grandmother’s engagement ring and she told me to give it to the girl I planned on spending the rest of my life with. You’re that girl Chloe,” I grinned at his words, wasting no time in slipping it around my finger. It didn’t quite fit, but it was still beautiful and I was still going to wear it with pride.

        I looked up to see that Matthew had opened both his presents while I had been admiring the ring as it sat on my finger. We couldn’t control anything to do with our wedding, but there was nothing to say that we couldn’t control the lead up to the wedding. So, I was glad to see that minds think alike.

        “It’s not my grandfather’s ring, but I loved it the moment I saw it and just bought it,” I smiled as he looked at the words on the inside of the band.

        Stuck with me now. Your love, Chloe x

        “You’re stuck with me too, babe. I’m never letting you go,” Matthew replied, his hand on my cheek while mine rested on his leg. We were just looking at each other, smiling like total idiots about what had just happened.

        “I thought the other one was something more personal. You can add her birthday once she’s born and it’ll be a permanent reminder of your life for the sixteen years,” I joked.

        “It’s amazing. I love it,” Matthew paused and I knew what was coming next before he had even said it. “I love you.”