{UNEDITED}

        The moment the words I love you left my lips, I knew they were the rights words to say. I knew that Matthew was the one I needed in my life and that I wasn’t ready to let him go.

        He was the father of my daughter. He had been there for me over the last month, he had become my rock. The one I depended on to keep me on the right track, to make sure nothing got me down during the day. He was the one who made me see sense of everything, made me see that this truly was the best thing which could have happened to the both of us.

        The wedding didn’t scare me anymore. In fact, I didn’t even care about that because I had told Matthew that I loved him. I didn’t need to pretend and put on a show for people when I walked down the aisle because everything you were supposed to feel on your wedding day, I would actually be feeling. All I needed to do was put all my emotions, everything I felt, into the day to make it the best that it could be.

        “I love you too Clo. Even though everyone you know hates me, it doesn’t stop me from loving you,” Matthew grinned and I don’t think I had seen him this happy since John told us we were going to be having a little girl.

        He began moving his head towards mine and, without being told what he was planning, I already knew that he was moving in for the kiss. It wasn’t quite at midnight, but I would take it and not even bother to complain. The moment our lips were close enough to almost be touching and for me to be able to feel his breath on my face, some nurse had to ruin the moment by walking in on the both of us.

        “Miss Parker. There, oh god, I am so sorry. I didn’t realise you had company,” she said awkwardly, doing everything she could to avert her gaze so that she was looking anywhere other than at Matthew and I. Her cheeks were now the colour of her hair, crimson red.

        “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” I chuckled. As she pulled my charts from the end of my bed to have a quick look, she still found herself looking anywhere other than at the actual bed. I could feel Matthew laughing silently to himself as he admired her awkwardness.

        “No. It’s not fine. I was about to give my girlfriend a New Year kiss and, now, you’ve gone and ruined the moment,” Matthew said. I looked up to see that he had a serious look on his face and, although the nurse couldn’t tell that he was winding her up, I knew perfectly well what he was doing.

        I playfully slapped him on the chest, giving him a knowing look, telling him that he would be in trouble if he continued winding her up. “He’s only messing around, right babe?”

        I still hated that word. If he wanted a term of endearment for me, then he was going to have to find something besides ‘babe’ because I really did hate it. I hated being called babe by anyone, regardless of whether they were my boyfriend, I just didn’t want to be called that by anyone. There were far better terms endearment which he could pick to refer to me as when he didn’t feel like using my actual name.

        “What’s the point in a New Year kiss if I can’t do it at midnight?” Matthew continued to wind the poor nurse up, to which I pushed him from the bed and he landed on the floor with a satisfying thump. I couldn’t help but laugh at him as he looked up from where he landed. He was trying his best not to laugh, but it was impossible and he soon gave in, the sound of our laughter filling the room.

        The nurse looked like she didn’t know what to say. She appeared to be in awe of the relationship Matthew and I had going on with each other, like she had never seen a couple act like we were beforehand.

        In my defence, I was only seventeen, which meant I wasn’t technically an adult. At least in the eyes of the law I wasn’t an adult which meant I had the right to be as immature as I wanted to be. I don’t know what Matthew’s excuse was though, he was nineteen today and he still acted like a three year old.

        “Just ignore him. He’s an immature little boy. What was it you wanted?” I smiled at the nurse ignoring the fact Matthew was trying to push me over to the other side of the bed so there was room for him to get back on next to me again. I was going to have to explain to him that it was single bed and that meant it was designed for one person and one person only. It wasn’t supposed to be able to fit two people.

        “I just wanted to let you know that Mr and Mrs Parker are here to see you. Did you want me to bring them in or would you prefer that I tell them you are asleep?” the nurse asked, finally having the courage to actually smile back at me.

        The nice thing would have been to ask her name, but when she walked in, I was a little busy and I didn’t really have the time think about the formalities. I could have done it now but I was busy distracting myself from Matthew’s efforts to make room for his body where he was lying beforehand.

        “No. Send them in. It would be rude not to allow my parents to see me,” I grinned. I didn’t really want to see them. But, if I told them that they couldn’t come in because ‘I was asleep’ then that wouldn’t stop them, they would come in regardless. They would just sit at the side of the bed and wait for me to wake up before telling me what it was that they wanted. “What’s your name by the way?”

        “Mariah, and of course,” she said. She walked out of the room as quickly as she had appeared and, the moment she was gone, I just burst out laughing. I don’t even know why I did or what even came over me at the point, but I just felt the need to laugh and get all the excitement out of my system.

        When Matthew was talking about kissing me, I got that stereotypical warm feeling and those imaginary butterflies. It’s a shame that we were interrupted. I would love to have to know exactly what his lips felt like against my own. I would be able to judge how good a kisser he was just as he would be able to judge me at the same time.

        “I don’t even care if your parents walk in right now. Nothing is stopping me this time,” Matthew said and, before I even had the chance to realise what the hell he was talking about, his lips were on my own. I instantly closed my eyes, focusing on how soft his lips were and how slow the kiss was. It was just like those romantic first kisses you see in the movies and I couldn’t help but smile as I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck while his hands were supporting his body either side of my head.

        “Chloe, darling, Happy New…” my mother stopped mid-wish. I opened my eyes to find both my parents were burning holes into the back of Matthew’s head while they looked at me with some form is disappointment. “Oh.”

        I guess I had finally found something I was good at doing. Disappointing both my parents with shocking new revelations. I could live with that, at least they would remember for something, even if it’s not what I wanted them to remember me for. They were never going to tell people that they were proud of me and neither would they ever actually admit that they loved.

        “Mum. Dad. How lovely to see you,” I said. My tone was cold and hard as I looked at the both of them. The lie slipped off the tongue far easier than it should have done, but I’d had plenty of practice at lying, so it didn’t really surprise me how it came out.

        “Pete. Julianne. Happy New Year,” Matthew followed suit in speaking to the both of them as he took a seat in the chair next to the bed. They both looked at him, trying to work out what he was doing here and why they had walked in on the two us kissing each other. I could have saved them the trouble of doing all of that by telling them that we were together, but I was enjoying the moment too much to actually do that. “Is there a problem?”

        “Why were you kissing my daughter?” my father’s assertive voice filled the room.

        “Your daughter? I’m sure you were effectively denying all knowledge of her not two days ago. But I could be wrong,” Matthew pointed out sarcastically. If looks could kill, then my father would definitely be dead by now. Matthew’s attitude showed that my father didn’t scare him, even if he thought he was intimidating him, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

        “I am not in the mood for you games. Just answer the damn question,” my father demanded.

        “But, on the contrary, I wasn’t playing games. I was stating the truth. There is a bit of a difference between the two of them,” Matthew said and it was taking everything I had not to start laughing all over again. My father was pathetic for coming here since, apparently, the only reason he had come here was because he’d heard about Matthew being here with me since I collapsed.

        “I am losing my patience,” my father said, his teeth grinding together while his fists clenched and unclenched at his side.

        The irony of this wasn’t lost with me. He seemed to think he had the right to come here and demand things of Matthew when, not two days ago, he disowned me and told me that he didn’t have a daughter as far as he was concerned. To my father, it was acceptable for him to make me feel exactly how he felt right now, but it wasn’t acceptable for Matthew to make him feel like that.

        “What? Do you want a medal?”

        “You are really beginning to push your luck now.”

        I knew I shouldn’t, but a laugh slipped out from between my teeth. I loved how angry my father was getting with Matthew and I loved the way in which Matthew wasn’t intimidated by him and neither was he giving in to the pressure my father was applying to him. I probably should have said something in order to stop whatever it was which was happening, but I was having too much fun listening to the two of them going at each other.

        It was my mother had decided enough was enough and spoke up, putting an end to the pointless conversation between my father and Matthew. She could see that it wasn’t getting them anywhere and it was only going to agitate the situation. “Look, the reason we came here was to tell you that we have moved the wedding to the end of this month.”

        “Great. Means I only have to spend another month a Parker and then I am officially no longer going to be a member of the crappy family,” I grinned, mentally high-fiving myself in celebration of the news. I was in too much of a good mood to let anything ruin it, not even being told my wedding was being moved forward by two months was enough to wipe the smile from my face.

        “You are one ungrateful bitch. Do you know that?” my mother spoke.

        Matthew was more than ready to jump to my defence, to rip my mother’s head off her shoulders for what she had just said, but I simply put my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. Telling him that I had got this one and I didn’t need him to say anything for me. This would be the perfect opportunity to tell her that she was never going to meet her granddaughter.

        With it being New Year and all, I may as well throw out the old so that I have room for the new. It was time to throw out all the old, crappy memories where I was nothing other than miserable to make way for the new, amazing memories where I was going to be nothing besides happy. I wasn’t going to let anything get to me and I wasn’t going to let people order me around anymore, I wasn’t even going to let them get away with being negative about me.

        “You’re a terrible mother who did nothing to show me that I was loved. I was your daughter and you pushed me away, like I meant nothing, all so you would never upset dad,” I replied, the emotionless look on my face not once faltering as I looked at her and told her precisely what I thought about her. “You may have spoken to me growing up and we may have had the conversations in which I told you about my day, but you never really cared or had an interest. If I have learnt anything from you, mother, then it’s how to be a hurtful and thoughtless parent. I will never be like you.”

        “Don’t speak to your mother like that,” my father snapped as he consoled his wife who was now in tears at my words. They say truth hurts, it’s not my fault if she can’t handle what I am telling her.

        “You don’t have the right to tell me what to do anymore. You fucked up big time. I am supposed to be your little girl, you’re supposed to be the one who keeps me safe and out of danger’s room, but you have never been able to do either of those things,” I laughed coldly. I loved this sudden confidence I seemed to have found, it gave me a voice which I didn’t previously have and I loved it. I loved telling my parents just what I thought of the both of them. “It has never been about me. Everything you did for me was for your benefit and your benefit only. Now look at me. The world’s biggest failure as a daughter and do you know the best part of this?”

        I looked between my parents and they were both utterly speechless. They opened their mouths to say something, but nothing came out and all they could do was look at me like I was some kind of idiot. I smiled, knowing I had won this round and there was nothing they could do to change that. I had a voice and, for once, I wasn’t afraid to actually use it.

        “No? No guesses?” I asked but, just as before, I was greeted with silence. “I’ll tell you. I couldn’t give a fuck what you think of my anymore.”

        “Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?” Matthew laughed, causing my parent’s heads to turn at the mention of the word girlfriend. I still don’t know why that was such a shock to them when, if you want to be technical, he was actually my fiancé and that was all down to my father.

        “Nothing. She just got tired of people walking all over her and now she wants to live her own life. She wants to live for herself rather than to please her good for nothing, useless parents because she knows that’s never going to happen,” I laughed back. I didn’t bother looking at my parents because I could already imagine their fuming faces and that was good enough for me. “Oh, by the way, when your granddaughter is born neither of you are going to have anything to do with her.”

        “You can’t do that?” my mother snapped, her tears were obvious and her stupidity was even more obvious if she didn’t know why I didn’t want her anywhere near our daughter when she was born.

        “Amanda is my daughter. I can do what I like and I do believe I just told you neither of you will ever have the chance to meet your granddaughter.”

        “If you even step foot near us or the house once this wedding is done with, I will make sure you regret it,” Matthew added. “And that’s a promise.”

        “You wouldn’t do anything. You’re an idiot,” my father mocked him. It wasn’t the most sensible thing he had ever done and, if I was a good daughter, then I would warn him what will happen if she should piss off his future son-in-law. But I wasn’t that kind of daughter so I was going to leave him to discover that for himself.

        “Try me Pete. If you come anywhere near my family, I will make you pay,” Matthew chuckled as he walked over to the door and opened it up, his attention now on my parents. “Now, I think it’s high time you were leaving. Right?”

        Neither of my parents said another word. Instead they silently walked out of the room with Matthew closing the door the moment they were gone. I hoped they got the message and realised that I didn’t want anything to do with them, I just wanted them to leave me the hell alone so I could get on with my life and they could get on with their lives.

        I couldn’t have been happier that they left without further argument. I was too happy to really want to argue with anyone and, when they were going to act like that, that was all the proof that I needed that I didn’t want them in my life anymore. They didn’t think anything of me besides negative thoughts which I had no time for anymore.

        I had the time for Matthew and Amanda. I had the time for Jason. And, when she had finally calmed down, I had the time to for Jodie. They were the only four people I needed and no one was going to take them from me nor were they going to stop me from having an amazing year.

        “Guess who’s just text me asking if I want New Year sex?” Matthew laughed.

        “Lydia?”

        “I told her I was available and would be right over,” he winked at me. I knew he was joking and that he’d never do anything like that to me. If he even dared to do that, then I would cut his dick off and make sure he was never able to stick it in another female again.

        I probably should have warned him of my psychopathic tendencies before he told me that he loved me. He may have thought twice about wanting to be with someone who, if it was legal, would have no problem with murdering most of her family. But I will keep that to myself for a now. A secret weapon for emergencies.

        “What did you really tell her?” I asked curiously.

        “I told her that I was currently with my pregnant girlfriend who I loved very much and I would rather drown myself in acid than sleep with her again,” Matthew stated proudly.

        “Seriously?”

        “Seriously.”

        “You’re crazy.”

        “And you still love me,” Matthew shrugged and I couldn’t even argue with that. I knew what he was like and, in the back of my mind, there was always going to be the nagging thought that he would go back to her when I got too fat to be able to do anything. But I still loved him and everything about him.

        “I know. Six billion people in the world and I had to fall in love with you,” I smiled proudly, stifling a yawn as I moved over in the bed to make room for him to be able to get in again. I was tired and wanted to sleep, but I didn’t want to sleep on my own. I wanted to sleep with Matthew’s arms around me, protecting me from anything which could possibly happen. “Now, get your arse on this bed. I want to go to sleep.”

        “And you want to use me as a pillow?” he scoffed, doing his best to pretend that he was offended, but it did nothing for me personally.

        “No. I just want to make sure you don’t run off,” I shrugged with an innocent look. It was a look I had got down to a T when I was around Matthew and he loved it. “I don’t want you to disappear before I’ve had the chance to give you your surprise.”

        “What surprise?” Matthew asked as he squeezed himself into the space. Once he had stopped moving, I put my head on his chest and his arms wrapped themselves around me. They made me feel immediately warm and I loved it.

        Knowing that I was going to be able to do this every single night, married or not. I was still going to get to bed and have Matthew wrap his arms around me as I drifted off to sleep on his chest.

        “It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you,” I muttered, feeling my eyelids beginning to drop as I allowed the tiredness to take over every fibre of my body.

        “Hm,” was all he replied quickly, as though he was thinking of what I had planned for him. But, it didn’t matter what thoughts crossed his mind, he would never work out what my present was to him. “I love you Chloe Parker.”

        “I love you too Matthew Jenkinson.” And they were the lasts words I remember saying before I fell asleep.