Everything

XL

"You're kidding." I laughed, flicking on the bedside light.

But as I looked at Spencer's face, I knew he wasn't joking. He wasn't joking at all.

His expression fell, "Do you not want to marry me anymore?"

"Spencer!" I exclaimed, "You know I want to marry you! It's just...this is all so...sudden. It feels so rushed. Why do we have to rush this?"

He frowned, "Why do we have to wait? I love you. You love me. We want to be married, and we want to be married here. What's so wrong about doing it sooner?"

I went to speak, but caught myself...he really wasn't wrong at all, but this just felt like a whirlwind. If we went for it, in a week and a half I'd be someone's wife. Spencer's wife. That was almost more than my brain could compute.

"That's the only reason you're doing this?" I asked, "Because you want us to be married?"

"What other reason would I have?" he questioned, "Adriana, I'm so in love with you it hurts. When I think about marrying you, it makes my heart seize up in my chest. We both know we want to spend the rest of our lives with one another...I--don't know what else to say to convince you. But if you'd rather we didn't, I...guess I'll just have to accept that too. I want to make you happy."

I let the idea roll around in my head like a loose marble. I loved the idea of being Mrs. Spencer Haywood. And I sure loved the idea of calling the adorably cute and sexy man sitting up in bed next to me my husband.

Sure it was sooner that I would've planned, and Spencer had completely blindsided me. But hadn't he done that so many times before? Telling me he'd liked me since we were back at Columbia, planning how he was going to tell me he loved me, asking me to marry him...this whole relationship was full of surprises. And I'd loved each and every one of them.

I sighed, "You do realise how much work needs to go into a wedding to organise it in one and a half weeks, right, Spencer?"

His cornflower blue eyes lit up, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "Is that a yes?"

I rolled my eyes, "Can you organise a wedding in one and a half weeks?"

He nodded furiously, "Whatever you want, you've got. I promise."

"Then I guess we're getting married in 11 days."

Spencer's smile bloomed like a flower, spreading across his whole face. He leaned over, grasped the back of my head and kissed me thoroughly until I was breathless.

"Adriana," he whispered, "Thank you."

"You're lucky I want to marry you so much, hm?" I teased, kissing the corner of his mouth.

"You have no idea." he replied, and with that, he grabbed my waist, pulling us both down back into the sheets, his lips on mine.

*

The Haywoods sat open-mouthed around the table, as Spencer clutched my hand in his.

It was a pretty big bombshell to drop on the family, and I told Spencer it had to be done immediately.

There was no way I'd even think about doing this without their approval or say so.

Leah burst into tears for the second time in three days. Immediately Richard was at her side, kissing the top of her head and trying to soothe her.

"I'm sorry!" she said, dabbing her eyes with a tissue, "I'm feeling so emotional lately, with my baby boy growing up. That's a fantastic idea, we'd love to."

"Really Mum?" Spencer asked, "It's okay with everyone?"

"Of course!" Richard smiled at me, "We wouldn't want you kids to do it anywhere else. It'll take a hell of a lot of hard work to get this all done in 11 days, but we'll all pitch in to make it happen."