You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Thirty-Four: England vs Russia

"Thank you for having us over," Louise gushed stepping into Gabriella's apartment, she was thrilled to be invited around; something that had never happened when Joe had been dating Georgina. 

The other woman had always made it clear that Louise and Charles weren't welcome in her life, she went out of her way to make sure that they knew that she came first in Joe's life. 

It was just another reason that Louise was thrilled that Georgina was gone now, she had caused Joe so much trouble and she knew that he had built a wonderful life with Gabriella and Elena. 

"No problem," Gabriella replied shifting her hold on Elena, they were getting ready to watch Joe's opening match and she was a little nervous; she couldn't imagine what pressure Joe was under right now and she hoped they would do well. 

Louise watched as Charles moved towards the living room to get set up for the match, she could already hear Gabriella's parents inside and she was sure that the day would be a good one. 

"My father is setting up a barbeque for dinner," Gabriella explained knowing that it was a recipe for disaster and she could only hope that he wasn't going to set her balcony on fire. 

It was a beautiful day outside and Gabriella just wanted to relax and watch Joe play, she was sure that he would do England proud today no matter what happened. 

Louise raised an eyebrow, she could only imagine what the two Charles would be like with that; she doubted that it would end well if they started fighting about how things should be done. 

"My mum's opened a bottle of wine," Gabriella continued peeking into the living room, it was barely five in the afternoon and she had a feeling that Catherine would be a little tipsy later on.

***

"Now this is a nice bottle of wine," Catherine announced handing Louise a glass, they were already on their second bottle and Gabriella was so happy she had decided to stick to water instead. 

Things had been good so far and Gabriella couldn't deny that she was enjoying herself, it had been a while since she had been able to relax like this; things were tense with her organising Adam's wedding and she couldn't wait for it to be over and done with. 

"So when do you think you and Joey will get married?" Catherine asked curiously turning her attention to Gabriella, who had been keeping an eye on the match; she wanted to know when she had to get a dress sorted. 

Catherine had heard from her ex-husband that Joe was planning to ask Gabriella to marry him, she was sure that he would do it before the end of the year. 

Opening and closing her mouth, Gabriella tried to think of some way to respond to what her mother had asked; she had been thinking a lot about getting married but she wasn't sure they were ready for that. 

Gabriella loved Joe and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, she just feared that if they moved too fast that things would fall apart. 

"I don't know," Gabriella replied carefully, she looked anywhere but her mother and her stomach turned at the thought of Joe asking her to marry him. 

She didn't want him to ask her because he felt like he had to, Gabriella was more than ready to wait until they were both sure about this; she couldn't imagine losing him when they had come so far. 

Louise watched Gabriella closely, she could see how nervous Gabriella was and she wanted to ease her mind; the couple were happy together and they deserved that. 

"He adores you, you know... you and Elena are all he talks about," Louise reassured, she had never seen Joe like this and she doubted he would wait much longer to ask her to marry him.

The last thing that Louise wanted was for them both to get hurt for wanting different things, they had come so far and she was sure that in time they would work out what they both wanted. 

"It's not that I don't want to get married..." Gabriella admitted, the more she thought about marrying Joe, the more she came around to the idea; she just worried that he would regret asking her to marry him. 

Joe had been engaged before and Gabriella had seen how quickly he had turned his back on Georgina; even if the other woman had deserved it, she feared he would do the same to her. 

"I just worry that he'll see that I'm not what he wants," Gabriella mumbled looking at the television, England were struggling against Russia; she sipped on her water glad that she hadn't had any wine like Louise and Catherine. 

Sharing a look with Catherine, Louise moved to sit down next to Gabriella wanting to talk with the brunette before she did something that she would come to regret. 

"Joe knows what he wants and it is you Gabby... he's never going to walk away from you or Elena," Louise reassured, she wanted to smooth things out and she had no idea where these doubts had come from; she just hoped that it wasn't going to cause them any trouble. 

Things might have moved quickly for Gabriella and Joe but Louise was sure that they would make things work; they had a daughter to think about and the last six months had proven that they were meant to be together. 

"I just worry," Gabriella murmured thinking about how things had been recently with Joe, they were doing well and she wanted to believe that they could make it. 

She couldn't imagine her life without him and Gabriella just hoped that Joe did want the same things as her; she didn't want to lose everything they had worked for.

"You have no reason to do so... Joe isn't going anywhere," Louise promised with a smile, she already had heard that Joe had an engagement ring and it was a matter of time before he asked Gabriella to marry him. 

Gabriella nodded her head, she chewed on her lip wondering what was going to happen to them; she didn't want to lose everything over something so stupid as her own worries.

"He wants you Gabby and this is the happiest that I have ever seen him," Louise said looking at the screen, she didn't want anyone to make any mistakes because they were worrying over nothing. 

Gabriella swallowed, her heart warmed at the idea that she made Joe that happy and she hoped that it was true; she wanted them to be happy in the long run.

Catherine smiled watching Gabriella, she hoped her daughter would see that she was better off with Joe; she didn't want her making any mistakes that she would regret later on. 

The last thing that Catherine wanted was too watch Gabriella throw away her relationship with Joe because she was overthinking things; he wasn't going to hurt her like Adam had. 

Catherine guessed he was the reason that Gabriella was so worried about moving forward with Joe now; she feared that he would ditch her at the altar like Adam had done. 

"He would never hurt you Gabby... he loved you too much for that," Catherine added wanting to ease Gabriella's mind, she had a wonderful thing here and it would be a shame if she threw it away because she was comparing Joe to Adam. 

Looking at her mother, Gabriella nodded her head a small smile forming on her face and she hoped that she was right; she wanted to let go of the past that was clearly holding her back. 

Joe was everything that she wanted and Gabriella knew she would be a fool if she let him go.