High Hopes

Chapter Nineteen

The short journey to their group's usual meeting spot for dinner doesn't give Claire much time to think. I can't believe Will is here. His timing's dreadful, not that it's his fault at all, finding me the day after I get engaged! Seeing him again has brought back all those memories of my last incredible week in San Francisco. I really thought I'd moved past it though, now I'm not so sure. Why is my heart still racing just thinking about him? Why are there butterflies in my stomach?

Pulling herself together, as least as far as anyone would notice on the outside, she enters the restaurant. Walking through to the room where all her closest friends are gathered around the table, she sees that Henry's already there. Noticing her arrive, he gets up to talk to her privately before they join the others. Hugging her first then kissing her tenderly, he says, "Hey, I was surprised to see you weren't here when I arrived earlier. Stacey mentioned something about a work emergency?"

Hating lying to him, rather deciding to tell him the truth, she admits that work wasn't the reason. "Actually, I met up with an old friend from San Francisco. I knew it'd be awkward for Stacey to stand around while we caught up on news, so I invented an excuse to get her to leave without me, in order to spare her feelings."

He withdraws from their embrace, holding her upper arms to enable him to gaze into her lovely blue eyes more easily. "Okay. Well I'm glad everything's alright." He touches her cheek while trying to fathom whether something else is bothering her or not. "I'm sensing you have something else on your mind."

"Nothing important," she says, faking a smile for his benefit.

Moving his arms down to her waist, he pulls her closer, whispering, "Do we have to stay?"

Not what she expected to hear him say, but she goes along with what he's undoubtedly thinking. Withdrawing her hands, which are currently trapped against his chest, she moves them to around his neck. As she does this, she suddenly remembers the brand new addition on her ring finger. I can't believe I forgot all about the engagement for a while! Peering up into the darker brown flecks of his hazel eyes, she whispers back, "No, but don't you want to share our news with everyone?"

"Yes," he sounds slightly unsure. He then nods his head as if trying to convince himself. "Yes of course I do," he then adds more surely.

"So let's stay, spill the beans, eat dinner, then make a speedy exit. How does that sound?"

"Sounds perfect." He smiles his winning smile, approving of her plan. Leading her to the head of the table where they can stand while witnessing the reaction to their news, he clears his throat. "Attention everyone," he says loudly enough to get them to stop chatting. "Claire and I have some news that we'd like to share with you."

Mike shouts out, "You got her pregnant! You moron!" There are a few guffaws around the table.

Charlotte adds her thoughts to Mike's comment, "About time! I'm keen to be an Auntie." Another round of laughs.

From Stacey they hear, "You eloped without telling us! Thanks a lot, Claire, I was looking forward to being your bridesmaid." The ladies start arguing amongst themselves about who they think should be her bridesmaid.

"Settle down all of you, please! If you can keep your mouths shut for one minute, I will fill you in with the real story." They all quieten down, begin to look a bit a more serious. "Just to clarify, we haven't eloped just yet, Stacey. I also haven't got her pregnant, unless there's something I should know?" He directs this question at Claire, who just laughs and shakes her head vigorously. He pauses for effect.

"Come on man, get on with it!" Darren cries out.

"Okay, okay. I proposed last night and she said yes!"

Screams erupt from the women. The men get up to shake Henry's hand to congratulate him. The ladies leave their seats too, rushing over to hug Claire, demanding that she tell them all about how he proposed, as we'll as asking to see the ring. It's quite a while before the level of excitement returns to normal, fortunately it does just as the food arrives. Conversation at the table then revolves almost exclusively around weddings and everything to do with them for the whole meal.

Claire gets completely caught up in the excitement of thinking and talking about her impending wedding. Forgetting about Will momentarily, she doesn't appreciate how the time speeds by.

Once dinner and dessert are over including all coffee cups emptied, the real celebrations begin on the dance floor. Everyone insists on sharing a dance with either the bride or groom to be. It's a while before Henry actually gets to dance with his fiancée. When he finally has her in his arms, he sighs, "If I'd known they'd react like this, I would've tried harder to convince you that we should hold off on telling them for a few more days. That way we could've enjoyed our secret and you would've been naked in my bed right now."

She giggles at his last remark. "I'm sorry I reminded you of our news. Quite frankly I don't know what other kind of reaction you expected though." To herself she thinks, I'm not really sure I wanted to let the whole gang know yet either. I wanted more time to process everything that's happened to me in the last twenty four hours, especially the fact that Will's here in New York within touching distance.

"You're right. I should've stuck to my original idea right at the beginning - to whisk you away back to my bed. Do you think they'd notice if we slipped away now?" He touches her bottom lip suggestively while kissing her neck with feather like kisses.

"Henry! You know what that does to me. If you keep doing that, we won't make it back to yours. We'll be finding the nearest broom cupboard instead!" He laughs at the thought, but carries on anyway, enjoying the way her eyes are glossing over with arousal. Then he stops as suddenly as he started, rather using his hand to hold her face just under her cheekbones. Moving his head down to hers, he kisses her mouth passionately. Surfacing from the deep kiss a minute later, he definitely doesn't want to stay a minute longer. Linking her fingers with his, marching her towards the exit, he yells, "See you all soon, we're out of here." They're gone before anyone has a chance to stop them.

In the cab on the way back to his place, he can't keep his hands or mouth off her. Every few minutes she has to reign him in, reminding him of where they are. When they ultimately get to his apartment, it's just in time. A short fifteen minutes later with clothes scattered all over the floor of the living room and his bedroom, there's plenty of evidence of their hasty lovemaking.

Lying with her in his arms, gazing down at her, he feels happily exhausted. Moving her hair away from her eyes, he says, "Now I know why I'm marrying you."

"What, for my womanly guiles?"

"Definitely those, as well as your beauty and sexiness."

"I hope my kindness, intelligence and thoughtfulness are partly to blame."

"They are just some of your many amazing qualities."

"Thank you, my handsome fiancé."

"I love the sound of that word." He kisses her softly on her lips. "I love you, Claire."

She pauses for a split second, contemplating whether she should say anything or not. But to remain quiet would raise questions she'd rather not answer, so she adds truthfully, "I love you too, Henry."