His Proposal

His Proposal - 38

Waking up, I'm wrapped in Jai's arms. Jai opens his brown eyes and looks at me. He kisses my cheek. "Good morning, beautiful."

"Morning," I mumble against his chest, and he laughs.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed, Chloe. Last night was the best sleep I have had in weeks."

Lifting my head, I look at him. "Is that because you shared a bed with me?"

He nods. "It felt good to have you in my arms as well. I forgot how nice it was to wake up next to the woman you love."

Sitting up, I place my feet on the ground. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

Jai winks. "Is it working?"

Climbing off the bed. "Yes, but we're not going to have our first time together under the roof of your parents' place or in your childhood bed. I don't know how many girls you slept with on this mattress."

Jai laughs. "Mom and Dad brought this bed after I moved out. Mom told Dad that she couldn't stand looking at the bed with heaps of girls in it. She wanted the next bed for the woman I would marry to share it."

Walking over to my suitcase, I open it and pull out a dress. I head towards the bathroom and quickly change into a blue-red dress and ballet flats. "I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast." I open the door and run out of the room.

When I get to the kitchen, Veronica looks at me. "Where's the fire, sweetie?"

"In your son's room."

She starts laughing. "I take it you didn't..."

"No," I cut her off. My face starts to heat up from embarrassment. "I don't want to talk about it anymore."

Nate and Aleysa walk into the kitchen. They sit next to me at the table.

"Morning," Veronica says.

"Morning," Nate and Aleysa say.

Jai walks into the kitchen and kisses his Mom's cheek. "Good morning, Mom. Can I help you with something?"

Veronica points to an orange plastic bowl. "I want you to put two cups of wholemeal flour into the bowl."

She's smart to get her son to cook breakfast for us.

"Put two teaspoons of baking powder."

I watch him measure everything out and place it in a bowl.

"Two tablespoons of caster sugar."

Jai measures that as well. He looks at his Mom as she rounds the table and sits beside me. "What are you doing, Mom?"

Veronica winks at me before she turns her attention back to her son. "I'm letting my son cook for his beautiful girlfriend and her siblings. When you get home, you can cook something besides bacon and eggs for breakfast."

I don't mind having that every once in a while.

"What else do I need to do?"

"Get the buttermilk, ricotta cheese and milk out of the fridge." Veronica puts the milk and buttermilk into the bowl. "Get an egg and put it in with the two kinds of milk."

Jai gets an egg, walks back to the bowls of milk, and cracks the egg on the side of the bowl.

A few small pieces of shell go into the mixture.

Aleysa looks at him and says, "I'm not eating that. He'll probably leave the shells in the milk, and we will have a crunch to our pancakes." She pulls a face.

Veronica and I laugh.

Nate shakes his head. "Women,"

Jai slaps his back. "Tell me about it. They drive you up the..." He stops mid-sentence as his father steps into the room.

Mr Marshall looks around the room. "What's going on in here?"

Veronica moves over to her husband, and she kisses him. "I was teaching our son how to cook pancakes until he ruined the milk mixture by putting eggshells in it."

He kisses her cheek. "That's what you get for teaching your son to cook."

Veronica shakes her head. "Why is it when our kids do something wrong, they're my kids?"

"It's just easier to blame the women."

Veronica slaps. "Shut up."

I miss the times when my parents did that.

Aleysa grabs my hand, and we walk out of the room. She hugs me. "Mom and Dad used to do that all the time," she says.

I'm walking with her over to a chair where we sit. "Yes, they did. Do you want to hear about my favourite one of Mom and Dad?"

Mom and Dad returned from an ultrasound appointment. They walked into the kitchen where I was studying and didn't see me. They were talking about the baby she was carrying.

Mom said. "It's a girl. I can tell. I have been sick like I was with Chloe most of this pregnancy."

"It's a boy," Dad said. "I don't want to be overrun by females."

"You have Nate, that should be good enough."

"No, it's not."

Mom smiled. "Yes, it is. I don't want another boy. He will eat us out of this house when he's older."

"How would you know? You grew up with a bunch of sisters."

I went to my best friend's place and watched that happen with her brother." She stuck her tongue out.

"Boy," Dad walks to the door.

Mom yells. "Girl," as the back door is slammed.

I cleared my throat. "Thanks for the show, Mom. It was quite entertaining."

Mom had her hand over my heart. "Shit! Chloe, don't scare me like that."

I laughed. "I was here the entire time. Dad and you should pay attention when walking into a room." I looked at her protruding belly. "That kid could pass as mine, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," she muttered. "This wasn't planned, sweetheart."

I know.

I looked at her. "I'm going upstairs to study. I will be down for dinner." I gathered my stuff and went to my room.

Aleysa smiles. "Mom knew I was a girl."

"Yes, she did. She also told me there's a 50/50 chance she could have got it wrong. She was surprised that she got it right. With Nate, she said, a girl. Dad cheered when he found out he was going to have a boy. He started to go crazy, brought everything with his football team, and set it up in our brother's room." Nate walks into the room at that moment. "Dad just didn't know that the room was being decorated in footy stuff, which would make his son want to do it professionally. He'd be proud of you, Nate." I place my hand on his face. "If you don't get a scholarship to the University of your choice, I want you to know that I'm also proud of the man you are today. I know this year hasn't been easy for you."

Nate nods. "It hasn't been the easiest, but I have two sisters who will be here when I need them." He looks at Aleysa. "I love you, Lil sis."

She smiles. "Love you too."

My stomach rumbles, and I look at my siblings. "I wonder if breakfast is ready." I take Aleysa's hand. We enter the kitchen to find food stacked on plates in the middle of the table.

Jai is sitting in one corner. "I saved seats for you three. Hurry before the rest of the family comes in."