I Choose You : A New Chapter

A New Chapter

"God, I look like a fucking whale," Cassie complained, as she looked herself over in the mirror. She had on a dark blue dress that did absolutely nothing to cover her heavily pregnant belly. Whenever she wore black, it would work. But not with this color. 

Ben came out, adjusting the cuffs to his shirt. "Baby, you look nothing like a whale," he chuckled. "You look beautiful, sweetheart." She huffed and said, "I don't, but thanks for the effort." He came up behind her and put his hands over her stomach. 

After placing a few kisses on her neck, making her giggle, he said, "You. Are. So. Beautiful." He placed one more kiss on her neck, then turned her around and placed a kiss on her lips. "I also want you to know how proud I am, Cass. You are officially a published author. Fuck, I'm so proud."

She laughed as he brought her in for another kiss. "I love you," he told her. She ran her hand down his cheek and told him, "I love you, too. We should probably get going." He agreed, then grabbed his jacket and led them out the door. 

They had to drive a little ways, but ended up needing to park in the city. On a Saturday. At night. "Bloody hell, we'll never find a space," Ben grumbled, as he drove them around. "Oh, there!" Cassie pointed to an empty spot and he sped over to it. 

"Ah ha!" Ben triumphantly said. "See, I knew I'd get us parking." Cassie smiled and rolled her eyes as she got out of the car. They walked hand-in-hand up to the building the party was being thrown at. "I don't think I've been in here before," Ben said, as she walked through the extravagant building.

They gave their names to the security guard up front and he let them through to the banquet room. The two story banquet room. "Cassie!" A voice called. Jeffery was quickly making his way through the crowd to her. "There's my girl!"

He brought her in for an enthusiastic, but gentle hug. "Ben, always good to see you," he said, giving Ben a firm handshake. "We excited to see our girl's career take off?" Ben cleared his throat and said, "Yes, of course it's exciting for...our girl." 

Cassie was internally giggling up a storm. She loved seeing Ben get jealous around Jeffery. He liked the guy, just had a few suspicions about him. "Right, well," Jeffery said, "let me get you both a drink, then we can kick this night off, yeah? Be right back!"

He rushed over to the bar that was being heavily occupied by guests. "God, there are so many people here," she nervously said. "I didn't think it would be that big of a deal." Ben put his arm around her and said, "Your book is spectacular! I'm surprised the Queen isn't here."

Jeffery came back over with champagne for Ben and water for Cassie. "Now, what's going to happen is I am going to introduce the book and introduce you. You don't have to say anything superb, just a small speech to make people happy. After that, you can either hang around and talk or go home, since I know you're getting close here."

Cassie took a deep breath, then said, "Great. Let's started, then." Jeffery clapped and said, "Alright!" He led her and Ben over to the stage and stood up in front of the mic. After getting everyone's attention, he said, "Hello, everyone! We're going to start this night off quick, so may I just say it has been an honor to work with this girl. She came to me fresh out of college, demanding I give her book a shot and look where she is now! She's a hard worker, a strong woman, she's a wife, and is about to become a mother. Ladies and gentleman, the next best selling author...Cassandra Hansen."

The crowd clapped for her, including Ben and Jeffery who were just on stage behind her. She timidly went up to the mic and said, "Thank you, thank you. Um...wow, this is amazing. I never thought my book would bring such a crowd, but I am so proud that it did! I don't want to be up here very long, I just want to thank a couple people. First off, Jeffery, thank you for taking a chance in this fresh off the boat college grad. I know you had a lot of great offers besides me, so thank you."