Jackie rested. She was feeling sad. She loved Charles with all her heart, but why hadn’t he asked her to marry him. She envied Robert and Heidi. They were going to get married and have a wedding. They were going to attend a friend’s wedding on Christmas eve. Even their friend, Agent Adams, got married. Now she really felt bad.

Suddenly Jackie was having doubts. Maybe Charles didn’t love her enough to marry her. The tears silently flowed down her cheeks. When the tears ebbed, she fell asleep.

                                                            *****

“Jackie, wake up.” Charles gently shook her shoulder.

“What time is it? Why is it so dark?” She slowly woke up. “Charles, turn on the light.”

“I can’t sweetheart, the power is out.” He set a candle on the night stand. He leaned in and gave her a kiss. “I love you,” he whispered.

“Mmm.”

“Is everything alright?” Charles couldn’t really see her expression, but he could hear something was wrong.

“I’m fine, just tired.”

“Alright. Let’s go down stairs. I have dinner ready.”

“How long has the power been out?” She asked.

“I had just finished making dinner. Come on, dinner is getting cold.” He helped her to her feet. He picked up the candle and they went downstairs.

Charles had a candle on each step.  

“Charles, what did you do. I can see fairly well in the dark, you didn’t need to do this.” When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Charles steered her towards the living room. Jackie walked into what looked like a fairy land. Candles were everywhere.

“What’s going on, Charles?” He slowly led her to the sofa.

“Sit down, sweetheart. You’ve been unhappy lately, and you’ve been trying to keep it from me.” He sat beside her and held her hand. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I am happy. What in the world, would make you think otherwise?”

“Jackie, I’m not blind. Please tell me.” He knew what the problem was, but he wanted her to confide in him. That’s what partners were for. He could make it easy for her and just pop the question, but he needed her to tell him.

“Charles, really, I’m fine.”

He quietly sat there, waiting.

Slowly, the tears started to flow. Jackie didn’t make a sound as the tears ran down her cheeks and fell unchecked. She didn’t even try to wipe them away.  Finally, Charles handed her a tissue. Jackie blew her nose and took a deep, ragged breath. Charles waited.

“Do you love me, Charles?”

“Yes, with all my heart.”

“Why haven’t you asked me to marry you?” Jackie continued sniffle and kept her eyes down. She took another ragged breath.

“I thought being bonded mates was enough. I guess I was wrong.” He continued to hold her hand. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“It didn’t bother me, but then Robert announced their engagement. They were so happy and excited. I remembered when I was little, I dreamt of having a fairytale wedding. With age, comes reality.” She took a deep breath. “Then I thought about our baby. How does that work? Does our child refer to you as, my mother’s boyfriend? Even those poor kids Robert brought home had two parents. What will our baby have? Where are the kids, anyway?”

“They’re spending the night in the motorhome.” Charles hadn’t thought about the baby.

“Why are they out there?”

“They wanted to camp out.” Charles got down on one knee. He reached in his pocket and pulled out Elyse’s ring.

“Jackie Todd, would you marry me?” He held the ring up for her to see. 

Suddenly, Jackie let out cry of pain, doubled over and held her stomach. She had a horrified look on her face. “The baby!”

“Easy sweetheart, don’t panic. Lie back, I’m calling the doctor.” Charles ran into the den and called the doctor. Then he ran outside, turned on the power and yelled for Robert and Heidi. He ran back to Jackie. She was on her side, curled up on the couch.

“Jackie, what’s happening? The doctor is on his way.”

“The pain has eased off a bit, but it hurts. Charles, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey. There’s nothing to be sorry about. Everything is going to be fine.” He sat on the floor next to the couch and rubbed her back.

“I don’t want to lose the baby!” Jackie started to cry and panic.

“Sssh, you’re not going to lose the baby. You need to relax. The doctor will be here soon.”

Heidi came in. “Is there anything I can do? Robert is putting the kids to bed.”

“Could you watch for the doctor, he should be here soon.”

Heidi gave him a nod. “I’ll bring him in as soon as he arrives.” They waited thirty minutes before Heidi saw car lights coming around the lake. “He’s almost here,” she called out to Charles.

Robert ran down the steps to greet the doctor and showed him into the house to Charles and Jackie.

“Well, tell me what’s happened,” Doctor Markham asked. He started feeling her stomach.

“She had a sharp pain and doubled over.” Charles told him.

“Do you think you could carry her up to her bed? I need to examine her. It would be easier there.”

Charles carefully picked her up and carried her to their room. The doctor wanted him to leave while he examined Jackie, but she wanted him with her.

The doctor talked while he did his examination. “What were you doing when this happened?’

“I had just asked Jackie to marry me.” Charles answered.

“And what did she say?”

“Ooooouch.” Charles replied with a chuckle. “She didn’t really have a chance to answer, doc.”

“Well, I think you need to give him an answer, Miss Todd. You wouldn’t want this baby growing up without a father, would you?”

“Is the baby alright?” Jackie asked.

“Yes, everything appears to be fine. I’ve told you to relax. You have obviously been upset and that can be very dangerous. Next time you might not be so lucky. Unfortunately, I can’t prescribe anything for the pain. How are the pains now?”

“The pain has started to lighten up.” Jackie replied.

 The doctor gave Charles a questioning look. “You better ask her again while I’m here, just in case.”

Charles took the ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee. “Jackie Todd, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife.”

Jackie’s eyes teared up. “Yes, Charles. I’d be honored to be your wife,”

Charles leaned in and gave her a kiss and whispered, “I love you.”

“Congratulations, you two. Now, remember young lady. No excitement.” The doctor told her. “If you have plans to travel at Christmas, you’ll do what I tell you.”

“Yes, doc. This was too close. I will do everything I’m told and no stress or excitement.”

“Good. Now I would like to go home and go to bed. I recommend you do the same.” The doctor gathered up his things. “You need to come to the office ASAP for an ultrasound, just to be safe. No need to make an appointment, just come in.”

“Thanks for getting here so quickly, doc, I owe you one,” Charles told him.

Dr. Markham patted him on the back. “Congratulations, Charles. I don’t know why you didn’t ask her before this. I’m glad she’s going to make an honest man out of you.” That made Charles laugh. He walked the doctor out to his car. “Don’t forget. You need to bring her into the office.”

“We’ll be there.” They said good night.

 

                                                          *****

 

With the emergency past, everyone settled down. Charles fixed a plate of food to take up to Jackie.

“You guys scared the hell out of us.” Robert told Charles.

“How do you think I felt. Loosing Jackie and the baby flashed through my mind. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost her.”

“What happened?” Robert asked.

“I don’t know. We talked and I think we got things straightened out. Then I asked her to marry me. Next thing I knew, she was doubled over, screaming.”

“She was that ecstatic,” Robert laughed. “What did the doctor say?”

“He said she was over stressed. He said the baby was fine, but it was a warning. He wants her to come in for an ultrasound as soon as possible.”

“Did she say yes?”

Charles gave him a huge grin and nodded his head. “Yup, and the doc is my witness.” Charles fixed Jackie a glass of sweet tea and placed it on the tray. “I’d better get this up to Jackie, I know she wants to go to sleep.”

“Congratulations big brother. Now we have two weddings to plan.”

“I think we’ll wait until after the baby is born. You know, we could have a double wedding. Ask Heidi what she thinks about the idea.” He picked up the tray. “I’ll see what Jackie thinks.”

“Won’t that take something away from your own ceremony?”

“Not at all. It will double the enjoyment. Ask her and see what she says.”

“I will. Charlie, I’ll be leaving early in the morning. We’ll talk more about this when I get back. Take care of Heidi for me.”

“Heidi and the kids will be fine. Good night, Robert.” Charles left just as Heidi came into the kitchen.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yup. Jackie is okay, she just needs to take it easy. Charlie wants to know your views on a double wedding?”

“Jackie and me?” He gave her a nod. “What does Jackie think about the idea?”

“I don’t know. Charles hasn’t asked her yet. I know he wants to wait and have the ceremony after the baby is born. If you don’t want to, it’s okay.” He gave her a hug. “Our friend Bill is getting married on Christmas Eve. There will be a bonding ceremony. I would like us to go through the bonding ceremony. Would you like that?”

Heidi got a big smile on her face. “I would like that very much.”

“Good, so would I.” He kissed her forehead. “I think we’d better go to bed. I have to get up early in the morning to go to Sacramento.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go, but I understand. Those kids need their things. I will miss you.”

Robert locked the doors, and turned out the lights, and they headed for bed. Heidi made a quick stop and checked on the kids. They were all sound asleep.