Trying Not to Love You

"I don't mind telling her myself that this baby is Hunter's, Dominic. Just say the word." I told him one night as he was walking out to Hunter's truck.

"No I don't want you anywhere near that crazy bitch. I told her if she kept this up that we were done." Dominic shifted his weight from one foot to the other while standing next to the passenger side of the truck.

"Ok well the offer still stands." I reached up to open the door and Dominic helped me in.

"No, I'll take care of it." Dominic and Hunter mumbled hellos and then Hunter took me home.

"So what was all that about?" Hunter asked as he reached over to rest his hand on my thigh.

"Brittany is giving him problems. She is convinced that this is Dominic's baby. I offered to set her straight but he refused my offer."

"Good, stay away from that nasty whore CC."

I didn't even attempt to argue back, I just let it go.

I was still doing well in my classes despite missing a few because of headaches and morning sickness. April rolled around, and Hunter and I drove back home for a doctor's appointment and to meet with a contractor my dad found to help with the house. We had our first ultrasound scheduled for this appointment. It was the ugliest thing and most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Hunter said it looked like a gummy bear with his heart on the outside; we were also able to hear his or her heartbeat for the first time that day too. Mrs. McCormick, Mom and Dad met us at the house along with the contractor after our appointment was over. We showed off all the pictures the nurse gave us to our parents who were excited about becoming grandparents again. The contractor arrived while we were showing the pictures off so my Dad and Hunter told them what we were looking for and told them we would get the contract back to them as soon as we reviewed there proposal. Later that night we made our journey back to school.

Hailey, Hunter and I were in full swing of finals and were busy studying every night. Chloe had been calling me a lot lately since their wedding was fast approaching. I promised that we would go dress shopping as soon as I moved back in a little over a week. I didn't want to go too soon, because my baby bump was getting bigger and bigger. I wanted to make sure the dress still fit by the time the wedding came.

We all took our finals in the middle of May, and Hunter graduated the following week. We had a full house the week of graduation. Mrs. McCormick and Jaylinn stayed with us so that they could attend Hunter's graduation and help us pack up all of our belongings. Mom and Dad were going to see Cooper and Mason graduate in Boston, so we said we would plan a party for them once everyone was back home.

When we arrived home, it looked like a completely different place. With the renovations finished, it finally felt like home. Hunter told me the baby's room was off limits since he wanted to work on it himself.

We had another ultrasound scheduled so we could find out the sex of the baby. Sitting in the waiting room, Hunter and I discussed whether we wanted to find out or not, but we still did not have an answer when the nurse called us back.

"Hunter, we are going to have you wait right out here while we get some measurements of the baby. Then, we will have you come in, and show you everything as well." The nurse explained all this while leading us back to the Ultrasound room.

"Sure, that's no problem." Hunter kissed my forehead before I disappeared behind the curtains.

After the nurse finished all of her measurements, she stepped out of the room and asked Hunter to join us.

"So, I will let you guys listen to the heartbeat for a few minutes while l work on getting you two some pictures."

Hunter stood next to my head, reached for my hand and gave it a little squeeze. The baby's heartbeat was nice and strong. It was like music to our ears. I wished we could bottle the sound up and take it home with us.

"So would you like to know the sex of the baby?" The nurse asked us.

Hunter looked down at me and I smiled. I was letting him make this call. He knew I really didn't want to know.

"No we're going to let it be a surprise."

"Very well then, Ms. Cahill, you are all done here."

I cleaned up and we went to Baby's R Us to look around at all the different stuff that we were going to need. We knew we needed to stick with natural colors that would work for either a girl or a boy.

Two weeks later, we threw the boys a graduation party at the shore house and had the wedding rehearsal for Jackson and Chloe, all on the same weekend. We tried to fit everything in, and we took up everyone's weekend.

After the rehearsal was over, I was feeding Alex his bottle while Chloe took a nap. Jackson walked in and did a double take when he saw me sitting on his couch.

"Getting your practice in?" He asked, after he kicked off his running shoes.

"I guess you can call it that." I looked down at Alex and gave him little kisses on his little chunky cheeks. "Or you can call it spending time with my awesome little nephew."

"Did you burp him yet?" Jackson asked, taking a seat next to me.

"Not yet, he just started drinking it." I took the bottle out of Alex's mouth and checked the ounces. It still had one ounce left, so I gave it back to him.

"I know what you're thinking Kenzie. Trust me; it's harder than it looks. You are up all hours of the night, leaving the house takes forever and you have to pack half the house just to go around the damn block." He reached over, grabbed Alex's little hand and Alex grabbed hold of his pinky. "Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it is hard work."

I blinked away the tears, "I know." I sniffled.

"Everything will work out." He looked down at Alex's bottle and took it from me. "Now give me my son. Hunter is looking for you out back."

"Thanks Jackson." I kissed Alex's head since Jackson was already burping him, then I kissed Jackson on his cheek and left to go find Hunter.

I went out the sliding glass doors expecting Hunter to be outside on the deck but he was nowhere to be found. I walked out towards the ocean, thinking that maybe he was down there. When I made it past the sand dunes, there he was, standing there in khaki shorts with a black button down shirt and his black hat. I looked down at his feet and saw he was standing in the middle of a heart made out of candles and seashells.

As I approached, I scanned up and down the beach and we were the only ones out here. How did he do that in the peak of the season? He reached for my hand and pulled me to him; he smiled that panty-dropping smile and kissed me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

He looked over my shoulder, and lifted his chin in the direction that I had just come from. I turned around and saw all of our friends and family standing there, and then it hit me. He was proposing. My free hand came up to cover my mouth. As I turned back to Hunter, he dropped to one knee.