Chapter 70 - Ethan & Madeline

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Ethan

Paulo brought the duffle with some clothes for me and Madeline.

I go to the toilet to change my shirt; it has a pole of blood on the sleeves. Once I'm done, I stare at myself in the mirror. I'm going to be a father. Madeline and I... we will build a beautiful family together.

"You good?" Christian asks me when I come out of the toilet. Everyone is waiting for me.

I nod. "How can I not, C? Madeline gives me the perfect birthday presents."

All of my friends' eyes on me, like I'm a puzzle they are trying to solve. I look at them and smile. "You guys haven't said happy birthday to me."

A zinc of silence and an abrupt relief chuckle from everyone.

Christian hugs me. "Happy birthday, bro! Happy birthday. Be happy, okay," he says with a voice full of emotion. He is one of the few people who knows about my past and how I dealt with it.

And the other follows him to hug and say happy birthday to me.

***

Our friends said they want to meet Madeline for a while, because they don't want Madeline to complain later if she didn't see them here.

We go to the room. Madeline is still attached to the IV. There is a dark circle under her eyes. She must be waiting for my call all this time. I'm sorry, Sweetness...

I come to her and sit next to her, holding her hand. "Sweetness," I whisper. She opens her eyes and her unfocused eyes look at me. Her eyes go wide once it focused. "Oh my God, Ethan!" she bolts sit down and touches my face and arm. "Are you okay? Is it hurt?" She looks panicked, checking my wounded arm. I can't help but chuckle.

"For God's sake, Mads, you are the one lying on the hospital's bed," Drew says.

"But..." her eyes look at our friend. She blinks and then gasps. "When are you guys coming?"

"Jesus, Madeline! You haven't changed at all. In your eyes, there is only one person, huh?" says Christian in good humour.

"I..." she blushes and I kiss her head. "They are all here because Jack informed them about you. They are all worried about you."

"I'm fine, Ethan." She leans to me, resting her head on my chest. God, I missed her scent and warm body.

Meredith clears her throat. "Well, since you are fine, I think all of us can go now. Christian and I should go to the airport. We're pending our flight because of you."

"The concert in Times Square?"

Meredith nods. "Watch me, okay?" she winks.

"Sure! When is your turn?" Madeline asks excitedly.

Meredith comes to her and kisses her cheek. "The countdown." She chuckles and goes back to my cousin, taking his hand. "Bye guys. See you next year."

"Bye guys. Take care Mads," Christian says and they both go.

"Oh my God! She is going to have the countdown kiss with Christian in front of everyone in Times Square!" Madeline squeals. Well, Christian never does something like this in front of the live camera. Looks like I need to have another talk with my cousin.

***

After Tony and Drew leave, Madeline forces me to sleep with her on the hospital bed.

I kiss her head. "I'm sorry, Sweetness. I should have listened to you."

She shakes her head. "It's my fault, Ethan. I should have asked you about the trip before I decided it."

I touch her lips to stop her. "It's not a competition, Sweetness. I don't want to argue with you about who is right, who is wrong. I promise to you next time I will listen to your explanation."

She smiles. "And I will ask you first before deciding on everything," she says.

I touch her cheek and kiss her. "I missed you."

She sobs and I can feel the tears leaking from her eyes. I kiss the tears. "I'm sorry my phone was broken in China. I should have called you. And I'm sorry I was late coming back to you. Once I read your letter, I ran to the house. I thought you were there. Helen told me you already came back to LA. I tried as fast as I can to come back, but I'm still late."

She shakes her head. "It's okay, Ethan. As long as you are here with me now." She smiles and hugs me tightly. "As long as you are here," she says again in a whisper. I can hear a shakiness in her voice. I pull her chin up and kiss her.

Madeline breaks the kiss. "Can I call the nurse to take off the IV?" She asks breathlessly, her eyes twinkle naughtily, her hand touches the bulge of my pants. She bites her bottom lip. "I miss you," she whispers. Fuck! If I don't have important things to tell her, I would call the nurse asap. I chuckle and kiss her nose.

"Not yet, Sweetness, you can't."

"Why?" she pouts adorably.

"I need to ask you a question."

***

Madeline

Ethan stands up, his hand still holds my hand. Suddenly, he gets down on one knee. My hand flies to my mouth. Oh my God!

"Sweetness... you are the colours of my life. You know everything about me, and you always make me want to be a better person for you. The first time I saw you in the restaurant, I was mesmerized by your beauty, later even though our first make love was under influence, I realized you are a special woman. And I think you stole my heart when you helped me in the meeting without caring what other people judgement. The more I know you, the more I want to spend my time with you. In Paris, I realized I can't live without you anymore, without your smile, your laugh, your aquamarine eyes, your body, your everything. I promised myself I will make you the happiest woman in this world. There are a lot of things for me to learn to be a better man for you, to be your Mr. Perfect. Just give me a chance, Sweetness. Be my wife, and spend the rest of your life with me."

Even without his touching speech, I would have known he really loves me because he looks at me with all the love in his eyes. I swallow hard, trying to compose myself.

"Madeline Elizabeth Parker, will you marry me?" his voice shaky, he takes out a box from his pocket. I can't help but realize his hand is shaky, too. He is nervous. And that humbles me. A man as powerful and strong as Ethan Hall is nervous in front of me. He always makes us an equal in this relationship, despite our different backgrounds. And that makes me love him even more.

I don't wait for him to open the box; I want to lunge at him, but my hand attached to the IV. Damn you, IV! "Yes, Ethan! Yes!" I pull him up with my other hands that don't attach with the IV.

He blinks, staring at me.

I pull him to me. "I want to be your wife, Ethan. Come here!" I say. It's really inconvenient to have an IV attached to hand at this moment. Ugh...

He comes to me and hugs me tightly. "God, I love you, Sweetness," he says in relief tone.

"I love you too, Ethan." I pull back from his hug and kiss him savagely. I don't care anymore. He pulls back and chuckles. "Why? Come back and kiss me!" I demand.

"Sweetness, you haven't seen the ring," he says, showing the unopened box.

"I don't care, I just want you. You can put the ring later." I try to pull him to me, but he resists. "I appreciate it that you're not a gold digger, but I want you to see the ring. This is an heirloom."

"What?" I stare at him, afraid of his explanation. "What heirloom?"

"The Hall's heirloom. My great-great grandmother, great grandmother, grandmother and mother's engagement ring."

I'm dizzy listening to the whole ''great great' things. "You mean heirloom like the real heirloom from the palace?" I stare at the box like it's a snake. "I... I don't think I want to see or wear it, Ethan. It must be absurd. Just buy me another normal ring is fine. You can put this one inside the vault."

He laughs and kisses me. "God, are you Amanda Hall?"

"What?" I squeak.

"Dad told me the same story when she proposed to mom." He laughs and opens the box. "And you're still going to wear the ring. It's a must, Sweetness."

The ring inside the box is absurd! The diamond is a purplish red colour. I never saw this colour of rock before. It's not as red as ruby, it's different and very exquisite. It's huge too, the band is full with the small clear diamonds. The box is written "Mrs. Hall"

"Oh my God," I gasp. Ethan takes my hand and slips the ring on me. I thought it would look superabsurd. But when I raise my hand, the ring looks perfect on my finger, like it's belong there. I swallow, mesmerized by the ring.

"It's perfect," he whispers. I look at Ethan. He's not looking at the ring, he is looking at me with an expression that mixed between love, happiness, grateful, and proud.

I can't help my tears leak now. "I love you Ethan!"

"I love you too, fiancé," he whispers, and we both burst into laughter.

"It's red diamond by the way. A very rare diamond. So take care of it, okay?" He chuckles and my eyes widen. "Oh, my God!!" he laughs at my shocked face. Ethan takes my hand and kisses it.

"I have another thing to tell you, Sweetness." He holds both of my hands. "Listen, this has nothing to do with my proposal okay, I've been thinking about doing this since Grandma gave me the ring."

"when she gave it to you?"

"The first time we visited her at Julian Town."

"What?" my eyes widen.

He just shrugs. "After that, I am always thinking of finding the perfect time to propose to you. But somehow things kept coming to us until now. So..." He clears his throat. "Anyway, trust me. This has nothing to do with my proposal, okay?"

I nod warily. What is he going to say? Why Ethan is so nervous?

He touches my stomach and looks at me. "I already know that you are pregnant, Sweetness."

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