Brave

Chapter 31: Letting it Simmer

I wake up in the morning in the guest room at Ethan's house. My eyes are barely open before he knocks lightly and then pops his head into the room. "Good morning to the future Mrs. Broadwell."

"I love the sound of that," I say, sitting up and stretching and he comes to sit on the edge of the bed. My thoughts soon return to the dramatic scene that caused me to run away from home last night. "What are we going to do about my parents?"

He takes a deep breath and sighs, "It probably won't help to say 'What matters is that we'll be together' or something trite like that, hey?"

"I've never been happier, but yeah, I can't be completely happy about this, knowing my parents are upset about it."

Ethan hugs me, strokes my hair and then runs his hands up and down my back. His comforting gestures do the trick for the moment. I do feel safe and secure with Ethan and I'm sure things will work eventually. I just hate feeling at odds with my parents over something this major.

It's Saturday morning, so we don't feel rushed to get the day started. However, Ethan suggests that we get dressed and get some coffee so we can have some quiet before everyone else wakes up.

After I dress, I find him in the kitchen, coffee pot already brewing. "Should we make a big breakfast for everyone?" He asks. "Then we can tell them our news." Everyone else had been sleeping when we had gotten home last night and when we went to bed, Mr. Broadwell told us he'd let us share the engagement with Ethan's siblings.

"Sure, why not?" I smile, walking over and kissing his lips one more time. "You're a great cook. Oh, and that's part of the deal, right? You're going to cook for us when we get married because I don't like to cook all that much."

"Yeah, whatever," he smirks, pulling out a dozen eggs. "Scrambled eggs or pancakes?" He asks.

"Definitely pancakes. We need comfort food on a cold winter morning like this."

We set to work on making the batter, filling our coffee mugs in between mixing and cooking. It's kind of fun just working side by side with him.

"It will be nice when we get to do this all the time," I tell him. "I like waking up with you."

He stops and kisses me, but we're soon interrupted by Annie and Amy who come barreling into the kitchen. "Sarah! Daddy told us you slept over!" I turn to hug them and then they open the fridge to start rummaging.

"Hey, hey now," Ethan says, stopping them. "We're cooking breakfast so we can all eat together. Why don't you girls set the table?"

"I don't want to set the table," Amy whines.

"Amy," Ethan says in a warning tone.

She huffs, but she reluctantly complies. I smile to myself a little, witnessing his fatherly behavior towards his sisters. I know they love him, and they respect him all the more because he is so involved with them. And then I get a tingle in my stomach when I realize what a good father he's going to be. The father of my children. Wow.

When breakfast is all ready, everyone is up except Jessica. Once we've all taken our seats, Amy asks bluntly, "Why did you sleep over last night?"

Ethan scolds her mildly, saying, "That's not very polite, Amy. But the answer to your question is that Sarah and I were out very late last night, so Sarah slept here. In the guest room." I like how he emphasizes that so they don't get the wrong idea. "And we have something very special to tell you."

Amy, Annie and Tanya all gasp in excitement. Zachary just smirks as he gulps down some orange juice. He knows.

"I asked Sarah to marry me," he announces. "And she said yes."