Chapter 354 - Will you marry me?

Leo heard a car pull up in his driveway and he came out to know who it was but his feet stopped when he saw her; Claire… what was she doing?

Before he could complete the question in his mind, he saw her running towards him. His legs rooted to a spot as he stared at her in surprise as she approached him;

Claire ran as fast as her legs could carry; her heart racing. She didn't want to think about anything else now, as the only thought in her mind was to hug him. She had missed him so much. Even though they met weeks ago, her heart wasn't at peace. This was the first time in months she was at peace without a single worry about anything and she just wanted to be in his arms.

Leo watched her run towards him, and his arms opened reflexively, hugging her back as her hands went around him.

Claire panted as she stayed in his embrace, her eyes shutting.

Leo didn't want to ask any questions as he held her and cherished the moment, his lips kissing her hair.

Claire breathed, stabling herself. She didn't speak; she just listened to his heartbeat.

''I love you, Leo. '' She said after a long while of silence.

''I love you too, more than ever. ''

Claire smiled and let go of him to look at his face.

''Did you miss me? Cause I missed you. ''

''I did, I missed you. ''

Claire smiled brightly; ''Will you marry me? '' she said out of nowhere and Leo looked at her in shock, so many questions going through his mind.

Did her father let her go now?

But it wasn't over yet, what happened?

He wondered, but since she was here, smiling sweetly, then something good must have happened.

He laughed lightly; ''shouldn't I be the one asking you? ''

Claire laughed, ''I don't care, I want you. ''

Leo caressed her chin, ''I will marry you. Let's get married. ''

She nodded and tiptoed kissing his lips.

''it's over Leo; my father would never disturb us again. ''

Leo stared at her in surprise; ''how?''

''because… I'm pregnant… with your child.''

Leo's lips fell open, ''wait… all these goodnews at once is making my head spin. ''

He let go of her and looked at her from up to down; then he asked;

''Can you repeat what you just said again? ''

''I said I'm pregnant… ''

Leo laughed, '' you mean, I'll soon be a father? '' His eyes brightened up with excitement, as he laughed excitedly.

Claire nodded, smiling sweetly.

Leo laughed and Claire squealed as he lifted her off the ground, twirling her around, then placing her back on the ground;

''you're not joking, right? '' He asked again to be sure he wasn't hearing things and Claire laughed;

''Haha, I'm serious. ''

''Oh my god,'' Leo could not contain his excitement; he held her face and kissed her all over, his hands went around her belly and he hugged her.

Claire laughed, well she was expecting him to be excited, but not this excited!

''Why didn't we think about this earlier? We should have gotten pregnant in the first month? ''

Leo asked and Claire laughed; ''Yeah, we should. We just stayed apart for nothing, but we are here now.''

Leo smiled and kissed her lips; ''yeah we are. I love you so much, ''

''I love you too,''

Leo smiled and held her hand; ''let's go inside.''

Claire smiled as they went into the house. Leo led her to a couch and she sat down, he placed a pillow on her back and Claire chuckled,

''Leo, it's still a little dot, barely visible, '' she laughed when she saw how he was taking care of her, as though she was already due.

''I know, we should start now to take care of the tiny dot so it would grow into a fat baby boy. ''

Claire creased her brows; ''who said it was a boy? ''

She asked, looking at him amused;

''Uh… I just have a feeling.''

Claire laughed; ''I also have a feeling that it would be a girl.''

Leo smiled; ''whatever you want my love; I would also want a girl that looks like you. ''

Claire beamed;

''So what exactly happened? '' Leo asked as he sat down beside her on the couch.

''Well, my father called yesterday saying that we would be meeting with Zach's family; I agreed. Later in the evening, Bonnie suggested I could be pregnant since I was oversleeping, and feeling nauseous, so I bought a pregnancy test and checked and I was pregnant.

Before now, I already had a recording of him threatening to kill you, I only planned to use it when the six months were over and he still tried to pry in our lives. I wanted to give him the benefit of doubt as my father but he never saw me as his daughter only as a tool for amassing power and wealth. And till the end that was what I was to him.

Again, I didn't want to forward it to the police because our names would be dragged too and I didn't want that, but till the end, it was obvious he didn't care. I told him today that he was not my father anymore and I don't care what happened to him, so I don't mind turning him over to the police if he dared me. 

It's officially over. I'm an orphan, and I feel so relieved. I didn't realize it was a burden waiting to be loved by someone who didn't care about you.''

Leo took her hand and kissed it; ''It's fine now. I'm so happy it's all over. ''

''Yeah, me too; '' Claire smiled.

Leo stared at her for a minute and his eyes fell on her stomach, leaning closer, he placed his head lightly on it;

''Oh Leo, you can't hear anything yet. ''

Claire laughed at him, but he still tried to listen; ''that's a lie, I can hear it.''

Claire chuckled; shaking her head, seeing that he was very excited, she decided to play along;

''So what does it say? ''

''Hmm, let me listen… it says, daddy, tell mommy that I love her. ''

Claire laughed as she watched him kiss her belly. She was skeptical about having a child now, but seeing him look so happy, she was no longer doubtful; she wanted to have this child.

''We'll get married tomorrow? ''

Leo said, looking at her face and she smiled; ''in as much as I want to get married to you this instant, we can't because tomorrow is Sunday.'' Claire laughed; the court didn't open on Sundays.

''Oh okay, on Monday then,''

''Alright, let's do that. ''

''We should see my parents tomorrow? ''

Leo said,

''I've never gone to your family home. '' Claire said, she had seen his little sister, she came around a few times, but she had never seen his parents, they only talked on the phone.

''I've told my parents a lot about you, even when we weren't together. My mom knows of my one-sided crush. ''

Claire laughed as her eyes widened;

''Are you for real? ''

She asked, laughing.

''Yeah, whenever you dated another man, I would call her and vent to her. She was my listening ear. Although she advised me to let go, I'm glad I didn't.''

''Thank goodness you didn't either, I would have died from jealousy. ''

Leo laughed; ''Just how jealous were you? ''

Claire blushed; ''I felt like dying when I saw you both together. The thought that your eyes which were once only for me belonged to someone else, it was heartrending.''

Leo laughed;

''Stop laughing, it's not funny.''

''I'm sorry, continue; '' Leo bit his lip, he was so glad hearing her talk about how jealous she was. Thankfully, he wasn't the only one dying for her.

''And do you remember when you took off my wallpaper from your wall? ''

''Yeah;''

''you can't imagine how jealous I was. I nearly fainted when I saw Hazel's pictures on your wall. I hurriedly left your office, and I don't remember coming back to your office because I couldn't stand seeing her picture where mine was, it was as though I had lost you forever.''

''You could have just told me, did you think I would stop loving you just like that? ''

Claire pouted;

''I was so ashamed, knowing I had rejected you before, and now I was having feelings for you. I could have told you if you didn't have anybody yet, but there was Hazel, I didn't want to destroy your friendship, so I decided to deal with my feelings.''

''And thankfully, you couldn't deal with it,'' Leo added;

''Yeah, I didn't know what came over me when I kissed you, I just couldn't control myself. I didn't want to but I just saw myself moving towards you and then it happened. When I realized what I had done, I wanted to disappear, everything in me told me it was wrong and I didn't even know how to look at your face. If you didn't come at the time you did, you might not have met me.''

Leo smiled; ''I'm so glad I did. ''

Claire stared at Leo and then she sighed; ''I just hope Hazel can forgive me wherever she is, I tried calling her but her phone had been switched off. ''

''Maybe she left the country. I just hope she's fine. Maybe I shouldn't have asked her out, it's like i just used her.'' Leo felt bad about himself as he thought about it.

''And I shouldn't have kissed another woman's man, it was so wrong. ''

Leo sighed and kissed her hand;

''If you hadn't, we wouldn't be here now, so everything worked out for good. We just hope she is fine wherever she is. ''

Claire nodded; ''yeah. ''