Karen's view

"Ok" I say. Meanwhile I was screaming with joy on the inside. I now knew that he was serious about marrying me.

The letter came the next day with his signatures on it and his birth certificate. I read it and realised that he was right it needed to be submitted straight away if I had any hope of getting married before the baby was due.

I decided to do it! I found my birth certificate and took in the documentation to get our marriage approved. I also asked about how we could get married outside of a church. They said that we could marry in a registry office but we would need to book it. So I did that while I was there and sent the details through to Matthew.

I get a text back "You mean that you will be Mrs Miller then, and I will have a beautiful wife?"

I giggled and text back "Yes"

"That idea makes me happy, at least December 15th is easy to remember, and its the best Christmas present ever!"

"I hope that you always think that" I write back

"I know that I will"

"I forgot to tell you, I will be arriving there next Tuesday at the airport. Can you please pick me up?"

"Sure! What time?"

"11am "

"No worries, see you then"

I was happy but a little worried, as it suddenly became real that Matthew was coming and was marrying me. We would really only have 3 weeks to get to know each other as people again, I was worried about if we found that we didn't get on in that time and could not get married as a result.

Tuesday rolled around and I was at the airport late as I lost track of the time. I ended up calling Matthew to get him to meet me in the pick-up zone as it would be faster.

I drove in and he was waiting patiently for me with his luggage. I was glad then I had a covered ute. He put it all in the ute and closed it up then slipped into the seat next to mine.

I don't know why but I became incredibly nervous. "Hi" I smile "Good to see you again."

"Hi... and you " Matthew said. He then touched my hand "Let's go home."

I smile with relief as I didn't know what to do or say so I drive him home.

"Where are you working?" I ask.

"Cairns High school " he answered.

"Wow talk about lucky location!" I say

"Why?"

"It's about 2 blocks away from where I now live. You will have to excuse the mess, I have not managed to unpack properly as the baby keeps stopping me."

"I can help now that I am here" , he said "Besides which I know that you moved for us."

I nod. "I will probably need your help with the loan on it when I have the baby and can't work anymore. "

"Wait!? A loan? I thought that you were renting, " he said surprised.

"Well, the thing is this house listed for cheaper repayment than to rent the same size house. So, I took a risk. I hope you don't mind!"

"No, not at all, but I am curious to see the house."

"It's not much but it has potential, I had it painted and re-carpeted last week. The roof, bathroom and kitchen needs to be replaced. But at least they are functional till I can replace them."

"Sounds like hard work to me." He smiled "Just as well I like doing stuff. "

"Huh? I didn't expect you to help." I say

"Why not? Aren't we getting married?" He said sounding a little annoyed.

"Yes, but I didn't ask you about this so I guess I didn't think that you would want to help. I am sorry." I say as I pull up to my house "Here we are!"

Matthew, when he got out of my Ute, looks at the home and praises me saying "I see why you brought it. You are right. It has heaps of potential! "

"You have not seen inside yet!" I laugh as I struggle out of the car.

"Well show me!" He said as he grabbed some bags. I tried helping but was unable to lift it.
"Don't bother, they're overweight, I'll bring them in if you show me my room. "

I show him the house and his room.

"It is gorgeous!" He said, "No wonder you bought it- what are your repayments?"

"$170 per week "

"Wow- good deal!"

"I thought so, I thought that it could be easily converted into a 4-bedroom house later too. Can you read plans?"

He nodded, so I showed him my idea.

"I see, that's a great idea." And his stomach grumbled." Excuse me!" Matthew said.

"You're excused. I'll make something for us to eat while you bring up your stuff. "

He nodded his thanks and went to go, but turned and hugged me. I was surprised but hugged him back.

"I love you Karen, please trust me in that."

I didn't say anything but hugged him tighter. I would have stayed like that a bit longer except his stomach growled so loudly the baby heard it and kicked him. He pulled away "Wow that baby has a good kick!"

I nod tiredly and head to the kitchen to make us something to eat.

Matthew bought in his things and ate the lunch I made. "That was delicious!" He compliments me."

"Thanks " I say "I am sorry, I need to have a rest now, if you want something to do the boxes are near the furniture, I want them in or on. You're welcome to try guessing how I want it, but I don't expect you to do it, I'm sure you will have enough to do with your room." And left Matthew to his own devices.
To my delight when I had woken my house was in order almost exactly how I wanted it and what wasn't didn't matter. He had also sorted his room out.

The next few weeks were an adjustment to us both. We had to bring both of our imaginations back into reality as it had been awhile since we interacted in person. I think Matthew found it the most difficult as he had gone from boyfriend's brother to boyfriend soon to be husband and having to deal with a girlfriend with trust issues because of his brother.

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