Missing You

Walking around to the backyard, Drew and Lucy had their hands entwined together; Drew was much taller than Lucy who only went to about 5ft 7 whereas Drew hovered over her at least 6ft 2. Drew had light brown hair; it was short but not completely shaven. He had deep green eyes and slight stubble on his chin now. Lucy had shoulder length brown hair is perfect curls, the eyes opposite to Drew’s being a bright blue colour with a silver tint and her skin was paler. But it didn’t matter, they went together.

Everyone stopped talking, seeing Lucy smiling crazily. Drew’s mother, Angie was the first to jump up almost knocking over her wine and running over to her son, her husband followed and engulfed him a hug after his wife, Abby kissed his cheek and Anna cried, kissing his cheeks and saying “Welcome home son” she tells him, Chris gave him a hug also and Charlie, well screamed.

“DEEE!” he yells, waddling quickly down the yard and jumping in Drew’s now open arms, spinning home around making him laugh. Lucy smiles once more with tears in her eyes, everyone was happy to see Drew home…

---

“Dude!” shouts Tyler, spotting Drew’s packed bag, bare bed. The picture was taken down and safely towed away in his pocket.

Drew looks up, his sleeves rolled up, his uniform looked different, more relaxed.

The boys had been out for an evening training session, everyone wondered where Drew was, little did they know he was packing up, eager to return home.

Drew had to admit he was worried about Lucy far too much for his own health but also when she discovers that the stay isn’t permanent, he was sure she would go crazy. He had told her previously that it was difficult to get time off…

Drew had visited Officer Johnson earlier that day requesting some time off, Officer Johnson with only a hint of favouritism granted him 4 weeks off. One month, then he must return for his second set of training.

Drew agreed and left his office, to go pack. Now he had to face his bunkmates.

“Why you packed?” asks Jack, shirtless entering. Sweat dripping from his rock hard abs.

Drew sighed “I’m going home for a while, you know to see Lucy and the baby” he tells them sincerely.

George smiles warily, “Good for you” he comments and Drew nods.

“You’re going home….for how long?” asks Tyler he seemed annoyed somewhat.

“A month” sighs Drew, he did feel a bit of regret of leaving.

“A MONTH!” screeches Jack, staring at him in shock.

“How did Officer Johnson let you off?” asks Alex, confused.

Drew shrugged “Have no idea, I just asked for time off and he said a month was my maximum. So I took it…”

“But…But” stutters Tyler. Drew smiles sadly “I’m coming back after” he reassures him. Tyler sighs sadly.

“But I’m going to miss you Drew” he admits sheepishly, bringing Drew into a manly hug. Drew slapped Tyler’s shoulder brotherly and smiled at him; Tyler only managed a weak smile back.

Alex and Drew said farewell, hugging the same, then Jack who cheekily slapped Drew’s cheek lightly hugged him, and ruffling his head, even though Jack was three inches shorter.

“Bye Jackie Boy” teases Drew, they given him that name a while back and Jack smiles.

“Say hi to Lucy for me” mumbles Jack, and sloping off into the showers.

George was last and he even helped Drew to the car that would take him to the nearest airport which was miles away, George threw Drew’s final bag in the trunk and sighed.

“You’re going to be okay with everything? Lucy? The baby?” he asks softly. Drew smiles briefly.

“I should be, I love her more than anything…in fact I loved her when I was 15 years old and I saw her talking to one of my friends….I was so jealous” I admit, laughing slightly.

“How’d you meet?” asks George, leaning against the car. Drew had time to kill anyway, so told George about the time he first met Lucy Valance.

“I was fifteen, fresh in sophomore year. Lucy had just joined along with every other freshman. She was different, you could tell from the way she walked in the school. Her brother had dropped her off, she was listening to her ipod when Caleb one of my friends just bumped into her by accident, Caleb was on his way to meet me and my brother by the gates. Lucy apologized even though it wasn’t her fault. He started chatting to her, flirting with her too and I got jealous for some reason. She wasn’t hot like other girls, man…she was beautiful. She is beautiful.” says Drew dreamily, thinking of his Lucy.

“Anyway, Caleb introduced her to the group….Joey instantly started flirting with her although he was a junior, anyway. She simply smiled and shrugged. I didn’t see her for the rest of the day until the very end and she was all I thought of. She was standing by the gates, alone waiting for her brother to pick her up.

I watched her from Joey’s car that I just got out and decided to go talk to her; we got on so well…we just clicked. She found me funny she told me once, and that I was sweet for keeping her company. Her brother turned up and called her in the car. She smiles at me again and before she could leave again, I risked it and asked for her number….you know what she said?” says Drew, smirking at the memory.

“What she say?” asks George lightly, smiling at the young man.

“She said it’s between one and one million….have fun guessing Andrew” says Drew and George burst out laughing.

“Seriously?” he asks between chuckles. Drew smiles and nods eagerly “Yeah, I felt so rejected. In the end, I spoke to her every day, flirting with her….the guys had soon given up especially since I had my eye on her. She was so stubborn, refusing to give me her number of anything.” explains Drew.

“What did you do?” asks George, curiously.

“It wasn’t till the third week in of the school year, I had little hope. I was pretty bummed actually, especially since I already liked her. I decided to back off a little, which I did, giving her space. It was one lunchtime, and she found me sitting with my friends. She walked right up to me, smiling her smile and giggled and handed me a note, I felt like middle school again” he teases.

“And…” begs George, desperate to hear the rest of this enchanting story.

“On it was her number and a message saying call me tonight and maybe we’ll go for a date….if you’re lucky” he said, smiling.

“She’s a wild cracker then?” jokes George, in which Drew replies with a hefty laugh.

“Oh yeah, she was totally worth it…I can’t imagine my life without Lucy. It just doesn’t work right; we dated for about two weeks before we went official. We only broke up once throughout the five years and that was because Luce was scared I’ll dump her before I went to college, so she told me that it easier on her to break up with me first….I was gutted. I didn’t give up, marched right round there and told her she was crazy. I couldn’t love anyone as much as I love Lucy. I begged her to give me a chance, not to give up one something that hadn’t happened. She was convinced and we resumed the relationship…” explains Drew, George smiles.

“She sounds a good girl Lucy….sounds a lot like my Nikki” he muses, Drew slaps his arm gently.

“I’m sure they would be good friends” agrees Drew. George smiles softly missing his wife dearly.

“So you excited?” asks George. Drew nods “Nervous too….but mostly excited; I can’t believe it’s possible for someone to miss someone this much” jokes Drew, but he was half serious. George nods, knowing the feeling.

“Have a good trip man, we’ll look forward to having you back” says George, smiling softly. Drew nods and they shake hands strongly.

“Bye George” says Drew, opening the car door.

“Bye Drew” calls George, slamming his door shut and watching as the taxi took off…Drew was going home finally.

---

It’s been two weeks since Drew has been home and Lucy and Drew haven’t left each other in fact, Drew has temporarily moved in with Lucy, sleeping at hers every night since he came home.

She doesn’t know what Drew is planning tonight. Right now they were sitting on the veranda, both sitting on the swing seat, looking out on the ocean and the gorgeous beach that wasn’t too far from her house. Lucy was lying in Drew’s arms; he had his warm arms wrapped around her protruding torso, his hands on her stomach, feeling his tiny baby inside her. It fascinated him every time.

Drew kissed Lucy’s head once more, and watched her as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear for the umpteenth time as the wind blew breezily.

“Drew, are we doing the right thing?” Lucy suddenly asks him, nervousness in her tone.

Drew cuddled closer “Of course Luce, we are doing the right thing, we’re going to love this baby more than anyone..” he reassures although he was doubting himself.

They both sat in silence, listening to the crashing ocean waves. Lucy’s hands placed on top of Drew’s stroking them gently, it was insane on how much she loved this man.

“I love you Drew” she says randomly. Drew smiles at her, bowing his head down and kisses her cheek.
“I love you too Lucy, very much” he says sincerely, kissing her again.

Lucy smiles lazily, watching the sky. Drew smiles to himself, confidence in his soul, he was definitely going to do it tonight…

Lucy and Abby were up in Lucy’s room all evening as they prepared Lucy for the date tonight, Lucy was surprised Drew even wanted to be publicly seen with her, seeing as she was almost the size of the house.

Abby did her hair in natural waves, pinning back the top bit and letting the other curls fall naturally. She also helped with makeup. Lucy put on a black flowing knee-length dress that fitted around her bump nicely and wore some ballet flats as heels were obviously out of the question. Lucy was finally ready when Abby was cuddling Charlie on her hip. Lucy gazed softly.

“You’re a great Mom” she tells Abby honestly, Abby was in fact a pretty cool Mom. Abby smiles brightly, feeling a swell of pride.

“You’re going to be one too soon” coos Abby, kissing her sister-in-law’s temple and passing her the handbag and follows Lucy out and downstairs. Charlie was waving a rattle around, making Abby slightly cringe from the noise but giggled anyway at her son’s laughing face.

Lucy made her entrance, Anna, Chris, Joey (who once again was hanging out round here) and finally Drew, who was standing by the door, laughing at something Joey had said. Joey nudges him with his elbow, and nods his head in direction of where Lucy stood at the top of the stairs.

Drew looked over, and his eyes flittered up to where Lucy stood, he took in her appearance. She was beautiful, so natural. A healthy sun kissed glow, her hair was shiny and perfect and her eyes popped out from the tiny bit of eyeliner and mascara she used. She was perfect, he noticed she was wearing the necklace he bought her a while back, and in fact she never took it off.

Drew took a small intake of air “You look beautiful Lucy” he says gently, taking her hand as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Really?” breathes Lucy, glancing over her swollen stomach, being pregnant did put her confidence way down. Drew smiles brightly, and kisses her cheek. Their fingers immediately interlocked, warmth surging through his to her slightly cold ones. Chris smiled fondly at his sister, she did look beautiful. Anna smiled secretively; she was in on the secret obviously and had tears in her eyes. Joey was smiling crookedly, and Abby was Abby….smiling happily.

“You best get off then, dinner reservations after all?” teases Anna, giggling like a little school girl. Lucy was confused by this.

“Have a nice time both” calls Chris, picking up Charlie and taking him into the kitchen, he wasn’t aware of the secret looks between Anna and Drew.

Lucy smiles and inhaled deeply “Ready!” she announces and Drew chuckles, waves to his new family and picks up his car keys and leads Lucy out.

She twirls down the steps giddily, Drew helped her in the car and he hopped into the car. He borrowed his brother’s car for the night. Drew flicked on the radio,

The song: Love Story blared out and Drew smiled at the coincidence of it. Lucy smiled at the choice and they both talked casually, Lucy oddly didn’t pick up Drew’s shifty tone.

They arrived at their favourite restaurant, it was Italian. Lucy loved Italian, whereas Drew was more of a Chinese man himself, but this night was about Lucy.

Lucy squealed with joy, a big smile at the sign reading Tony’s Italia It was a small restaurant but it was well worth finding, it was a good price and the food was fantastic, Drew took Lucy here on her third date and she fell in love with it.

“Oh my god! We haven’t been here in ages!” Lucy swoons as she hopped out the car, shrugging her wrap on as the breeze breathed against her.

“I know, I’d thought we’d…make it a special occasion” says Drew vaguely, locking the car up and joined hands with Lucy.

“What for?” asks Lucy innocently, looking up to Drew’s handsome face.

Drew smiled knowingly “Our baby…we never actually celebrated did we?” jokes Drew, although he was lying….and he did feel a bit bad that the night wasn’t for the baby. But he was positive that when he told their baby about how it happened….they would forgive him.

Entering Tony’s Italia was like coming home with Lucy, the amount of memories they had here, was too many to reminisce all at once. Drew smiled seeing Lucy’s face just light up, the drifting smells of herbs and spices. It was mouth-watering. Old Tony, the owner of the joint and was about 65, grey hair that was thinning, a slight beer belly, had a thick Italian accent and a joyful smile. In brief, everyone loved him.

Old Tony bounced up to them, seeing his favourite couple on this side of town, Andrew and Lucy, the complete lovebirds that had lasted a remarkable time especially during the difficult time of Drew’s long-term absence. Old Tony knew about Drew joining the Military and he could remember himself once persuading Drew to rethink things, however Drew was defiant that he wanted to join up. Tony knew they would end up together for a long time ever since he first saw them, their chemistry and spark could have been seen by a blind man. What made him smile even more was that the chemistry and spark was still there and also something else.

Old Tony saw Lucy’s baby bump clearly visibly but she looked ever so gorgeous as usual. Lucy always had been pretty; Old Tony often had to swat the waiters to pay attention because they stared at her too long. Drew was never happy about this, but knew they couldn’t help it.

“Ciao! My dears! Andrew and Lucy….you haven’t visited in so long” says Old Tony, his accent was undeniable and Lucy adored it.

Drew chuckles “I know Tony, we’ve been busy…” says Drew, Old Tony’s eyes flutters over Lucy’s stomach. Lucy stared at him, her eyes still soft.

“You with mi bambino?” asks Old Tony, Lucy wasn’t an idiot she knew what he meant and she nods quickly.

“Drew and I are having a baby together” she tells him confidently, Drew squeezes her hand comfortingly.

It was a brief second before Old Tony smiled widely, clapped his hands twice and cheered.

“Congrats mi Angelo….you look so happy…” he cheers, and kisses both of her cheeks. He does the same to Drew, and smiles at them. He looked so genuinely happy.

“Thanks Tony” says Lucy shyly, now noticing over half the restaurant was staring at her.

“We booked reservations” coughs Drew awkwardly, Old Tony smiles and nods his head.

“Yes, Yes…of course…follow me…you have the best table of the house!” he says, and takes them to a booth which was right by the window, out looking to the beautiful beach that was behind the street in front of the restaurant.

“Wow” breathes Lucy, sliding into her seat. Drew does in the opposite, and nods to Tony, who brings them menus.

“Order anything you want, it’s on the house!” he tells them, smiling brightly and danced off to the kitchen, as said before….everyone loved Tony.

--

“This is amazing” Lucy sighs, eating some more of her pasta dish she had chosen. Drew was eating his own traditional pasta and mushroom.

“So, the baby’s due in August, a summer baby” says Lucy happily. Drew smiles, sipping his diet soda.

“That’s great, thought of any names yet?” asks Drew, he had…he thought about it a lot actually.

“Yeah…course….just ideas though” she shrugs. Drew copies, eating another shell of pasta.

“So…tell me” he encourages, glancing at her as she ate daintily. Lucy bit her lip nervously and her eyes glanced up at Drew and back at her dinner.

“Well my girl name choices are Grace or Hailey” she begins, Drew nods.

“Grace is a nice name” he says, he liked that best…but he also like Hailey.

“And for boys?” asks Drew.

“Either Tom after your Dad or Lucas” she says. Drew smiles happily. He was touched she thought of his father during this.

“That’s nice of you” he murmurs. Lucy smiles blushing slightly but continued her dinner.

“What about you Drew?” asks Lucy suddenly, looking at him worriedly. “What you think?” she asks nervously.

Drew smiles lopsidedly “I thought of some…” he begins.

“And?” cuts in Lucy, Drew chuckled at her impatient attitude.

“Well for a girl I was thinking about the name Poppy or Ruby, the colour of red. Or…for a boy I was actually thinking Lucas and Jake” he says.

Lucy smiles widely “Lucas Jacob Marks…sounds good” she muses.

“What about Jacob Lucas?” asks Drew, teasing her.

Lucy shrugs “I prefer Lucas first” she says honestly, and Drew smiles, making Lucy forget for a moment for what were talking about….

“Lucas Jacob it is…” he agrees. Lucy grinned at him and giggles slightly.

“What if it’s a girl?” asks Lucy suddenly.

Drew looked at her, and smiles “What’d you think?” he asks.

Lucy thinks for a moment then smiles widely “Grace Poppy Marks” she offers and Drew smiles and chuckles. He reaches across the booth slightly and kisses her lips softly.

“Sounds perfect” he whispers in her ear.

Lucy grinned excitedly, and her thoughts were this is actually happening…

---

After their lovely dinner, baby discussion and general chat. Tony wished them good luck and farewell as they left two hours later.

Drew offered a quick walk along the shore; although unknowing to Lucy he had a surprise in store.
They walked in hand and hand, Lucy barefoot, her dress swishing past her legs. Drew was still wearing his smart black shoes but he didn’t care they getting sandy. They were walking up the shore; the sun was just setting, making it the perfect time. The sky was a beautiful orange-pinkish colour that made Lucy smile more. This moment was perfect.

Drew halted to a gentle stop; Lucy stumbled slightly and looked up at Drew confused, who had his face determined.

“Something wrong?” asks Lucy innocently, watching his face. Drew shook his head, smiling slightly.

“You know I love you….you should know I love you Lucy” he says seriously, Lucy nods and scoots closer, he puts his other hand on her waist, he rejoins her hand, staring at her gently.

“I know Drew, I love you too” she says softly, stroking his cheek with her spare hand. She abandoned the shoes on the floor before.

“Lucy….you’re incredible, you’re smart, funny, beautiful…and all round perfect for me. You make me so happy, you and the baby and it killed me being away from you. I guess…what I’m trying to say” he rambles; Lucy watches his odd strange behaviour. Drew was never nervous…

He let go of her, and Lucy watched amazed as he suddenly got on his knee. Lucy gasped with realization…she cover her mouth with stun.

Drew smiled nervously, and shuffled in his jacket pocket, producing a red velvet box, ring sized.

“What I’m trying to say is that…there is no one else in the entire universe I’d rather spend my life with…so Lucy Nadine Valance…will you make me the most happiest man alive…by being my wife?” he asks softly, each word was coated with love and adoration. Lucy couldn’t believe it.

She stares at his green eyes, he looked so beautiful. He was perfect, everything about him….like he said…they were perfect together.

Lucy’s eyes brimmed with tears as she glanced at the sparkling diamond ring, it was a singlet silver carat ring, and it was surrounded with tiny diamond clusters. Lucy gulped, her throat had gone dry.
Hope in his eyes, Lucy breathed in and took his face in her hands, stroking his face gently.

“Of course I will” she finally says, bowing down as he stood beneath her, and kissed his warm lips, Drew stands up, wrapping his arms around her as he does.

Drew had never felt such relief, awe…happiness in his entire life. He was marrying Lucy. He was going to be her husband. Lucy kisses him softly and he pulls away lightly, and she holds out her hand and he carefully slides the ring on her engagement finger.

It was beautiful; it was perfect…just like this moment.

“I can’t believe it” breathes Lucy, staring at the ring and back up to Drew’s warm, enchanting green eyes.

“I can. I’m living the dream” he whispers, before he kisses her once again….although, he had to admit, this was a different dream.