I Won't Give Up

"Jesus Pat." I sighed as I gently touched his face.

"It looks worse than it is, it's not a big deal." he shrugged it off.

"It is."

“Seriously,” he laughed while taking my hands in his, “I’m okay.”

“You’re not okay.” I hissed, “You have this,” I swiped my hand from his and gestured to his bottom lip that was painfully swollen and the stitches that were there looked ready to burst.

“Babe, it was a high stick. It’s nothing.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s nothing. You have stitches, stitches don’t mean nothing. Stitches are more than nothing.”

“Ell, please.” He took my hands in his hands and gently tugged me to sit on the bench beside him. He was tempted to laugh until he saw the glistening threat of tears in the corner of my eyes. “Ella, I promise you that this is just temporary. It’ll be gone within a couple of weeks.” He brushed a stray strand of hair away from my face, “I’m okay.”

I ran a hand quickly under my eyes in hope he wouldn’t notice.

He caught my hand, “Hey.”

“Sorry, I guess I’m still a little emotional.”

“It’s okay.”

“I know.” I sighed

“We’re going to be okay.” He reassured before tailing off, “aren’t we?”

I mustered up a bright smile, though it was slightly dimmed.
“Yeah,” I nodded, “we will be.”

Our foreheads met and it didn’t take long for our lips to do the same.

“Ouch.” He winced pulling back sharply.

“Oh god, so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay, it’s just a little tender. I guess the anesthetic is wearing off.”

I smiled softly as I let my hand linger at the side of his face. Leaning forward I pecked his lips softly and left my hand tangled in the small curls at the nape of his neck.

“No more stitches please.”

"They'll be out in no time. I promise none for the wedding." He smiled.

I laughed, "And I want you to have all your teeth please."

"No promises. Let's eat, I'm starving." he sat up and chuckled.

"No can do. We're meeting with our wedding planner today, remember?"

I checked my phone, 12:30, we were meeting with our new planner at 3.

"Go shower, you stink." I giggled, "I'm gonna change, meet be back at the condo by 2:30 and we'll get dinner after?"

__________________

"Lorraine&Co….why didn't I think of this earlier." I smiled as we came up to a large office building.

"Cause you're too stubborn to admit that someone else could do something better then you." Patrick answered as I glared at him.

"I didn't want an answer."

"Love you Mrs. Kane." he smirked and kissed my cheek before we headed into the cool building.

"Oh my goodness, Lorraine Mackenzie!" I said. I held out my hand. "I'm Ella Watson."

"Lorraine Mackenzie, nice to meet you," she answered, shaking my hand. "And who's the---"

Lorraine looked around the floor to find Patrick "---fiance?"

I walked over to Patrick and took his arm and pulled him over to Lorraine. "This is my fiance, Patrick Kane."

Pat and Lorraine stood shocked, with the same expression on their faces. After what seemed like forever, Lorraine snapped out of it and held her hand out to Pat.

I looked back and forth between the two, confused as to what was going on.

"Nice to meet you," Lorraine said.

Pat tried to hide his confused expression. "Nice to meet you too."

I stood between the two, smiling like crazy. I couldn't hide my excitement… the Lorraine Mackenzie's my wedding planner! This is gonna be the best wedding ever!

---

"How do you know Lorraine?" I asked over dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, one of our favorite french restaurants.

"I don't." Patrick said, refusing to look me in the eyes.
I didn't want to cause a scene or start trouble so I simply nodded and ate the rest of my dinner in quiet.