Gloria's excited expression faltered when she realized what she'd casually said. Her gaze moved between Haley and Jack, then toward Claire, whose eyebrows had already risen.
Haley slowly pulled one hand free from Gloria's grasp while her thoughts began moving in several directions at once. She and Jack weren't engaged. They weren't even supposed to be thinking seriously about marriage yet. They'd talked about it before, especially during the conversations where they tried to imagine what their future might eventually look like.
The plan had always been simple.
Build their careers. Grow up a little more. Live together eventually. Get engaged somewhere around four or five years from now, then get married when they felt ready.
That plan had made perfect sense yesterday.
Yesterday, Haley hadn't been pregnant.
Her hand drifted unconsciously toward her stomach while she looked at Jack. She knew getting pregnant didn't automatically mean they needed to rush into marriage. Claire had practically spent Haley's entire childhood reminding her that marriage was supposed to happen because two people wanted it, rather than because life cornered them into it.
Haley understood that intellectually.
Emotionally, something else was happening.
She imagined standing beside Jack months from now with a visible pregnancy. She imagined giving birth while still introducing him as her boyfriend. She imagined filling out forms for their child while knowing the man beside her was already the person she'd planned to marry someday anyway.
The thought surprised her with how strongly it mattered.
She wanted him to be her husband.
She wanted to marry Jack before their baby arrived.
Her eyes found his again, and whatever she was feeling must have shown clearly because Jack's expression softened immediately.
Haley swallowed nervously. "I know we said four or five years, and obviously everything changed today, so I'm not saying we have to do anything because of the baby, because that would be crazy, except apparently today is already completely crazy, and I'm probably making this worse by talking."
Jack stared at her for another second before something almost amused appeared behind his nervous expression.
Claire noticed the look first.
Then Sarah noticed something else.
Jack's hand had disappeared into his pocket.
Sarah's eyes widened.
Before anyone in the room could interrupt Haley's increasingly panicked explanation, Jack pulled out a small velvet box.
Haley stopped speaking immediately.
Her entire body went still.
Phil's mouth slowly opened while Claire stared at Jack's hand with complete disbelief. Jay glanced toward Richard, whose expression suggested he understood exactly what was about to happen. Gloria's hands flew toward her chest as happiness spread across her face.
Jack stepped beside Haley and lowered himself onto one knee.
Haley spun toward him so quickly that her hair swept across her shoulder. Shock appeared first, followed immediately by confusion, excitement, fear, disbelief, and something so intensely hopeful that Jack almost forgot the sentence he'd rehearsed.
Cam gasped loudly and clamped both hands over his mouth. Tears immediately gathered in his eyes while Mitchell grabbed his shoulder before he could interrupt the moment.
Phil's eyes filled again as he whispered toward Claire, "This is the greatest day our living room has ever had."
Claire couldn't answer because she seemed genuinely incapable of producing language.
Jack looked up at Haley and opened the box.
The diamond ring caught the light from the living room windows.
Haley covered her mouth with both hands.
Jack's heartbeat felt louder than every person in the room combined. He'd stopped at his house after leaving the café because there had been something he needed to retrieve before bringing Haley here.
He hadn't bought the ring that afternoon.
He'd bought it months earlier. And he spent a fortune, custom ordering that ring.
The original plan hadn't been to use it for several years.
He'd told himself there was nothing wrong with buying something early when he already knew who he wanted to give it to eventually.
Apparently, eventually had arrived considerably sooner than expected.
Jack smiled nervously as he looked directly into Haley's eyes. "Haley Gwendolyn Dunphy, will you marry me?"
Haley stared down at him while tears immediately spilled across her cheeks.
For several seconds she couldn't speak.
Jack waited, though his confidence began evaporating with every passing heartbeat. He knew she loved him. He knew they'd talked about marriage before. He also knew she'd just discovered she was pregnant several hours earlier, which meant asking her to make another enormous life decision on the same day might have been completely insane.
Then Haley started nodding.
Her hands dropped from her mouth while a trembling smile spread across her face. "Yes, yes, I'll marry you."
The entire room erupted before Jack had even finished breathing again.
Haley extended her left hand toward him, though it was shaking hard enough that Jack had to steady her fingers before sliding the ring carefully into place.
The diamond settled against her finger.
Haley stared at it.
A sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob escaped her before she grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled him upright. She threw both arms around his neck and kissed him while the family cheered around them.
Phil clapped loudly through the tears running down his face. "That's my daughter getting engaged to the guy I strategically moved three streets away!"
Claire finally found her voice as she turned toward him. "You are never calling it strategy again."
Phil wiped beneath his eyes while continuing to grin. "Fine, but history will recognize my contribution."
Cam had completely abandoned any attempt at emotional restraint. He leaned against Mitchell while openly crying into the pocket square he'd already used several times. "A pregnancy, another pregnancy, and now an engagement. I don't have enough moisture left in my body for this family."
Mitchell kept one hand against Cam's shoulder while smiling toward Haley and Jack. "Drink some water before somebody announces twins."
Everyone froze.
Haley's face immediately changed.
Mitchell noticed and raised both hands apologetically. "That wasn't information. I don't know anything about your uterus."
Haley pointed toward him while remaining wrapped around Jack. "You are never saying that word about me again."
Mitchell nodded solemnly. "That feels completely reasonable."
Gloria hurried forward and wrapped Haley in another hug, laughing happily as she admired the ring over Haley's shoulder. "Look at you, mi amor. This morning you had a boyfriend, and tonight you have a fiancé and a baby."
Haley pulled back and stared at her. "When you say it like that, my day sounds completely insane."
Gloria smiled brightly while touching Haley's cheek. "The best days usually are."
Jay stepped closer to Jack while Haley showed the ring to Claire and Sarah. His expression carried a mixture of approval and warning that Jack recognized immediately.
Jay glanced toward the women before looking back at him. "You were carrying that ring around already?"
Jack shook his head while slipping the empty box back into his pocket. "I grabbed it from my house before we came here."
Jay studied him carefully. "So this wasn't panic shopping after the hospital?"
Jack almost laughed. "I bought it months ago."
Jay's eyebrows rose slightly.
Jack glanced toward Haley before lowering his voice. "I knew I wanted to marry her. I just thought I'd wait longer before asking."
Jay followed his gaze toward Haley, who was holding her hand under the light while Claire examined the diamond with equal parts maternal emotion and practical scrutiny.
Jay gave Jack a firm pat on the shoulder. "Then you're doing it because you want her, rather than because you think you're supposed to fix something."
Jack nodded immediately. "The baby changed the schedule. It didn't change who I wanted."
Jay's expression softened with unmistakable approval. "That's the right answer."
Across the room, Claire held Haley's left hand and stared at the ring while her emotions seemed to restart from the beginning.
"My nineteen-year-old daughter is pregnant and engaged."
Haley winced slightly. "You don't have to keep saying the nineteen part. I'll be twenty in a few months."
Claire looked into her daughter's eyes. "I'm reminding myself because somewhere inside my brain, you're still twelve and hiding lip gloss in your backpack."
Haley smiled through the lingering tears. "That lip gloss was expensive."
Claire laughed despite herself before gently squeezing her daughter's hand. "Are you sure about this?"
Haley understood the real question beneath the words.
She glanced toward Jack.
He was talking quietly with Jay and Richard while Phil hovered nearby pretending he wasn't listening.
Haley's expression became calm.
"I've been sure about him for a long time, Mom."
Claire searched her face carefully.
Haley looked down at the ring before continuing. "I know today is scary, and I know getting pregnant doesn't magically mean we're ready for everything. We're probably going to screw up a million things. I'm still going to work, and he's still going to make movies, and we're going to figure out the baby somehow."
Her fingers curled gently around Claire's.
"But when I pictured marrying him someday, the answer was already yes. Today just made someday arrive earlier."
Claire's eyes filled again.
She pulled Haley into another hug. "Then I'm happy for you."
Haley smiled against her shoulder. "You're still going to lecture me later, aren't you?"
Claire held her tighter. "There will absolutely be a lecture later."
Haley sighed with exaggerated resignation. "At least you're consistent."
Sarah approached after Claire released her daughter and gently took Haley's hand to examine the ring. She glanced toward Jack across the room with a knowing expression.
"I wondered why he suddenly developed very specific opinions about diamonds several months ago."
Haley's head snapped toward Jack. "Several months?"
Jack looked over and immediately realized he'd been exposed.
Sarah smiled. "He made me promise not to say anything."
Haley stared at her fiancé with another wave of emotion. "You already had the ring?"
Jack walked back toward her. "I wasn't planning to propose today."
Haley lifted her eyebrows.
Jack slipped an arm around her waist. "I was planning to propose eventually, and apparently I don't understand the concept of buying things closer to when I need them."
Haley looked down at the diamond again before smiling. "You're ridiculous."
Jack kissed her forehead. "You said yes anyway."
Haley leaned into him and rested her head against his shoulder. "Yeah, I really did."
Phil suddenly appeared beside them with renewed enthusiasm. "Speaking as the father of the bride, I have several ideas for the wedding."
Claire immediately pointed toward him. "You are not planning their wedding."
Phil looked offended. "I didn't say planning. I'm offering creative consultation."
Haley narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Does creative consultation involve magic?"
Phil hesitated.
Jack laughed. "That's definitely a yes."
Cam pushed his way into the conversation after apparently hearing the word wedding from across the room. "Before anybody says anything else, I would like it officially recorded that I have experience with elegant ceremonies, floral arrangements, musical staging, dramatic entrances, tasteful lighting, and emotionally devastating vows."
Mitchell followed him with a tired expression. "He helped organize one fundraiser."
Cam turned toward him. "It had three hundred guests and a live string quartet."
Mitchell nodded. "Two violinists canceled."
Cam looked back toward Haley. "Which taught me crisis management."
Haley laughed as everyone immediately began talking over one another again.
Wedding dates were suggested before either member of the newly engaged couple had offered one. Claire insisted there would be plenty of time to discuss planning later. Cam disagreed strongly. Phil wanted to know whether the ceremony could include a tasteful illusion. Sarah was already thinking about dresses. Gloria declared that she and Haley would now be pregnancy buddies and wedding planners together, which caused Jay to quietly warn Jack that they were both doomed.
Through all of it, Jack looked down at Haley.
A few hours earlier, they'd been sitting inside a hospital room wondering whether everything they'd planned had just fallen apart.
Now Haley was wearing his ring.
Their child was growing inside her.
Their families were surrounding them with enough noise to make Jack feel really lucky and blessed. He thanked God for giving him this new and happy life and the love of his life.
Haley caught him staring and smiled. "What are you thinking about?"
Jack tightened his arm around her waist while looking around the chaotic living room. "I'm thinking our four-to-five-year plan had a really bad day."
Haley laughed and rested one hand against his chest. "Worst schedule management you've ever had."
Jack looked down at the diamond on her finger before meeting her eyes again. "Still happy with the new plan?"
Haley's teasing expression softened.
She took his hand and placed it carefully against her stomach.
"Ask me again when we're awake at three in the morning with a screaming baby and Cam is calling because he wants to know whether we've finalized the nursery color palette."
Jack smiled while covering her hand with his own. "That sounds like a future problem."
Haley softly kissed his cheek.
"For right now, I'm really happy."
Lily looked around at Haley, Gloria, and all the celebrating adults before turning to Mitchell and Cameron.
"They got two babies."
Mitchell immediately sighed. "Lily..."
Lily folded her arms. "And you guys can't even get a cat?"
Cameron's face crumpled. "Well, that felt unnecessarily personal."
Lily shrugged. "I still want Larry."
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AN: Hope it was good. Also, I avoided adding the commentary parts. I think that it's better to avoid interruption for these chs. 👍🫡 Also, I'll take a week off to stock up. I'll be back on 4th Oct.
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