Adjusting

Sometimes plans are needed for adjusting smoothly to life-changing situations but sometimes even plans need to be adjusted.

"I'm still mad at you," Marianne murmurs as Bog walks through the back door.

"It wasn't that bad," Bog chuckles.

"Says the man who told the news while he was safely thirty feet away," she counters. "Dad, Loch, Sunny, and A.C. had to pry those three off me."

"I wasn't 'safely' thirty feet away, if you recall," he comments. "I got bombarded by everybody else. It's the only time that I've ever seen Lizzie not care about the food she cooked."

"Should have waited until after dinner," Marianne points out.

"And then we'd probably forget again or something would come up," Bog remarks. "You know that if we waited too long to tell everyone, we would be in serious trouble. As it is, they were miffed that we didn't tell them on Friday when the test results came back. We're not allowed to keep secrets, remember?"

Marianne snorts before yawning. It's funny how the day seems so long today even though it's not like the day truly got longer. Of course, getting up long before dawn to go Easter Bunny hunting and no mid-day nap probably didn't help with how tired she felt, especially since there was no way either of them could get a moments peace once the news was let out.

"We keep a secret one time because we didn't want anyone to get their hopes up in case something came up and they treat us like criminals," she mutters.

"At least you remembered to tell your family, I had forgotten that no one knew you were moving here until Mom yelled at me," he comments. "They're just worried that we'll forget to tell them something else."

"Like their hints about making an honest man out of you suggest," Marianne remarks.

She tries to contain her laughter as Bog quickly shuts the cabinet door he was opening, showing a dark look. It is obvious who he thought the culprit is for the hint. Turning off the flame under the pot she is stirring, Marianne ignores his unspoken demand for details and ladles out the potato soup.

"No, it was not Griselda," she denies. "Not even Plum, Stuff, or Lizzie."

"Little sisters who swore not to meddle," he questions?

"Nope. A couple of old men," Marianne hints. "I had to explain to everyone about why we aren't getting married just yet thanks to our dads."

"And he calls Mom stubborn," Bog growls. "I already told Dad our reasons for not getting married right away...I...I mean..."

"It's alright, Bog," she reassures. "Griselda asked me about us getting married when I was working on Plum's car two weeks ago and I told her that we've talked about it during your visit to my old city and several times since then. I explained to her our reasons about it being too soon with all the other changes that we've dealt with and about us not being financially ready yet. She said that we're worrying over nothing but she's glad that we've talked about it."

"She accepted it just like that? That's surprising," he mutters.

"She accepted it," Marianne confirms. "Your mother can be very understanding when she wants to be, you know."

"When she wants to be is the operative word," Bog chuckles.

"Isn't it a little early to be doing the nursery," Bog asks?

"Lizzie suggested it. She said that it's best to get everything settled before the hormones truly kick in or I'll never be able to make up my mind," Marianne mentions, drying the dish he hands to her.

"That's true. Pare complained that he had to redo their first nursery five times before Lizzie decided she liked it the first way," he chuckles. "So, do you want to start turning the guest room into the nursery tomorrow since we both have the next four days off?"

"We need to plan something before we do something," she laughs. "It's going to be a little hard since it's far too early to know if the baby is a boy or a girl."

"We could do a gender neutral room," Bog suggests. "That way it'll work for either one. We'll have to paint the walls a lighter color, though, or the room will be too dark for the baby."

"Oh, but it'd be terrible to cover up that lovely wood," Marianne sighs. "Maybe it'll still brighten the room if we use wallpaper on one or two walls, that way the wood won't be damaged."

"That should work," he agrees. "If we're going to leave the wood showing then maybe we could do a forest or a field theme for the nursery or a field within a forest, like the one near Foret Lodge."

"That sounds perfect. Maybe we could even add some little animals for a bit of charm," she mentions. "Where are we going to put the furniture that's in the room now? There's no way that we can put it in the attic."

"We are planning an upstairs to the garage, remember? So we can leave it in there for now until the garage is built," Bog comments.

"Have all the answers, do you," Marianne teases? "Just how long have you been planning all this?"

Bog blushes as she unknowingly calls him out. He hands her the last dish before draining the water. The desire to avoid the question is high but her prodding causes him to sigh and he pulls her against him.

"For a while now. Probably since Christmas," he admits softly. "It just felt so right to have you here that I couldn't help but see you here permanently, you and a few small ones that look just like you."

"You forgot about the small ones who look just like you," Marianne murmurs, leaning up to kiss his jaw. "They're the ones I've been picturing around this house with their daddy."

"And just how long have you been picturing them," Bog questions?

"Probably since Christmas," she remarks.

Bog smiles warmly at his lover curled peacefully underneath the blankets as he looks into their bedroom. It's been such a long day that he's not surprised that she fell asleep while he was putting wood in the fireplace. He makes a move to step into the room but changes his mind and walks into the guest room instead.

It really didn't take them more than a half hour to get everything planned out. Not surprising since they've both been fantasizing about their future together for months and he can just picture the changes that will happen in the room.

Light green wallpaper on the longest wall and also on the lower half of the opposite wall, accenting the dark wood nicely while also brightening the room. They found a wall decal that would be perfect for their desired theme with its tree and woodland animals. Marianne had loved his suggestion of making the nursery furniture himself out of maple with a light colored stain, though she was surprised when she found out that he had made most of his furniture himself. All that is left to plan is just baby essentials and they should be able to get everything they need without too much hassle...or too much money.

Bog sighs and runs his hand through his short black hair. His blue eyes drift from the darkened empty room to the lighted occupied room just down the hall.

He really hopes that they'll still be able to have the wedding before the baby is born. Not that it'd bother him if the baby is born while they're still unmarried, he just wants to be married to Marianne. A feeling that he knows is mutual.

His mother is wrong, they're not worrying over nothing. They're completely ready to get married without any regrets but the money is just a tight thing at the moment with everything. Buying Fairy, his usual yearly contributions to Foret Lodge, and finally getting around to building that garage he's needed for years has really dwindled his savings. It won't take that long for them to save up the money for the wedding they want but at the moment, the baby is more important and the wedding will just have to wait.

Just like it waited when Marianne had to use more money than she planned to get The Blacktop Butterfly up and running. She apologized a dozen times for not being able to help him with getting the garage built, even though he insisted that she didn't have to and that he had planned to build it even had she not asked. He couldn't help but worry about what else will come up to stall their wedding plans. Maybe...

A yawn breaks through and he shrugs off his thoughts, deciding to talk to Marianne about it in the morning. Bog moves to go to bed but the nightstand catches his attention. Pulling two small boxes from the nightstand drawer, he empties the contents into his hand and returns to his own room.

The light from his lamp glints off the black titanium stainless steel as he gently pulls Marianne's left hand from underneath her pillow and slips the ring on her ring finger. He gives the golden crown stamped on the band a kiss before sliding Marianne's hand back into place.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to giving me that," Marianne murmurs suddenly.

She can't contain her laughter as Bog trips over his feet at his startlement and falls to the ground beside the bed. Trying to hide her smile at his glare doesn't work, so she leans over to give him a kiss instead.

"I thought you were asleep," he mutters, raising himself up.

"Waiting for you," she comments.

Marianne grabs his fisted hand and pries the matching ring from inside it. He complies to her handling and allows her to slide the black titanium stainless steel ring onto his ring finger before she kisses the golden crown stamped on the band.

"Her King," Marianne murmurs, quoting the hidden text on the inside of his ring.

"His Queen," Bog remarks, quoting the hidden text on the inside of her ring. "When did you find them?"

"Two days after I moved in," she answers, laughing at his groan. "You were out on a rescue call, remember? I was checking the guest room to make sure I didn't leave anything in there and I found the rings. I didn't want to ruin whatever you were planning, so I kept it a secret. Truthfully, I couldn't resist trying my ring on every time I was home without you. When did you get them?"

"I ordered them when I was visiting you," he admits. "We were talking about all the plans of you moving here and all I could think about was making sure you stayed with me. So, when you had to go to the news station to talk to the manager about his employee's claim that you planted that stolen tailpipe on his car, I browsed the internet for a perfect ring for you."

"These are perfect," Marianne confirms. "Not only will it hold up nicely but it's a clever play on your last name."

"My last name had nothing to do with it, Grease Queen," Bog denies, blushing at her skeptical look.

"Sure it didn't, The Bog King," she comments dryly.

"I never should have told you about that terrible school nickname," he groans.

"Well, it's better than Boggy," Marianne chuckles. "Now, back to the ring. Did you really plan to slip it on my finger while I was sleeping? Because it's a bit anticlimactic after four weeks of trying not to let you know that I know."

"I didn't have a plan at all," Bog confesses. "I should have given it to you after you moved in but I actually forgot about them. I remembered on Friday when the test results came back that you are pregnant but we were both tired when we got home and I was a bit worried that you might think I was only proposing because of the baby, which I'm not. Then I got to thinking a little while ago."

"About what," she prods at his hesitation?

"The baby and the wedding," he murmurs. "I know we've talked about having a wedding and all the trimmings, that it's something that we both want. As it is, though, it's looking like a plan that keeps getting pushed back for one reason or another. I love you, Marianne, and it doesn't bother me if we're married when the baby is born or not but I...well, I want to marry you, even if it's not the wedding we were planning."

"Bog, I love you more but I'm tired and it's late. Be blunt," Marianne orders, smiling as his laughter.

"Let's get married," Bog states. "Get our marriage license and sign it in front of witnesses. We can still have our wedding later if we want. Maybe on our anniversary."

"You do realize Stuff and Thang will tease you relentlessly in payback for all your teasing," she points out.

"It's different," he insists. "Stuff and Thang got married three weeks after they started dating officially. We've been dating since New Year's Day and have been kind of engaged for about eight weeks. So, what do you say?"

"We're going to have to get up early again if we want to catch Dawn and Sunny before they check out of Plum's. They'll sic both A.C. and Maya on us if we let them go home without telling them about the change in plans," Marianne remarks.

Tea Blend.