Fragment #107 - Plans, plans, plans

"Hey honey!"
Steve closes the door, drops his coat in the kitchen, and comes to kiss me. I let it linger a little. I just love kissing him. He sits down next to me.
"Hello." I whisper, catching my breath.
"How are you?"
"I'm good. You?"
"Yeah, ok, more or less. It's been a long day." I can see the worries wrinkling the corners of his eyes. Let's talk.
"Steve?"
"Hum?"
"We need to talk."
He turns his face to me. He looks... concerned.
"Relax, love. Nothing's wrong! I just want us to have a real discussion about this baby thing..."
"Oh. Ok. I'm right there. What do you want to talk about?"
"Well, I think one of the major issues is: are we having this baby?"
There is an ackward silence during which I can see Steve's eyes moving back and forth between my belly and my face. Then he smiles.
"Charlie, I want this baby with you. I want a family, a wedding with you. I want to live my life with you! I don't know any better words to explain it to you. I love you..."
I shiver under the strength of his feelings for me. He lays down, and sets his head on my lap. When he speaks next, his voice sounds a bit odd, as if he was speaking from inside me.
"But if you don't want it... I would understand." He sighs.
I lean over and kiss his cheek.
"I want this baby pretty badly, you know, Steve. I just wasn't sure if it was what you wanted too. It's been quite busy in the last weeks..." I whisper.
The silence stretches on, but none of us feels like troubling it. I rest my head on the sofa. I could sleep here, now.
After a couple of minutes, he says: "We got the church, your Gran called me today at work."
I raise my head, and look at him. "Really?"
He sits back on the sofa next to me and takes me in his arms.
"Yeah. Apparently, the minister owed her a favor or two. Something to do with mince pies, for all I guess." I laugh, at the memory of the clergyman of the Isle of Skye. It means a lot to me to be able to get married in the same church as my parents and my grand-parents. We go over a couple of details for the wedding, when I remember my phone call of this morning.
"I called Louis, this morning, Steve."
"And?"
"He's up for it, apparently. He said he would do what he can to be there."
"That's good news."
"Yeah, definitively."
"Is he ok?"
"I think so, but... there was something about his voice... Like he was unhappy..."
I try to remember exactly the tone of Louis' voice and the impression it gave me. It felt as if he was almost desperate. And the way he eluded my questions about himself...
"What is it, Charlie?"
"I don't know. But I felt like I should do something about it. So I invited him here."
"What, for the wedding?"
"Yeah, of course, but also to come sooner, like this week."
Steve half-smiles.
"Oh, and what did he say?"
"He said he'll come. That he'll book his plane tickets and come back to me then. You're not mad at me, are you?"
"No, honey. I'd like to see him. I want to practice my new French!"
Suddenly, his face becomes a bit gloomier.
"Are you going to talk to him about what you found out on Charly and your dad?"
"I don't know. I suppose it could wait until the wedding... But then, I'll probably be too busy... I'll see. If the opportunity shows up, I'll tell him."
It is a bit hard for me to think back of those weeks away from Steve, when I was held hostage. But it feels easier now that Steve knows everything. We can talk about certain bits without talking about the whole thing. Steve starts stroking my hair.
"So, what's the plan tonight?"