Happily Ever After

Happily Ever After

Breathe…breathe. She thought as her eyes caught the shadow that had stepped into the small dark room. She grabbed the old wooden barstool in order to make sure her knees would not give out.

His rich brown eyes swept the room and barely met her gaze.

She’s the one.

He thought, trying not to let his nerves get the best of him. Taking a step forward he did his best to remain cool and non-chalant.

What little light was available shattered off of old liquor bottles and champagne glasses.

She is THE one.

Just one more time to make sure he believed himself. Crossing the room now with great strides he knew his mission and he would not fail.

She tucked her long blonde hair behind her ear as she silently began to assess what was happening. Having never seen this look of determination on his face she was unsure of what to think.

Here he was.

Here she was.

Here they were.

Naturally, Sarah leaned forward to kiss her loving beau of one year, six months, five days, twelve hours, forty three minutes and nineteen seconds. But Michael, ever so gently, refused.

Taking her petite hands in his, followed by a deep, shaky breath from them both, he began to speak;

“Sarah, do you love me?”

“Yes,” she breathed, still unsure of what was going on.

His heart fluttered as he continued, silently praying and patting the small box in his pants pocket.

He continued, “I love you, too. More than you could ever imagine. Since the day I met you, four years ago, I knew you were the love of my life. The day you first held my hand, I knew I would spend the rest of our eternity together.”

Silently bending down onto one knee he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a tiny velvet cover ring box. Slowly he opened it and inside was a beautiful diamond ring.

Closing her eyes, finally she understood. Taking a deep breath and letting the butterflies inside of her take over, she opened her eyes and looked into his.

“Sarah Connor Parker, will you make me the happiest man in the world, by spending eternity with me, and becoming my wife?”

He relaxed slightly as the last word, ‘wife’, came out of his mouth.

She let the magic of the moment overwhelm her. A tear slid down her cheek as she took his face between her hands, bent over, and whispered, “yes” into his ear.

He came up to his feet again, and gave her this kiss he had denied her just two minutes earlier. This kiss was filled with so much love and tenderness, the world could have ended for both of them, right then and there.

Taking her hand he slipped the thin silver band onto her finger, turning the jewel upwards and kissing it, as a seal of approval. Leaning into her again he said, “I have another surprise for you!”

Bewildered she looked at him and with a quick “okay!” out of her mouth, he grabbed her hand and whisked her out of the dark room into the streetlight of 6^th and Oak.

The snow on the ground was mushy and wet as they trudged through it in their winter boots. Fingers intertwined, Michael breather more easily leaving the old pub than he did going in, and the rock he could now feel on her finger was the entire reason why.

Sarah slowed down, ever so slightly. She turned and looked into the face and eyes of the man she had just agreed to marry, knowing it was the right decision. Stopping, she turned to face her brand new fiancé and kissed him again.

“Where are you taking me?” she badgered him.

“It’s a secret, love,” he laughed, “if I told you what it was, where would the fun be?”

“Fine,” she muttered silently under her breath. Though I don’t think anything could top what just happened, she thought airily.

“A few more steps darling!”

They stopped in front of her old church cathedral. The only reason she recognized it in the dark was because of the long tendrils of vines wrapping around the old bricks of the terrace.

Stepping in the large doors she smelled the distant scent of peppermint. It was a scent that triggered a memory from many years ago; a memory of her parents, whom she had not seen in ten years.

Many years had been spent searching for them after they had been lost at sea. After two years had passed both parties thought the other was dead. Though neither party ever quit searching.

Michael stopped her once more just inside the doorway of the church.

“When this whole process began, I wished I could ask your father’s permission to take your hand in marriage, and try to do this the old fashioned way. So I started my own search for your parents. I wanted so badly for you to have your father walk you down the aisle on our s pecial day, so I looked even harder.”

Her breathing pace had increased again, again, not sure what was about to happen.

He continued, “I found him. I found them,”

Not sure what to say or feel or think, she merely stared at him blankly.

“Mr. and Mrs. Parker?” he called. “Would you please come out here?”

Around the corner came a man and woman in there late fifties, smelling of peppermint. As she looked at the man, she saw her eyes. As she looked at the woman, she saw her smile. It really was them. She really would get a father, her father, to walk her down the aisle. To send her off to live and love with the man who had found them, who had found her, to be together forever.

Now they could live Happily Ever After.

© JillianHamp 2009