“You’re in?” I furrow my eyebrows. “What do you mean? I just wanted you to read through my business plan and give me some tips on how to make it better. I haven’t even showed it to you, yet.”
“I know. And I want to see it, of course I do, but I want to invest.”
“No, no, I’m not asking that of you, I refuse to.”
“I’m not waiting for your permission. I can afford to invest and I want to. I need to do this. I think you might need me too because I’ll know more about certain things than you. Let me do this for you.”
I nod because I can see how much this means to him. He really does seem to want to help me which is far more than I ever could have asked for. “Thank you so much, that means everything to me.”
“Well, we have something more important to discuss now, don’t we?” His knowing look confuses me. “You and Tamara. When the hell is this wedding going to happen because I have a killer bachelor party up my sleeve and I’m dying to get on with it. Honestly, the longer you take, the more this is killing me.”
“I don’t want a bachelor party or anything like that. I don’t need a big fuss…”
“Mate, as your best man I am going to have to insist that you don’t take this pleasure away from me. The bachelor party will be the best event of the year and a way to celebrate your babies too. It has to happen.”
I laugh loudly. “Okay, fair enough. If it means that much to you, we’ll do it.”
“Don’t act like it’s a chore. Trust me, it’s going to be epic. A night to be remembered.”
“Right, well I suppose with that in mind, I better get a move on with the wedding then.”
“Yeah, that’s my point. Me and Katherine are pulling our hair out waiting for it.”
“You and Katherine?” I laugh suggestively. “So, you two are getting along now?”
He rolls his eyes. “We’ve spent so long having to get along for you two, it’s just easier now.”
“Okay, well in celebration of that, me and Tamara will get married as soon as possible.”
As if he can sense his sister now out of the bed, Sydney then begins fussing which takes my focus off of Al for the moment. But as I go to lift him from cot I do consider his words. It is time to stop life getting in the way and for us to finally tie that knot. Now I just need to find the perfect place for it.
“Where are we going?” Tamara giggles as I lead her with my hands covering her eyes. “What’s happening?”
“Will you just be patient already? You’re going to ruin it in a moment.”
I walk her a few steps more, position her so she’s facing it perfe
ctly, then I peel my fingers away one by one, amping up the anticipation as I do so. My heart races and I get a tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach while I wait to see what she thinks about this, it’s taken lots of planning and I hope it’ll pay off…
“Ooh, this is nice. I like it here.” Her eyes run carefully over the river and the little gazebo at the end. The white flowers decorating it might be a bit much, but we don’t necessarily have to have that for us. We can lay it out however we want, that’s the best part of it. “But why are we here? What’s going on?”
“I think this is where we should get married, don’t you? It’s beautiful, simple, elegant…”
“Oh, I would love to get married here.” Her whole face lights up with joy. “Are you serious?”
“I know we haven’t talked about it for a while because we’ve both been so crazy busy, but I still want to get married. I haven’t given up on that dream at all. Do you still want to?”
“Of course I do!” She leans up and kisses me. “Oh, and I would love it to be here, I can just see it.”
“I have already spoken to them and I have a list of dates they have space, so we can book.”
“The sooner the better,” she jumps in. “I’m more than ready to be your wife now.”
“Good, because I feel the same way.” I hold her close and grin. “Oh, and I have something else to share with you as well, some more good news. I was going to tell you when we got back home but it might as well be now. I’m going to start my own travel company. Al is on board with it already.”
“Oh, my goodness, are you serious?” she gushes with joy. “I’m so happy for you. Just think, I’ll have my charity, you’ll have your super successful business, we’ll have the kids, and soon we’ll be married. We’re actually going to have it all.”
Intense love flows through me as we kiss intensely. A love so strong which only grows every single day. But soon, I’m forced to pull away.