~Erin’s point of view~
“I’m glad I mean so much to you…” I was even more hurt than before. I turned around to leave as quickly as I could.
He grabbed my arm. “Erin, you don’t understand. Look, just come with me, alright? Then… if you haven’t changed your mind, you can leave.”
I walked beside him, silently. He led us to the other side of the resturaunt. There was a small dock and a boat.
“What are we…” I started.
“Shh… you’ll see,” he told me.
“Mr. Littrell, welcome, I’m Greg, I’ll be your captain today.” He helped us on the ship. “If there’s anything that I can do, just holler,” he said, before heading over to the steering wheel.
“What are we doing?” I asked, incredulously.
“Come on,” He led me to the other end of the boat. The boat started up, and I watched as the lake houses blurred by.
The railing on the back of the ship where we were sitting was decorated in Christmas lights. Soft music started playing through the speakers of the medium sized vessel.
“This is for you,” he grabbed a red rose from underneath the seat.
“I can’t believe you went to all this trouble…”
Brian smiled, nervously playing with his hands, and looked at his watch. “Look, I’m sorry I’ve been kind of… distant this weekend. I’ve been really nervous.”
“About what?” I wondered, shivering from the wind. But to my surprise, the boat started to slow down. We were in the middle of the lake. ‘Now I know how Tracy and Kevin felt.’
“I was at an interview about two months ago. And the fans were asking questions. This one girl called in and said, ‘this question in for Brian. You’ve achieved so much success so far in your career, what are your future plans?’” Brian told me. “And I started thinking, ‘what if the next album flops, and we lose everything we’ve worked for?’ I love my job, I love the fans, I love what I do. But if it doesn’t work out, if we lose our fame, I know I’ll be able to move on, to move past it. That it just wasn’t what I was meant for. I could go into something else… or do something else in music, because its what I love to do. But then I thought about you. I couldn’t imagine my future without you. That you were one of the only things in life that I was sure about, that I know was meant to be.”
“Wow… Brian…” I was speechless. He took my hand.
“That’s when I knew what I wanted to do. I hate going months without seeing you, too. And when I do get off, a big part of me wants to see you. And another part of me wants to go home, because I miss my family.”
I nodded.
“That’s why I wanted tonight to be so special… when I go home, I want you to be there. When I say I’m going to see my family, I want that to be you,” he said. “You’ve been there for me from the beginning… even before I was Brian Backstreet, and just Brian Littrell. When I think back to high school, you’re the first person I think of. I knew from the first moment I met you that that was it. My heart realized I’d met the rest of my life. It just took my brain a little longer to figure that out… but, hey, it worked out alright in the end.”
Tears were streaming down my face. Had he ever looked more adorable? His bright blue eyes were sparkling.
“So when I told you today that I had to buy something for my family for Christmas, I wasn’t lying. But the family member I was talking about was…you,” Brian got down on my knee.
“Oh my gosh…” I whispered.
He pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I love you. I always have, and I realized that I always will. Erin, will you marry me?”
Brian opened the jewelry box to reveal the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes… I love you, too.”
He slipped the ring on my finger, wrapped his arms around me, and gave me a passionate kiss. The Christmas lights sparkled from around the boat and from all the houses lining the lake. The stars sparkled in the sky, and we had the perfect view from the center of the lake. It was if the world, in this moment in time, was revolving around us. Was existing for us.
“Merry Christmas Eve,” he whispered, still holding me tight.
“What? That’s not until tomorrow,” I told him.
He showed me his watch. “I didn’t want to propose until midnight.”
“Aww…” I was overwhelmed with the sweetness of the moment. With all the thought he’d put into it.
I looked into his face. I realized that I could spend the rest of my life gazing into his eyes, getting lost in the sea of blue.
‘And it looks like I’m going to get that chance.’
Chapter 71
Chapter 73
As Time Goes
Frick's Fairytales