Fresh Starts.

The entire backyard was covered with thousands of tiny twinkling lights, and in the lounge area there was a bucket of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, which he knows are my number one favorite sweet. “Oh Brian.” I gasped, taking in the sight of the backyard, hearing all my favorite Journey love songs playing softly on the radio. “Come on baby, let’s go sit down.” he said, dragging me by my hand over to the lounge. “When the hell did you have time to do all of this?” I asked, completely amazed that he went through all of this just for one night. “The guys helped me, we spent a little time at the studio today, but most of it was here, setting up. I wanted this to be perfect, and they helped me keep it a secret. I knew if they would have told any of their wives then the cat would be completely out of the bag and you would have been expecting it.” he said with a chuckle “Well I definitely wasn’t expecting this babe. It’s gorgeous.” We opened the bottle of champagne and I ate my weight in chocolate covered strawberries, while we just talked about our day, and the future. “You know I’m gonna want another baby, right Bri?” I asked him with a small smile on my face. “I need a beautiful little Haner baby.” “You know it. I can’t wait to see you all beautiful and pregnant.” he said with a huge grin on his face. “Ha, yeah, big and pregnant is more like it” I joked. “Come on B, let’s dance.” he said, pulling me up into his arms. We danced slowly to the music for a while before he just completely stopped and looked at me. “Brian, are you okay?” “Sssh, I just want to look at you for a minute.” he said, then he sweetly kissed my forehead. “Brooklyn Grace Jones, I love you with my entire heart and soul. You complete me in every single way, I never knew I could love someone as much as I love you. You are the strongest, most amazing woman and mother I have ever met, and I would absolutely love to spend the rest of my life with you.” he went down to one knee and my breath caught in my throat. Is this really happening?! “Brook, baby, would you spend the rest of your life with me, as my best friend and my wife?” Tears automatically filled my eyes as Brian opened a small box to reveal the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen. “Brian, stand up.” I said calmly, pulling him up by his shirt. “You okay babe?” he asked, concern lacing his voice. “Yes.” I said with a huge smile on my face. “Yes?” he asked, confused. “Yes. Yes yes yes!” I said, watching a grin appear on his face as he finally caught on. He slipped the ring on my finger, then cupped my face in his hands. “You have just made me the happiest man in the universe.” he said before kissing me passionately. We spent the rest of our night celebrating our love. Brian was right, it was the best night of my life.

I awoke the next morning with a huge smile on my face, I rolled over, kissing Brian on the nose. “Good morning future Mrs. Haner.” he said with a lazy smile. “Good morning Mr. Haner.” I said with a laugh. “Oh! I have to tell the girls! Are you guys going to the studio today?” I asked Brian excitedly. “Yeah babe, around 11...which is in an hour holy shit!” he said, jumping up to get in the shower, causing me to laugh. I grabbed my phone off the night stand, and sent a quick text to the girls. Need your help. Meet me at the studio with the guys at 11. After I sent the message I made a quick phone call to Papa Gates. “Is this my future daughter in law calling?” He asked, causing me to grin “You knew?! I was so excited to tell you!” I said with a laugh. “Oh wait, we’ll start over. Hello, Haner residence?” he said goofily, causing me to burst out laughing. “Hello my future father in law!” I said, “So you said yes? Excellent!” he laughed. “How are my babies, Papa?” “They’re awesome. Suzie and I are taking them shopping this morning, so we will just drop them off later.” “Shopping? Really Brian?” I groaned, hearing him chuckle on the other end. “Yes shopping. Grandma and Papa Gates love spoiling their grandchildren.” “Okay, okay, I gotta run I’m meeting the girls at the studio at 11 to break the news to all of them at the same time.” “Oh you are brave. Make sure you wear some kind of protective clothing, they’re going to attack you.” he said with a laugh “Congratulations honey, we love you so much.” “Thank you Papa, I love you guys too.” we disconnected, and I called my sister. “So, you’re going to have a new brother in law…”I trailed off. “OH MY GOD! YOU’RE ENGAGED?!” She shouted, “tell me all about it!” I launched into the story of the greatest Valentine’s day of my life, and she was very quiet on the other end. “Uh, Liv, you still there?” Then I heard a sniffle. “B, I’m so happy for you. But I kind of already knew he was going to propose. He called mom and dad.” “He did what?! Really?” I asked shocked. “Yeah, he called daddy and he said something along the lines of ‘sir I know we have never met, but I love your daughter and grandkids more than anything on the planet and I want to marry her. Even if you don’t like it.’ Then he called ma and said “Cathy, I’m going to propose to your daughter, I just wanted to let you know.’ It was really funny. Dad was cracking up at him. He apparently won the seal of approval from the parentals.” she said, causing me to laugh. We talked a little more before I realized I only had 45 minutes to get ready before heading to the studio so we disconnected with promises of me calling soon to tell her when we were going to come visit. I walked over to the pile of new clothes from Brian to figure out what I wanted to wear. I decided on a pair of skinny jeans and a plain long sleeve black shirt. I carried my things into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. Not too bad. I thought to myself. My hair was still curled, so I pinned it up in a bun to jump in the shower, I would skip washing my hair for now. I quickly rushed through my shower, ignoring Brian’s attempts to cuddle with me, and jumped right out to brush my teeth and do my makeup. I threw on my clothes and black ankle boots, and grabbed my red leather jacket. I took my hair down and fluffed up the curls, then sprayed a little hairspray and perfume and threw my jewelry on. “Okay, babe. Done.” I said as he was finishing his hair. “Damn that was fast. Want to stop for breakfast?” He asked, impressed with my abilities to quickly get ready. “Babe, it’s almost 11. By the time we get to the studio and tell everyone the good news they’re going to forget all about making music today, I figured we could all go out together.” I said with a smile. I went downstairs to let the dogs out while Brian was finishing up, and grabbed an apple to eat while I waited. I looked down at my ring. I still can’t believe I’m going to marry Brian. It’s almost too good to be true. I know everything has happened a little fast, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him. I mean, we don’t have to be married right away, we can wait a little while, at least until Madi is walking. When Brian was finally finished we headed for the studio in separate cars, just in case the guys wanted to make music. I popped Van Halen into the cd player and opened my sunroof. It was a gorgeous day in California and I was going to take advantage of it.

Once we got to the studio I kept my left hand in my pocket and the right one intertwined with Brian’s. “Hey fuckers!” Brian shouted as we walked into the studio. “Oh hey, look who’s late, like always.” Matt said with an eye roll. “He can’t blame it on me, I was ready on time.” I said with a grin. “Okay, so,” Lacey said, “You said you needed help with something?” “Damn Lace, get straight to the point.” Brian grumbled while I laughed. “I do need your help.” I started, “I need all of your help.” “With what B?” Jimmy asked concerned. “Oh you know, planning my wedding.” I said with a huge grin. The entire room erupted in squeals as I was engulfed in four sets of arms. “Oh my god oh my god I am so happy for you! Congratulations!” Val squealed. I looked over at Brian, who was grinning from ear to ear, getting man hugs and congratulations from the guys. The girls finally broke the hug and ran over to Brian. I stood there watching him interact with his ‘sisters’ with a smile on my face. This is my family. My loud, sometimes obnoxious, crazy ass family that I love so much. My thoughts were interrupted by long skinny arms wrapping themselves around me. “I knew it! Congratulations Tiny girl!” Jimmy said happily. “Congrats B, welcome to the family.” Matt said to me with a dimpled smile and a huge hug. Thanks guys, I didn’t see it coming.” I said with a smile. “We did” Johnny said, giving me a hug. “He wouldn’t tell us what he was planning, but we figured he had to be proposing.” Zack said, squeezing me. “Okay, as much as I love you guys and as much as we appreciate the congratulations, I’m starving.” Brian said loudly to get everyone’s attention. “How about we all go to lunch to celebrate?” Val suggested. “The studio can wait, we have something really awesome to celebrate today.” Gena agreed.

Notes

Sorry this one is so short, I wanted to end it before I got carried away :) hope you liked it!