Authors: Bethany Daniel
She laughed at first, but when she saw I was serious she fully turned towards me and kissed me and said, "Yes, I will marry you. Even if it's in a cheesy little white chapel in Vegas with an Elvis Impersonator, because I love you, Liam Warren, and you know what?"
"What's that?" I asked, pulling her against me.
"I think Katy Warren has a nice ring to it." She grinned before kissing me and I smiled down at her.
"I couldn't agree more."
I shake myself out of the memory, looking around to make sure Katy isn't in ear shot before dialing Theo's number.
"Boulder City Theater Group, Theo speaking."
"Hey Theo, its Liam, is everything all good to go?"
"It sure is. The stage has every color of flower you requested, and a table with fancy linens is all set up. I hope it all goes according to plan."
I smile. "I do, too. I think it's going to be a big surprise." I look down at my watch. "We'll be there in a few hours."
"I'll be here. Talk to you later." He hangs up and I take a deep breath.
I don't know why I feel nervous about this. It's not like I'm worried about her saying no, but I'm not one to just lay everything out like I want to with Katy. I love her more than anything, and it's about time I proved it.
Chapter 26
After Katy's appointment, I help her to the car and open her car door for her.
"So, what do you want to do now?” I ask, linking my hand with hers.
"I really don't want to go back to my parents’ house.” She frowns, looking out the window, and I grin. Good, that'll make this even easier to pull off.
"I know somewhere we can go."
"And that would be?"
"You'll see." I smile over at her before looking behind me to back out of the parking spot.
I start the drive down roads that I used to be able to drive mindlessly. These roads take us to the place that changed my life both for the better and for the worse.
"We're going to the theater, aren't we?" Katy asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"We are." I look at her out of the corner of my eye.
She smiles over at me and turns to look out the window the rest of the drive.
Once we arrive at the theater, I drive around the back and we are greeted by Theo.
"So nice to see you again, Theo,” I smile, reaching my hand out and shaking his.
"I can't believe my eyes to see Katy beside you again." Theo smiles before shaking Katy's hand.
She smiles back at him, "Hello again, Theo."
Theo motions for us to walk ahead of him, and I pull Katy behind me as we start walking down the hall. As we walk, I eye different posters that are hanging on the wall and smile when I see a picture of myself in what ended up being my greatest theater performance--the one that led to Excite discovering me.
We come to a large set of doors and I squeeze Katy's hand. "This is one of my surprises." I grin before pulling her into the room, and we both take in the setup on the stage. Theo did well.
I pull Katy up the side stairs and onto a satin cushioned chair before taking a deep breath and walking around to each bouquet, plucking a different colored rose to create my own new bouquet. I walk back over to Katy and drop to one knee, presenting the flowers to her. She watches me curiously as she takes them from me.
"Katy, I know that I royally screwed up four years ago. This is the very stage I gave that grand performance on; the one that got me noticed by Excite and turned my world--our world--upside down. I used to think that that was my biggest moment, my greatest accomplishment. But I was wrong, and do you know why?"
She shakes her head and I can see many different emotions swirling in her eyes. "Why?"
"Because
you
are my greatest accomplishment, Katy, without you, I wouldn't have ever had the confidence to pursue this life. You pushed me to come here and audition that first time. And then after we got married, everything happened so fast and I forgot to look at the person beside me, instead of those all around me. I love you so much, Katy."
She takes a breath and reaches for my hand. "I love you, too."
I reach into my pocket and pull out the little black box that holds the princess cut diamond ring I bought for her so long ago. "Katelyn Marie Warren, will you do me the honor of marrying me again?"
She laughs and pulls me towards her, kissing me. "Yes!"
I grin, pulling her up out of the chair and spin her around. "I can't wait to see you in a wedding dress," I whisper against her ear.
She laughs, wiping tears out of her eyes. "This was definitely a good surprise."
"Just don't expect jewelry with every surprise, ok?” I smirk down at her.
"Wouldn't dream of it," She smiles, kissing me again.
We hear the door creak open and look over to see Theo peeking inside. He smiles when he sees us wrapped up in each other.
"I take it you said yes again, Ms. Katy?" He smiles over at her.
She nods, returning his smile. "Yes sir, I did." She looks down at her ring.
"I'm very happy to hear it, and to have been a part of it."
"Thank you, Theo, for everything you did back when I was just trying to be good on stage, and for today. I really appreciate it."
He
bows slightly, "Of course. You're our greatest success story. Maybe the next time you're in town you could come speak with our younger groups, show them that it really can happen for anyone."
"I'd be happy to." I squeeze Katy's hand and we start making our way off stage, "Oh, hey, Theo?"
"M-hm?"
"Look for a donation; I know that big production is coming up."
He smiles over at me and reaches his hand out. "Thank you, Liam, it really means a lot that you remember your roots."
I look over at Katy and nod. "I'm not going to forget them again."
Chapter 27
The whole drive back to the Parker's house our hands are entwined tightly and we both just keep laughing at each other. When we stop in the driveway, I look down at Katy's new ring and grin. "I love you, baby, ready to go face the mini-paparazzi in there?" I tease, looking at the front door.
She laughs, opening the door. "Let's just hope my mom doesn't have her camera charged and ready. Otherwise it
will
be like the paparazzi."
We walk hand-in-hand inside and are hit by the smell of spices in the air. Katy drags me into the kitchen, where we see Krista and Scott helping Mrs. Parker cut up veggies and stirring things on the stove.
"Hey, how did things go?" Katy asks, letting go of me and walking towards Krista.
"Good. They made me go over every single detail...again. And took notes on every little thing. I've pretty much been cleared of doing anything wrong. And we have permission to leave the city as long as they have our contact info!"
"Oh, that's great!" Katy grins, hugging her.
Before Katy even pulls away all the way, Krista grabs her left hand with wide eyes. "Oh my God, what is that?"
Katy smiles shyly as I walk over, wrapping my arm around her waist.
"He re-proposed, so of course I said yes!"
Krista squeals high enough to make me flinch and grabs Katy in a tight hug before appraising the ring again. "Nice job, Warren."
I smile at her and shrug. "Thanks."
Mrs. Parker walks over and takes Katy into her arms. “Oh Katelyn, I’m so happy for you two. I always knew that somehow you would work it all out." She smiles before turning and giving me a stern look. “Liam Warren, if you hurt her again, I can’t promise that Phil or Derek won’t hurt you."
“Yes ma’am. I don’t plan on ever being that stupid again.”
“That’s real good to hear, son.” Mr. Parker walks up behind me, slapping me hard on the back; I gulp before looking him in the eye. He just smiles at me before turning and hugging Katy.
"Congrats, man." Scott puts his hand up to high five, “Sounds like we’ve got some celebrating to do!”
"That we do, man, but I think the celebrating can wait 'till we make it to that getaway. I want to be as far from prying eyes and cameras as possible."
"I'm on it," he says, pulling out his phone and walking into the other room to begin getting everything set in motion.
"Ok, Kate, you have to spill the proposal details!" Krista grabs her arm and pulls her over to the couch, and I shake my head, going after Scott.
He sits on his computer, clicking through one page after another, and I plop down next to him in one of the hard wooden chairs. "What are you doing?"
"I got everything booked. Flights are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, but what I'm doing now," he lowers his voice, looking towards the entryway for anyone nearby, "is seeing if there are some special musicians, like violinists or something, for the proposal. I want to set up a fancy dinner, have some stylists come along with us and get the girls dolled up and all that." He shrugs. "I want it all to be perfect. Krista deserves it, and after you going all out, I really have to!" he teases.
I laugh and shake my head. "Good luck man. I don't think you have anything to worry about, though. I bet you could propose in grungy workout clothes and she'd still say yes."
He smiles, shrugging his shoulders. "I can only hope, but I want to get it all set up right."
I nod and stand up, patting his shoulder before walking back to the dining room where Katy and Krista are leaning towards each other and whispering.
"What are you two whispering about?"
"Just girly chat," Krista grins. "So did Scott get everything set?"
"He did. We're leaving early tomorrow afternoon."
"And where are we going?" Katy asks, raising her eyebrows.
"That's a surprise." I wink and laugh at their now frowning faces.
"Another surprise?" Katy asks.
"M-hmm, just remember I said not to expect jewelry with every surprise." I smirk at her and kiss her forehead before getting up and going back to check on Scott's researching progress.
He's barely told me about the violinist he's hired when the girls come into the room. He scrambles to close the window on the computer screen before Krista can see it.
I snicker at him and walk over to Katy, who slips her hand into mine. "Krista's going to ask Scott, but I thought I'd ask you, too...can I get at least a tiny hint of where we're going?” she pouts up at me.