The Black Swan | Reposted

Chapter 55 - Family Matters

The practices hurt my feet and my heart. I was scared. I was getting scared as time got closer and closer to this major event in my life. I was scrambling too, helping Niall plan this wedding and all the last touches.

"Fucking hell," he shouted over lunch. "I need to get my ring,"

"Breathe," I laughed. "Niall, it's all coming together, breathe." He nodded and took a bite of his sandwich. "I have the dress and I will bring it by to the hotel room where she will get ready. I have the hair stylist and makeup artist done and they know what room to meet us in. I have all of what she'll need and you have your end covered. Well, how are you proposing?"

A big grin spread across his face. "You want to know?"

"Of course!" I nearly squealed.

"All right, the wedding is late Saturday night, you know, the whole candle lit under that amazing canopy in that hall the Plaza has.' He smiled. "So... since it's late," he took a breath. "Sarah just loves, loves you know, anything dramatic. I thought the bigger the better. Well, first, I bought her these heels by some designer she always goes on and on about, and after I propose I'm going to ask if she'll walk down the aisle to me, in them, tonight."

"Oh that's perfect!" I gushed. "Sarah loves her shoes."

"She does. So that's how I'll tell her we're getting married that night." He laughed. "Anyway, what I'm thinking for the proposal is something big. I want to almost relive our entire relationship, or have her relive it without even realizing it."

"How are you going to pull that off?"

"This is what I'm thinking. I have her cousin in on it because she is flying in for what Sarah thinks is a visit. Now, Sarah will wake up and her cousin will take her to breakfast at our favorite place, Martha's. It's where they always listen to this radio station, where they will play our song. I already have that set. I know she will think of me." I smiled. "Then, they will go to the same movie theater we had our third date, same room too, again, she'll think of me. Then for lunch Kathy, her cousin, she'll take her to the restaurant we had our first date in for lunch, I'm guessing she'll call me by then and say she's thinking of me." He laughed. "Then Kathy will take her to Central Park where we had our first kiss on these benches that I made sure Kathy knows about. I'm guessing by then she'll be very sentimental, Sarah is always like that, so I want Kathy to really bring it home by taking her to the place she said she fell in love with me."

"Where is that?"

He smiled faintly and then almost sadly. "The hospital."

"What?"

"Sarah's grandfather died about... four months into us dating? She was a wreck; they were honest to God best friends. She adored him. Sarah said the way I took care of her made her love me. It's when she said she knew for a fact that I was the one. Kathy is going to claim she has to pick up a script from a doctor, I just know Sarah will be thinking of it. Then Kathy will kill more time by taking her to her favorite shops and get her dolled up, a new dress, that kind of stuff. Then after a few little places, little shops we go to, Kathy secretly spraying my cologne when she's not looking." He laughed hard. "Then later that night they'll come and Sarah will know this, thinking we're just having dinner but Kathy will fake being sick. I know Sarah, she'll chat my ear off as we walk to the restaurant about how she couldn't get away from our song all day, and our time together. I'll hold her hand and listen and fucking feel like I'm dying," he breathed out. "I'll get something to eat and probably just stare at her the whole time. Instead of hailing a cab home I'll say I want to take her some place special. I'll take her where I first said I loved her."

"Where was that?" A dreamy sigh escaped my lips as I listened to the incredibly beautiful gesture, the amazing lengths he was going to for her.

"I told Sarah I loved about a half hour away at Forest Park Carousel. Have you been?" I shook my head. "It's closed for the winter, well, it's supposed to be." He smirked. "I paid a fucking small fortune but the guy said he'd turn it on as soon as she stepped on it with me and make it sing and spin. It's so old, she loved it. I remember I said I loved her, I practically yelled it at her. I remember that, she was wearing a mint dress and her hair was pulled back,"