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Post by Brandon Finn on Dec 28, 2015 22:24:30 GMT
It hadn't really been the easiest secret to keep, but now that Christmas morning had finally arrived, Brandon was actually nervous. After everything that he and Amber had been through, the last thing he had expected to be had been nervous. They had practically grown up together, they had dated on and off enough to cause whiplash, and barely six months ago they had welcomed their son to the world. And yet, for whatever reason, the knowledge that he was actually going to propose was causing him to feel uncharasterically uncertain about it all. It wasn't that he thought that she was going to say no, but after all of this time he felt like it needed to be absolutely perfect, and that was putting a lot of pressure on the situation. It hadn't helped that Cooper had informed Amber that there was a likelihood that it was never going to happen, and while Cassidy had talked him out of proposing then to keep Amber from getting too upset, he still worried that somehow it wasn't going to meet her expectations.
Knowing that he didn't have much time before Brody decided to wake up for the day, he had snuck out of bed and called Cassidy, letting her know that it was time to start bringing all of the pieces together. He retrieved the box that he had felt like had been in his possession for months now and had found himself pacing through the Penthouse while he waited for Cassidy to bring over the new puppy. He couldn't explain why he had thought that now was the best time to include a dog into their lives, but somehow it all seemed to go together: the baby, the dog, and the marriage. Finally getting Cassidy to calm down enough to shoo her back out the door, he tried his best to keep the energetic puppy from making too much noise. It was when he had gotten the ring box fastened to the puppy's collar that the puppy let out a loud, high-pitched bark. Attempting to quiet him down in an attempt to keep Brody from waking just yet, Brandon pet him softly, grinning at him. The proposal felt perfect, he had to admit, he just hoped that Amber agreed.
Hearing rustling coming from the direction of their bedroom, he took a deep breath to prepare himself for the chance that Amber was awake.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Dec 28, 2015 22:39:20 GMT
Christmas had always been Amber's favorite holiday, though she hadn't quite started to have her own perfect Christmas until she'd come back to New York and started spending them with Brandon. While their first Christmas together had hit a few speed bumps - between a debacle with Finn Industries and navigating their way around her pregnancy. Still, she knew this year would be perfect. She'd gone a bit overboard in preparing for Brody's first Christmas given that he wouldn't remember it, but she figured that she would always remember it.
The most recent six months had been incredible. Amber was surprised with how natural it seemed to be a mother, given how nervous she'd been about it during her pregnancy. For a long time she thought she couldn't love anyone or anything as much as she loved Brandon, but now with the baby - it was a different kind of love but it was just as strong. Not too long ago, Cooper had informed her that Brandon had told him that marriage might not be for him and for a bit, Amber needed a while to get through that idea. At first she wondered if it was because of his three failed engagements or because of her first marriage - if he thought that taking that step would somehow ruin what they currently had. She wanted them to be a family so badly, but she knew that marriage or not - they were one. So she'd come to terms with it, telling herself she didn't need to get married. Cassidy said it was bullshit.
When she stretched awake that morning, she was disappointed to find that Brandon wasn't there beside her but assumed that maybe Brody had woken up and her boyfriend had let her sleep in. Then she heard a loud bark and her brow furrowed with confusion, assuming the television might have just been on, she slipped out of bed, wrapping herself in Brandon's shirt from the night before and stepping out of their bedroom. "Merry Chris-" she stopped mid word, blinking as she took in the sight of Brandon with a small husky puppy. Her hands clasped over her mouth. "A dog?"
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Post by Brandon Finn on Dec 28, 2015 23:20:26 GMT
Brandon grinned at her, still amused by the sight of her in his shirt. It was one habit of hers that he couldn't help but find endearing, as well as incredibly sexy. Even now, having just woken up and padded out into the living room, he couldn't help but think of how much he loved her and how convinced he was that he was doing the right thing by asking her to marry him. Letting go of the puppy, he let him wander over to Amber, wondering when she was going to take notice of the additional gift he had planned for her.
Truthfully he hadn't given much thought to what he was going to say to her, he had thought that it would have just come naturally based on their history together and how he felt about her. Maybe, he supposed, that was part of what had been making him nervous.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Dec 28, 2015 23:38:51 GMT
Amber had wanted a dog for a while, she'd even once brought it up to Brandon, but he'd seemed unsure about it. She thought the idea of a dog really completed her idea of what their perfect family should be and thought that Brody would also, eventually, be happy to grow up with a dog the way that she'd always wanted to. She beamed, ecstatic with her Christmas already, she shook her head in disbelief.
Amber bent down, laughing as the puppy jumped up excitedly. "Hi there!" she said to the dog, grinning as the little husky licked the side of her face. "Brandon, he's so adorable," she gushed, before reaching for the dog's collar. "Do you have a name yet?" she asked softly but then paused - her eyes going wide as she realized what was there. She gasped softly as she opened the box secured to the dog's collar. "Brandon," she said slowly. "I think the dog is proposing to me."
Taking a deep breath, she looked up at him, biting her lip before she examined the box and its contents again, even as the dog continued to sniff her and squirmed around in front of her.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Dec 28, 2015 23:57:02 GMT
For a second it seemed like he might have brought some competition into their own home as her attention turned completely to the puppy. When shock covered her features, he grinned at her. There were a dozen ways that he wanted to start telling her how he felt or what he saw in the future for them, but he knew that she already knew all of that. Regardless of whether or not they had planned on getting married some day, he knew that they had at least planned on staying together. "Amber," he started, unable to stop smiling at her. "I love you."
It was weird to think that there was a time in their relationship where he couldn't even manage to say those words to her, in fact he had done everything he could to avoid admitting it to her, or to himself. Now it seemed like it was completely second nature, and it was really the only way that he could think to even begin to describe how he felt about her. It was surprising to himself that he was so convinced that he wanted to get married to her, but after all of this time, he was honestly convinced that it was what he wanted.
"Will you marry me?" he asked finally, feeling like everything they had ever been through had ultimately led to this moment.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Dec 29, 2015 0:31:37 GMT
Amber smiled brightly at Brandon, she carefully removed the ring from its box, standing and turning to stand in front of him. "I love you, too," she told him softly. "So much," she added. And that much was true. She'd been in love with Brandon for so long, she couldn't really remember a time she hadn't felt that way. She nodded up at him. "Yes, I'll marry you. Of course!" she exclaimed before she leaned up to kiss him.
The puppy, hearing her excitement, seemed to run back over to them, running around them trying to see what was going on for a moment before going to sniff around its new home some more. Amber laughed and handed the ring to Brandon, she bit her lip as she put her hand out so he could slide it into her finger. She couldn't stop smiling. She'd thought about what this might feel like for a while now, but for it actually to happen had taken her breath away momentarily.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Dec 29, 2015 0:48:02 GMT
He would never have admitted it to Cassidy, but he was ultimately glad that he had followed her advice and stuck to the plan that he had followed today. Sliding the ring onto her finger, he pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her lips. If he hadn't known that they were already on borrowed time before their son woke up, and if he wasn't a little worried about leaving the new puppy out here by himself, he would have taken Amber directly back to their bedroom. In fact, he couldn't say that he wasn't still thinking about it. Brandon smiled at her, hands resting on her waist as the puppy paced a small circle around the floor before plopping down and closing his eyes.
"He doesn't have a name yet," he told her softly. "I thought you might like to name him." Naming their new dog was only one of the things that he supposed she had to plan for now, he realized. Though, he had to admit, he was fully confident that when it came to the actual wedding planning, he was going to let her handle all of the details, he was more than content to just show up when and where she told him to. Ultimately, the important part was that they were going to get married. The thought made him grin at her again.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Dec 29, 2015 2:21:39 GMT
Amber smiled brightly at Brandon, leaning up to kiss him again. She stood back slightly, looking at her ring. "It's beautiful," she remarked, before turning her attention back to him. For a long while she'd known what her dream wedding would look like, but it looked nothing like her first wedding had. She didn't bother planning anything close to her ideal wedding because the most important part of her dream was that she would be marrying Brandon.
She looked up at him, tilting her head curiously. "I thought you didn't want to get married," she admitted softly. But she then hugged herself to him, still unbelievably amazed at the proposal. She didn't think she could love Christmas anymore but then Brandon had literally given her the gift of a real family for Christmas morning.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Dec 29, 2015 13:52:05 GMT
Brandon couldn't help but laugh softly at her question, having prepared himself for the possibility that she hadn't yet let go of what Cooper had said about the possibility that this proposal was never going to happen. "What gave you that idea?" he questioned teasing her softly.
He knew he hadn't been great at telling her how he had felt about her, and he hadn't always been the best at showing it, but the last couple of years had reminded him of what a relationship could be like when you loved the person that you were with. He regretted that this wasn't the first time that he had ever asked someone to marry him, but as he reflected on it he realized that he wasn't even sure he was the same man anymore. The Brandon Finn who had drunkenly proposed to casual girlfriends on yachts, in restaurants, and had never expected any of it to happen, seemed like a distant memory now. And while that thought had caused panic to set in in the past, he had to admit that he appreciated it now. Maybe it had been Brody that had really brought around the most change, or maybe it was the realization that he couldn't imagine going back to a life like that if it meant not having Amber with him anymore.
"I tried to picture where I thought we would be in five years, ten, twenty, and the thing that I kept coming back to was that conversation we had where we had talked about our future. For whatever reason I couldn't get the picture out of my head of the three of us as family - dog and all - and the more I thought about it, the more I really liked the idea of it. I know that we don't have to get married to do that, but I really do want that too." He smiled at her, kissing her again. "I'm sorry I made you wait so long."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Dec 29, 2015 14:57:16 GMT
It seemed that Amber couldn’t stop smiling. As she listened to Brandon, she beamed at him and shook her head. “Worth the wait,” she assured him, leaning up to kiss him once more, this time much more passionately. She pressed her body up against his, but just as she was wondering how much time they could possibly have alone together, she heard Brody crying in the nursery. She let out a softly laugh and sighed for a moment, “We’re going to revisit this during his nap later,” she told Brandon with a nod before kissing him quickly and turning to get their son.
The dog, seemingly intrigued by this new development and source of noise, let out a loud bark and seemed to follow her right inside of the nursery. Amber smiled down at Brody, who seemed to calm down slightly when he realized someone was coming to get him. “Merry Christmas, Brody,” she said gently, reaching down to pick him up. After changing the baby’s diaper and putting his onesie back on, Amber watched as Brody seemed to realize the dog was there and the two of them seemed to both stare at each other with genuine curiosity. “That’s a doggy,” she told Brody gently. “He’s our new puppy,” she explained. She laughed as Brody seemed to gurgle at the dog before she carried him back into the living room, smiling brightly at Brandon.
“Look, it’s Daddy,” she told him, grinning at the way the baby seemed to light up at the sight of him. “Say, ‘Merry Christmas, Dad,’” she told him, when he just continued to make his own noises, she shrugged. “Close enough.”
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