Love Is a Losing Game

After deciding that they needed to get away from everything for a while, just the two of them, Matt had offered Brian and Angie the use of his cabin up in Big Bear considering Angie was too early on in her pregnancy to fly anywhere.

So after sorting some time off work the two of them, plus Pinkly had headed up to Big Bear, finding themselves in a large wood-fronted cabin, surrounded by large pine trees, with a thin dusting of snow on the roof.

They had been there three days, and had decided to take a walk to the lake, Pinkly sat in Angie’s arms, barking at every squirrel she saw.

When they reached the lake brain manoeuvred him self so that he was stood behind Angie, his arms wrapped around her waist, his chin resting on her shoulder.

“I love you.” he murmured softly into her ear, his lips brushing her cheek in a brief kiss.

“Love you too.” she replied with a smile. There was a brief silence, although Angie was aware of Brian opening his mouth to talk several times but failing to utter a sound.

“Bri, just say it.” she coaxed gently.

“Okay, I was just wondering if you’d thought about what we were going to tell people, you know about the baby?” he asked almost inaudibly.

“What do you mean?” she asked just as quietly.

“Well obviously Stuart, Matt and Aly all know the truth, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to broadcast it to everyone else or not.” He replied.

Angie sighed, thinking about his question. “To be honest, I hadn’t really given it much thought. I’m still trying to get used to the idea of actually being pregnant.”

“Sorry.” Brian murmured against her ear.

“Don’t apologise Bri. You’re right; we’ve got to decide what exactly we’re going to say to people. Especially if the baby’s born with his blue eyes or something.” she said pausing briefly as she collected her thoughts. “Would you be okay telling people, well our close friends and your family the truth?”

“Dad probably won’t like it at first but he’ll come round when he realises that I’m happy with the decision and that I love you and our baby.” He said, his voice becoming almost a whisper as he kissed her cheek.

“You don’t know how unbelievably happy you’ve made me by saying you’ll stand by me with
this Brian.” she said quietly.

“You don’t know how unbelievably happy you make me period. I love you Angela Norton and nothing or no one is going to change that and I’m going to be with you through this every step of the way.” He told her, turning her gently in his arms before pressing his lips firmly onto hers.

“Come on, let’s head back and I’ll cook us a nice meal and we can curl up in front of the fire.” He said pecking her lips briefly again and taking hold of her hand.

*~*~*

Being told to relax on the sofa, Angie sat on the sofa reading with Pinkly curled up next to her. As he prepared their meal, Brian couldn’t help but watch her with a smile on his face. It had been a little more than a year ago since they first met; a little under six months of dating, but here he was perfectly sure that he’d truly found the woman he’d spend the rest of his life with. He’d never felt a love like this before. He wanted to be around her all the time, and when he wasn’t he was thinking about her. She even managed to make her way into his dreams more often than not.

The thought of her not being in his life scared him. The thought of her being upset hurt him. It broke his heart every time he saw a sad look on her face or a tear in her eye. That was why he knew that he couldn’t walk away from her, or the baby. He loved her. Plain and simple. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, raise the baby as his, and have a family of their own.

Turning down the heat to allow the food to simmer gently, Brian leaned over the back of the sofa to kiss her forehead before heading upstairs to the bedroom. He took the carry all from the small closet and placed it on the bed, reaching a hand into one of the side pockets to retrieve the small black ring box he had placed in there while he was packing. He sat on the edge of the bed and slowly opened the box, smiling as he looked down at the simple solitaire, princess cut ring. He’d known the moment he saw it that it was the perfect ring for Angie. He closed the box again, tucking it into his pocket before heading back down stairs.

“I’m gonna serve up now okay.” he said quietly as he leaned over the sofa again to kiss her forehead before heading back to the kitchen.

They ate dinner in almost complete silence, Angie sensing that there was something on Brian’s mind. They then retreated back to the sofa, Brian pulling her gently into his arms, placing a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Brian, you’re having one of those moments again.” Angie asked, turning so that she could look up at him.

“What do you mean? What kinda moment?” he asked nervously.

“The ones where you do a goldfish impression instead of just coming out and saying whatever it is you wanna say. Is everything okay?” she replied with a smile.

“You know me so well don’t you?” he teased with a smile, kissing her nose.

“Better than you think.” She replied with a grin. “So come on spill.”
Brian nodded as he took a deep breath. “Okay, there is something. Something I’ve actually wanted to say for a while now.” he began nervously.

“I know we haven’t been together all that long really, but I don’t think that time should be a great factor when you love someone as much as I love you. I know these last couple of months haven’t been easy on either of us and I almost fucked up by being stubborn, but recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I’ve been thinking about my future, about our future. It’s you Angie. I love you so much and every day I feel like I’m loving you more. I want us to be together, forever. To grow old together, have kids and grandkids together.” he said, reaching into his pocket as he spoke.

“Angela Norton, will you marry me?” he asked holding out the open ring box in front of her, his heart racing.

Angie stared at the beautiful ring in front of her, her heart racing as a smile quickly took over her lips.

“Yes.” she breathed quietly, her stomach doing somersaults.

“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.” she said louder, pushing herself up so that she could crash her lips to his.

“I love you.” he muttered against her lips.

“I love you too.” she replied slowly pulling away to stare into his eyes.

With a large smile on his lips, Brian took the ring out of the box and slipped it gently onto her finger.

“A perfect fit.” He whispered, kissing her cheek.

“It’s beautiful and perfect.” She replied, holding out her hand to look at it.

“Just like you.” he replied placing another kiss to her cheek.

“And you.” she replied with a smirk, turning to face him again, kissing him forcefully on his lips. Kissing her back, Brian cupped her face, slipping his tongue past her lips as he gently pushed her back so that she was led on the sofa, before he began to remove their clothes.