Give up Forever to Touch You

“You know what I just realised?” Brian asked as he sat on the bench outside the cabin, Andie sat next to him and Abi on his lap.

“What’s that babe?” Andie replied lifting her gaze to meet his.

“This is the first time she’s seen snow.” He replied with a smile.

“Yeah it is.” She replied returning his smile watching as he stood up with their daughter in his arms and made his way to the top of the stairs, gently picking up a handful of snow and sprinkling it over her. Her eyes flinched but she giggled, Andie smiling as she watched Brian took more snow into his hand to sprinkle over his daughter.

“She’s gonna get frostbite on her nose if you carry on.” Andie warned playfully as Brian dropped more snow over her small face.

“You wanna go back in and warm up by the fire?” he asked turning and walking back over to her.

“Yeah, anyway, it’ll be time for her nap soon.” she replied lifting herself up off the bench.
Once inside, they sat down on the floor next to the sofa, encouraging Abi to walk between them while holding their hands.

“She keeps this up and she’ll be walking down the aisle by herself when we get married.” Brian said with a smile.

“She’ll definitely be walking by her birthday.” Andie replied.

“Do you want to set a date for our wedding?” he asked.

“Well, it would help with the rest of the planning.” She replied dryly.

“How about end of April?” he asked

“Sounds fine. Where?” she replied.

“Well, I was thinking The Plaza. We could have the whole thing there or if you’d rather, we could have a church wedding and then have the reception there.” he replied.

“The Plaza sounds perfect, for the ceremony too.” she replied with a smile.

“That’s sorted then, I’ll call them later and arrange a day.” he said as Abi lost her balance, gently falling to the floor with a small cry. “Is someone getting tired?”

“Pass her here, I’ll go put her down.” she said holding her arms out for her.

“I’ll do it. you just curl up on that sofa and wait for me to come back.” He said standing up and making his way over to the large wooden stair case with Abi.

When Brian returned, he joined Andie on the sofa, pulling her into an embrace and kissing her forehead. “Time for our nap too.” he muttered quietly, closing his eyes.

Andie smile and kissed his cheek, “Bri, I’ve been thinking.” She whispered after a moment’s silence.

“Uh-oh, am I going to like this?” he asked peaking an eye open.

“I don’t know.” she muttered quietly.

Brian lifted a hand up and ran his fingers through her hair, “Just tell me baby.”

“I want to go back to work.” She said slowly, her voice not reaching much higher than a whisper.

“As a nanny?” he asked.

“No, I don’t think that will be suitable now, not with Abi to think about too.” she replied. “But something with children.”

“What’s brought this on?” he asked.

Letting out a low breath, Andie looked up at him, “I need to work Bri. I don’t want to be a kept woman. I don’t want people thinking that I’m a gold digging whore that’s only with you for your money and fame.”

“No one thinks that babe.” He argued softly.

“I’m sure there are some fans out there who think that. Besides, I like working.” She replied with a smile.

“They can think what they like. But actually I saw something a few weeks back that you might be interested in.” Brian replied.

Andie narrowed her eyes at him, a smile on her lips. “What have you been up to Haner?”

“I haven’t been up to anything. But before we went on tour I saw this place for sale on Slater Avenue, close to the park. An old day care centre.” He explained.

“The light blue building? Yeah I spotted it too. But there’s no way I could afford-“

“We can.” Brian interrupted with a smile “You’ve got to realise that we’re a family now, what’s mine is yours. We’ll buy that place and you can run it.”

Andie stared at him, a smile on her face, “You really willing to do this for me?”
“Of course I do baby.” He said letting out a small chuckle, “If you really want to go back to work, then this will be ideal. You’d be doing the job you love and you could have Abi there too.”

“You’ve thought it all through haven’t you?” she asked.

“Sure have. I even went to the bank to talk about buying it. We’ve even got an appointment to view the place together when we get back.” He replied smirking.

“Really?”

“Yeah. And if you like it, we’ll talk to the realtor and put in an offer.” He replied watching her eyes light up. “I was tempted to go ahead and buy it; it was going to be a wedding present to you.” he admitted.

Continuing to smile, Andie pressed her lips against his, “I fucking love you Brian Elwin Haner Junior.” She muttered.

“I love you too Andrea Jennings.” He replied against her lips.

***

As Brian pulled up into the parking lot Andie cast her eyes over the light blue building in front of her a smile appearing on her lips.

“You like it already don’t you?” Brian said, drawing her attention to him.

She nodded with a smile, getting out of the car and walking across the parking lot to the large red double front doors where a man in his late twenties stood with a leather-bound file.

He stepped forward and greeted them with a handshake and let them inside, “I’ll let the two of you look around, just yell if you have any questions.”

“Thanks.” Brian replied with a smile as he took hold of Andie’s hand and led her into one of the large rooms. he watched with a smile on his face as Andie took everything in, her eyes scanning over the room. he then showed her the other rooms, ending the tour in another one of the play rooms.

“This would be perfect for a soft play area, and I could have a messy area over on that side.” She said stepping away from Brian’s grasp to take a better look at the room. she turned at the sound of Brian’s laughter. “What?”

“Do you realise you’ve done that in every room so far?” he asked.

“Done what?” she asked confused.

“Taken one look at the room and planned what you want to do with this place. I think it’s safe to say putting a deposit down for this place was a good idea.” He replied as Andie’s eyes widened.

“Did I just hear you correctly?” she asked quietly.

“I came to take a look yesterday. I knew you’d like it, spoke to the agent and then went to the bank to talk about buying it. it was doable so I made an offer, they accepted and the deposit was put down this morning.” He explained.

“This morning?” she asked shocked.

“Yeah, didn’t you wonder why it had taken me so long to go to the store earlier?” he asked with a grin.

“You are unbelievable.” Andie said with a small shake of her head.

“Is that in a good way or a bad way?” Brian asked drawing his bottom lip between his teeth.

“In an absolutely wonderful way.” She said stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss his lips.

“Well that’s a relief.” He replied. “Now, do you want to go sign all the paper work and get the keys?”

Nodding, Brian took her hand and they made their way back through to the agent. “Everything okay?” he asked

“Everything’s perfect.” Brian replied, “You got the paper work for Andie to sign?”

“I sure do.” He said opening up his file.

“For me to sign?” Andie queried as she watched the agent sort through a mass of papers.

“Well, yeah, the business is going to be in your name.” he replied.

“But?”

“But nothing. What do I know about child care? The business is yours. This is my wedding gift to you.” he replied gently kissing her cheek as she stared up at him in disbelief.

“What have I done to deserve you Haner?” she asked with a smile as the agent turned and offered her a pen.