That's What You Get When You Let Your Heart Win

"Mom, I'm going to be late for my date if you don't get your ass down to the resturant! I already gave you and dad my present, and Jeremy and Tay did, too. So I have no clue what you're doing making dad wait so long!" I heard. Tonight was our 24th aniversery.

Twenty-four years I'd been married to Joshua Neil Farro as Fallen Lenoe Farro. Eighteen years we'd actually been parents. "Madden, I'll be out in a minute! Taylor's in here helping me get ready!" I yelled back. My one and only daughter smiled at me and put my pearl necklace around me, then hugged me from behind the chair I was sitting in and smiled at our refelction in the mirror.

"You look so hot mom, Dad isn't going to remember his own name!" she said. Taylor Emma Farro looked just like me. Almost down to every freckle. Her twin, on the other hand, Jeremy Neil Farro was a nearly spitting image of his father. Madden? Well, he turned out to be half and half.

"I still can't believe that you're dressing me up, whether I'm 40 or I'm 24!" I said. Taylor rolled her eyes before picking up her bag and coming to kiss my cheek goodbye.

"I'm heading over to Aunt Lia's! Andrea, Chiyo, and Kika are having a sleep over!" she said, waving goodbye to me before heading down to her car in the drive way. Little Andrea, like Lia and I predicted, was in head-over-heels love with my little Madden, and he felt the same. Very much an 'item' with them two!

Chiyo and Kika were the Asian twins Hayley and Nat had adopted, and the four of the daughters were obviously best friends since near birth, regardless of their age differences (Andrea bein the oldes, Kika being the youngest by just a few minutes). Jeremy and Lia had one more child, Exavier, who was born only a few years after everyone else. But my Jeremy and him are best friends nonetheless.

"C'mon mom! I have to drive you to the diner before picking up Andrea!" Madden called. I raised an eyebrow and picked up my bag that matched the simple black dress I was wearing. I may have been into my early 40's, but I still looked at least 32.

"Really, cause Taylor just went down to Andrea's for a sleep over," I told him. Madden sighed and pulled both Jeremy and I out to the car.

"Yeah, and Exavier is also having a sleep over, so I'm going to pick Andrea up so we can get the take out for the party, duh. Mom, I've only told you this five times since yesterday," he said. Jeremy was in the back playing with some pencils he found on the floor, tapping them madly on his lap, humming the chorus to Smells Like Teen Spirit along with his beat.

He was going to be just like his Uncle Zac. "Well, just hurry up and get to the diner, please. Your dad's probably wondering where I am as we speak!" I said. Madden rolled his eyes but kept the car going, my nerves growing with excitment with every little mile we went. I recognized the place as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.

"You two behave yourselvs, and make sure to tell Aunt Lia that your mother is eternally grateful for the night off!" I said as I hurried out of the car. Jeremy and Madden nodded, saying goodbye as I closed the door and walked up to the host on the inside of the building. He smiled at me.

"I'm meeting a Mr. Farro here," I told him. He 'oh'ed, then told me to follow him. I really remembered this place from the inside. It was the resturant where Josh proposed to me. We came here again after I told him I was pregnant the first time. And now for our 24th anniversery.

Josh smiled when he saw us coming, and I smiled, too, walking over to him and planting a kiss on his lips before taking the seat next to him. "The kids get to Lia's safetly?" he asked. I nodded, laying my head on his shoulder.

After everything we'd been through together, we ended up like this; still sappy after 24 years of marrige. We'd gone through friends, tours, mishaps, miscarriges, babies, break ups, get back togethers, virginities, and most of all, love toghether. We shared so much, and asked so little of each other. I felt we had the perfect relationship.

"You look beautiful, Fallen," he told me. I blushed and kissed him again. Even after nearly thirty years of knowing Joshua Neil Farro, he still knows how to make me feel like I'm the only woman he sees. "And I will always love you," he finished.

"You're the most amazing person on this planet, Josh. And I will always love you. Even when Madden and Jeremy have to help us up stairs, or when Taylor has to get us into bed because we can't by ourselvs, I'll still love you then."

I looked around the building. There was a couple in the booth across from us, and the guy looked beyond nervous. I pointed to them, and Josh smiled, moving me so he could go over to their table, the crazy fool he was.

"Excuse me, but I'd like to talk to you for a minute, sir," he requested. The man looked up at him with a quizzical look, but Josh went on anyway. "I see that you're ready to ask your lady here a question, and I'd like to make it easier on you, if only for this moment. See that woman over there? She's my wife, can you believe it? I've been her happy husband for 24 years, through thick and thin. And I propoused to her in this very booth. Even after 24 years of being with her, I'm still amazed at how much love we share. And I'd like you to know that, without the help of this building, this booth, we'd probably be in two different places right now, with two very different people," he said.

"But we still love each other, because that's what you get when you let your heart win."