All Yours Somehow

“MARRIED!?” Holly screamed. “Like, married?!”

“Yes.”

“John actually asked you to marry him?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Like, he wants to be your husband?”

“For the last time, YES!” I said.

“And what did you say?” she asked, coming back a normal tone.

Instead of answering her, I just held up my left hand.

“Holy shit, it’s huge,” she said, her eyes going wide at the ring on my finger.

“I know, right,” I said, in a very matter-of-fact way.

“I actually kinda can’t believe this is happening,” she said, shaking her head. “Who would have known that you would actually end up becoming Mrs O’Callaghan.”

I smiled at the thought of becoming John’s wife and being Mrs O’Callaghan.

“Earth to Hannah?” Holly said, waving her hand in front of my face as I zoned out. “I can only guess what you’re thinking about!” she laughed.

I smiled back at her, “But all this means I have a massive favor to ask.”

“What?” she asked, looking confused.

“Will you please be my maid of honor and help me plan a wedding?” I grinned.

“Ahh! Of course!” she said, jumping up and hugging me. “Are you sure you want me to do it?”

“Holly, you’ve been my best friend for the past 11 years,” I told her. “Of course I want you do it!”

---------

“So did you tell the guys?” I asked John as we sat down in front of the TV later that evening. Whilst I spent the day with Holly, John had gone for band practice with the guys ahead of their up coming UK tour.

“Yeah I did,” he smiled.

“And?”

“They were stoked,” he laughed. “Pat actually asked why I hadn’t done it sooner.”

“Oh bless him,” I said, throwing my legs over John’s lap and snuggled into his body.

“What did Holly say?” he asked.

“She was really excited,” I told him. “Especially when I asked her to be my maid of honor.”

“I bet she was,” he laughed again. “I guess we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us as well now.”

I turned to look at John and smiled.

“I love you,” I said as I continued to stare at his face.

“i love you too, baby, that’s why I asked you to marry me,” he laughed, turning to face me.

“No, like, I really love you,” I said. “You’re completely perfect and I kinda can’t believe you are mine.”

“I am all yours, always,” he told me, pulling me right into him and kissing my head.

Everything was going so well for me and John. We’d been settled in together in the lake house for around a year now, we’d celebrated the holidays all together and we saw the new year in, successfully with each other this time. This was our home now and we were about to become a family. We were growing up.

“We haven’t told our parents,” I suddenly said after a few minutes of silence as we watched the TV.

“What?” John asked, as I snapped him out of his gaze.

“We need to tell our parents that we’re getting married,” I repeated. Why it hadn’t already occurred to me, I didn’t know. We had only gotten engaged yesterday but our families should have been the first people we told, not our friends.

“Why don’t we tell them all together,” John suggested. “You know, our parents, Summer, Ross and Shane.”

A few hours later, and after multiple phone calls, John and I were preparing for the arrival of seven extra people to our home. When we heard the doorbell ring, John turned to me and smiled, “Ready?”

“Sure,” I nodded, as went to let them in. I took one more look around the living room to make sure everything looked acceptable. Neither of our parents came to visit very often, instead we usually went to their homes.

“Hey mom!” I heard John say as his family walked through to where I was.

“Hi Jenny, Jay,” I smiled as they came through. “Hey Shane, Ross, how’re you guys?” I greeted as they all took seats. As we chatted, I did my best to keep my left hand hidden until we broke the news.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again and I jumped up to go answer it, presuming it would be my family.

“Hey dad, hi mom” I smiled, standing back to let them in. “Everyone’s in the living room.”

“What did you need us here for so urgently anyway?” my sister said, stepping inside.

“Nice to see you too, Sum,” I said, quietly as I shut the door.

I followed them into the room, where I saw Shane and Ross were now sat on the floor to make room for my family.

“So is there a reason you brought us all here on such short notice?” my dad asked.

I was sat on the arm of the chair that John was sat in. I looked down at him and smiled and saw him do the same at me.

“I guess it’s time, baby,” he said, standing up and holding his hand out for me. I stood up and gripped his hand as we stood in front of our families.

“So we asked you all here today because we got some pretty big news,” I began.

“Don’t tell me you got my little girl pregnant, John,” my dad joked.

“NO!” John said, turning to me. “No?” I shook my head. “No.”

“So what is it, son?” Jay asked.

“Me and Hannah are engaged,” John told them. “We’re going to be getting married.”

“Well congratulations.” my dad said, standing up and hugging me and shaking John’s hand. His dad then did the same before our mom’s stepped up and smiles spread across their faces. Of course, they went straight for the ring and my mom looked at me and nodded in approval. Truth was, the ring was the most beautiful and amazing thing I’d ever seen in my life, except maybe John. Our mom’s immediately started chatting about wedding plans and began to get carried away.

“Um, we just got engaged yesterday, can we stop with color schemes and venues right now, please?” I asked. I looked at Ross, Shane and Summer who were all still sat down, looking as if the did know what to say.

“Hey, I finally get an official sister!” Ross suddenly jumped up and said, hugging me.

“And I get brothers,” Summer smiled.

“We’ve basically always been your brothers anyway,” Ross told her. Ross and Summer were a close age so had always gotten on well.

Everyone was chatting and making suggestions for the wedding as John and I stood next to each other, once again holding each others hand.

We all fitted together as one big family s well. I honestly couldn’t wait to be an official O’Callaghan.