Footsteps for a Bride-to-Be

August 24th, 2011

1:00pm - Debbie Phelps's Home

“Explain again why Baby Phelps won’t come stay with Aunt Hilary?” Hilary spoke to Baby Phelps as she had him sitting on her lap while I was slowly unpacking all his things from the bag. It was enough to last two weeks, but Michael and I were only going to be away from our little boy for at least a week, depending on Lindsay and the meetings with all those people helping organize the wedding at the retreat. Michael wasn’t with me to say goodbye to be with our son because he had to do a final round of training, and that caused a bit of an argument earlier that day because that gave me the impression that he didn’t have any interest of saying goodbye to his child.
I gave a short chuckle. “Oh Hil, you know you’ll have to ask Debbie about all of it.”
“Well, that’s true, Mom would always come first.”
“Mitchie and Grandma Debbie would get along so well,” I smiled as I clapped my hands together and finally finished unpacking. “Now, that’s all that I need to leave behind, um, I think Debbie has the spare keys to the house and-“ I tapped on both sides of my pockets followed by my back pocket and pulled out my cell phone to check the time. "It looks like I have to get home and finish my packing," I mumbled, rather unhappy that Michael had no time at all to even turn up. I slightly furrowed my brows when I noticed that he sent me a half-assed apology message.
"So MP isn't really coming?" Hilary sighed as she stood from the sofa and lifted Baby Phelps along the way, holding him with on hand as they wandered closer to me.
I mimicked her sigh. Nope, not at all." I shook my head and walked closer to the both of them. I took Baby Phelps from my Sister-in-law's grasp. I help my dear son close, a small smile curved to my lips as he did the same. Staring into his brown eyes brighten from his sight of me made me so happy, I was going to be away from him again, and as much as I wanted to spend as much time with my little boy before he became a teenage. I knew how I was, and from what Michael told me, I guess our Baby Phelps was going to be a bit of a little trouble.
"I'm going to miss you, Mitchie," I whispered to the baby, giving him a big kiss on the cheek, causing a cute, little giggle to escape his lips. "I will see you when I get home. You behave yourself for your Grandma, and you better not cause any problems with Aunt Hilary too."
"Don't you worry, Anne, this little guy will be well-behaved, compared to his Dad when he was younger," Hilary reassured me as I gave Baby Phelps one more kiss on the cheek before giving him to his Aunt. I gave him a quick wave followed by a group hug that included Hilary before I left. I was planning to distract myself, trying to drag on time so that I wouldn't say good bye.

Debbie wasn't home that time, she had to leave for an errand, so Baby Phelps and Hilary were the only ones in the home, and the thought of leaving Baby Phelps - even though I have done so before - made me feel a bit sad. Even walking to the car was a bit of a slow walk, and driving away from the home was a lot worse. And I couldn't bear with the thought that Michael wasn't even there to say good bye to his boy.
The thought made me angry.
It wasn't a good way to start the day at all.

2:30pm - Our Love Nest

Michael got home half an hour later than I expected, a slight grunt escaped from my lips once I heard the front door open and croak to a close. The lock clicked soon after. His footsteps were slow, heavy and he made it evident that he was home. I saw his shadow form right beside me as I was on the floor, arranging my clothing into the luggage.
There was a silence.
It lasted only a few minutes before he finally opened his mouth. "So, Mitch is okay?" I heard him say as his backpack landed in a thud on the floor not too far from me, and he probably sat down afterwards because I heard the spring of the bed slightly make a noise.
"Yeah," I replied without time to waste.
"My Mom wasn't there, was she?"
"Nope," I answered with a slight huff.
"Anne," Michael called, but I ignored him. "Can we talk?" He asked once more, but no response. Although I slightly flinched as soon as I heard the spring of the bed make a noise and his footsteps came closer to me, the next thing I know, he was gently pulling me to my feet, turning me around to look at him face to face.
"What is there to talk about, Michael?" I shrugged his hands away from me, my nose wrinkled from the scent of the chlorine coming off of his skin.
"Okay, I know I should have been there, but sometimes, I can’t avoid just ignoring the commitments I made," He tried to explain himself. If you called that explaining. "Sometimes, I can’t get out of it."
"I’m okay with you not making any time for me, because I’m used to it, but saying that you can’t for your son, ugh-" I tossed my hand up in the air with a grunt and walked away from him. Outside the room and towards the kitchen.
"Anne, is this the way you really want our little holiday to start?"
I crossed my arms and looked over my shoulder as I came to a halt by the marble counter. He took his spot right next to me, slightly hunched over the counter and looked at me with an apologetic look.
"And if you’d let me finish, I would like to say, I went to see Mitch on my way home, that’s why I’m late," He went on to say. I really wanted to slap him for it.
"Oh, aren’t you funny!" I nearly yelled.
Michael’s signature smile curved on his lips, his arms opened and he pulled me to a hug. I slightly let out a small cry of embarrassment as he muttered, "Doubt I can ever go somewhere without seeing our little guy."
"Michael, I am going to kill you," I groaned against his chest. "I really am going to kill you!"
His laugh made an even bigger fool out of me as he couldn't help let one out.
"I love you," He whispered into my ear as he let go from the embrace, his eyes softened compared to this morning. "You know I couldn't get mad at you, even if I tried. Plus, I know that if I didn't make time for either of you, I’d be feeling guilty for a very long time."
I slapped my hands on both sides of my cheeks, a slight sigh came out of me as my eyes closed. "You are always doing this to me. You are such a bully to your fiancée, Michael Phelps!"
"If I remember correctly, you do this all the time. Actually, you did this to me the other day."
I began to giggle.

Three days ago, Michael got on my nerves for not committing to the planning of our wedding, so I made him feel guilty throughout the whole day by saying that he didn't need to do anything and that he could just leave me alone to do everything on my own. Apparently, while he was training, he got a bit distracted. He tried his best to ignore it, but throughout his interview with a magazine, he really couldn't hold it in and got a bit distracted in the interview that some of the things he said were wrong. Michael got home that day and he went full force with trying to help me with the wedding that I got annoyed at him for that too.
He said there was no pleasing me, but he loved me either way.
Poor guy, and he has to marry me too.

"I need a shower, I smell like chlorine," Michael thought out loud as he took a sniff of his hand. I reopened my eyes and cocked an eyebrow. A grin appeared on his face as he asked, "Want to join me?"
I peeked over at the clock hanging on the wall, it was near three, our flight was at 7 o’clock and we needed to be there soon. I gave his chest a light tap and I replied, "Baby, I would love to, but we need to get going as soon as possible. So hurry it up and we’ll go."
"You owe me?" He teased, giving me a peck on the lips, a smack on my butt before he disappeared off down the hall. I shook my head and looked over at the fridge, there was a photo stuck on with the use of a few magnets. It was a family photo of us at the park.

That was my little family, and I was very happy every time I thought about it.

6:30pm - Baltimore Airport

Derek was the only one who would drop us off because Lia was out of town, Debbie and Hilary were taking care of Baby Phelps, and everyone else was busy. I was sending some final messages to my Parents and my Brothers, who were all spamming me messages that seemed a bit more repetitive the more I read through all of them. After checking in and getting our tickets, Derek was prepared to leave.
"You two have fun," He said with a nod. "Lia and I will visit little Mitch once and a while, alright?"
"Thanks," I grumbled under my breath as I finally shut off my phone and



August 27th, 2011 - Maui, Hawaii

9:15pm - Hotel Wailea

I opened the door to the hotel and my eyes opened wide. Even though I was exhausted and it was late, my fiancé prepared this whole room to have some sort of romantic vibe, despite it having some lacking touches here and there, but I knew he was up to something. We actually realized that we didn't have time to actually do anything romantic because we were stuck with having a lot of things to do, and that night was going to be the only time we were able to do just that.
"Michael, what is this?" I gasped as I scanned the whole room. There was a giant balloon in the middle that said, 'Hah, Six Years', which wasn't - in any way - less surprising considering that was definitely how Michael would've greeted or said things that would hit reality to me.
"What does the balloon say, Anne?"
I walked over to the balloon, grabbing it by the string and chuckled. "This is your way of showing me that we are celebrating six years together?" I pointed to the balloon and turned his way. A laugh escaped from me, and in an instant, I heard his phone click that indicated that he took a photo. I stopped laughing and my face straightened before turning confused. “What was that?”
He gazed lovingly at his phone with a goofy smile before he tucked it in his pocket, a grin still on his face as he shrugged. “Nothing,” He replied while closing the door and dragging our luggage to the room.

Suspicious.

I followed him to the room and released the balloon when I saw the room. On the bed, there was a pretty red dress, accessories and even a pair of black wedged shoes.
"Okay, so what are you planning?" I crossed my arms and cocked an eyebrow up in confusion.
"Hurry up and get dressed," He beckoned to the dress as he rummaged through his luggage and took out a few pieces of his clothing and walked into the bathroom. Michael didn't say anything else, but as I finished getting dressed from head to toe, I realized, where the hell was my engagement ring?
I unpacked my luggage, emptied every pocket and found there was nothing. I heard the door croak open as Michael asked me what I was doing. I grumbled under my breath while I wandered to his bag and unpacked his bag. My fiancé stopped me halfway and pulled me up as he said, "We don’t have time for whatever you’re doing, Anne, we have to go."
"Where are we-" I couldn't even finish speaking as he took me out of the hotel suite, to the elevator and down the lobby. “Michael Phelps, why are you in such a rush?” I managed to finally question as we got to the rented car, the driver greeted us briefly before he took off. I fixed my hair while eyeing my silent fiancé, and I know this was going to do something that’ll make me speechless because he was like that.

Michael Phelps was like that.

The twenty minute drive was quiet, no one but the radio host was talking. The car ride was so quiet that I noticed the driver breathed rather heavily. When the car stopped, I noticed where we were, and it was Wailea beach. It was empty too, but after a while of scanning the area, I saw that there was a small candlelight picnic set up on the middle. It was a flash back to when we were last there with Baby Phelps and when we were starting a little family tradition there.
My left hand was held on to and in a few seconds, I was whiffed away from the car park to the picnic that was laid out in the middle of the beach. It was a few steps away from the water, and probably the same amount from the car park, so he must’ve had someone organize that. I gasped for air once we stopped and I forced Michael to turn to me. "What are you doing?" I half-laughed while tapping on the side of his face. “I can’t be man handled, baby," I complained.
"I'm not," He laughed and pressed his lips on my forehead. "I was in a rush because I didn't want our stuff to be taken away since Joe the driver had to leave to pick us up," He explained and sat me down.
"Well, why dress me up so fancy when we’re really just at the beach?"
"It fit the occasion?"
"Uh, no it doesn't," I shook my head. I didn't wait for him and subconsciously opened the picnic basket, and inside, there was something sparkling and caught my attention straight away. I reached in without any hesitation and pulled out the little box and saw my ring. It was my engagement ring. A note on the side that read, "Will you marry me?"
Confused, I looked up to Michael for answers, and he smiled so softly towards me, grabbing a hold of the ring and placed it right between us. "Six years together," He started to speak. "I put this ring on you not too long ago, and not long now, we are going to get married. This is that ring that will be wrapped around your ring finger for the rest of your life, but there’ll be another ring on top of that to show off to everyone that you’ll be hitched. Before we got to the hotel, I gave this to the receptionist to set all this up, and I bet you didn’t notice, but there was an extra touch to this ring."
"What is it?" I muttered.
He turned the ring around and showed me the inside. There was a small engraving of the date he proposed to me. While I was staring so intensely at the ring, Michael lifted my left hand and asked, "So, will you marry me, Roxanne Miller?"
I nodded. I was instantly reminded of that night he proposed to me on that swing. The ring fit perfectly around my finger as he slipped it on, I let out a little sob and wrapped my arms around him.

"I’ll be your Mrs Phelps."