Tommy couldn’t wait to see the look on Kristin’s face when she realized where he was taking her. He was quite proud of the fact that he had kept everything about this evening a secret from Kristin for so long. Usually she found out about his plans as soon as he made them but this time he’d been careful. Tommy had used cash to pay for absolutely everything and had even made his calls from a payphone on the street so there would no chance of Kristin overhearing him.
“Are we there yet?” Kristin asked as she impatiently looked out the window at the cars and buildings passing by.
“Almost,” Tommy told her with a chuckle. “You’re like a 4 year old going to Disneyland!”
“I’m so much more excited than any 4 year old ever could be!” Kristin corrected him.
“There,” Tommy said as the limo came to a stop. “We’re here.”
“Where?” Kristin asked excitedly. “Where are we?”
“You’ll see,” Tommy told her before the driver opened Kristin’s door and they both got out of the car.
Tommy watched as a look of realization crept onto Kristin’s face as she looked at her surroundings.
“The Cabaret Room?” she asked as she looked up at him.
“The one and only,” Tommy replied.
“What are we doing here?” Kristin asked him as they walked inside.
“You’ll see,” Tommy told her.
“Oh would you just tell me?” she said as she pulled on his sleeve to make him stand still. “The suspense is killing me!”
“Then let me walk instead of stopping me,” he told her. “And you’d find out a lot faster.”
“Fine,” she sighed as she put her arm through his.
As they walked into the dimly lit room there was not one other person to be seen; they were completely alone. A candle was burning on every table and the atmosphere was perfect.
“Where is everybody?” Kristin asked as Tommy pulled out a chair for her and she sat down.
“Doesn’t matter,” Tommy told her. “I have something I want to give you.”
“A present?” Kristin asked as a smile lit up her face.
“Yes,” Tommy smiled back at her. “You didn’t think I forgot to get you something, did you?”
“Well I thought this was my present,” Kristin told him.
“I’m full of surprises!” Tommy joked with her.
“What did you get me?” Kristin asked; she looked like a kid in a candy store.
“You’re so cute,” Tommy laughed as he pulled a rectangular velvet box out of his jacket pocket. “Here.”
Tommy watched as Kristin took the box from him and smiled at him before carefully opening the box and gazing at what was inside. Inside that velvet box was a beautiful gold chain and hanging on the end of that chain was his grandmother’s engagement ring. He had been waiting for just the right time to give it to her.
“Oh Tommy,” Kristin whispered. “It’s breathtaking.”
“It was my grandmother’s engagement ring,” Tommy told her. “She gave it to me when she died and told me to give it to the woman who held the key to my heart. You’re the only woman I’ve ever allowed to see all the way to my heart so you’re definitely the only woman who could ever hold the key to it.”
Kristin was speechless. She clutched the ring to her heart and looked deep into his eyes as tears slid down her cheeks. Tommy pulled Kristin to her feet and held her close to him for a long time.
“I love you so much,” Kristin told him.
“I love you too,” Tommy told her as a single tear slipped down his cheek and landed on hers.
“You’re crying,” she said as she reached up to brush his cheek with her hand.
“I have been for the past 5 minutes,” Tommy told her with a little smile. “And so are you, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“But I cry all the time,” Kristin said. “You never cry.”
“I cry if I have enough reason to cry,” Tommy told her.
“Would you put it on for me?” Kristin asked as she held out the necklace.
Tommy took it from her and walked around behind her as she held her hair up for him to fasten that priceless gift around her neck. He had been thinking about what to say to her tonight for months and finally, as he sat in the chair opposite her and looked into her eyes, he knew.
“Kristin, I love you. I've loved you from the first minute I set eyes on you. I wanted to take this time to say something incredibly romantic that nobody would ever forget but, as you know, I'm not the most amazing person when it comes to expressing what I feel with words. I need to say something while I'm standing up here though, so I'd like to quote George Edward Moore. The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough.” Tommy swallowed hard and willed himself to go on without crying. “I love you, Kristin, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life beside you.”
“Your wedding vows.” Kristin said through her tears.
“After all these years,” Tommy told her. “I feel exactly the same.”
“Tommy.” Kristin said as she moved forward in her chair. “The first time I met you, you struck me as someone I would not be able to forget. I guess I was right, although now it's for different reasons. I thought about quitting for a long time but there was something stopping me from tearing myself away from you. Now I know what that something was and I'm sure glad that I didn't leave. Your smile seems to light up the room but, even more important than the room, it lights up my heart. Thank you, Tommy. It has been my dream since I was a little girl to find my knight in shining armour and now, thanks to you, I found him and I get to keep him forever.”
“I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody in my life,” Tommy said as he pulled Kristin close to him.
“Did you know that you could possibly be the sweetest guy ever?” Kristin asked him as she smiled at him.
“I try,” Tommy joked with her.
“I think this has been the best birthday I’ve ever had,” Kristin said as she wiped the tears from her face.
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t make me spoil it for you?” Tommy asked her.
“Yes,” Kristin laughed as she leaned back in her chair and began massaging her belly. “You were right.”
“Can you say that again?” Tommy asked her. “I’d like to get that on tape.”
“Good luck,” Kristin told him.
“Are you ready for the next part of your surprise?” Tommy asked her.
“There’s more?” Kristin asked as a look of disbelief crossed her face.
“You didn’t think I’d rent out the whole Cabaret Room just for this, did you?” Tommy questioned her. “I’m so much more fun than that!”
“Alright,” Kristin laughed. “What’s next?”
“Come on in guys!” Tommy called out as he looked toward the doorway.
“What?” Kristin asked as she turned to look over her shoulder. “Who’s here?”
Before he had a chance to answer her all of their friends started pouring through the doorway and into the room. One by one they came over and gave Kristin a big hug and wished her happy birthday before finding seats at various tables around the room. By the time Santa, Tyrique, Aldo, and Fabio walked through the doorway Kristin was in tears again.
“I love you guys so much!” Kristin said as her co-workers greeted her and found seats at the same table.
“Not as much as we love you!” Fabio told her.
“Speaking of love,” Kristin said as she looked at Fabio. “Where is that man of yours?”
“The one you wanted to steal from me and turn straight?” Fabio asked her.
“Yes,” Kristin laughed. “That’s the one.”
“He moved on,” Fabio told her.
“Awe,” Kristin said as she reached over and put a hand on Fabio’s knee. “I’m sorry hunny!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Fabio told her as he looked across the room. “I think I may have found someone to ease the pain.”
Everybody laughed as Fabio got up from the table and began making his way across the room toward a rather attractive man sitting in the corner.
“Who’s telling him the guy’s straight?” Tommy asked.
”Nobody,” Santa said. “It’s so much more fun this way!”
Everybody but Kristin began laughing again as they watched Fabio flirting with a guy a few tables away.
“What’s wrong?” Tommy asked her when he saw she wasn’t laughing with the rest of them. “Why aren’t you laughing?”
As he turned his head in the direction of her gaze he didn’t need a verbal answer to understand why. There, standing in the doorway with a grin from ear to ear, was Kristin’s mother.
