Love to Last a Lifetime : A Sequel to Love With Staying for

Chapter 3

Rosie's POV:

Summer went on with out much drama, and the time for the big Baker family trip was upon us. The Bakers got to know Miguel a little bit and somehow fell in love with the big doofus enough to invite him along on the trip. He accepted and it was decided that he would ride up with Charlie, Lorraine and I.

We had to come up a day later since Lorraine got a line on a place in New York. But once she was done checking out the place, we got ready to go (but not before I threatened to castrate Miguel if he even thought about hitting on Lorraine).

As expected, when we drove up to the lake house, the whole family came down to greet us. "Hey! Welcome to the land o' plenty!" Mr. Baker said as he came down with a stack of delicious looking pancakes while everyone else came to hug us, Mark being the first one to hug me.

"It still smells the same here. Like dead leaves and unwashed animals and murky lake water." Lorraine said as she got out of Miguels car. "That's called fresh air, sweetheart." Mr. Baler said as he gave Lorraine a kiss, and nearly took his eye out on her big hat.

Once we got all of the greetings out of the way we all went back up to the porch to start eating. "Okay, big breakfast everybody, so you have enough room for family activities." Mr. Baker said as he started handing out the pancakes."Family activities?" Miguel asked. "Absolutely. Apple schmear, fishing off the dock for big daddy, hanging up to tire swing getting out the diving board." Mr. Baker said with total heartwarming enthusiasm. But the kids had other plans.

"I was gonna go boating with Elliot." Jake said. "And Kenneth has video games." Mark said next, and I couldn't help but feel proud for him. A couple of years ago he was a shy little boy who only felt like he could talk to his pet frog, now he was finding people that he could get along with and form friendships with. 

"Jessica and I were gonna use the Murtaugh's internet hookup, so that we could research for the Academic Decathlon." "Precisely, we need the extra hours." Kim and Jessica said. Honestly, how were these girls not college students yet?

"Well, you got all vacation to go over to that place." Mr. Baker said, trying to get everyone pumped for what he planned. "We have all vacation to do the family activities too." Henry pointed out. "How about you Sarah, you wanna hang out with Dad?" Mr. Baker said, trying to spend time with at least one of his kids.  "Actually, I was gonna go boarding with Jake, and Elliot." She said, and I didn't miss the blush that rose on her check when she mentioned this Elliot character. 

"Well, you know, I guess we could do lake stuff another day." Mr. Baker said, trying not to look utterly defeated that his kids didn't want to hang out with him. Once everything was settled, we all began to eat our breakfasts. And when we were all finished eating Charlie and I looked at one another and gave each other a knowing nod. "Before everyone starts their plans for the day, Charlie and I have an announcement to make." I said as Charlie and I stood up and held intertwined our fingers together. "Earlier this spring, when I went to visit Rosie for the weekend, " Charlie started turning his head to me with a smile on his face "I brought her up here to ask her to marry me, and she said yes."  "Which means we're getting married." I finished, not able to wipe the tile off my face. 

For a second it was so quiet you could of heard the birds taking a dump. But then, the kids and Mrs. Baker all cheered at once and race over to hug and congratulate us. Mr. Baker was also happy for us but I got the feeling that he was feeling like he was losing another child.

Miguel's POV:

Rosie wasn't kidding when she said the Baker family was big and loud. It eventually quieted down when they went over to their friends' house. 

I decided to go on the dock and take in the fresh air, peace and quiet. When I was overseas in Afghanistan, it was moments like the one I was currently having that I missed the most. Just being able to have a chance to breathe and appreciate the life for what it was. But then  I found myself appreciating another reason for being back home, and that was seeing a gorgeous woman swimming by. She had blonde hair, a sexy blue polka-dot bikini, and a butterfly tattoo on her backside. Just as I was leaning over to get a better view of her the rating on the dock gave out and i fell into the lake.When I got back to shore I told Mr. Baker that the dock needed some work. 

"What happened to you?" Rosie said when she saw me walk into the house. "I met the girl of my dreams." I told her. "You just got here, how could you possibly have met the girl of your dreams." I was on the dock and she swam by me." I explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Okay, what's she like." Rosie said, being skeptical about this. "She has blonde hair, a sexy blue polka-dot bikini, and a butterfly tattoo on her backside." "So you didn't fall in love with her, so much as you fell in love her wet body." Rosie said, and it honestly made me feel a little shallow.

"Well when you say it like that it makes me sound like a creep." I told her. "Oh no, this is great. We could post flyers around that say "Lost Dream Girl: Has a cute butterfly tattoo on her backside and looks sexy swimming in a blue polka-dotted bikini." She said as she began to laugh. "Keep it up and they'll have to drain the lake to find your body." I told her as I began to chase her around the house like I did when we were kids. Oh yeah, it was definitely good to be home.

(A/N: Hey guys. Great news. I din't fall off the face of the earth.  Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life got in the way, and I wanted this to be a good chapter. So, we got to see Miguel's point of view for the first time. Yay!!!! As I may have mentioned before, he and Annie Murtaugh are going be each other's love interests to avoid a love triangle jealousy story between Rosie and Charlie. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and I'll try not to wait so long before posting another chapter. TTFN, ta-ta for now!)