Afraid To Lose

16. Up To Something?

Hallie POV

It had been three weeks since I had told Joe I wanted to be less cautious and that I wanted everything he had mentioned in his interview.

Everyday since then he would look me in the eyes and ask the same question "how do you want us to be? What do you want?"

Each time I would give him the same answer and he would look at me intently not giving anything away. I had no idea if he believed me, if my face was telling him something different than my mouth and my heart were.

I could only come to two conclusions either he was upto something or he is not yet convinced of how sure I am.

At that moment strong arms wrap around my waist and Joe announces his presence with a kiss to my cheek as he looks at me me in the bathroom mirror.

"Morning babygirl. How do you want us to be? What do you want?" He asks me once again.

Taking a breath I decide to give him the same answer but in a different way.

"I want want to move forward and plana future with you by my side. I want to be the one who gets to call you husband and the one who gets to make you a father" I say turning in his arms "I told you I would happily let you be my forever and that is exactly what I'm doing. I know now that you are everything I ever needed in my life, I'm not me without you. I want you forever Joseph Anoa'i"

To my surprise this time he smiles at me before gently kissing my lips and then pulling me close. I hold him close to me as I try to understand what this means.

"Do you have anything planned for today?" He asks

"Nothing" I say "why what do you have in mind?"

"I'd like to take you somewhere" he says "somewhere that means something to both of us........but only if you want to"

"I'd love to" I say "are you going to tell me what this is about?" I ask

"That would spoil the suprise" he chuckles kissing the tip of my nose "just trust me babygirl, and get yourself looking beautiful not that you need to anything you are already beautiful"

Chuckling a playfully smack his ass as he leaves the bathroom and he looks over his shoulder and gives me a smirk and a wink.

In no time at all we were in the car and driving through a very familiar neighbour hood and a mixture of memories come back to me, mostly happy and a lot of Joe.

Finally we stop at a small costal area with just a hand full of little beach side stalls and a row of beautiful colorful beach huts and a smile forms on my face.

"Do you remember this place" he asks as he takes my hand

"Of course I do" I smile "I remember that night, I called you and said I wanted to run away. I'd had a row with my parents and I was mad at them. You didn't talk me out of it you just turned up at my house and said if I was running away you were going with me"

"That's right" he chuckles "and I brought you here. I remember sitting just here and watching you kicking your feet in the edge of the water with the sunset framing you and I knew then...........I knew I'd fallen in love with you. I remember knowing you had things on your mind but not wanting to ask"

"Yeah, that night I'd told my parents I thought I was pregnant they hit the roof but I wanted to keep the baby" i say "while I was at the waters edge I imagined my baby holding my hands their toes in the water and you watching. I wanted to live in one of those huts and stay here forever"

"You never told me" he says turning me to face him "you know I would have been there for you"

"I know but I wanted to be sure before I told anyone else. It turned out to be a false alarm but it showed me what o wanted out of life and that no matter what I did with my life I wanted you to be a part of it. I've always loved you Joe it just took me far too long to admit it to myself" I sigh

Joe's pulls me close and kisses me softly and deeply before taking my hand again and leading me towards one of the huts. He pushes open the door to reveal a table with champagne and two glasses lit by fairy lights.

"Oh Joe this is beautiful but why....?" I ask turning to look at him

"I knew you loved these huts, so I bought one" he smiles "this beach is our special place and I want that to be so for our family as it grows. I want this to be somewhere I can spend quality time with my wife and kids"

At first my brow furrows but then my eyes widen as he lowers himself to one knee holding out a small box. When he opens it there is a beautiful ring inside, a circle of small diamonds with a sapphire in the middle.

"Hallie, babygirl. Will you do me the honour of being the one I share this place with? Will you be my wife?" He asks nervously

"Yes! Of course yes!" I smile as I lower myself in front of him and take his face in my hands "you finally believed me" I smile as he slides the ring on my finger

"I believed you the first time you told me babygirl" he says "I knew when and where I was going to ask so I asked every day to make sure your feelings didn't change, didn't want you saying no to me now did I" he grins as I chuckle

"Have I ever said no to you Joe?" I smile

"No I don't think you have" he smiles "even when I asked you to run away with me to Samoa when I got that football injury you said yes"

"It was a no brainer, I wanted you in my life forever and that couldn't happen if I wasn't with you" I say

"I love you babygirl" he says kissing me softly "and you've got me forever"

"I love you" I breathe "I've heard you say it now I want you to show me how much you love me"

"Yes ma'am" he says kicking the hut door closed with a smirk