I Want Her

It's perfect

"Baby, please be a good girl for Mommy just for a minute, okay?" Stevie was begging Ella for the past ten minutes, as she was trying to dress up her daughter for her first birthday. "Sweetheart, you will leave guests, who will be here shortly, waiting for you, are you really going to make them wait, huh?"

"Like mother like daughter, she wants to make an appearance." Stevie heard Lindsey coming in. 

"Here." She threw the little dress at him. "You do it! She won't stop fussing!"

"Alright." He nodded and sat down, baby talking to Ella, while Stevie went to the bathroom, to brush her hair again as it had become messy. 

No longer than two minutes later, she returned to the bedroom and Lindsey had Ella in his lap, with the dress on, both grinning as they looked at Stevie, who was seething with anger, relieved and dumbfound all at once. "How did you do that?"

"Magic powers." 

"Lindsey..." She said with a sort of warning in her voice. 

"Okay okay!" He held up his hands in defense. "I just asked her sweetly to calm down for a minute until I got her dressed and then she can fuss all she wants."

"Yeah, I've been doing that too, but it didn't work for me."

"Because you are worried about the party, when really, it's only our families that are coming."

"It's an important day, Linds. Our baby turned one today." She knelt in front of the two, Ella slapping her hands against Stevie's cheeks. "Ouch!" The girl only giggled, doing it again. "Okay, stop that already! You think hurting Mommy is funny?" Then the doorbell rang and Stevie got up to her feet. "Let's go check who arrived, what do you say, sweetie?" Lindsey gave Ella to Stevie and all three of them went to let the guests in. 

Soon both sides of the family had gathered and while Barbara entertained the birthday girl, Stevie and Lindsey served everyone dinner, as they all chatted and did some catching up while eating, eventually the attention returning back to Ella. 

"She looks just like you." Stevie's mother said, as she helped with the dishes, bringing them to the kitchen from the dining room. "The only thing Ella has of Lindsey's is that hair."

"I wish she had inherited his eyes."

"Oh, that man has the most beautiful eyes!"

"Right, just let's not forget he's my man, mom."

"Stephanie!" 

"What?" Then they both laughed. 

"Have you maybe thought about having more children?"

"Yes and we won't have any more."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Do you honestly have to ask?" Stevie stood, leaning against the kitchen counter. "I've barely survived Ella's arrival, I couldn't go through it again."

"Well, but nobody said it would be like that again."

"Mom, no. Please, accept my decision. I've talked it through with Lindsey and he understands where I'm coming from. Also, it's not like it hadn't affected him either, it was quite a scare for him too. So, no, we will not be having any more kids, we'll concentrate on being the best parents to Ella and that's final."

"Okay, I'm... I'm sorry I asked."

Now Stevie felt bad, she did raise her voice a little. "It's fine, but don't ask about it again." She gave a small smile and then returned to the others.

"Everything alright?" Lindsey leaned in closer, whispering, when Stevie took her seat next to him.

"Yeah, everything's just fine." She faked a smile and opened her arms to take Ella. 

Lindsey frowned, sensing that something happened. He wanted this evening to be perfect, he had a plan and he didn't want anything ruining Stevie's mood for it. He laced his fingers through hers and returned his attention to his brother, Jeff, who was telling some story from when they were kids.

After desert, Lindsey took the hold of his wine glass and stood up, asking for everyone to be silent for a moment. "First of all, thank you for coming here tonight, to celebrate such a beautiful day of my daughter's life. It's really nice being surrounded by my own and Stevie's family, all here for our girl. I wanted to take this opportunity to do something else as well." He looked down at Stevie, who had a slightly confused look on her face. "It hasn't even been two years since we've met, but this period of time has been the best of my whole entire life. You were so patient with me, you put so much into changing me, helping me become a better man. Family was never something I would have described as... as fortune. That was until I got to know you, you showed me that it's the exact opposite. Money comes and goes, but your family is always there. I... You gave me the most precious little girl, who brightens up every single day. I don't want to stay at work late and go out with the guys anymore, no, I can't come home fast enough so I could be with you, the love of my life, and our beautiful daughter. I will never be able to say thank you enough for the life I'm lucky to be living. It's all you, Stephanie, all because of you. So... I guess, where I'm going with this is, uh... I'm asking you to marry me. I want you to be my wife, Stephanie Nicks." Then he quickly faced her father. "If you are okay with this happening of course."

Everyone laughed lightly, anxiously awaiting the answer. 

Stevie had been fighting tears the whole time Lindsey was speaking and she knew if she tried to make a sound, she would choke on them. So she nodded, smiling at him lovingly. 

"Yes?"

"Yes." She only mouthed the word, letting the tears fall as everyone started clapping and Lindsey took a small gift box from his jacket and took the ring out, before he slid it onto her finger, then knelt to her level and gave her a kiss, their girl in between them, so unaware of what was going on, yet still as happy as everyone else. 

Later the same night, when the guests had already left, Stevie and Lindsey went to put Ella to bed together, who was out like a light, it was way past her bedtime. Then they tiptoed to their bedroom and she sighed blissfully, wrapping her arms around his neck as his settled around her back. 

"My eyes are here." Lindsey chuckled, seeing as she was looking somewhere behind him.

"I know, but I can't stop looking at this ring. Linds, it's perfect!"

"You like it?"

"I love it!" She nodded, raising on her tiptoes as she hugged him close. "And I love you, Mr. Buckingham." 

"I love you too, future Mrs. Buckingham."

They grinned at each other, sharing a brief kiss, before he captured her lips again and it turned into a passionate embrace, that developed into foreplay and eventually a celebration of their love, which left them breathless, as they swore to each other they would never be able to have enough of the other. Ever...

THE END

Thank you so much for your votes and comments! Hope you liked this one, I enjoy writing something different :)