Running Towards A Place

A Dustland Fairytale

Brandon's POV

Sitting at the breakfast bar, Eddie and I eagerly unwrapped our presents. Our half eaten pile of pancakes lay abandoned by the dishwasher as we became too distracted by the gifts.
"Oh Brandon, I love it" I heard Eddie declare as she held out a united state's soccer top.
"Look at the back" I wiggled my eyebrows knowing she was missing the best bit.
"Oh my god, flowers, 22" she gasped simultaneously as her face lit up. "Wait you've known you were gonna propose for a while then" she figured, looking proud of herself. I shrugged in defeat. "Thank you, you're so sweet" she beamed, folding the shirt up. I finished tearing the paper from my gift. As I pulled the paper away, it slowly revealed the painting of the mountains at dawn, the one she was working on a few weeks ago, encased in a slick black frame. Except now the painting was finished and it was captivating. The colours so bold and vivid, the details perfect. I ran my fingers over it, it was perfect.
"Eddie?" I sighed, lost for words, "you never seize to amaze me girl" I told her, walking round to wrap her in a warm hug.
"Oh there's another 2 there" Eddie pointed at another 2 identically wrapped gifts alongside the other 3 I had for her. We continued to revel in our gifts a little while longer. I had gotten Ed  some trendy hiking boots and some funky socks to go with them, a couple of new sketchbooks and a killers bumper sticker. She was very much pleased to bits with them and insisted on showering me with sweet kisses. She had brought for me, some cologne, a couple of Tommy t shirts and a heart shaped metal key ring with the Union Jack engraved on it. In return I insisted on peppering her with kisses to show my appreciation.

Just as we got the place straightened up, right on cue, there was a knock at the door, shortly followed by my brother, Shane who was followed by a stampede of 6 children, my eldest sister and both of their partners.
"Hello!" They all chorused as they entered the door, greeted warmly by me with open arms. Eddie perched on the chair as the kids flocked straight to her. It took a moment to make sure everyone was hugged and kissed. Eddie has been tactful and had slipped the engagement ring onto her necklace for the time being, until we could make the announcement to them all simultaneously.
"It's so nice to be spending Christmas at Brandon's, I don't think we've ever had Christmas here" I heard my eldest sister, tell Eddie and Lisa, Shane's wife. The kids had already gotten comfortable on the sofa.
"I'll stick all this in your fridge little brother if that's alright" Shane asked as he carefully carried Tupperware upon Tupperware to my kitchen.
"Of course thanks" I replied nodding to him. The peace was lost. My house had never known so many people to be in it at once. It made me feel warm inside. We all settled in, chatting and catching up, the kids playing among one another. Then the door went again. This time my dad and my youngest sister arrived with her 2 kids in tow.
"It's nice to see you son" dad pulled me into a warm embrace as he wandered into the house first.
"You too, we've kept a comfy seat free for you don't worry" I chuckled, savouring the moment.
"Hey Bran, I made some delicious funeral potatoes and Aaron insisted on making snickerdoodles" my youngest sister laughed as she gave me hasty hug, Aaron and Alexa had already mowed by giving me a brief hugs around my knees before searching for their cousins.
The house was filling up steadily. It was the one time of the year all us Flowers could actually meet up at the same place at the same time, not even thanksgiving. Moments later, my middle sister arrived with her portion of the bloodline, and we were a full house. The pleasant sound of chatter and happiness bubbled in the room. I wandered around, checking everyone had been hugged, kissed and had a drink. I made doubly sure to make sure that Eddie had been kissed and hugged.

"This is wonderful" she beamed as I finally managed to get a moment with her. I felt her loop her arm around my back as I stood beside her at the breakfast bar.
"Its great isn't it? They're a wonderful bunch" I agreed, leaning down to kiss her on the head. We took a moment to observe the scene. The young kids were playing on the carpet, the older ones were on the sofa trying to explain Instagram to my dad. My sisters and my brothers wife were all chatting about cooking or something and Shane was with the husbands talking football.
"Hey Eddie, we'll have to take you to a football game when your legs fixed, see if we can get you playing the real football, not the soccer you English like" Shane beckoned Eddie, grabbing both of our attention.
"Hmm we'll have to see about that" she sassed right back, causing us all to break up in laughter.
My eyes then fell on a toddling child making her way unsteadily towards my feet.
"Who's this gorgeous girl?" I gasped, widening my expression to interact with my youngest niece. Her tiny smile lit up her face as she reached her little arms out.
"Careful Mia!" An anxious voice called, probably her moms, but she needn't worry. I scooped the little girl up into my arms and engulfed her in the warmest hug,
"I like your hat Mia" I spoke, pointing to the Santa hat she was wearing at a jaunty angle. She giggled and placed both of her hands on her head.
"Santa hat" she blabbered.  She was an adorable 2 year old and didn't stop beaming for one moment, even when she had enough of me telling her jokes and ran off from me only to stumble on the tiles.
"You're so adorable with kids" Eddie spoke quietly as she helped me organise the food ready for Christmas lunch.
"It's in my blood" I shrugged nonchalantly as I nodded back at the scene of my family, "our lives revolve around kids" I chuckled.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Eddie's POV

Never before had I ever seen so many people in one living room, never mind that many people all belonging to the same family. It was the most heart warming sight to see. Especially when I watched Brandon's youngest niece come toddling towards him. He was naturally amazing with kids. I don't know what it is about a man who's good with kids, but it made me broody as hell. He played with her for ages, making her giggle and chatter. I don't know who was enjoying it more.

Brandon and I were ushered out of the kitchen at midday so his sisters could take over the dinner duty.
"No offence Bran, you're a great lil cook, but not when there's an army to feed" one of his sisters quipped as she quickly pecked his cheek. We all burst into laughter while the girls got to it and we went and joined the rest of the family.
"How's your knee Miss Eddie?" Brandon's dad quizzed me as I sat on a chair beside him.
"Oh it was awful the first day but it's improving so much now" I told him, glancing down at my braced up knee.
"You want to get yourself one of these" he joked, point to his own knee, "100% metal, it's great" he gave a hearty belly laugh before telling me about his younger days when he played baseball and was in the army. I sat in wonder as he told me all about it, he was an interesting man. "I'm so glad Brandon met a girl like you Eddie" he told me, taking my hand in his. I smiled as I turned my focus to him, now seeing where Brandon got his dark eyes and cheekbones from. "You're a good girl and he's a good boy. I'm so happy to see you both happy together" he rubbed the back of my hand lovingly before we were interrupted by a little boy, Ryan, who stood politely waiting to speak.
"Eddie? Um, Uncle Brandon said you can draw really good, can you draw with me?" He very kindly asked as he shyly played with his fingers.
"Of course I can" I responded, "sorry" I apologised to Terry before heading off to the table with Ryan. My eyes caught Brandon as I made my way over, he was explaining the oven to his sister but had time to give me a cheeky wink.
"Right then Ryan, let's see shall we?" I spoke as I sat down at the table with Ryan opposite. 2 or 3 of the middle kids were also at the table, drawing and colouring away.

Dinner was divine. It was a complete culture shock however. There were no pigs in blankets or Yorkshire puddings, instead there was stew and cheesy potatoes but it was still delicious. There was enough food to feed an army and in the end it was basically all gone. Then came the time for desert. There was a massive Christmas pudding, a chocolate log as well as plates upon plates of cookies. All of which also vanished in no time. Just as I handed Aaron the last cookie, I heard Brandon clear his voice beside me.
"Right then everyone" he began, standing up. "It's been a lovely Day so far, and that dinner was delicious, but I have something to share with you all" he glanced around the table, making sure to look at everyone. " seeing as we're altogether right now, I'm happy to say that I asked Eddie to marry me last night!" As he uttered the words, everyone's mouths dropped, including the kids. Brandon took this time to step behind me, placing both his hands on my shoulders. "And before you start, she said yes" he chuckled before leaning down to kiss my cheek. It took a second for the news to settle and everyone erupted into applause and heckles. Brandon returned to his seat and began to address the hundreds of questions that were coming mainly from his sisters. I took this as my cue to move the precious sapphire ring from around my neck, back to my finger where it belongs.

"Brandon, you can't wear that in your engagement photos!" His sister sassed, pushing him away towards the stairs. All of his sisters insisted on taking engagement photos for us. So we all filtered out into the back yard. Luckily Brandon's yard was vast and very picturesque with the mountains in the background. The kids had been instructed to find some nice props for the photos while the guys stood and watched. Soon, Brandon returned, sporting a leather jacket over the top of a crisp white t shirt. He got nods of approval as he came to my side. Then, it was photo shoot time. I imagined that it felt similar to what Brandon had to do on a regular basis. He was much more comfortable about it than I was, but I didn't care. I was getting to snuggle up to him and be all cute, showing off the ring and our love so I was loving it.
"Here, I'll get a couple of Polaroid's too" Shane announced as the sisters finished snapping. We went more low key for the Polaroid's, we kissed each other's cheeks and had Brandon holding my ring bearing finger. It was very chick-flick but it was perfect. It was everything I had wanted an engagement to be and I hadn't even realised I wanted it to be anything.
"I love you mister" I whispered to Brandon as I nestled into his chest for one last picture.
"And I love you too miss" he reciprocated, taking my hand in his.