To Those Who Wait (gxg)

Chapter 18

The downtown convention center was a sprawling complex with giant rooms that held all sorts of meetings for businesses, as well as for local school and municipal meetings. This weekend, the boat show was in town, and every inch of free space was covered in the latest extravagant oversized toy that people may like for waterborne fun, as well as the accessories to make it even better. Wait, that sounds dirty. I mean boats, lots of boats!

Need a speed boat? A trailer to get it to the water? Electronic gear to find fish so you can catch some easier? All kinds of coolers for whatever beverages you needed on the boat? This was the place for you! But I didn't care. A boat wasn't on my shopping list, nor was any of the other stuff they were trying to sell the people that were wandering about staring at the bikini clad models almost as much at the boats they were sprawled upon.

I was only here for my Sammy.

Sure, I feigned interest at first, but all the while I was slowly herding her towards Auditorium C in the East Annex. I know, sexy name, right? Come on, we all know that sooner or later there will be some celebrity kid named Annex. I weep for them in advance.

I had a small hope that Sam didn't realize where we were. She had mentioned that it was right after her mom's death, so she may have been so sad that she didn't realize where she was, so I had a chance. But even if she did, all I cared about was that she appreciated the gesture.

"Do you like any of these boats?" I asked. As much money as was in her family, there was a chance she already had one, but never had a chance to go out on it thanks to dear old dad.

"They're nice. I wouldn't mind going out on a lake and just relaxing on one," she admitted.

That did sound kind of nice. Maybe some day we could do that! "Hey, there are some more in here!" I pulled her through the doorway to the auditorium. All of the chairs had been removed for the show, leaving a slightly sloped floor down to the stage, with three sailboats between us and a gorgeous power boat that was up there being shown off under a spotlight.

"Would you want a sailboat?" she questioned.

"No way, I'd get tangled up in all the ropes," I admitted. All I knew about sailing was from pirate movies, and there were ropes everywhere! "But that boat on the stage looks awesome!"

Hand in hand I slowly made my way to the stage with her. We walked carefully up the stairs to the stage, and then checked out the boat. Did I need a 36-foot power boat? Nope. It was gorgeous though, and according to the sign it had two queen sized beds and a top speed of 37 knots. Now I just needed a definition of knots. I bet it's pretty quick though! And holy shit it is almost $600 thousand. No wonder it has two queen sized beds! You'll need to live on it if you buy it cuz you'll have to sell the house!

As we walked around the boat, I could see Sam looking around the stage, trying to see around all the signage that had been brought in for the show.

"Is this...." She trailed off as she looked at me.

I smiled softly back at her, pulling her closer to me. "It is, yes. Four years ago, we stood side by side on this stage. Holding hands and trying to make each other feel better. Now I'm here holding your hand, knowing that event changed my life so much for the better. I know this is scary, I know it is fast and rushed. But Sammy, I love you. I have no doubt that were we to just date like a normal couple without all the crap trying to mess things up, we would end up being married. It might take a little more time to get there, but you'd still be my wife, and I'd still promise to love and cherish you forever. You already said yes once, but I'll ask once more." I pulled the box with our rings out and opened it for her. "Sam, will you please marry me, and make my heart complete?"