Begin Again | Sam Wilson

Epilogue Part One

Nine Months Later

"Sam!" Sarah yelled as she found him rummaging through the drawers in their parents' old office like a madman. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm looking for something." Sam told her without turning around.

Sarah placed her hands on her hips and stared at her brother. "Well, if you told me what exactly you were looking for, I could help you."

"Mom's ring." He answered.

"M-Mom's ring?" Sarah whispered. All the gears in her head began to turn. "You're going to propose to Brianna?"

Sam stopped and turned to look at his sister. She had never seen him so nervous before. A thin sheet of sweat had formed on his forehead. "Yeah. I am."

"Why didn't you tell me? It's up in my jewelry box. Let me go get it." Sarah said.

Sam brushed his sweaty hands against his jeans. He was mentally kicking himself. He shouldn't be nervous. He knew Brianna wanted to marry him eventually, but there was still a small amount of fear that she would say 'no.' Sarah returned into the office minutes later with a wooden box in her hand. He took it carefully and flipped the lid up. The last time he had seen it had been on his mother's hand, but her parents had left the ring to him in their will.

He knew he wanted to save it for someone special. It was a beautiful ring. Vintage, but beautiful. It had a gold band with a teardrop, sapphire in the middle with smaller diamonds surrounding it. It was different than a modern ring, but years later, he still loved it.

"You sure about this?" Sarah asked as she watched Sam stare at the ring.

"I'm sure." He genuinely said.

"And did you ask her daddy for permission?"

"I did."

"Good." Sarah smiled at her brother before wrapping him in a hug. "I'm so happy for you Sam. Brianna is perfect for you. She's going to be a perfect addition to the family. She already is."

"Thank you, Sarah."

Brianna and Sam had learned a lot about one another as they embarked on fixing up a house together. They didn't fight. They just had different tastes and ways of handling things. Sam liked to head straight into a project. Brianna liked to research and really think the decision over. They still enjoyed the project together. Between work they were about to down to Delacroix and work on it little by little. It had taken months, but they were finally able to fully enjoy it at Christmas.

They had painted the outside a very light blue, almost pastel color. The inside of the house also required a fresh coat of paint on the walls and kitchen cabinets. Sam refinished the floors as well. The rest of the fixing up was minor. New light fixtures. New hardware. The biggest obstacle was choosing what furniture and decor they wanted to use. Brianna was more simplistic than Sam.

Brianna had been working on decorating the house for Christmas for hours. They had to go out and buy decorations for the house since they had nothing. Her family would be flying into town in a few weeks for Christmas Eve/Day and she wanted everything to be perfect for them. The first thing Sam was greeted with was strong lights wrapped around the deck leading up to the house. A wreath hung front the door.

When he opened the door, Sam was hit by the smell of cinnamon, cloves and oranges. Even though it was nearly 70°F outside, Brianna had somehow managed to make the house feel cozy. The Christmas tree had been situated in front of one of the windows overlooking the water. It stood undecorated since that was something Brianna wanted to do with Sam. She was nowhere to be seen, so he quickly placed the box containing the ring underneath it.