Just a Soldier

Chapter 78 - First day in London

Y/n's POV:

Everything since the engagement has been a bit of a whirlwind. The last two weeks have flown by and now we're flying to England. The day after Scarlett proposed, we were getting sent photos from everyone that was at the engagement. Lizzie got the best as she was one of the few who knew what Scarlett was planning. She had made it her mission to get as many as she could.

It's safe to say she really got some crackers. I'm pretty sure that Scarlett and I spent about two hours looking through them all and picking out ones that we wanted to get printed. We both had the same favourite picture. It was from the moment that Scarlett actually proposed. She's down on one knee, the ring held out in front of her, and I've got a look of complete love and surprise. But what makes it so perfect is the way the sun is setting behind up, creating the most perfect lighting. It looks like something you'd see in a magazine.

We instantly decide that it's one we want to get printed and hung on the wall. I also have a pretty close second and it's from the moment that Ava calls Scarlett Mama. I'm holding Ava with Scarlett's arm wrapped around me and one securely on Ava. Ava has her little arm reached over, pulling Scarlett close. There is this look in Scarlett's eyes that I've never seen before. It's a level of happiness and adoration that is clearly reserved for Ava.

I think I was almost as emotional as Scarlett when Ava said the word we both had been longing her to say. It's so hard when you've got a kid and are dating someone. You pray that they are kind and loving towards them, but Scarlett truly has gone above and beyond. Hell, she's basically been her mother since we started dating, their relationship is that strong. Knowing that Ava now feels safe and secure with Scarlett, finally with the trust that Scarlett isn't going anywhere, is everything that I could ask for.

After we had a few days for ourselves to just enjoy our newfound engagement, Dina called to find out how, or if, we wanted to go public with it. We basically had two options, don't say anything and just wait for the paps to get a photo of the ring, or go public with a statement ourselves.

We talked about what we thought was best. There was a part of us that wanted to not say anything. I mean, it's not world changing news, well for us it is, but not for everyone else. In the end though, we decided to put a statement out with our favourite photo. We were worried that if we didn't say anything it might make the attention we get from the paparazzi worse and neither of us wanted that. Especially if Ava was going to be around.

Once the statement was released, we were the in thing. For about a week, we had a lot more attention when we went out. They were vying for a photo with the ring in it. The statement had been pretty short, no real details given about the day, as we wanted it to be special between us. But that didn't stop the endless questions that were shouted at us.

The only bright side was the amount of people that we heard positive stories from. For example, we were doing our weekly shop and this young woman, who couldn't have been older than 20, came over and wanted to tell Scarlett how much it meant for her to see a celebrity being so open with her same sex relationship.

The two of them talked for a while and it was really nice to see. The girl talked about how she had struggled to come to terms with her sexuality and part of that was the fear of facing homophobia. Listening to Scarlett talking about how she faces that was really inspiring to me. "You'll never make everyone happy. Someone will always find something they don't agree with or like about you. So just make sure that you are doing what makes you happy." I love that

I found the whole time they were talking, I was just mindlessly smiling at the interaction, especially when I could see how much Scarlett was enjoying it. These moments for her are few and far between, especially compared to what she experiences with the paparazzi. So, getting to see her have a positive experience is great. Thankfully, our engagement quickly became yesterday's news, and the vultures turned their attention to some other poor celebrity who was their next pay packet.