Five Years

4

"I would like to thank you all for coming. Some of you had to make very long trips so thank you. I wanted to hold this little event because I have an announcement to make. Me and Josh recently took a little trip last weekend and there we had a ton of fun. In the middle of it Josh surprised me with a boat ride and there he proposed. So with that, I come back as a fiance!" She said happily.

Everyone in the room started getting really excited and quickly swarmed her.

"That's what! Did no one see the ring?" I say finally uncovering my mouth.

"Smart girl." Aunt K said with a little laugh.

It took a while to finally be able to talk to my sister but I finally did after an hour. Everyone took their turn and then found someone to talk to about it with.

"The ring please." Aunt K says and holds out her hand which is covered by Abbys a moment later.

"You better have pictures." I said while looking at the ring.

It was a beautiful gold band with a big square diamond in the middle. It glistened just beautifully and fit Abby perfectly. It's exactly what she would have wanted and now she has it. She has it with Josh.
"I can't believe this Abby!" I said happily.

"It's so beautiful." Aunt K says.

"No more Abigail Harbor, hello Abigail Hart." I said with a laugh.

We enjoyed the rest of the night until people began heading home. Aunt K was the last to go. We all gave her big hugs and "see you later". She gave Abby and Josh like three congratulations before leaving. I watched as she drove down the street before I helped clean up. After cleaning up Laine headed to bed first, followed by Josh, Mom, and Dad.

"Are you okay?" Abby asked as she joined me on the couch.I turned from the widow to her with a confused expression.

"What?" I asked.

"I know that this was a shock and I also know that not too long ago you were engaged-." She explained.

"Abby, stop. What was that? Are you kidding me? I called it off with Max five years ago. I am perfectly okay nor is this night about me. I don't need to be worried about and no way do I need to be taking some of that happiness from your engagement. You're engaged! Engaged to Josh, the love of your life, your soulmate, your perfect match, the other half of your heart- should I go on?" I said as I grabbed her hands and gave her a smile.

"Okay, okay." She said laughing with a big smile. "Wait, five years? I thought it was four?" Abby questioned.

"No, it's five." I corrected it.

"So you broke it off like that year? Later or earlier?" She asked.

"Earlier. A month after." I said not to think too much about it.

"Mari." Abby said quietly.

Crap.

"No. Stop it Abjial. Not tonight at the very least, this is your night and you need to go to bed with only the thought of getting to marry Josh. Stay far away from any and every thought about me." I tell her sternly.

She kept quiet just staring at me for a minute. I let a smile replace my frown.

"You're going to marry Josh. Marry. You are going to be a wife, have a husband. Josh is going to be your husband. A white dress, a white cake, bridesmaids, flower girl, Priset, ice swans, flower arch, everything. The whole shabang and even kids later on. A little niece/nephew I can tell all your secret stories about." I said, both of us laughing.

"Oh no no. You will not. Wait, ice swans?" She asks.

"Maybe. I don't know. You always had a thing for the more elegant settings. I mean isn't that why you even set eyes on Josh."

"No. Don't make me sound shallow. Just because I can appreciate and enjoy fancy things does not mean that I will only take that into account when looking at boys."

"Oh, you're right. Can't forget about the looks." I said laughing.

"Maribelle, no." She said as she grabbed a pillow and hit me over the head.

"Ow." I said and put my hand over where the pillow hit the hardest.

"It's a pillow, Maribelle." Abby said not amused.

"Yeah, yeah. Now it's time for you to go to sleep next to your fiance." I said as I started pushing her off the couch. "Goodnight!" I added as she walked up the stairs. She had a big smile on her face and let out a sigh of relief.

I was so happy for her, she deserved this. I grabbed a cup of water before heading to bed. When I got into my pjs and was ready to get into bed, I saw that Luke was already waiting for me.

"Okay boy but you'll need to move so I can get in." I whispered with a smile.

I got in bed and got comfortable. Luke curled up into me and drifted fast asleep. It was a weird thought, I was almost married. I was engaged and it was to Max. I met Max when I was in college. We were taking the same classes. I was the "unapproachable" girl who was taking notes and he was the good guy who was pretending to know nothing just so he could talk to me. We hit it off and he quickly became a really good friend. James didn't seem to mind him, in fact a lot of times he seemed to enjoy being friends. We dated for four years. Looking back at it, we moved a little fast but we loved each other and we had only just got engaged. I did love him but I couldn't do it. It's not his fault what happened and he couldn't do anything to stop it. I really thought loving him would help me stop loving James but it didn't. Loving Max only helped hide my love for James deeper within my heart and when I lost him... I just couldn't. I would have been married. I would have had my own wedding with my own white dress, white cake, venue, bridesmaids, ect. I would have had a husband? A husband. I would have probably had children by now, I would have a mother. I'm realizing part of me misses that, wants to go back, wants that but do I want it with Max? Yes... right? I don't know and I don't know who else I would want it with but I do know that the idea of it is something I kinda wish I had. I don't know why it happened or what's happening next but I know there's a reason and I know that there's someone looking out for me. It's weird looking back at it, a weird feeling and feeling this weird feeling about the weird feeling. I was glad to know that I soon fell asleep and planned on putting this feeling behind me. I spent the rest of the week enjoying the family and before I knew it, I had to go back. I had my bags packed sitting in front of the front door and an uber one minute away to take me to the airport.

"Bye hun, take care of yourself." Mom said before she took her hands off the side of my arms. I chose to ignore the stubble jab at what my mom thinks my mental state is but smiled at her anyway.

"And remember to actually call us once in a while or at least pick up more when we call you.." Dad commented after a hug.

"Will do, Dad." I said with a smile.

"Take care Mari." Josh said. I nodded to him before I looked at Lainie.

Lainie pulled me into a hug. "You know, I would love a more involved sister." She jabbed.

"You are so very right and I will be." I responded with a smile. She was right and I was. More calls to everyone.

"Ugg, you really need to move a lot closer." Abby says with a sigh.

"I know, I should. Congratulations sis, Josh." I hugged Abby tightly.

I stood for one more second before I let out a sigh and headed to the uber. Everyone piled outside to wave me goodbye. As the uber took off I opened my window to yell out something to them.

"See you guys soon! I love you!"

I got a ton of "love you to" from them. I pulled the window back up and kept my eyes out the window as we were headed to the airport. I was playing with the idea of moving back up here... but I was interrupted when we got to the airport.