⇾ 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈

Chapter Forty: Darling, I Love You

December 15, 1961

Within the next week, I dragged Brian out to the Cavern in secret to watch the Beatles perform. I had snuck him in before I went backstage with John. I wanted to get a definite yes before I said anything about it to the boys themselves.

It was hard to find a date to see them perform since they only had a few gigs before the end of the year. Nonetheless, I did find one that lined up with his schedule and made it work, that day being the thirteenth.

My sudden departure on Friday John had batted an eye at, but I dismissed it, telling him I'd had something personal to deal with immediately. He spoke no more of it.

It had now been two days and that meant we'd landed on my birthday finally. When I'd woken up that morning, Brian had surprised me with a little camera so I could document everything that happened to me. John took me out to the pictures at five in the evening and it was impossible to avoid the fact that they were planning something without my knowledge.

"If I walk into this room and people jump out at me, I'll smack you," I told him teasingly.

"Well now I'll be ready for it," he said with an innocent smile.

I frowned and went to turn the door handle, finding it to be locked.

"Does this add to the suspense?"

He just sat there and grinned as I went to pull out my house key. When I entered, no one jumped out at me, perhaps Brian knew that would send me into a frenzy. Instead, everyone just let go of a bunch of balloons and said, "happy birthday," as calmly as possible. It honestly looked pitiful.

I wanted to be annoyed, but couldn't help smiling. There weren't many people here. The rest of the Beatles were, even Pete, as well as Trixie. Mary and I hadn't really spoken since I'd gone to Hamburg. She went straight back to being a stranger to me and seemingly without a thought to it.

People were swarming me in seconds, wishing me happy birthday and telling me encouraging things. All of this was a blur.

When the obsession over me began to be too much, I decided to go outside to take a breather. John followed me out.

He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it before putting it between his lips. Then, as he put away the lighter, he pulled out a small box, wrapped in a single ribbon, with a tag that read, "Love, John," on it. He held it out to me with a grin.

"Open it," he insisted, a steady smile toying on his expression.

I smiled and removed my hands from the railing, taking the box in my hands.

Opening it revealed a little box on a chain. I looked from it to him skeptically. He chuckled. "Check it out," he said, coming up around me and turning a tiny crank on the side. Suddenly, a little familiar tune began to play.

"Soldier of Love."

I smiled at him tearfully, overcome with emotion. "I love it," I said.

He put his arms around me and we listened together as the sound gave out. Then, he put out the cigarette, and turned me around, trapping me against the railing and kissing me passionately. I put up no fight. His hands found the small of my back and he pulled me even closer, discreetly sitting me up on the railing, almost to the point where I didn't even notice, so I could match his height better.