by Alison Mello
***
Brooke
I just experienced my first night in New York and I’m in awe. I got to ride the subway to Vaughn’s parents’ place. They rent a small apartment that only has one bedroom. They moved after Vaughn left, knowing he wasn’t going to move back home. It’s a cozy place with a doorman and a nice view of the city, but it’s small. After dinner we walked a little, and then took a cab back to the hotel where we made love, and then did our relaxing exercises together. He hasn’t been doing them much lately, but being that we are out of our comfort zone, and we don’t have Brody, we thought it was a good idea to help us relax after a busy night.
Today we’re going down to Rockefeller Center to walk around. We’ll go do a little shopping, stopping to check out the window displays as we go, and have dinner.
“Ready, Angel?” Vaughn is bundled up in a coat, beanie, and gloves, waiting by the door. I quickly slip into my stuff and he takes my hand, leading me down to the lobby of our hotel and out to the streets of New York. It amazes me that his parents don’t live far from this beautiful attraction. There is so much to see in this area alone, and I’m so glad we came at this time of year, because it’s absolutely stunning. He pulls me close, holding my two hands, and says, “What would you like to do first?”
I shrug. “I just want to walk around and check everything out. Maybe pop into some stores.”
We walk down the street hand in hand, pointing out lights and all the Christmas decor. Now don’t get me wrong, we decorate for Christmas in the south, but nothing like this. I mean, this is an entirely new level of decor. I’m simply in awe, pointing places out that make me smile.
We loop around and make our way back to the Center, and I notice Vaughn has started walking a bit faster. “What’s the rush?”
“I wanted to surprise you, but it took us longer to walk around than I thought. We have tickets to go to the Top of the Rock.” He tugs me, hurrying along. “I don’t want to miss our slot.” We finally arrive and Vaughn pulls two tickets from his pocket and shows them to a gentleman who leads us to where we need to go. We wait in line with the rest of our group, and it takes a little while but when we finally get up there, the view is breathtaking. Vaughn and I take a ton of pictures together with my phone from different angles with different views in the background.
“Babe, this is amazing. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you for being here with me. This view may be stunning, but it’d be nowhere near as beautiful without you.” He leans in and presses a kiss to my lips.
When he pulls away, I have a huge grin on my face. “Aren’t you becoming quite the romantic?”
“Oh Angel, you haven’t seen anything yet.” We make our way back down, and when we do, we stop to get a pretzel from a street cart. I’m too excited about walking around to stop and eat. The sun is setting, and more and more lights are starting to illuminate the night. It’s getting cold, but I really don’t care, because it’s such a romantic night being out here with Vaughn, hand and hand. I spot a small shop and we decide to duck in. I want to buy something for my niece and nephew. The place is amazing. There are toys of all kinds around me, things for all ages. I find a bear for Beau and a doll for Becky. Thrilled with my purchase, we head back out, and now Vaughn pulls me back toward the ice skating rink.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to take you ice skating.”
“But I’ve told you I’ve never been ice skating.”
“You’ve never flown either, but you did it, and you’re here. You can’t come to Rockefeller Center and not ice skate, or at least attempt to.” He gives me his full on you’re not going to win this one sexy smile.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
“I’m glad you agree, because we have a scheduled time to be on the ice, and we need to get our skates.” I laugh and shake my head. This guy has all kinds of things planned for us today. He walks me toward the skate house, where he gives them his name for his reservation. They ask for our shoe sizes and they hand us skates. We take a seat to lace them up, only Vaughn takes my leg and rests it on top of his. “It’s important that your skates be laced up tight.” He quickly ties my lace so the skate is snug around my ankle, and then does the other one. I stand, trying to balance on my skates as I walk to the railing at the edge of the rink, while Vaughn takes the ice like it’s no big deal. He steps on and takes my hands, pulling me with him, and suddenly I feel like a newborn deer learning to stand. I’m wobbly and feel like I’m going to fall, but lucky for me, Vaughn knows what he’s doing and holds on to me. He starts teaching me how to push off, and slowly I’m getting a little better. At least now I can move a bit. The view is amazing. Everything is beautifully lit up, making for a romantic evening. That’s when I notice the ice is starting to clear, and I’m in a panic, thinking we have to get off, and I’m in the middle of the rink. I’m slow, and there’s no way I can move as quickly as the people around us. The music fades out and suddenly One Call Away by Charlie Puth starts playing as Vaughn pulls me around the rink. He’s facing me, holding my hands and skating backward, singing to me. It’s the most romantic thing ever. I can’t believe he’s managed to get the entire rink just for us. My eyes well with tears, Vaughn is singing the song I once sang to him, letting him know I would be there for him. Now that he’s strong enough to be my superman, he’s letting me know it. He spins us around, nearly causing me to fall, but of course he catches me with laughter in his voice. When I’m finally steady on my feet once again, he drops to one knee in the middle of the rink, reaches into the inner pocket of his coat, and reveals a tiny black box.
My eyes go wide and my hands go to my mouth. “Angel, I’ve been going over this entire proposal in my head for the longest time now, but nothing I came up with seemed like the right words to tell you how much I love you and need you in my life. You were my superwoman when I needed you, and now I want to return the favor. Please let me spend the rest of my life being there for you the way you were for me. Please, will you marry me?”
I instantly nod my head yes as my hand trembles. He slips this beautiful round cut diamond onto my finger and then stands, spinning me around, he screams out, “She said yes” with laughter in his voice. The crowd around us claps and cheers as he pulls me around the rink for one last loop before others join us. When we get to the exit, his parents are there waiting for us. His mom is crying tears of joy, and now I’m crying too, because I think it’s beautiful with all they’ve missed from his life with him away, they got to witness this special moment. Then she shows me the phone she’s holding with my entire family on the screen watching, and it causes me to let out a sob. Hundreds of miles away and my entire family was still a part of my engagement.
They’re all waving and laughing at the look of shock on my face seeing them in the phone. They congratulate us and wish us a safe flight home before we hang up. People are now walking off the ice and congratulating us on our engagement. “Thank you so much. I’ve had the time of my life, and you certainly pulled off an engagement I’ll never forget.”
“You’re welcome. I love you, Brooke, and I meant it when I said I want to spend my life supporting you and being there for you. Together we can get through anything.”
His parents each hug us one more time. “Now let’s go, our dinner is waiting,” his dad says.
We all laugh and walk off toward the restaurant to enjoy dinner with my future in-laws.
Bonus!
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To our troops who need help!
Do you have a family member or know someone that is suffering from PTSD? There are a number of organizations available to help soldiers through this trying time. Here are a few that may be able to help.
VETSports
www.vetsports.org
Veteran’s Phone Line
(813) 284-0587
[email protected]
&nbs
p; Public Inquiries
301-323-8063
[email protected]
Veterans Crisis Line
www.veteranscrisisline.net
1-800-273-8255 Press 1
You can learn to recognize signs of suicide at
www.veteranscrisisline.net/SignsOfCrisis/Identifying.aspx
Honoring The Sacrifice
http://honoringthesacrifice.com/
[email protected]
Gary Sinise Foundation
https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/
[email protected]
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Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I always give a shout out to my husband, who constantly puts up with my book-writing obsession. I love what I do, but I work hard, and sometimes that means he suffers a bit without much complaint. Thanks, babe, for always supporting me and being there for me. I love you and thank you for all you do so that I can be home writing.
To my girl Deena! Thank you so much for backing me with my military writing. I love that I can go to you and bounce all my crazy military ideas off of you.
To my betas team! Thank you ladies so much for all of your input. Your dedication to helping me make my work the best it can be is greatly appreciated! I love you all for your individual thoughts and strengths.
To Mello’s Militia, you are one amazing group of women. You are a team for sure, and I need you to know how much I appreciate all you do for me. You are constantly out there, posting, sharing, entering me in contests, and, best of all, making me laugh when I need it the most. You ladies are the driving force behind my writing. When the going gets tough, you help me through whether you realize it or not.
Clayr and Stracey! I truly love you two and have no idea what I would do without you. You’re two amazing leaders, and my Army wouldn’t be the same without you.
Thank you to my editor, Toni, for taking me on last minute and providing me with awesome feedback, and thank you to Team Limitless for not only taking me on, but for working with me on all my crazy ideas.
Thank you to all of my author friends and followers who have supported me throughout my writing journey. The list of friends and supporters is endless, and there’s no way I can thank you all individually, so if you have supported me or helped me in any way, no matter how big or small, I thank you and hope at some point I get to return the favor.
About the Author
Alison Mello is a wife and stay at home mom to a wonderful little boy. She lives with her amazing family in Massachusetts. She loves playing soccer, basketball and football with her son.
After having her son, Alison started reading again and fell in love with Contemporary Romance. Reading made her happy and gave her something to do when she had downtime. As she started to read more, she started to notice things she really enjoyed in a book and things she didn’t. She began to have ideas for writing one of her own. One day she literally woke up and started writing. She realized that if there was ever a time for her to write, it was now. She had a part time job to give her something to do. The hours at work were slow and she was bored with what she was doing, so while her son was off enjoying his friends over summer vacation she got started.
Alison finished the first book in two weeks and decided that she really enjoyed writing, so she kept going. She already had ideas in mind for books two and three, so she kept writing. That is how the Learning to Love Series was born. Somewhere along the line, one of my Beta readers convinced me that Michael, a character from Finding Love, needed his own story. That is when Alison added the fourth and final book. Alison hopes you enjoy her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
She’s so glad she started this writing journey and hopes you will stay with her for the ride. Chasing Dreams is scheduled to release in April and the first two books of the Love Conquers Life series will be out this summer!
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