flower girl {s.m}

toronto

"Hey Toronto! I hope you are having a good night so far. This next song, I wrote with a good friend of mine. The incredibly talented Ed. But before that I have a little favor to ask of you tonight. Is that okay?" Shawn spoke into the mic as he talked to an arena of 50,000 people.

The crowd cheered loudly in approval to his request.

"So, I know that you guys know that this is usually the point in the show where I embarrass some of you guys out there to kiss the girl you're with tonight." He laughed, as did the crowd.

The audience waited patiently on what he's about to say next. He was breathing hard, adrenaline coursing through him, and he was unbelievably nervous. "Sorry. Give me a sec, guys, my heart is racing." He said softly. He took a deep breath and continued. "What I'm saying is: I'm just going to ask you guys to be patient. You can kiss your dates later in the song!" He joked. "But would it be okay if I called on my girls on stage? Crystal? Mel? I know you told me a long time ago to never ask to bring you on stage but it's important." He looked around the crowd, trying to ignore his heart that is literally about to leap out of his chest.

Unlike Crystal and Mel, his team seemed to know about this. The team knew exactly where to find Crystal and Mel as if they were just waiting for his cue. They ushered them up the stage. Shawn's team and the band were smiling brightly when Crystal stepped on stage holding Mel's hand.

The crowd cheered for the both of them, making Mel shyly hide behind her mother but had a smile on her mouth. Shawn smiled adoringly at his family. He handed someone his guitar before he gave Crystal a kiss on the forehead. When he did so, Crystal whispered to him: "What's going on, love?"

Shawn didn't respond but gave her a knowing smile and bent down to kiss the top of his daughter's head.

"You having fun so far, baby?" Shawn asked his daughter while he was crouching down in front of her.

Mel, still shy, only nodded at her father.

"I'm sorry Daddy has to be gone a lot. He goes to different places and does this for work." Shawn's eyes was already glossing up as he looked at his "mini me". Mel smiled at her father.

Shawn looked up at Crystal while he still crouched in front of his daughter.

"Crystal? You're a super woman. Thank you for always being there for Mel." The crowd 'awww'ed. He took another deep breath, closing his eyes in hopes to calm his heart but to no avail.

"I don't think you guys have any idea how nervous I am right now." Shawn said in a whisper but through the mic.

"Crystal Paige, you are my best friend. You are the love of my life. You are my person, my soulmate. I'm sorry I've been gone a lot. But, you've raised Mel into a kind and wonderful kid— she is everything I could ask for for a daughter. She looks like me but her heart is like yours." He gripped her hand, took a deep breath before speaking again. "I'm also very sorry this took a while."

His hands were shaking a little from the nerves until he reached for Crystal's hand. Without losing eye contact with a confused Crystal, Shawn slowly knelt on one knee.

The crowd erupted with different reactions. Tears have escaped Shawn's eyes. Crystal's heart felt like it skipped a beat before beating a hundred miles a minute.

"This is going to sound very prideful of me but I made a promise to myself. I promised myself that when I ask the love of my life to marry me, I want to be ready. I want to have a home where our kids can grow up. Give my future wife her dream wedding and honeymoon.

"I want you to know, I've been thinking about this day with you for years now. And I've also been saving up for our dream house since then, that's why it took a while. Well, our little angel came a little too early than I anticipated so I wasn't quite ready. I hope you forgive me for that. Babe, that dream house you told me about? It's finally ready. Now that everyone important to both of us is here in this stadium, all I have left to do is ask you."