Half a Heart

40. Marry You, Girl

ONE YEAR LATER

TAYLEN'S POV

I watched as my boyfriend walked across the stage to receive his diploma as the principal announced all of his accomplishments and future plans. I was sitting with his entire family and we cheered louder than anyone else. Peter was handed the piece of paper and shook hands with the principal. On his way back to his seat, he looked in our direction and held it up in an 'I did it' manner. We all cheered again. I couldn't stop smiling. I was so proud of him.

Peter had been working really hard and got a scholarship to play baseball at a college just a few hours away. Eliza and Rodger were so proud of their kid. When the triplets graduated and went off to college last year, the first few months were pretty hard for all of them. Eliza and Rodger missed their other boys and kind of smothered Peter until he had a meltdown. After that, they backed off some, but they still babied him a lot. I didn't think that was a bad thing though. After all, Peter never got babied as a little kid. I think it did him a lot of good.

After the ceremonies were over, I followed Rodger and Eliza over to him. I watched as he hugged his mom tightly. Rodger waited his turn but when they embraced, he broke down into tears. Peter continued hugging Rodger for a few before Eliza pulled him away. When it was my turn to get a hug, Peter picked me up and held me closely. He wiped away one of my tears and kissed my forehead.

"Alright you two, let's get some more pictures. Peter, take off your gown."

Peter handed his cap and gown to his dad and he posed with me for several pictures. I took pictures of him and each of his family members and I swear it was another hour before we were allowed to leave. There was an after party but Peter wanted to go on a date instead. I tried to encourage him to go to the party, but he was determined to take me out. I agreed and after graduation, we had planned a date. Well, he and Eliza planned it. The only instruction I got was to pack an overnight bag so that's what I did.

Eliza and Rodger followed us over to his truck and each of them hugged me before I climbed in. Peter hugged his parents and his mom whispered something in his ear. He smiled big and kissed her cheek. He joined me in the truck and looked over at me.

"You ready, babe?" He winked.

"What do you think?"

He leaned over and kissed me.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We had been driving for over an hour and I was starting to get curious.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise."

"Why?"

"Because I said so," he gave me a grin.

I shook my head but kept quiet. I really wanted to know though. It was another half hour before we got to our destination. It was an upscale restaurant that I had never been to. I suddenly felt really bad that Peter was taking ME out on HIS graduation night. I should be taking him out. I decided to voice my opinion.

"Hey, uh, Peter, shouldn't I be taking you out tonight? Not the other way around?"

"Taylen Elouise, don't you start," he said sternly.

"I'm just saying. This is supposed to be your day."

"Tay, this IS what I want to do. Now, stop worrying and get your cute butt over here and act like you love me."

I decided to drop the topic. If this is what he wanted to do, this is what we were going to do. I scooted closer to him and he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Do you have a reservation?" the host asked us in a snobby tone.

"Yes, it's under Harris," Peter told the guy politely.

"Ahh," the guy changed his tune, "Right this way."

"Thank you."

We followed the man and he handed us menus.

"What could I get you two to drink?"

I looked at Peter and panicked. What do you order at a fancy restaurant?

"We'll have peach tea, please."

"I will have that right out to you. Would you like an appetizer?" the guy asked.

"Yes, can we get your beer cheese dip?" Peter ordered.

"Sure thing. I'll be back with your drinks."

"Thank you," Peter and I said at the same time.

Peter and I looked around the restaurant. It was on the lake but it was dark so you couldn't see anything. My dad's lake house was not too far from here. Another 30 minutes or so. He made comments on the decor being ugly and I had to agree. The place needed an update. There weren't too many people out considering it was a Thursday night.

The host came back with our drinks and introduced our waitress to us. Her name was Elle and she was really pretty. She asked us if we were ready to order and we both said yes.

"Alright, what can I get you?"

I ordered chicken linguine alfredo and Peter got a steak sandwich. Elle took our menus and left our table.

"So how excited are you that you never have to go back?" I asked him.

"I'm actually kinda sad. I'm going to miss you cheering at all of my games," he admitted.

I tilted my head and gave him a 'really?' look, "You don't think I'm going to be at all your games, cheering for you?"

"Well some of them are far away."

"Peter, I would follow you anywhere. I am not going to miss a single game."

Peter gave me a cheesy smile. I was so in love.

"Alrighty, here is your cheese dip and pretzels. Your food should be out in 20 minutes," Elle smiled.

"Thank you."

Peter and I talked about our favorite memories from the last year and a half while we ate our appetizer. When our food came out, he and I were mostly full. We powered through and ate as much as we could. When Elle came back to ask if we wanted dessert. I was fully prepared to say no, but before I could, Peter was ordering a chocolate chip skillet cookie. I looked at him with wide eyes but didn't comment. I sipped my tea, trying to decide if I actually had enough room to even take a bite of this cookie.

It came out quicker than I had expected. Peter had started to fidget and looked kinda nervous. I tried not to think about it, but why was he so nervous? Elle sat the skillet down and I gasped. In chocolate sauce, somebody had written "will you marry me?"

I looked over at Peter and he was down on one knee with a ring box in his hand. I immediately started crying.

"Taylen Elouise, I know we are young, but there is no one in this world that I would rather spend the rest of my life with. In the year and a half that I have known you, I feel like you are the only person who has ever understood me the way that you do. You are the person that I feel like I can share everything with. I want you to be by my side forever. As long as God is God, I will never stop loving you. Taylen, will you do me the great honor of being my wife?"

I was in shock. This was straight out of a fairytale. I knew that I wanted to be with Peter forever. It didn't even require a moment of thinking before a "yes" came from my mouth. He started crying as he put the ring on my ring finger.

The two of us stood up and shared a kiss. There was applause but I couldn't focus on anything but Peter.

"Are you sure you want to marry me?" I asked with a teary laugh.

"I knew from the moment that I saw you, that I was going to marry you, girl."

A/N: ahhhhhhhh, we just finished the second book of the series... but don't worry... there's still one more. Thank you all for joining me on this journey and I will post the first chapter of the new book within the week and tell you here. Love you all <3