Finally Getting Love Right (21 page)

“I believe you.” Liz said after seeing how serious he was.

“Thank you.” George said.

“So why are we here?” Liz asked gently.

“I asked you all here to ask your permission to marry Sam.” He winced as he finished thinking one of them would punch him.

“Why didn’t you ask her mom?” Kylee asked curiously.

“We all know that they are not close. If you ask Sam who her family is, she never includes her mother. She would tell you that all of you are her family, and that you four are her sisters.”

“Ahhh.” The girls said in unison. He could tell that they thought he was being sweet.

“So what do you say?” He asked.

“I say, You had better treat her right and never wrong her. If we can agree on that, You have my blessing.” Pepper said all too quickly.

“Ok, Yes.” Charlee said choosing to keep her answer short.

“I want you to know that telling you she was in the hospital was the hardest thing I ever had to do. That being said, you reacted in a way I didn’t expect a cheating pig to react, which upped my level of respect for you. I will be watching you, but you have my blessing.” Kylee said not even taking a breath.

“Liz?” George asked as she was the only one who had not answered.

“When Sam got out of the hospital and apologized to us she said something that caught my attention. She told me that she loved you. Coming from Sam, especially after what she has been through, I know she means it. I hope that you don’t hurt her again. I am with Kylee on this one. You have my blessing but I will definitely be watching you.

“Thank you girls. You have no idea what this means to me.” George said smiling.

“How are you going to propose?” Charlee asked.

“Actually I need your help with that.” He said slowly.

“What do you need our help for? You have already proved that you know how to throw a party.” Pepper said naively.

“I have arranged for an event to be held at the Waterfall on Saturday. The problem is that I have no connections when it comes to who I would need to invite. Oh, and what to put on the cake.”

“Easy enough. You need to get a white cake with black fondant and pink paisley designs on it.” Kylee shot off faster than anyone could even think about it.

“Why do you say that?” George asked curiously.

“I know her favorites. You could even do the decorations the other way around and she would still love it. It has to be white cake though.”

“Ok, I will order that tomorrow morning. Can you guys get everyone there?”

“Of course.” Liz replied.

“Thank you. One more thing though. Can you please not tell her?”

“Why would we ruin the surprise?” Pepper commented slyly.

“I meant make sure everyone else knows not to tell her.” He replied.

“We can do that. Do we invite her mother?” Kylee asked.

“We probably should. Just tell her we are celebrating Sam’s recovery and that it is a surprise.”

The five of them made plans about how to get Sam to the venue without her knowing what was going on until they got there. When they had finished, they all headed home to sleep. The girls spent much of the next three days calling everyone that they could possibly thinking of. When all was said and done, the guest list had a total of almost 200 people on it. When Saturday arrived, the girls split off into position. Pepper left the house early to meet up with Kylee and Charlee to greet the guests and show them where to go. Liz called Sam to set the plan in motion.

“Hello?” Sam answered the phone a hint of depression in her voice.

“What is wrong?” Liz asked concerned.

“No one is around. I went to see if Pepper wanted to have breakfast with me and she has been gone all morning.” Sam said

“Don’t worry about it. I am sure she is just studying or something.”

“Probably.” Sam answered.

“Will you go somewhere with me?” Liz asked trying to mask her excitement.

“Sure.” Sam said skeptically.

“Thank you. I need you to drive though.” Liz said trying not to laugh.

“Where are we going?” Sam questioned Liz.

“Your favorite place.”

“Ok. I will be there in a minute.” Sam said hanging up on Liz.

Sam arrived at Liz’s home five minutes after she had hung up. Sam couldn’t help but to wonder why Liz wanted to go to the waterfall. She decided not to ask her. Sam wanted to find out when she got there. Liz got into the car with a grin on her face. She could tell Liz was trying desperately to hide something. The car ride to the waterfall was quiet. When they got there, the parking lot was full except for one space that had a sign on it. The sign read:

Reserved for Samantha Nicole Lee

“Why is there a sign?” Sam asked piecing together that there was some kind of surprise going on.

“You will see.” Liz chuckled.

“Seriously, you know how much I hate surprises.”

“That is true. You will just have to get over it. Let’s go.” Liz said leading Sam down to the waterfall. When they were about 10 feet from where you could see down the steps Liz stopped Sam in her tracks. “Time for the blindfold.” Liz said grabbing a black ribbon from one of the trees.

“No. A surprise is one thing; I am not wearing a blindfold.” Sam said sternly.

“Yes, it is by request. I promise it is worth it.” Liz said sweetly.

“It better be.” Sam said bitterly as Liz tied the ribbon around her eyes. Liz led Sam the rest of the way and untied the blindfold.

“Surprise!!!” Everyone yelled.

“What is this?” Sam asked genuinely.

“I won’t tell you. You need to go to the cave.” Liz said smiling.

Sam slowly walked down the wooden steps admiring the crowd of people that had gathered. She noticed three flat screen tvs set up around the area. She could only imagine what they were for, she hoped they weren’t going to show some weird movie about her. She made her way through the path that the crowd had made to the cave. She ducked behind the falls and saw who was responsible for this gathering, George.

“Hi Sammy.” He said sweetly.

“Hi. What is all this.” She asked smiling as he pressed a button on a cord that had been run through the waterfall.

“Sammy, I know you are probably a little shocked by this, but it is for a good reason.” He said teasing her with why she was really there.

“ I am a little I suppose.”

“I know that this will seem like it is coming too soon but I can’t live another day without asking you this question. I do not want an answer now.” He said pausing for suspense. “Will you marry me Samantha?”

“I..” She started but then stopped because she did not know what to say.

“I will not accept any answer that you give me today. I am taking you on vacation, you can answer me after that or whenever you are ready after that.” He said smiling.

“Ok.” Sam said trying not to cry.

They enjoyed their evening. The flat screen tvs ended up being a prop to make her wonder what was going on. She was amazed by the cake he had gotten her. Sam was whisked around the area talking to everyone. She had seen her mother once, but Blair made no attempt to talk to her. Sam would usually have been disappointed, but she just did not care tonight.

“What are you thinking about?” George asked when he saw the look on her face.

“I was just deciding that I don’t care that my mom doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“I am sorry, I can go talk to her if you would like.” He asked.

“No, when do we leave for vacation?” Sam changed the subject excitedly.

“We can leave whenever you would like.” He said.

“How about now?” Sam said sporadically.

“I think I can arrange that. Can you give me a second?” He asked politely.

“Of course.” Sam said as George walked over and took a microphone.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you so much for coming out tonight. We are here obviously to celebrate Sam’s speedy recovery as well as the question you all know that I have asked her. I have told her not to answer me just yet, but I am sure you will all know the answer soon. Enjoy your night, We are taking off.” George said smiling.

“Everyone knew what you were asking me?” Sam asked stunned.

“Everyone but your mom. Are you ready?”

“I am. Where are we going?” She asked curiously.

“It is a surprise.” George said taking her around the waist as they walked up the stairs and away from the party.

.

CHAPTER 15: VACATION

Sam and George arrived at the airport an hour after they had left the party. The driver pulled through the gate and drove over to the private hangers. Sam looked in awe as the limo came to a stop. The private jet in front of her was a lot bigger than she pictured it to be. It was white with blue lettering that read The Ameslee Estates.

“George, what was the company called before you changed the name?” Sam asked sincerely wanting to know.

“It was called Quinn Ventures.” George said wincing at how the old name sounded.

“Interesting.” Sam replied with a slight laugh. She thought that the old name sounded like an Indiana jones movies title.

“Shall we?” George asked motioning toward the limo door.

They stepped out of the limo to be met by a sudden gust of wind that they were not expecting. Sam was careful as she walked up the steps toward the entrance of the plane. The interior looked just like something out of a movie. The four seats were covered in a blue plush looking material that she could not pin point. There were 3 flat screen tvs mounted to wall with a blu ray player sitting in a small glass case on the floor. Sam felt like she was in heaven.

The plane took off within five minutes of the couple boarding. George still wouldn’t tell Sam where they were going, but she tried her hardest to get it out of him. She hoped that wherever they heading was sunny and warm. Sam had always loved the beach, no matter what memories it held for her. Sam fell asleep shortly after taking off, in true Sam fashion. When she awoke it was sunny out.

“Look out your window.” George said pointing toward her window.

“It is beautiful.” Sam exclaimed as she looked down through the clouds and saw bright blue water.

“I know.” He answered her chuckling.

“Where are we?” She asked hoping he would finally tell her.

“Malibu.” He said.

“We are getting ready to descend into LAX Mr. Ames.” The captain said over the speaker system.

They had no problem getting through the airport. George seemed like he had known exactly which lines to get in and how to get around the massive crowds. As anyone could have imagined, there was another limo waiting to take them to wherever they were staying. Sam enjoyed the drive. It was a windy road but the scenery was gorgeous.

They pulled up to what looked like a small bungalow. It was quaint; truth is Sam thought it was ugly. The driver unloaded their luggage and put it inside the doorway. George took Sams hand and led her into the house. She was definitely not expecting what she saw when she walked in. The little bungalow turned out to be a huge beach house. Sam figured that whoever had built the house had purposely made it look ugly in the front so that everyone would react this way. The entire back wall was made of glass. It was Sams dream beach house.

“Do you like it?” George asked hoping she did.

“At first I thought it was ugly, that was until I walked in. This house is phenomenal. Where did you find it?” Sam was curious.

“Actually, I built it.” George said softly.

“That definitely explains a lot.” Sam said.

“You have seen the living room, but if you walk through the door over there on the right, you will see the best feature of the house.” He said calmly.

“Ok?” Sam questioned figuring it must be the bedroom.

Sam slowly walked to the door George had pointed to. She opened the door slowly, trying to give whatever was behind it a dramatic entrance. Sam was surprised to find a sitting room with 2 doors leading out of it. The walls were decorated extremely girly for a bachelor’s house. There was a grand piano in the middle of the room. It almost had a Victorian quality to it. She passed her fingers over the silk covered chairs as she headed toward the door on the right.

When Sam opened the door, she was greeted by a king sized bed. Again, it had a Victorian feel to it. The carpet was a shade of mauve that Sam had never seen. The bedspread was black and white. There were pink lamps all around the room, each one different. Her favorite one was a tall lamp that had pink crystals hanging from the lamp shade. There was a on suite bathroom that was a blank slate compared to the rest of the room. She walked back into the sitting room and into the second doorway. The final room in this suite was a walk in closet. It was not quite as big as the one she had in her own home, but it would do. She walked out to re-join George in the living room.

“How do you like it?” He asked handing her a plate of food.

“It’s a little girly for a bachelor pad isn’t it?” She asked taking the food and sitting down on the couch.

“That part of the house would be if this was meant to be a bachelor pad. I built that as an add-on. It actually was just finished last week.”

“I see. How did you know I would even come here with you?” She asked.

“I didn’t. If we didn’t work out, I would have sold the house and started over.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Ok then.”

“What do you want to do today?” George asked with a grin.

“I want to do everything. Let’s start with surfing.”

“I knew it.”

They set out on a day of fun. Sam had never been great at surfing, but at least she could stand up. She lay out in the ocean soaking up the sun. She started to think about her life, but she didn’t get far before a wave crashed down next to her. She was a few feet away but she felt the aftershock. She paddled back in and lay on the beach for a while. When she had decided to stop soaking the rays up, George walked over.

“What are you doing laying on the beach? I thought you wanted to surf?”

“I did, for a while. It just wasn’t what I wanted it to be today.”

“Maybe tomorrow then. I know the perfect place to go snorkeling, do you want to go?”