After a four-hour drive from my childhood home, we finally arrived at our house. It didn’t register in my mind, until we used our keys on the door and it was empty inside, that this was ours. Before unpacking, we had a little wander around. It wasn’t like this when we first looked, there were still sofas and things in there but now it was empty except from the essentials. It was ready to become our home, not just our house. 

As we looked around, I couldn’t help myself from imagining what the place would be like 5 years from now. The four bedrooms were full. One we converted into an office for me. One was little Adam’s, the other was Alannah’s. Inside them was quite similar. Alannah, Anna for short, was a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and had posters and decorative wall art all over her room; and Adam was pretty much the same, except his Harry Potter was Star Wars and Marvel. I stood in the hallway, looking at these two rooms, next to each other, and felt overwhelmed with joy. Despite their usual sibling fights, that all siblings have, Alannah and Adam were best friends. I could see them running around and playing tag in the hallways of the house as we walked through them and then the game spilled out into the vast garden. Out there was an older version of myself and Anna, happily married, and we laughed as the kids played on the grass and we sunbathed. It was perfect. This was the life I’d always wanted. I’d never known who that woman was sat in the back garden with me when I used to fantasise about this place. At one point, I thought it might’ve been Olivia. Now, as I stand here, I can finally see her face. It’s Anna’s. I held her hand as we both looked out into the back garden. “We’re going to have a lot of good times here, aren’t we?” I asked her, with a smile. 

“We sure are.” I didn’t know if she saw the same future as me, exactly, but I knew we were mostly on the same page and that was good enough for me.  

We headed back through the house, which now felt like our home, and to the front door to start unpacking the truck. I had one thing to do though before we did that. 

Anna opened the door and headed to the truck. I stayed in the doorway and gently lowered myself onto one knee. I took the ring from my pocket and opened up the case, revealing it. All she needed to do now was turn around. I cleared my throat, and that was enough. She froze. Her hands covered her mouth and she began to cry, what I can only presume were happy tears. “Anna Walsh,” I began, “will you make me the happiest man in the entire world,” I had to fight back tears myself at this point, “and marry me?” She nodded at first before coming to my side, helping me up and saying, “Yes.” I slid the ring on to her finger and we kissed. This was one of the best moments of my entire life. It was exactly how I wanted it to go. It was perfect.  

We separated lips and she chuckled, “How long have you had that planned?” 

“Around a week.” She seemed surprised by that and I laughed nervously. “But I’ve known since we met that you were the only person I ever wanted to be with.” A very smooth save. 

“And it’s the ring I saw on our first date out.” I smiled. She’d remembered. Anna looked up from the ring and kissed me again. I’d done good.  

We unloaded everything from the truck and unpacked the necessities: the TV, the settee, and our bed stuff. Everything else sat in boxes around us but we didn’t care. We snuggled together and cuddled one another as we watched whatever rubbish Freeview TV we could get. It was just background noise, really. Anna was too focused on the ring and the whole proposal, and I was too focused on her. It wasn’t until someone on the TV mentioned their dad, that I remembered we hadn’t told anyone yet. I hadn’t let Anna’s parents know. “Hey, babe.” I took my phone out, “Do you want to let your parents know?” It was clear she’d forgotten about them too, and that made me happy in a way. For a few hours, it really was just all about us. It was like no-one else existed. 

“Dad? Mum?” Her parents’ faces popped up on the FaceTime call. I was in the background of our shot, letting Anna be the main focus. I was smiling like an idiot the entire time though. “Anna? Is everything okay?” She giggled before holding the ring up to the camera. “Anna! Sam, you did it today?!” I nodded, still letting Anna’s smile and ring be the main focus. “I did. Yeah.” 

“Oh my god.” Her mum was nearly in tears. Her dad was still doing the same stoic act he had done a few days ago when I visited. But once Anna’s mum started crying and wrapped her arms around Anna’s dad, he smiled and it was clear he was fighting back tears too. “I’m so proud of you two.” He said, with a smile. I was proud of us two. A lot had happened these past 10 days and they’re going to change our life forever. These next few months are going to be chaos, and I, for one, can’t wait.  

I texted Patrick, Olivia, Eddy and my own family later to let them know the news and I got a call back from most of them. Eddy, sadly, couldn’t call but he congratulated me over text with his signature over-use of emojis. Today was a great day. Possibly the best day of my life so far. I don’t know what the future will hold – whether it’s going to be good, bad or some mix of both – but I can’t wait to experience it with Anna by my side. We’re in this together now.