~Chapter twenty one~
Meg threw the door open. “Surprise, Happy New Year”
Meg got the shock of her life, outside her front door was her parents “Mom,
dad” she said “But how?” Joan stepped forward and hugged her “It’s all Ben’s
idea. He invited us, he even sent us the tickets” Meg smiled “That’s Ben for
you. Come on in” she stepped to the side and when her parents were well inside
she got a hug from her father too. “I can’t believe you’re here” she said and
showed them into the living room “Can I get you something to drink or eat?” “We
ate on the plane, but some coffee would be nice” Joan said “You too daddy?” Meg
asked “Sure, coffee’s ok” Meg started towards the kitchen and was soon back
“Why don’t we sit outside on the terrace, maybe we can spot Sarah and Jude and
call them over, they’ve been on the beach all day” “Did Sarah leave you to do
all the things for the party on your own?” Joan asked surprised “Well not as
much as I shooed her away, it’s my party and you know how I want to have
control of it all” “That’s true” Joan agreed.
Ben checked his wristwatch; it was already half past
four that meant that Meg must have gotten his surprise by now. He turned off
the computer, put the papers in a nice pile and left the office. “Hey Mark, you
don’t have to do more clean up now” he said as he passed the bar “I’m almost
done anyways. Did you get the inventory into the computer?” he asked “Yes, and
now I’m going home to Meg” Ben smiled “I’d hope she’s not mad at me” he added
“Why should she be?” “I sent her parents plane tickets and had them flown in
for the party, they should have arrived by now” “Ben, I bet Meg will like that
very much” Mark said and put the towel away “I guess I’m done here, shall we
leave” Mark turned off the lights from the bar and walked towards the stairs.
“I’ll see you later then” Ben said as he turned on the alarm and locked the
doors “Sure thing wouldn’t miss it for the world”
After having coffee Meg showed her parents around the
house “By the way, where are your bags?” Meg asked as they arrived back
downstairs. “At the hotel” Joan said with a smile “Ben arranged a room, well a
suite for us at the Grenadine’s” Meg sighed “I don’t know how I could have met
such a lovely man” “He sure is” Joan agreed just as Ben walked thru the front
door “Hello” he said and walked over to greet Joan and Hank “Did you have a
pleasant trip” “Yes it was, such luxury to fly first class” Hank answered as he
shook Ben’s hand “First class?” Meg asked astonished “Only the best is good
enough” Ben said and gave her a soft kiss “Talking about that” Joan said “We’d
better get back to the hotel to freshen up” “Already?” Meg said “You’ve not met
Sarah yet” Joan gave her a quick hug “We’ll meet Sarah tonight and besides I
bet you’ve still got a few things to take care off” Meg smiled “You know me too
well mom” she walked her parents to the door and when she closed it behind them
she turned around and rushed over to Ben and threw her arms around his neck “I
love you Ben Evans, thank you so much for flying my parents out here”
Just before seven people started to arrive, Meg was
overwhelmed by all the gifts they brought. From Casey and Rae and the others at
Surf Central they got an exclusive carafe and two champagne glasses; Paula,
Gaby and Elaine arrived with a big palm tree plant and a gift certificate at
Sunset Sisters. Olivia had almost apologized when she handed over their present
that too was a gift certificate “I didn’t know what you wanted or needed for
your house” she had said “This way you can buy what you want or need yourself”
Meg had smiled and reassured her it was a great gift. Even Antonio and Ricardo
showed up. Meg introduced them to her parents but she didn’t say that they were
brothers of Ben’s ex-wife. Antonio would probably be the priest that would
marry Ben and Meg when they had set a date. Of course Bette was there, she had
her little recorder in one hand and her notepad and pen ready in her purse, the
first column of the year was going to set the bar high for the rest of the
year. The most unexpected guests showed up last, it was Ben who opened the door
“Hi Ben” Annie said “I know this is awkward” she grabbed Oscar’s hand for
support “But we’ve been friends a long time Ben and I really want to wish you
and Meg all the happiness” Meg who wondered why it took so long for Ben to let
the guests in arrived at his side “Hi Annie, officer Ruiz” she said with a
smile “Why are you all standing here, come on in” Meg knew Annie was an old
friend of Ben’s and the best friend of Maria’s, but there had never been any
bad blood between them and besides officer Ruiz was a close friend to the Surf
Central crowd and had been over when Meg invited the others so she had invited
him too “Thank you Meg” Annie said and stepped thru the door “You look lovely”
she complimented Meg on her dress. “Thank you Annie, you look nice yourself”
the girls then laughed, they had on the same dress the difference was that
Meg’s were blue and Annie’s burgundy. Ben saw to it that Annie and Oscar got
drinks and told them to mingle around. Food was set out for people to pick when
they wanted too.
Meg did her best to talk to everyone at the party, but
it wasn’t the easiest as there were so many friends here. Bette had taken aim
for Meg’s parents and when Meg saw that she only hoped they weren’t feeling
interrogated. She heard someone cling a glass and turned around to see Ben
standing on the little landing “May I have your attention please” Ben said and
those who were on the terrace came inside. As everyone gathered around Ben locked
eyes with Meg and got her to come over and when she was standing by his side he
spoke again. “Thank you all for coming tonight, it means a lot to me to have
all my friends and family around to celebrate this day” He took Meg’s hand
“From the beginning this was only planned to be a housewarming party but when I
was in Kansas with Meg and her family to celebrate Christmas I asked Meg to
marry me and she made me the happiest man by accepting and as our dear friend
Mark made the announcement yesterday on New Year’s Eve this turned out to be an
engagement party as well” Everyone clapped their hands and cheered “Meg” he
turned and looked at her “If you have any idea how happy I’ve been since I met
you, first on the internet and then in real life you only know half of it,
because I’ve never been this happy in my life, Meg you are my life, my soul
mate and I look forward to growing old with you” Ben dried a tear away from
Meg’s cheek and turned to look for Hank and Joan “Hank and Joan” he started
“Thank you for raising such a lovely woman, I’ve only started to learn to know
you both recently but I know that Meg wouldn’t be who she is today if it wasn’t
for the way you brought her up” he then looked over at Olivia and Gregory “My
dear aunt Olivia” he said with warmth in
his voice “I’d like to thank you and Gregory too for taking Meg to your hearts
like you did when you first met her. I love you both as you were my parents”
Ben looked around the room and then raised his glass “Now, this is a happy
occasion” he said with a smile “I want you all to have a great time, eat and
drink all you can. Dance the night away as I’ve got the best DJ in the house
tonight and don’t worry about waking up the neighbors as their here” he looked
at Bette since the house on the other side was empty at the moment. Ben bent
his head and gave Meg a kiss and the others raised their glasses in a cheer “To
Ben and Meg and their new house” Gregory said.
As Ben had held his speech Mark had prepared the music
with Ben and Meg’s song ‘At Sunset Beach’ and he put it on. Meg took Ben’s hand
and led him down the step to the floor and moved close to him, as they started
to sway to the music Meg whispered “Thank you Ben, it was a lovely speech. I
love you so much” “I love you too” Ben said and kissed her. When Ben and Meg
parted from the dance Hank came over and shook Ben’s hand “That was a lovely
speech, I knew from the beginning you were of the good kind” Ben smiled “Thank
you Hank” The party went on half the night and around 4 in the morning Ben and
Meg fell onto the bed exhausted “Good thing we don’t have to open the Java Web
in the morning” Meg sighed “I wouldn’t gotten half of the things done right”
and Ben laughed “Oh I think you would, you can do them in your sleep by now”
“Well that’s how it would have been” Meg said and closed her eyes and drifted
off to sleep.
___________________________________________________________________________
All connections to
Sunset Beach and real life characters are purely for your pleasure.
©tinadolphin@comhem.se
2012-
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