"My, my have I missed the Shire!"
Frodo chuckled as he watched Lila spin around in the tall grass underneath the sunlight. Her golden curls shined underneath the sun as she twirled. It was almost as if she were a child again. Lila smiled, falling back onto the grass with Frodo falling right beside her.
"But, I missed you most of all", she said.
"I missed you too", he said.
Lila looked at him with a smile as she held his hand. Frodo sat up, keeping her hand in his.
"I really missed you, Lila", Frodo said. "I can't stand the thought of you leaving again."
"Frodo…" she softly said hearing the honesty in his voice.
"Will you stay with me this time?" he asked. "Stay with me in the Shire. I want you to live with me in Bag End."
Frodo looked down at the flowers in the grass. He spotted a Daisy and plucked it from the grass. Lila watched him wrap the stem around in a circle, tying it together, almost like a ring. She gasped, watching Frodo take her hand.
"Lila, what I'm trying to say is…I love you", he said.
"Frodo…I...I love you too", Lila answered startled.
"I want you to stay with me forever this time. Lila, will you marry me?"
She gasped as Frodo slide the ring flower onto her finger. She looked at him in shock. She didn't know what to say. Lila and Frodo spent a majority of their childhood hating each other until Frodo's parents died. Now that they had grown, love…and marriage…?
"Frodo…I don't know what to say", Lila said.
"Will you marry me?" Frodo repeated.
She looked at the ring again smiling. Lila and Frodo could make it work. They did care deeply about each other and wanted to stay together.
"Yes!" she nodded. "Yes!"
Lila jumped into Frodo's arms, knocking him back into the grass. Lila pressed her lips to Frodo's in a deep kiss. Frodo smiled and held her as the two Hobbits lay in the grass.
"Frodo, do you remember when we were children?" Lila asked as they looked up at the clouds.
"About how we never got along?" Frodo asked.
"Mm-hmm. I apologize for all those things I did to you when we were young. I was foolish, I…I don't know what I was thinking."
"Lila, it's all in the past now. You do not have to worry about any of that. I love you, and I want us to wed as soon as possible. We will announce it tonight at the party."
She smiled, burying her face into Frodo's chest. They were completely unaware of the eyes that watched them.
"What did I tell you?" Bilbo chuckled as he and Gandalf saw the two young Hobbits from the top of the hill at Bag End. "Didn't I tell you those two made a lovely couple?"
"Yes", Gandalf said. "Hard to believe it. Seems only yesterday they were just children meeting each other for the first time."
"Pulling out each other's hair", he nodded remembering. "Pushing each other into the dirt. Ah, children…"
"So now we'll soon be in-laws."
Gandalf and Bilbo smiled as they sat down in front of Bag End, smoking on their pipes, making smoke figures the way they knew best.
"Gandalf, my old friend, this will be a night to remember."
