Lonely Hearts

By Tvdfanpam

Chapter 37

It's for real this time

Christian, Ana and Mia packed up and left NYC since Christian had an important meeting to prepare for. He was going to be gone out of the country the next two weeks working on another acquisition and needed all the time he could get to prepare for it.

Mia slept most of the way home; Ana and Christian curled up on the bed in the bedroom and cuddled together. "Glad you could meet us in New York Christian. I miss you when you are gone; I don't like being apart from you." She said softly. Christian smiled. "Sometimes, I sleep in your apartment when you are gone." She confessed. "It's the next best thing to sleeping with you when you are there."

"I know. Sawyer told me. You could live there all the time with me if you wanted to. I would love that." He said as he kissed her hand. She frowned and a little v formed between her eyes.

"My father would not like that at all and I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. I was raised that you don't live together before you are married." She said softly.

"Does that mean that you will marry me?" He teased. He had asked her a thousand times and she would always turn him down. She took a deep breath and nodded. He sat up unexpectedly almost knocking her off the bed. "Seriously Ana?" He grabbed her and held her to him. She nodded again with tears in her eyes.

"I love you Christian and I don't want to wait anymore. I am ready to be your wife." He jumped up and went to the closet and grabbed his bag and rummaged around in it then shut the door softly.

He walked over to the bed with a box in his left hand and took Ana's hand with the other hand and pulled her off the bed. He knelt in front of her and opened the box. "Anastasia Cavanaugh, I knew from the moment I saw you that you were the woman for me. I love you more than you will ever know. Will you marry me?" He asked softly with tears in his eyes.

"Yes Christian, I will marry you. I love you so much." She said as tears fell down her face. He took off the promise ring he had given her and put it on her third finger on her right hand. He put the engagement ring on her ring finger on her left hand and then kissed it as he admired it on her hand.

"Mrs. Soon to be Gray you have made me the happiest man in the world." He stood up and pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. "How soon can you put together a wedding?" He asked eagerly. She laughed at his puppy dog eyes and went to the closet and got something out of her own bag. She brought a notebook back to the bed and they sat down as she opened it.

"I have been planning my wedding since I was a little girl." She showed him the flowers she wanted and the invitations. "I love the 1920's styles and really want a themed wedding from that era." She revealed. "What would you think about that? A wedding usually takes a year to plan." She said breathlessly.

He stared at her, out of his element. "Baby, I don't care if you want a circus themed wedding. Tell me when and where to show up and I will be there. I don't want to wait a year though." He said earnestly, kissing her lips and caressing her cheek. "You can have six months to plan, no more. Show me your dress." He said with a gleam in his eye as he looked at her notebook with interest.

"No, you will have to wait until our wedding day." She said giving him a quick kiss on the lips before standing up and putting her notebook back in her bag. She turned around and smiled at him. "Let's have a family dinner tonight to tell everyone at once." She said coming back and sitting on his lap. "Fiancé…I love knowing that you are my fiancé." She put her arms around him and kissed him softly on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I will have Andrea arrange it at the Mile High Club. If you will invite your family, I will take care of inviting my family." He said as he took out his phone to text Andrea.

The pilot announced that they were getting ready to land in Seattle and that they needed to get their seatbelts on. Ana turned her ring around so the diamond was facing towards her palm. Christian frowned at her in protest. She put her finger up to her lips. "Mia will spot it immediately. I have to tell Kate first, she would be crushed if I didn't." Ana said whispering to him as they walked to the front of the plane where Mia was sitting. "Did you have a good nap?" Ana asked Mia as she blinked trying to wake up.

"Yes, I slept like a rock. Did you take a nap?" Mia asked politely.

"No, we were just talking. I wasn't really sleepy." Ana said as she sat down beside Christian and put her seatbelt on. Mia looked at her intently.

"So, you're not a member of the Mile High Club now?" Mia asked laughing.

"Nope, not today." Ana said with a straight face.

They landed in Seattle and Taylor and Sawyer were there to take them home. Sawyer had a car waiting to take Mia back to her house and Ana and Christian went with Taylor back to Escala. Christian kissed Ana soundly before dropping her off in front of her apartment then went up to the penthouse. Ana let herself in to her apartment with her key.

Kate was laying on the sofa watching a movie, drinking a glass of wine and texting someone on her phone. She jumped up to hug Ana when she saw her come in. "Hey Ana, how was New York?" She asked excitedly.

"It was great. It's too bad you couldn't come. We found a dress and then met Mia's friend Gigi. I really like her." Ana said as she took Kate's left hand and pressed it with her left hand. Kate looked down when she felt something.

"Is that what I think it is?" She said grabbing Ana's hand and pulling it up to her face. "It is!" She grabbed her sister and hugged her hard. "OH MY GOD, You're engaged!" She hugged her again. "Congratulations Ana! I am so excited for you. When did he propose? Tell me everything!" She said as she pulled Ana over to the sofa and sat down still holding her hand and admiring her ring.

"We just actually got engaged on the way home in the air!" She revealed. "This time when he asked me, I said yes." She revealed. Kate sat there with her mouth open.

"This time?" She said amazed. "How many times has he asked you to marry him?" She asked intrigued.

"He started asking me to marry him on our second date." Ana confessed. "I always told him that it wasn't the right time. It's the right time now. I miss him so much when I am apart from him. I think about him all the time." Ana said dreamily, looking at her ring. "I can't believe I said yes." She said giggling.

Kate got up and went to the refrigerator and stuck her head in, looking for something. She found what she was looking for and said "aha!" She stood up with a bottle of champagne. "Where did I put that corkscrew, we're celebrating!" She got two glasses down from the cabinet after opening the bottle of champagne with a pop and poured them both a glass and brought them over to the sofa and sat down. "Congratulations Ana, I am so happy for you!" She said as they toasted Ana's engagement. "Now, show me your wedding book. I know you have one!"

Ana sat her glass down and ran over to her bag that was still beside the door and rummaged in it until she found it. She ran back to the sofa and opened it. "I showed it to Christian; I explained that I wanted a 1920's themed wedding and he said he would be good with a circus themed wedding as long as I would marry him." Ana giggled. Kate laughed with her sister. "I didn't show him the dress I want because I wanted it to be a surprise. No peeking before the wedding." Ana said taking a sip of her champagne. "I need to text mom and dad to invite them to a family dinner tonight. We are going to announce our engagement at the Mile High Club tonight." She took her phone and sent a quick text message to her mom and dad.

"This is so exciting!" Kate said. "We need to find you a dress for your engagement party tonight. Let's go shopping. I know a boutique not far from here that has 1920's inspired dresses. You should wear one for your dinner tonight." Kate said excitedly.

"Well, that is actually a great idea. Start with the theme tonight!" Ana said. "We have time before we have to get ready for our big dinner. Let's go." She stood up and texted Sawyer. He texted back right away. "Sawyer will meet us down in the garage."

The girls grabbed their bottle of champagne and took it with them. Ana had the giggles, she was so heady with being engaged and drinking champagne. Sawyer eyed them curiously. "You're taking champagne with you shopping?" He asked. Ana nodded and giggled some more as she got in the car. Kate got in and shut the door and they were off to the store.

The girls left their champagne and glasses in the car and walked in the store. There was a sales person standing at the door to greet them. "Welcome ladies, how can I assist you?" She said eagerly. She recognized Ana and was hoping for a sale. Sawyer stepped in front of the girls.

"Miss Cavanaugh is looking for a dress. Please sign this NDA before she shops in here." He said handing the sales girl a standard NDA. She took it and read it quickly then signed it and handed it back to Sawyer. "No one comes in either while they are here. I will stand outside and discourage people from entering. We don't want to read about it or see her shopping trip on TMZ tonight." He said stepping outside. The sales girl turned to Kate and Ana who stood there wide eyed during the whole exchange.

"What kind of dress are you looking for?" She said professionally. Ana said she wanted something special for a family dinner. "Please follow me. I think I have something you just described." She led them to a rack of dresses that looked like flapper dresses from the 20's. She held out an off white dress with an appliquéd overlay and showed it to Ana. "What about this one?"

"Hmm, I like it. I'll try it on. Do you have shoes to go with it?" Ana asked taking the dress. "I need a size 6." Kate found a pretty black beaded dress on the same rack and followed Ana into the dressing room area. Ana came out and waited for Kate to come out so they could show each other their dresses. Kate gasped at Ana.

"You have to get that! It's perfect. It looks kind of like a wedding dress." She whispered to her sister. "Is this too flashy?" Kate asked Ana as she looked at herself in the three way mirror. "I don't want to upstage you tonight." She said seriously. Ana smiled at her sister.

"No, it suits you. Let's go find some shoes and get out of here before someone tries to come in." Ana giggled as she walked out of the dressing room to look at shoes. They found shoes to match their dresses, changed back into their clothes and paid for their purchases and left. It was short and sweet. "Thanks Kate that was a good idea and the perfect place to shop. Will you be my maid of honor?" Ana asked sweetly, sipping on her champagne.

"I would love to be your maid of honor. Thank you for asking me. I have to confess that I thought you might want Mia to do the honors." Kate said looking everywhere but at Ana. "I am happy for you but sad for me. Does that make sense? I will miss you so much." Kate said a little tearfully. "You have been a better sister than I have. I will try to make it up to you by being the best maid of honor you have ever seen." Kate said, she was getting a little tipsy from the second glass of champagne she drank on top of the glass of wine she had earlier. They clinked glasses as they drank the rest of the champagne.

The girls got online and looked at vintage inspired wedding dresses and found a designer named Anna Campbell from Australia who had some beautiful designs but her shop was in Armadale, Victoria Australia. Ana emailed the designer to see if she had a shop in the USA. Then they raced around trying to get ready since they took so much time looking at dresses.

Christian knocked on their door at 7:00 pm and Kate opened it for him. He came in and Kate congratulated him on their engagement by giving him a hug. He was surprised since she wasn't his biggest fan. Ana walked out of her room putting on her earrings and Christian stood there stunned. "Baby, you look beautiful. Is that a new dress? I love it. It looks like a wedding dress." He said as he walked over and kissed her. "Was that your intention?" He asked in her ear. She nodded grinning taking his hand. "Okay then." He said with satisfaction. "Let's go ladies." He said as he ushered them out of the apartment and down to the waiting car. They rode to the restaurant listening to the classical music playing in the background each lost in thought.

Christian helped the ladies out of the car and escorted them into the building and up to the restaurant. The restaurant manager was waiting for him at the door. "Good evening Mr. Gray. Your family and Miss Cavanaugh's family is waiting for you in the private dining room. They just got here." He said greeting Christian and Ana. "Right this way sir." He led them back to the private dining room.

They walked in and greeted their family and passed out champagne to everyone except for Ethan who was disappointed that he got sparkling cider instead! Christian took a deep breath and put his arm around Ana. "Ana and I are getting married!" He said excitedly.

"Awesome!" Elliott said running over and picking up Ana and hugging her hard. "Welcome to the family." Mia ran over as well and knocked Elliott out of the way so she could hug Ana.

"You looked radiant when you came out of the bedroom on the plane earlier. I thought something happened!" She exclaimed rather loudly. Ana's dad gave Christian the stink eye. Ana blushed.

"I proposed to her on the plane, that is all." Christian hastily explained making sure her dad heard. Elliott took pity on his brother and cleared his throat.

"Congratulations Christian and Ana. May you have a long happy life together." He said to the happy couple. They all toasted the newly engaged couple. Christian nodded to his brother gratefully.

A/N: Christian kept telling me that he wanted to marry Ana and I couldn't put him off any longer. Hope you liked this extra-long chapter! Thanks for reading! Check out the Pinterest page! I put their dresses on their and Ana's ring!