Author's Note: Hello everyone! Even though a little late, I'm back with a new chapter that I hope you will enjoy. After so much pain into their lives, it's time for them to enjoy the sheer happiness of being in love and something wonderful will surprise Julie as you are about to read. Happy Reading!

A Special Gift, chapter 9.

The next weeks Blake only had one thought in his mind: now that everything was over, he wanted to marry Julie … to say the truth he had wanted to since the first time they met!

He had recovered almost completely by then and would have been fine in a month or so. The first thing he had to think about was a way to propose to her, he didn't want anything banal or usual as she was a special woman and deserved a special proposal. He excluded the idea of bringing her out for dinner and propose her at the restaurant, it would have influenced her and made her very nervous considering what had happened the last time.

What could he do then? He spent whole nights thinking about it.

As they embraced each other in bed, he loved to wait until she fell asleep, peacefully, safe and sound between his arms. She slept on his chest, with his arms around her and his head on hers. His mind was filled with ideas as he saw the profile of her lovely nose illuminated by the moon beams, as he could hold her soft and cold skin and warm it up with the rubs of his hands, as he heard the melody of her breath, the sweetest sound to break the silence of the night.

One night he finally came up with the perfect proposal and once he decided what to do, he woke up in early morning and went out to one of his friends who worked at the press office.

That morning Henry Miller's office was very crowded with journalists and people running back and forth, looking for advices, screaming and throwing pieces of crumpled paper everywhere. Blake walked along the corridor to reach his friend's room and felt really embarrassed being aware to be an intruder in the chaos of that mad crowd. Before he could knock the door it was flung open and almost hit his face and out of it came Henry that fortunately soon recognized Blake and told him to follow him. As they walked through the corridor of the press, everyone ran to him to ask him something and Blake was totally unable to say more than a word in a row. They needed a quiet place to talk and it seemed there was just one solution to the problem, although a very embarrassing one: they closed themselves into the bathroom. Despite the initial discomfort, Henry spoke up first thanking Blake for freeing him for a moment in that busy day. He confessed he didn't even had time for a cup of coffee. Then Blake took a more serious aspect and told him about his idea:

- "Henry, I will be very quick because this has to stop as soon as possible but… I have to tell you something: I want to marry Julie!"

- "You what?! Congratulations old friend, I am so proud of you! And now I know why you wanted to talk to me, it would be a pleasure for me to be your groomsman"

- "No Henry wait a minute. Groomsman? I didn't want to talk about this. I mean not yet… it is about my proposal …"

- "Oh yes, tell me" Henry answered, he knew Blake too well to get angry at him

- "She deserves something very special. So I thought that my proposal could be written on a newspaper. What do you think of it? Maybe on the front page…" he clasped his hands together in excitement

- "This is a very good idea Blake, but don't you think you two would be besieged by gossips and crowds of journalists after the article?"

- "And here we go with another idea: the proposal must be written only on one newspaper!"

- "I don't understand …." his expression spoke all his confusion

- "You will give me a normal newspaper, but the front page of it will have on my proposal. There is only one newspaper, it is unique. Got it?"

Henry was still a little confused and Blake read the confusion in his eyes so they went out of the bathroom to reach the office again, hoping that people would let them do their work. This time fortunately the office was empty and Blake spent most of his day to plan and realize his idea in every detail and by late afternoon, the special newspaper was ready.

That night Julie was a little surprised by the fact that Blake was late for dinner, he had never been since he moved with her, but she didn't suspect anything and surely didn't expect the big surprise she was about to receive the very next day. As they were cuddling, as usual, Julie asked Blake what he had done during his day right after he asked her the same. He didn't answer, he just smiled at her and told her that it had been a long day and that therefore he needed something to relax.

"Oh really?" Julie giggled and put herself on top of him to tickle him on his hips before holding his head between her hands and bending over to kiss his lips tenderly.

The next morning, at dawn, Blake tired to be very silent. He sneaked out of bed and went into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast. When it was time he entered their room and woke Julie up, he was over excited about what was about to happen. As she awakened she felt his thumb caressing her temple and the rest of his hand on the warmth of her neck. As she opened her eyes, she saw Blake sitting next to her with a tray with two cups of her favorite tea, croissants and, of course, the newspaper on his lap.

"Good morning honey, I brought you breakfast" his warm and reassuring voice said as he put his arm around her shoulders. Their hands intertwined, as they turned their heads to kiss each other tenderly. Julie was touched by Blake's gesture: he really loved to spoil her, he never missed the chance and it was so nice to have someone to wake her up in such a tender way.

"I took the newspaper today, darling, do we want to read it together?" Blake asked but at his question Julie remained a little surprised since he knew that after those terrible false news spread by Patricia they didn't read journals anymore. But she then thought it was time to start again and appreciated that Blake was with her in that moment.

The newspaper was rolled up and tied by a small string of twine. Julie untied it and saw the front page. The article on it didn't had a title, it simply said: "Will you marry me?".

After reading it, Julie remained silent for a while unable to say anything. She then turned and looked at Blake with an uncertain smile and sparkling eyes

- "What do you have, darling? It is a simple question to answer" he joked

- "You … you really mean to…?".

- "Well, the journal says so…"

Julie didn't answer, she just lift her head from his chest to fling her arms around him and kiss his lips with endless love.

- "Is that a yes, honey?" he smiled enthusiastically

Julie detached her lips from his just a few millimeters, he could still feel her breath softly blowing his lips as she spoke again

- "Of course I'll marry you, Blake. I love you so …" she closed her eyes and came back kissing him.

That morning no one of them got up from the bed. They remained there cuddling each other tenderly, kissing endlessly and getting lost in each other's love.

In the afternoon, after lunch, they were on the sofa, drinking their cup of tea and watching outside at the garden. The journal with the proposal was on the table and Julie looked at it so many times, she couldn't believe it was happening for real.

- "I am so excited, Blackie, I wonder how wonderful it will be … But I'd love to have a quiet, private ceremony. I don't want people to know every single detail of it"

- "You know, darling, sooner or later people will discover it anyway. The only thing we can do is be careful and enjoy the day. It will be the most beautiful ceremony and no one will know it. Just you and me and our closest friends, I promise"

Julie felt reassured, she was afraid that people could ruin that magical day. Soon after that she and Blake agreed on calling their parents to tell them the news.

Julie took the phone with enthusiasm and called her parents in England, they already knew something about that new handsome man in her life and she couldn't wait to tell them about the marriage. She talked endlessly for more than an hour telling them every little detail of the proposal. They also asked lots of questions and showed their happiness for this new, wonderful event in their daughter's life. They were beyond happy for her.

But the phone call ended with a bittersweet note: despite the excitement, her parents told her that since their old house ceilings were getting moldy and there were wet spots everywhere, it was better for them to move to another house. The move would have kept them occupied for the rest of the following months and unfortunately it would have prevented them from being present at the marriage. She hang down the call somewhat disappointed and sad: she understood their reasoning but it would have been the most important day of her life and she couldn't imagine to spend it without them.

- "They said …"

- "I know" Blake stopped her, "but darling it's not as bad as it sounds …"

- "Blackie it's our wedding day, it won't be the same without them" she reasoned

- "Of course not. But you know as they say, 'If Mohammed will not go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed".

- "What does it mean?" she asked in a confused giggle

- "If they can't come here, then we will. We can visit them after the marriage"

At his words Julie's eyes brightened. The idea seemed to be perfect and knowing that she would have seen her beloved parents soon made her feel definitely better. Blake always seemed to have the perfect answer to her doubts and he couldn't be more glad about it.

Author's Note: Thank you very much for taking some time to read, I'll see you next Wednesday hopefully and I do hope to find some reviews to get inspired from!