Chapter Seventeen

Daniel slowly stood up and he placed the ring on Megan's finger as she mouthed the word yes.

He took her face in his hands and claimed her for a kiss. Megan was dumbstruck, a Gould mother ship could have landed on top of them and she wouldn't have noticed.

After a moment she pulled back from him, and looked him up and down. She had never seen him so happy and nervous all at the same time.

"Daniel you have just made me that happiest person in the universe. I love you too."

They slipped into each other's arms once more and slowly explored each other's mouths.

After a few minutes Megan pulled out of his arms and grabbed his hand, urging him to follow her.

They continued down the path a little way until they came to a small cabin, obviously older than the one they were staying in.

"I hoped it would still be here." Megan said to herself.

Outside the door of the cabin Megan turned to face Daniel.

"My father owns about 10 acres on this side of the lake. This is the original cabin that my Great Grandfather built forever ago when he lived up here. When he passed away my grandfather decided to upgrade and he built the newer one closer to the water. This one is looked after by the caretaker too, it is rented out some times. Well it was in my world." She added as an after thought.

Telling Daniel to stand at the front door, she headed around the back to the little shed.

After rummaging around in it for a few minutes she came out brandishing a key.

"Wow, it is a lot smaller than the other one. But it makes it all the cozier." Daniel said as he entered the room behind Megan.

They stood in a large room that housed a rather romantic setting.

The room contained a large bed, already made against one of the walls, a small lounge chair and a small kitchenette.

There was also a huge fireplace with a good supply of firewood stacked by it.

Daniel walked up behind her and laced his arms around her waist. Enjoying the fact that he was holding his fiancée. Megan turned around in his arms to face him and kissed him.

"Daniel, you stay here and Ill be back in about 15 minutes."

"Where are you going?"

"Well we do have children, Daniel. I'm going to go back to the cabin and let them know where we are and see if Dad can look after the kids. Plus I think I should get some supplies that is if you want to spend the night here?"

"Of course I do. Ok you head back but don't take long, I have a great idea on how to celebrate our engagement." He said with a wink.

She left him pottering around trying to start the fire.

When she got back to the cabin, there was no one in sight. The front door was open so she figured that everyone was inside.

Walking in the door, she found Cassie and Caitlin sitting on the rug in front of the television watching some movie. Janet was sitting behind Caitlin trying to put her hair up in a braid, and Sam was cuddling up with Johnny on one of the other seats.

Sam was the first one to see her enter. Johnny was laying on top of her with his legs wrapped around her waist as much as he could on the lounge. He had his head resting in the crook of her neck and was twirling her necklace with his fingers slowly nodding off.

"Hey, are you alright? Where's Daniel?" Sam asked.

At the mention of Daniel the others in the room looked up in Megan's direction.

"He is fine, Sam, Janet, can you come with me for a minute?"

Both women nodded and went to follow Megan into her room. On the way they ran into Jack coming from the bathroom drying his hair with a towel.

He was about to say something when he was silenced by Johnny being thrust in his direction.

He stood back with the boy and let the women file past him, giving each one a questioning look as they passed.

Shrugging he looked at the tired boy in his arms and realized that he better start dinner soon, before he fell asleep.

"How bout you and me go out and get the grill started?" The boy perked up a bit and nodded with slight enthusiasm.

Even before Megan shut the door to her room they started questioning her.

"What happened? Is everything still ok with you two?" But their questions were cut short as soon as she held out her left hand for them to inspect.

"Oh my god Megan. Is that what I think it is? Did he propose?"

Megan nodded in response. Sam enveloped her in a huge bear hug followed by Janet who wrapped her arms around both of them.

"Oh Megan we are so happy for you. I can't believe that he actually did it. Jack let it slip about a week ago that he had bought a ring, but he wouldn't tell me if there were any definite time period that he was planning on. Oh my god, it is beautiful." Sam exclaimed as she took a hold of Megan's hand to get a closer look.

"On to the important stuff. What the hell are you doing back here if he just proposed? You obviously said yes, you are wearing the ring." Janet asked.

"Well that is why I needed your help. Well I left Daniel at the old cabin down the path." At the questioning looks that she got, Megan told them to ask her father after she had gone and he would explain it.

"I left him there while I came back here for supplies. I was going to get some food, and some clothes and other necessities. Now I don't want to sound melodramatic but I have to ask if either of you have any um you know protection."

"Don't look at me, do I look like I've had any before the expiry date on my last pack." Janet exclaimed sitting down on the bed looking through the clothes that Megan had tipped out of her bag.

"Ill be back in a second." Sam said as she quietly left the room.

While she was gone Janet found a lacy scrap of material poking out of the pile. Pulling it out to examine it further, she noticed the lack of material attached to a few strings.

"I got it when we went shopping last week. I was hoping that I would be able to get some alone time with Daniel so I could wear it."

Just then Jack walked in the door, his eyes went straight to the black lacy thing in Janet's out stretched hand.

"Oh god, what the hell is that. Put it away Janet. I so didn't need to see that." He exclaimed as he put his hand over his eyes.

"Well you should have knocked, serves you right." Megan said as she gave Janet a cheeky smile.

"You can open your eyes now dad. I'm going to be staying at the other cabin tonight, OK, are you all right with the kids? There is plenty of formula in the fridge for the twins. And here is the bedding for the portable cots that you will have to set up in the study." Megan continued as she passed him the sheets.

"So I'm assuming that Daniel found you."

"Yes and he proposed. Hey why did you know about this before I did?"

"You mean he actually did it. God he was shitting himself when he told me about it. I didn't think he had it in him." Jack told his daughter as he wrapped her in a big hug.

"I'm so happy for you Megan. You did say yes didn't you?"

"Yes, Dad. See!" Megan said as she showed him the ring.

"It looks even more beautiful on your hand than it did in the box. And to answer your question I knew about it because Daniel did the right thing and asked my permission before he asked you."

"How 1950's of you dad! Either way, Daniel and I are staying at the old cabin for the night and if you can look after the children I would very much appreciate it."

Sam came barging in the door and almost took Jack out, she had enough sense to hide the packets that she had in her hand behind her back before he turned around.

"Yes, Megan we will look after the kids. It's not a problem." Sam piped up while Jack gave her a suspicious look.

"Yeah Megan that's fine. I suppose have fun." He said cringing at his own choice of words. He reached over and gave Megan a hug and kissed her on the forehead.

"If he ever hurts you Megan, I know how to dispose of a body, just remember that." He whispered in her ear before he turned and left to find his cooking assistant.

Janet who had been watching the exchange between father and daughter had to question something.

"What the hell was that? You just got away with telling your father that you and his best friend are about to go off and have a sex filled night. I wish I had that type of relationship with my father. On second thoughts maybe I don't." She said half joking.

"I don't know why. But before the twins were born, dad and I had a really big talk. I was always very open with my father, my whole life about my relationships. I think he is seething under the surface but he knows that if he shows it he will gain a lecture from Sam."

"Damn straight." Sam replied while tossing quite a few packets into Megan's overnight bag.

"Bloody hell, Sam, we are only going for one night." Megan exclaimed over the amount that Sam had put in her bag.

- - - - - - -

After kissing the twins good bye Megan headed off down the path without seeing her father or Johnny, they had disappeared somewhere.

It only took her about five minutes to reach the cabin. She noticed the smoke coming out of the chimney, and the fact that he properly hadn't found the light switch. It was starting to get a bit dark, and for summer it was getting rather cold.

As soon as Megan walked in the door, she smiled in surprise.

The whole room was lit by candlelight. She had now idea where he found all the candles but along with the fire it was rather romantic.

Daniel turned to face her as soon as she entered the room. He was in the kitchenette fixing something for them to eat. That's when she remembered that she had forgotten to bring anything for them to eat.

"Where did you get the food from?" Megan asked as she put down the overnight bag next to the bed.

"Well a tall, grey haired colonel and a toddler that looks remarkably like me dropped it off about ten minutes ago along with a few words."

"What did he say? Did he behave himself?" Megan asked slightly worried of what her father might have said.

He was definitely getting into this whole fatherly protection thing.

"He congratulated me for, let me see, his exact words were `having the balls to finally pop the question'."

"Well, that was eloquent. Sam and Janet said congratulations."

"Are you hungry?" He asked while he watched her enter the room that he had discovered earlier was a bathroom.

"Not just yet. Ill be back in a few minutes." Megan shut the door behind her and rummaged through her bag in search of the required items.

Daniel was looking through the bag that Megan had bought for him and had changed into some black satin boxer shorts that she had bought him a couple of weeks ago.

He found a thick rug in the blanket box at the end of the bed, and laid it on the floor in front of the fire. He popped open a bottle of wine that Jack had bought over for them and poured two glasses.

He grabbed the pillows off of the bed and arranged them on the rug. Looking around, he was pleased with the romantic scene that he had created. He laid himself back on to the pillows and picked up his glass.

He had just taken a sip when, the bathroom door opened to reveal the most beautiful thing in the world.

Megan opened the door to find Daniel lying back on some pillows on a rug in front of the fire.

He looked stunned, she silently wished for him to say something.

He slowly got to his feet, revealing the black boxer shorts that she had bought for him recently. Admiring his muscled body, Megan forgot her own nervousness and walked toward her fiancé.

He couldn't speak. She had taken his voice away.

She was wearing something black and lacy, he had no idea what they were called, the only thing that he knew at that moment was that she was absolutely gorgeous.

When he eventually found his voice he told her so.

Megan fell into his embrace and gave herself over to him completely without fear.

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Megan opened her eyes to the harsh morning light coming through the window above the bed. After getting her bearings, she looked at the man deep in slumber beside her.

She couldn't help but smile. She had everything that she had ever wanted right here with her.

She gently stroked Daniel's jaw line, tracing the line of stubble down his cheek.

He had told her last night that he wasn't going to shave for a while and see what he looked like with a beard. She didn't mind, she had never seen either of her Daniel's with a beard.

Eventually they got out of bed, and cleaned up after themselves. After having a quiet breakfast they eventually made there way back to the cabin finding that they couldn't keep their hands off of each other.

The cabin was a hive of activity, Cassie and Caitlin came running to them from the waters edge when they saw them.

"Auntie Megan, Mum told us that you and Daniel were getting married. Are you?" Caitlin asked with her eyes full of hope.

Daniel grabbed Megan's left hand and held it out for the girls to inspect.

Both the girls started squealing in delight, bringing all the adults out of the house at the noise.

"Jesus, girls you almost gave me a heart attack. Don't do that to an old man." Jack said from the door.

"You're not an old man Uncle Jack." Caitlin told him with certainty in her voice.

"How can you say that Caitlin, my daughter is getting married. That officially makes me old."

Sam walked up to him and put her arms around his waist kissing him on the cheek. "Good thing I like old men."

"Suppose it is." He replied with a wink.

"We are all going out to tea tonight, so no arguments from anyone, it is all on me. My baby girl is getting married and it is time to celebrate." Jack continued as he walked down the steps letting go of Sam's hand and embraced his daughter.

"Baby girl?" Megan whispered in her father's ear.

"It sounded good in my head." He whispered back.

"Well you should have kept it there." Daniel stage whispered so everyone heard him, gaining a swat over the head from his soon to be father in law.

"Hey Jack, so does this um mean that I can call you Dad." Daniel said in his most innocent voice, earning him another swat over the head.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Came Jack's reply just as Johnny came running out of the house and almost leaped of the top stair into his father's arms.

"Daddy, your home. Let's go for a swim."

Daniel agreed telling his son that he needed to go inside and get changed. Watching Johnny go down to the waters edge with the teenage girls, Daniel felt as if everything was perfect.

Please read and review. Ellie Mae