Part 3

Later that night when all the guests had already gone, Alex and Claire were sitting on the Drovers porch, still sipping champagne and eating leftover cake that Meg had baked. Claire was sitting on Alex's knees and BOM was sleeping on a chair next to them.

"So, did you have a good time?" Alex asked pulling her for a kiss.

"I had a blast." she said grinning in between kissing him. "That was a great day and a wonderful party."

"And we have even more wonderful life ahead of us." Alex smiled and kissed her again.

"Did I tell you that I love you?" Claire grinned as she nestled into his arms looking at her beautiful baby daughter.

"I vaguely remember, so you might wanna try again." he joked.

"Well I love you." she repeated. "I really really do."

"And I really really love you too." he replied kissing the top of her head. "And I love her." he added, pointing at Charlotte. "She's just about the most perfect baby."

"She is, isn't she?" Claire smiled looking at her daughter lovingly.

"Yeah." Alex sighed. "And there is no wonder since she's taking after you."

"Well look at you, Mr. Compliment." Claire laughed.

"I can't help it." Alex laughed back. "You put a spell on me, woman."

"I did, didn't I?" she turned around and kissed him on the lips. "I tend to have that effect on men."

"I'd better be the only man you're having that effect on." he looked at her questioningly.

"Don't worry, you're in the top 5." she answered jokingly and couldn't help but laugh when she saw the expression on his face. "You look so cute when you're jealous." she kissed him on the cheek.

"Me, jealous?" he pretended to be offended. "You must be confusing me with someone else." he added, but he knew exactly that he had absolutely no reason to be jealous. He knew that the only person Claire might love more than him was BOM.

"I'm so tired." Claire said after a moment, trying to stretch her legs. "I think I'm gonna go to bed. Care to join me?" she winked at Alex.

"Always." he smiled and they both got up. Claire took Charlotte and they went upstairs. When they approached the bedroom doors, Alex began getting more and more nervous. He knew that this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life, even if he wasn't always aware of it.

He pushed the door open for Claire and Charlotte. His heart started pounding like crazy. He knew that the moment was going to come any minute, but truth be told he had no idea what he was going to say or how he was going to ask her, the only thing he knew was that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Claire.

Claire entered the bedroom, but she was too focused on Charlotte to notice the ring on the bed. She put Charlotte in the crib and turned to Alex, still not noticing the ring. Alex was a nervous wreck, and Claire would have to be blind not to notice.

"Alex, is everything OK?" she asked him, a little worried.

"Yeah, everything's fine. It's just that..." he started explaining as his eyes shifted to the ring. Claire immediately picked up on that and turned around. Alex knew that she was gonna see the ring now, so he took a deep breath. "It's showtime." he thought to himself, as he watched closely what Claire's reaction to the ring would be.

For a moment she stared at the ring, as if not exactly sure if it really was there. After a while, she walked up to the bed and took the ring in her hand, still not sure if she was not imagining things. When she opened the box and realized it wasn't her imagination and the ring really was there, she turned to Alex, with her heart beating as strong as it had ever beaten.

"When you said you had a present for me, I was thinking more like a new saddle..." she said laughing in between deep breaths. "Is this what I think it is?" she asked trying to make sure she was understanding everything right. "Are you asking me to..." she started, but she didn't have to finish. The expression on Alex's face said everything. "I'll be damned!" she laughed again, but tears started rolling down her cheeks. Never had she imagined Alex Ryan proposing, let alone to her. This seemed like some kind of alternate universe. But she liked this universe.

Alex finally took a step closer to her. "We've wasted so much time, Claire. If only we hadn't been blind all those years, maybe things would have been different. Although right now it doesn't really matter, because we can't change the past. But we can change the future and I wanna keep changing it with you. Ever since Melbourne, there is nothing that I have ever been more sure in my life than the fact that I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. Whatever life wants to throw at us, I don't care, because I know that you and I together Claire are unbeatable." he stopped for a moment and studied Claire's face for a moment. She seemed frozen in the moment, listening intently to everything that he was saying. She couldn't stop the tears. Alex took the ring from her hand and got down on one knee. "So... Claire Louise McLeod, will you do me the honor and..."

"YES!" she cried happily, tears still rolling on her face. She realized that she probably had never let Alex see that many of her tears, but it didn't matter. She was happy and those were tears of joy.

"But you didn't even let me ask the question." he pretended to be indignant. "What if I wanted to ask you if you want to become a man?"

"For you everything, my love." she joked.

"So yes?" he asked more seriously and looked into her eyes.

"Of course." she answered. "I didn't waste that much time on you not to have something from it." she grinned.

"You are starting to scare me." he laughed.

"Good, that's the way it's supposed to be." she replied as Alex finally took her hand in his. Her entire body shivered.

"Let's make it official." he smiled and put the ring on her finger. She smiled back at him as he finally stood up and took her in his arms.

"I love you." she whispered in his ear.

"I love you to, future Mrs. Ryan." he kissed her on the lips.

"Wait, I'm not taking your name. I'm a McLeod!" she said firmly, but with a laugh.

"We'll talk about it later. What matters is that you will be my wife and you can finally start cooking for me and making my laundry." he winked at her as he started kissing her neck and lead her onto the bed.

"I wouldn't be caught dead doing your laundry, Ryan." she retaliated as Alex continued to kiss her.

"Well, you never thought you'd see the day I proposed to someone, and yet here we are." he laughed.

"And that was the one time I was wrong." she smiled and started kissing him back. The fact that Alex Ryan actually made a marriage proposal hadn't really sunk in yet. Let alone the fact that she was the one he asked to be his wife. Talk about some weird, twisted universe...