My Heart is Calling

"Where do you want to go?" Miranda asked Ben, turning down the street. They'd just left their house and were headed out for a special night on the town. The romance had been dying down recently. Their lovemaking was minimal and definitely not the three times a day that they'd promised each other when they'd first moved into the house. They were both so busy with work that they weren't putting in the effort to make their love work. And like the mature adults they'd grown to be, they both could admit that there was a problem and take their fair share of blame for it. Miranda had suggested that they start a Wednesday date night. She drove through the city.

"I don't mind," he said picking up her hand. He kissed it. "Wherever you want to go is fine." She sighed and kept driving, ignoring the lights of a dozen restaurants. None of them seemed right or good enough for the night that they needed. "Maybe we should just go back home?"

She pulled up to a red light and shrugged. "I guess."

"You're mad?"

"No, Ben, I'm not."

"Then?"

"I'm kind of indifferent—and I never want to feel that way about us."

"We're both tired, Miranda."

"We're way too young. We shouldn't be 'tired'," she said gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Baby, we're...," he sighed heavily. "We work extremely hard."

She stopped talking and shrugged. Maybe that's what it was. An older version of herself would have given him a run for his money, gone back and forth with him until he conceded. But, she didn't feel like doing that. Her revelation made her brain spin. She just didn't care to do it anymore. She drove back to their house and parked in the driveway. "Are we broken?"

He scoffed. "No, of course not. It just takes time to get back into the groove." He turned to her and kissed her bare shoulder. The dress she had on was one that she'd chosen specifically for tonight. It was supposed to be seen on a dance floor in some expensive restaurant—maybe dropped to the floor of their living room as they made love on the sofa, unable to make it to their room, not still in the car, driving around town. Miranda touched his head and looked into his eyes; where she felt despondent, his eyes were full of hope.

"No, let's go inside."

"You still love me?"

"Maybe," she answered, a smile moving across her face. "Depends on how the night ends."

"Come on inside, I'll make us a romantic dinner. And I promise to get us back to us."

He got out of the car and opened the driver's door. "Thank you, babe."

He pulled her into his arms. "Let's start," he said kissing her softly "Right now." They walked up the steps. He searched his dark blue dress pants for his keys. "Damn. Got yours?"

She nodded and stepped around him. "Seriously?" She shook her head. "I had to drive, I have to open the door, where is the gentleman I married, hunh?" He shrugged. "Weirdo." The two of them laughed as she pushed open the door. "What the—?" The entire first floor was filled with flowers and balloons. She couldn't believe it. It was all so gorgeous. And there were five huge picture frames sitting on stands. Each one was covered. Miranda was so eager to know what was going on and what was underneath the cloths, but she stayed patient—her heart beating swiftly. "What is this?"

"What?" He said widening the door and coming in the house. "Wow. You did this?"

She hit him. "No, cheeky!" She laughed nervously, a lump forming in her throat. "You did this. What is this?"

"Don't you know a proposal happening when you see one?" He said touching her waist, making her tense up.

"What are you talking about?"

"I want to marry you, Miranda."

She bit her lip. "You do?"

"I do. You know that," he said flashing the smile that had driven her crazy all of these years. "Do you want to marry me?" He asked, guiding her to the first stand.

"We'll see." Making her way to the first picture, she touched the ribbon of one of the balloons and pulled it down. A card was attached to it. She noticed Ben's scratchy handwriting and gasped. "Reason #6 Why I Love You: You always take care of me." Miranda laughed and showed him the balloon. "I do?" A wide smile crossed his face. "Is this true?"

He nodded. "Yes, it is." She took a deep breath to postpone the tears. The balloon rose to the ceiling. "So, um, these five pictures are just some of—in my humble opinion—our best moments in our friendship and in our relationship. We've known each other for how long?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

Miranda sighed and looked at him. "About… twenty years," she answered wistfully.

He nodded. "Twenty years. So these pictures are kind of like our greatest hits." He bit his bottom lip and raised an eyebrow. "And I just want to tell you, before we start, that you look so beautiful, baby."

"Thank you, Ben." He took the cloth off of the first picture and she smiled up at him. Her hands went to her mouth as she looked at the first picture. "Raven."

"She is my favorite cousin."

"She's my favorite cousin."

"So Eddie and Raven let me borrow their wedding tape and I was able to get some good shots of us dancing. Well, you were dancing; I just bobbed around on the dance floor, trying to impress you." Miranda giggled as she looked at the seven year olds, five feet apart, holding onto each other.

"We are too cute," she said.

"This is the first time I danced with my future wife." He put his arm around her waist and pulled her in. He ushered her to the next frame. "Okay, this one I got from your parents. Your dad lent me his copy of your thirteenth birthday party."

"Oh, yeah! He recorded it. I hope you didn't watch the whole thing."

"You know I did." Miranda shook her head. "There were so many good moments."

"Which one did you choose?" Ben wiggled his eyebrows and dropped the silk cloth to the floor. Thirteen year old Miranda's face was screwed up and Ben had a knowing smirk on his face. They were both eating from the small plate he held. "I want to cry."

"Why?" He asked kissing her cheek.

"Because I love you so much. This is so beautiful. I remember this. This is when I kinda liked you, but I was madly in love with Steve."

He slapped her butt playfully and touched the top of the next frame. "You are going to love this one."

"Oh, gosh!" She said preparing herself. Under the thin fabric was a picture of a teenaged Miranda kissing Ben on the cheek the day before their Senior Prom. A tear escaped her eye as she reached for his hand, locking them together. "I don't even remember kissing you. Is this a real picture?"

He nodded. "Yeah, my mom said she took this accidentally," he said pointing to the picture. Julia was so funny. The unfocused picture was exactly something she'd capture. "I don't recall you doing this either. I think I would remember this."

"Oh, cut it out," she said blushing. Ben kissed her cheek. "That wasn't the first time I kissed your cheek. By the time this picture was taken, I was doing it all of the time."

"No, you weren't."

"Yes, I was," she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Nope."

"Ugh! Ask Beth," Miranda argued. "She used to tell me to stop doing it so much because Steve would get jealous."

"It was too late for that," Ben said laughing. Way too late, she thought. Once Ben had come back to town, they were glued at the hip. And she started falling for him every day.

"So, what's the last picture?" She asked with her heart rate speeding up. Ben said nothing and slipped the silk cloth off. The picture showed her caught off-guard looking at herself in their full-length mirror. Ben was taking the picture using the mirror over their dresser. "Is that our apartment or…" He shrugged. "But wait, I'm wearing the same dress. But… I bought this just for tonight. Did you take this one before we left?!" He nodded with a smile. "How?"

"Magic," he said waving his hand in the air.

"Creepy," she mimicked him. They chuckled. "And what's that you're holding?" She moved closer to the frame. In the picture, Ben held his phone in one hand and something else in his other. "Is that—" She turned around to look at him and found that he was on one knee. "Oh! My goodness! You were serious?"

"Of course." He pulled a small box from his pants pocket. "I had this long speech prepared. About, uh, how much I love you and just how much you mean to me, but—looking at you, all I know is that…" His voice trailed off and he cleared his throat. "All I know is that I want to be your husband."

Goose bumps covered her arms. She knew on some level that their life together would lead to marriage, but this was so surreal. "Okay," she told him with a lump in her throat.

"You're my best friend," he whispered and Miranda realized that he was holding back his tears.

"You're my best friend."

Ben licked his lips. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation. She knew what she wanted. He was what she wanted.

He smiled. "Is that all?"

"I don't know." They laughed, wiping tears from their eyes. "And although I've never been proposed to before or engaged, but I think I'm supposed to get a ring or something."

"Oh, right." He stood up and took her hand, slipping on the ring.

"Yes!" She said holding her hand up and admiring it.

"You like it, Miranda?"

She kissed him deeply. "I love it so much, Ben." They hugged, his hands caressing her back. "I love you."

"I love you, too, babe."

"How?"

"How what?"

"How did I get you?" She asked. She smiled when she saw his realization that she'd repeated his question from years before.

"Birthday wishes. I wished for someone who I could talk to and who would love me and support me and be real, someone I could grow old with."

"You wanted all of that when you were thirteen?"

"No, this was last year," he smirked.

She touched his belt loops. "Get over here." Miranda put her arms around his neck bringing him down for another kiss. She had a feeling they'd be doing it all night. "Are we really doing this? Are we taking this leap?"

"I am. And judging by your smile and the ring on your finger—"

"Which is gorgeous, by the way." Miranda looked at the ring again. "Did Raven help you?"

He nodded and sighed. "Then I'd say 'yes'. We're doing this."