The proposal

On Valentine’s Day, Vince wanted to celebrate with a romantic dinner at home instead of eating out. He told Britney that reason was because he was still saving up for her engagement ring. Being an understanding girlfriend, she said that would be just fine. She came over to his house that afternoon (apparently a little early), and he told her to just hang out upstairs while he got the downstairs ready for their date. For the next two hours, Vince buzzed around the house, cooking and cleaning. The whole time Britney was clueless that he was getting everything ready for a proposal.

When preparations were finally done, Vince took Britney’s hand and walked her downstairs. The entire downstairs was decorated like a fancy restaurant: candles, music and a little table for two. After dinner they went into the living room. Vince left and returned with a bowl of water. In the past, their Valentine dates with each other hadn’t ended well, so this year he wanted to do something special to show her how much he loved her. He said he wanted to wash her feet to show her that he wanted to serve her and love her for his entire life. Although she was still clueless at this point, she waited as Vince got on his hands and knees and washed her feet — a symbolic Biblical reference for servitude.

When her feet were clean, he told her that he wanted to open her present for her. He pulled out all of her favorite candies and then a children’s book that he wanted to read to her. She was in tears after seeing the cover because on it was a cartoon of a prince and princess that looked just like her and Vince. It was a fairy tale based on their story that he had written and published just for her! The last page he read to her was the prince asking the princess to be his wife, which ended with “And her answer will be…”

She remembered flipping the page, looking for the princess’ answer, and finally figuring out that he was really waiting for her answer. She looked up from the book to find him on one knee crying with a little box in his hand. He held it together long enough to ask her to marry him, and of course, she said yes. He took her hand, kissed her and pulled her to the “dance floor,” where they slow danced. The night was beyond perfect, and it was tryly the fairy tale they always dreamed it would be.