The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Sat on the sofa in mum and Michael’s lounge, I browsed the internet for ideas of what to do for George’s birthday. Katy, who was sat in her bouncer, kept grinning at me as she bounced up and down to the beat of the music that was playing on the radio. 

“What you doing?” mum asked, slumping down beside me on the sofa, trying to peek over my shoulder at the laptop screen.

“What can I do for George’s birthday?”

“Why don’t you go away somewhere?” mum suggested. “After everything that’s gone on this year, you could both do with a break – just you two and Katy. You're a little family again and you could do with a family break, even if it is just a day or two. It'll help you spend time together without anything or anyone getting in the way. I know you've been cooped up in this house with us all for the last few weeks with no escape.”

I sat looking at the laptop screen, contemplating mum’s idea. She was right – we could all do with getting away from England, even if it was for a few days. After a few moments of thinking things through to myself, I began to type in destinations on the holiday website. 

*

“Happy birthday to you,” I grinned, holding Katy in my arms as we watched George slowly wake up, looking confused as to what was going on. “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to..”

“Daddy!” Katy screamed, launching herself out of my arms and straight onto an unprepared George.

“Happy birthday to you,” I laughed, sitting back down in bed. 

“Hello beautiful,” George smiled sleepily to Katy as she clutched onto him tightly.

“Katy got you a present,” I grinned, handing the envelope from the bedside table to George as he bounced her up and down gently. 

“You mean you did,” he winked.

“We both did," I smiled, correcting him.

I laid watching George open the envelope as I cuddled up to Katy as she snuggled silently in between us, grabbing hold of my hair. George kept looking at me as he pulled the card from the envelope. 

“Two tickets to Paris?” 

“Well, two adults and one baby,” I smiled. 

George looked at me in shock. 

“I know right,” I grinned. “I managed to plan something for you for a change!”

“No, I’m just in shock that it’s Paris and not Disneyland Paris.”

“Disneyland will be great in a few years when she’s a bit older,” I smiled, looking down at Katy as I played with her fingers as she slept. “But if we took her, we couldn’t go on any of the fast rides so no thank-you and taking my parents so they could babysit her while we go on rollercoasters defeats the idea of just us three going away.”

George laughed at me as he readjusted the duvet after Katy tossed and turned in her sleep. 

“So Mr Shelley,” I grinned. “Are you prepared to spend a weekend in Paris with your amazing girlfriend and your gorgeous daughter?”

“I suppose I can take one for the team,” he teased. 

"You don't have to if you don't want to," I joked. "I mean, I'm sure I could find somebody else to take."

"You know I'd love to go with you two," he smiled.

"Well, you'd better get up and packed. I've already sorted out Katy's bag and my bag - there's still some space in my bag if you wanna put your stuff in there."

"What?" George asked. 

"We have two hours to get to St. Pancreas," I grinned. 

"Talk about short notice," George laughed. 

"Why? Do you have something else planned?"

George shook his head. 

"Good!" I grinned.

*

“What noise do trains make, Katy?” I asked her as I crouched down beside her pushchair, watching our Eurostar train pull into the platform. 

“Choo choo!” George smiled, crouching down on the other side of Katy’s pushchair. 

“Oh, I don’t remember giving birth to you,” I joked, looking at George as he laughed at me.

“Choo choo!” Katy repeated.

“And what noise does mummy make when she realises that daddy’s a comedian and she isn’t?” George grinned to me.

“OH, GEORGE!” Katy shouted, making everyone on the platform turn around and look at us.

I had to grab hold of Katy’s pushchair to keep my balance as I laughed so hard. I even laughed so hard that I snorted a little but managed to cover it up with a cough - saving much embarrassment and torment from George that was inevitable.

“That’s my girl,” George laughed, kissing the top of Katy’s head as she looked around the platform in confusion as to why everyone was staring at us.

I sipped on my bottle of water but found it ever so hard to keep the water in my mouth as I continued to laugh at Katy's impression. It was perfect. I couldn't have done it better myself and the impression was of me. 

*

Three hours later and we had checked into the hotel that was convienently located right next to the train station. As soon as we dumped our bags in the room, we went back out to the city to explore the city of love.

*

Stood at the very top of the Eiffel Tower, I looked out at the view. It was truly amazing. Even though it was quite cold, the sun shined down on the city of Paris and you could see for miles into the horizon. Rolling Katy’s pushchair back and forth as she slept, George alternated his look from Katy and then up at me with a huge smile on his face.

“What?” I said, grinning at him as I began to get paranoid.

“Sammy, would you.." George paused as he lowered himself down.

"This is it," I thought to myself. I tried to keep myself calm but I couldn't help but grin the biggest grin ever as I watched George get down on one knee. It felt as if my heart was going to explode out of my chest as it pounded faster than ever. We were in the most romantic city in the world at the top of the Eiffel Tower – the dream location for proposals, and it was finally happening..again.

"Sammy, would you pass me Katy's blanket?" he asked me as he perched himself on the floor as he sorted out Katy in her pushchair. And just like that, my heart dropped to my stomach. “She looks pretty cold.”

I was kicking myself inside as I realised I had built myself up for nothing. For the rest of the day, I put on a fake smile to hide my disappointment. As we sat in a restaurant later that night, I watched George as he entertained Katy whilst we waited for the bill to be given to us. Watching him as he made funny faces to Katy, my mind went into a huge trail of thought, asking myself all sorts of questions. Why didn’t he propose when he had the perfect opportunity to ask me? Did he actually want to marry? Did he actually mean ‘it’ll happen soon’ to be about a proposal? Maybe he meant something else? Was I rushing into thinking a proposal too soon?