Hearts Aligned (Eternal Love #1)

by Cheri Marie

  We reach the office and I order us lunch and a bottle of wine from the restaurant next door. Within twenty minutes it's delivered, I grab two of the cups from the office coffee pot and pour us both some wine.

  “To a fulfilling day as an angel, cheers!” I say. Tristan smiles and taps her cup to mine.

  “Cheers!” she says.

  Finishing up lunch, I tell Tristan she can take the rest of the day off. We lock up and both head home. On my way home, I start feeling sick. God, I hope I’m not catching the flu. I pull in the driveway. I barely make it inside to the bathroom when I throw up all the contents of my stomach. I stretch out on the couch and pray I start feeling better. I feel my phone vibrate and I look at the caller ID, its Landon. I answer it.

  “Hey baby.”

  “Hey, you okay? You don’t sound well.”

  “I’m okay, just feeling sick.”

  “Awe baby, do you need anything?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “Okay, well I’m going to finish up at work and then I’ll come by okay?”

  “Yea, that’s fine. I’ll see you in a little while. I love you.”

  “I love you too. Just relax, I’ll be there soon,” he says and hangs up.

  A couple hours later Landon shows up, even though I told him I didn’t need anything he brought bottled water and soup. He comes in and sits on the couch with me, cuddling me and tending to anything I need. For the first time in my life, I feel loved and appreciated. Eventually I fall asleep on the couch. When I wake up it’s the middle of the night, I’m surprised to find Landon sleeping on the floor right next to me. When I move he wakes up.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yea, I’m fine. I’m feeling better now.”

  “Okay,” he says. Sitting up he kisses me on the forehead then climbs on the couch with me. Wrapping his arms around me we both drift back off to sleep.

  Things between Arianna and I have been fantastic! We spent Thanksgiving at her house along with Ashlan, Damien, Kat and Xavier. It was great having all of us together for the holiday. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been in a family atmosphere; this feels like home and I’m right where I’m supposed to be. While we have everyone together I sneak a moment away with everyone to fill them in on my idea for the proposal. I’m planning it for New Year's Eve. Everyone is onboard.

  We plan for everyone to come to Arianna and Ashlan’s again for Christmas. It should be great. I have been shopping like crazy for Arianna. Since it's Christmas, she can’t object to me showering her with gifts. Let’s just say I have spent a large majority of my time in the historic district.

  These last few weeks have been incredible! We spent Thanksgiving with our friends, planning to do the same for Christmas in a couple weeks. The Angels for Heroes food drive was amazing! We were able to feed hundreds of needy families and we’re preparing to do it again for Christmas. I have been saving up for Christmas and Ashlan and I have planned to go shopping today. I still have no idea what to get Landon. I remember the guys stopping at the hobby shop, so I decide that will be one place to stop. I knock on Ashlan’s bedroom door.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Yea, I’m coming!” she calls out.

  Seconds later she opens the door; we head downstairs, grab our coats and head out the door. As I step out the door I slip on ice, almost falling on my ass but I manage to catch myself. Ashlan bursts out laughing. I glare at her but eventually start laughing right along with her. We carefully walk to the car, it’s nice and warm inside. We take off heading towards the historic district; parking in front of the hobby store we climb out and head inside.

  They have some of the coolest things I have ever seen. Model planes, cars, buildings, trains, you name it they have it. I remember a conversation Landon and I had about one of his tours overseas. He had visited France and had an admiration for the Eiffel Tower. They have a beautiful build-it-yourself one so I buy it. Next we check out the Rolex store, I buy Landon a beautiful Rolex watch and Ashlan purchases one for Damien as well. We browse a few other stores. Not finding much, we decide to call it a day.

  We head back to the house and wrap the gifts we bought. I hope Landon loves what I got him.

  Once they’re wrapped I hide them in the library, hoping he won’t go snooping. Cleaning up all the wrapping stuff, I then start making dinner…

  The next few weeks fly by! With work and planning to have company for Christmas I have been running around like a crazy person. Tomorrow is the Christmas food and gift drive, and then two days after is Christmas Eve. I have no idea how I am going to prepare for everything but I’m determined to do my best. As I’m rushing around the day of the drive, I get light headed and start to feel nauseous. I haven’t eaten all day so I grab a bite to eat hoping that fixes the problem. I continue on with my day without an issue.

  When the drive is over I’m completely overwhelmed. We ended up receiving enough food and gifts to take care of double the amount of families we helped at Thanksgiving. The next day I hire a couple extra people for the day to help deliver all the packages to the families; instructing them to take pictures for the collage I’m creating for the wall in the office.

  Ashlan and I spend all of Christmas Eve prepping stuff for dinner the next day and baking cookies. The guys are putting all the presents under the Christmas tree. When I walk into the living room I gasp, there are so many presents! I glare at Landon and he shrugs.

  “The cookies are ready.”

  “Great! I love cookies,” Damien says as he walks into the kitchen. Landon walks up to me and I wrap my arms around him.

  “Merry Christmas baby.”

  “Merry Christmas my angel,” he says before kissing me, I kiss him back. Breaking away I grab his hand and lead him into the kitchen. Ashlan has poured us all a glass of wine. I take a sip; as soon as it hits my stomach I feel sick. I hand it to Ashlan and grab a bottle of water.

  “You okay?” she asks.

  “Yea I’m fine, it just isn’t sitting well. I think it’s because I haven’t been eating like I should. Everything with work and the craziness of the holidays, it’s a surprise I even remember to get dressed.”

  “Well, if you didn’t remember, that would be fine by me,” Landon pipes up with a smirk on his face. I roll my eyes at him. Ashlan and I put everything away, clean up and then we all head to bed for the big day tomorrow.

  The next morning I get up early and make breakfast. Kat and Xavier arrive just as I finish. They ask where everyone else is, I tell them they’re all still sleeping. Before I can stop them they’re barreling up the stairs to wake everyone up. I can hear them both knock on the bedroom doors. Kat is telling Landon to get his lazy ass out of bed, Xavier is telling Ashlan to stop sucking face with her boyfriend and get up! I can’t help but stand in the kitchen and laugh at them. No wonder they make such a good couple, they’re so much alike. Not too long after, everyone has joined me in the kitchen. We enjoy breakfast and then move to the living room to open gifts.

  I start to hand Arianna her gifts from me, she glares at me as the pile just gets bigger and bigger; each gift more expensive than the last. I just smile at her. She hands me the gifts she bought for me and I open them. I’m like a big kid when I open the model build-it-yourself Eiffel Tower she bought me. It’s beautiful and it will look great in my office. The next gift I open is a gorgeous Rolex watch. I put it on and it fits great. She also bought me ties, a new suit, and little odds and ends that she knew I would love. Last I open a small white box, inside is a key. I look at her confused. She points inside the box where there is still a note inside.

  I open it and read it. I glance at her and then back at the note. It reads:

  We’ve been together for 3 months now and it has been the happiest time of my life. I love waking up to you in the morning and going to bed with you at night. I know we agreed to take it slow but I think we’re past that. This key is to the front door, I’m hoping that you will use it to move in your things so that
I can wake up to your beautiful face every morning, and go to sleep looking at that beautiful face every night; not just a couple days a week.

  Her giving me a key to the house, asking me to move in, it trumps all the other gifts. I have been waiting for this moment for the longest time but I didn’t want to rush her into anything. If she wanted me to move in, I wanted her to do it in her own time and she did. This Christmas is the happiest I’ve had in a while. I kiss her, passionately; suddenly hearing hooting and hollering coming from our friends. I look at my girl and our friends enjoying themselves. I thank God, every day that I decided to go to the luncheon where I almost collided with the beautiful woman sitting next to me. This has been the best year, and it will be complete when I ask Arianna to marry me.

  Today has been the best Christmas I have ever had. Being with Landon and surrounded by our friends, it’s all perfect. Landon went overboard on gifts for me, as I assumed he would. He warned me ahead of time that I wasn’t allowed to get mad when he showered me with gifts because it was Christmas. I had just rolled my eyes at him but I never expected him to go this extravagant.

  He bought me another beautiful necklace, a stunning charm bracelet and gorgeous diamond hoop earrings. Also, I am now the proud recipient of a gift certificate for a full weekend for two at a spa. I quickly made plans for Ashlan to enjoy that weekend with me. Handing me the last box, he tells me to be very careful. I sit the box on my lap and slowly open the lid.

  Covering my mouth in shock I look up at Landon and then back down at the adorable face staring back at me from the box. It is the most adorable little Rottweiler puppy I have ever seen! It’s a little female and I decide Roxy will be her name. I take her out and cuddle her, tears spring to my eyes. I had told Landon I always wanted a Rottweiler puppy, never expecting he’d go out and buy me one. After we’re finished opening presents, I hand Roxy to Kat to love on while I head into the kitchen to put dinner in the oven.

  When dinner’s finished we all take our seats and enjoy the meal. We discuss doing something for New Year's Eve, but everyone has already made plans and I am slightly disappointed. It’s been nice having everyone here for the holidays and I had wanted to start the New Year with my new family. I feel tears threaten but I blink them away. I don’t know why I’ve been so fucking emotional lately! We finish dinner and the guys clean up while the girls relax on the lanai by the pool. Eventually we end the night and everyone heads home. I make Xavier and Kat promise to visit again soon, they agree. We wave as they pull away, this couldn’t be any more perfect.

  I’ve been planning out this proposal for a month now and the day has finally arrived. Today I ask Ari to make me the happiest and luckiest man in the world. I’m nervous, excited, anxious; a big ball of crazy emotions. I’ve faced people without fear trying to kill me, but today scares the hell out of me.

  I’ve planned out the day for her to enjoy herself and be pampered. Each place has a card for her to open with a little note. Every card will take her to another place, ultimately leading to me. She’s just left to head into the office and she’ll be receiving the first card any time now. In a couple hours it will be the biggest moment in both our lives. I take a deep breath, here goes nothing.

  It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m on my way to work. Everything has been amazing between Landon and me. I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better man in my life. I didn’t push making plans to go see the ball drop for New Year’s Eve because I know the fireworks could trigger his PTSD, and I don’t want him to go through that. I’ll call him later and see if maybe he wants to go out for dinner.

  I pull into my office and Tristan has already arrived and opened up. I feel bad asking her to work today but she assured me she didn’t mind. I climb out and quickly head inside, it’s freezing out and there’s a light dusting of snow on the ground. We don’t get much snow and I’m thankful for that. When I walk into my office, Tristan is sitting there with a goofy grin on her face.

  “Hey Tristan.”

  “Hey Arianna, I was told to give this to you,” she hands me a card. I open it, it’s from Landon.

  Hey baby, I know you want to work today but I’ve made other plans. You are such an amazing woman, always putting others first. Not today though, today is going to be all about you. Go with Tristan, I have made an appointment for you both to get a pedicure and for you to get your nails done. If there’s anything else you want done, feel free, they have my card number on file. I love you.

  Love, L Xo

  I look up at Tristan and she’s still grinning, “Are you ready?”

  “I guess so,” I shrug with a smile on my face.

  I follow Tristan out the door, she locks up and we climb into her car and head to the nail salon. The girls at the salon greet us as if they’ve been expecting us. I climb into one of the massage chairs to get my pedicure. The girl is scrubbing my feet and it takes everything in me not to giggle and yank my foot away. After she’s done scrubbing, she starts massaging my legs and feet; it feels amazing.

  “What color would you like on your nails?”

  “Just a white tip please,” I say.

  “Okay, no problem.”

  I look over at Tristan and she looks relaxed in her massage chair. I giggle at her and she peeks at me from the corner of her eye.

  “Enjoying yourself?” I ask her.

  “Mmmhmmm, your boyfriend is awesome!”

  “I know,” I say, with a big cheesy grin on my face.

  Once my pedicure is finished I move over to a nail tech to get my nails done. When I take the time to get my nails done, I usually go with a wild design but today I opt for the simple white tip like my toe nails. While I’m here I might as well get my eyebrows done too. When we're all done, the nail tech hands me another card, I open it.

  Hey beautiful, it’s me again. Now that you’ve been pampered, Tristan is going to take you home. Ashlan will be there waiting to help you. Go up to your room there are some gifts waiting for you. I hope you’re enjoying yourself. I love you my angel.

  Love, L Xo

  Tristan and I head back out to her car and climb in. We pull up outside of my house and I climb out, but Tristan doesn’t move.

  “Do you want to come in?”

  “No, this is where I leave you,” she smiles.

  “Okay, have a good New Year’s Eve.”

  “You too Arianna.”

  I close the door and head inside. Ashlan is standing in the foyer and I nearly jump out of my skin.

  “Holy shit Ashlan, you scared me!”

  “Sorry Ari,” she giggles. “Come on, follow me up to your room, we don’t have much time.”

  “Time until what?”

  “You’ll see, come on.”

  I follow her up to my room. When I walk in, there is a black garment bag lying on the bed, along with a rectangle black velvet box and another card. I open the card and read it.

  My girl, I hope you have enjoyed your day. I’ve missed you terribly, but we will be seeing each other soon. I hope you like the gifts I have left you. Put them on. Ashlan is there to help you with your hair and make-up. You have thirty minutes. I love you, see you soon.

  Love, L Xo

  I unzip the garment bag. Inside is a beautiful aqua colored evening gown. Of course Landon picked this out, he says this color brings out my green eyes. I undress, slipping it off the hanger, I slide into it. Ashlan helps me zip up the back. It fits perfectly, as if I expected anything less. I open the rectangle velvet box, there’s a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet inside. I choke back a sob and tears prick at my eyes.

  “I helped him pick that out,” Ashlan winks at me as she helps me put it on. “Come on, let’s do your hair and make-up we don’t have much time left.” I sit down and let Ashlan get to work. She quickly, but with perfection, does my hair and make-up. She’s finishing just as the doorbell rings.

  “Ahh right on time,” she says. “Come on let's go,” she grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs. I open the door an
d there is a man standing there in a suit holding a shoe box. He hands it to me and I open it. Inside is a beautiful pair of pumps that match my dress. I slide them on quickly and then straighten up. As I look past the man in the suit I notice a beautiful white Escalade Stretch Limo sitting in the street.

  “Is that for me?” he nods his head. He reaches out for my hand and I step out the door. I turn around, “Ashlan are you coming?”

  “No, I’ll see you a little later.”

  “Okay...”

  I head down to the car, and the driver opens the door. I’m shocked when I notice Kat sitting inside.

  “Hi!” she says excitedly as she hugs me.

  “Hi how are you? What are you doing here?”

  “I am your escort, and this is for you,” she hands me another card. I open it.

  Hi my love, I hope you’re feeling like the goddess that you are. I hope you’re happy to see Kat, I know you adore her. She will be with you the rest of the way. There’s a bottle of wine in the chiller, pour yourself and Kat a glass and enjoy the ride. I’ll see you soon. I love you.

  Love, L Xo

  I pour Kat and me both a glass of wine.

  “Cheers to love and a great New Year!” We clink our glasses together and take a sip. The wine is delicious. I sit back and relax, thinking about how amazing today has been and how I will have to thank Landon for everything. He is such an amazing man. I think about the last few months, and how I hardly expected to end up where I am now. I feel the limo slow down, coming to a stop. The driver comes around and opens my door. He puts his hand out to help me steady myself as I climb out of the limo. Kat is right behind me. I look around, taking in our surroundings. We’re at the little Italian restaurant where Landon and I had our first date.