"Come on, we're going to be late to our own celebration drinks" Bron said smiling at Ben, he pouted.
"Ohhh don't worry, we'll finish this tonight" She said cheekily, kissed him and then jumped out of bed.
10 minutes later they were almost ready. Bron checked her appearance in the mirror and lifted her hand to run her fingers through her hair. The sunlight caught her ring causing it to sparkle, and shine in rainbow colours on the bathroom mirror.
She looked down at it and smiled. Ben stuck his head in the door "You ready?"
"Yep" she grabbed his hand and they headed towards the car.
They walked hand in hand into cougars and spotted their friends straight away. Bron let go of Ben's hand as Kylie came up to her. "Congratulations" she said giving her a hug. "Thanks Kylie, and don't worry Jared will ask you one day" she looked over at Jared but he was deep in conversation with Von, Matt, Lyle and Luke.
Ben sat down next to Scott, "I heard about Rebecca is she going to be alright?"
"Yeah she'll be ok, out of hospital in a few days"
Ben noticed the sad tone to his voice, "Forget it mate, she wasn't your type"
"Everyone's my type" Scott replied.
"True" Ben said laughing.
Bron walked over to Jared, he got up and gave her another hug "You look so happy"
"I am" she replied and smiled even wider, "Now are you gonna buy us a drink or what?"
"Alright, you want a VB?"
"Noooo, it's a special night, I think a bottle of Champagne is in order"
Jared rolled his eyes; she could be such a handful sometimes.
'I'll help you carry the glasses" she said and they headed off to the bar.
"So tell me all about it, did he just come out and ask you or what?" Jared asked.
"Actually, I asked him" she said smiling.
"What? Are you serious?"
" Well he was planning on asking me, but I found the ring and that kinda ruined the surprise. I couldn't wait any longer so I just came out and asked him"
"Well I never expected to hear that Bron Craig had asked someone to marry her!"
"Shut-up, it was a big shock, but I knew as soon as I saw it that this was what I wanted"
"Well like I said you seem so happy and you and Ben make the perfect couple"
"Thanks Jared"
They got their bottle of Champagne and returned to the table.
Bron poured everyone a drink and handed the glasses around.
"Where's Mitch and Terri?" she asked suddenly realising they were missing.
"Well I suspect Mitch is having some 'Rose problems' again and that Terri is to caught up in Dr Pussle" Von stated coldly.
"I told her no excuses! I'll just have to have a word to her tomorrow" Bron joked.
She finished pouring the drinks and realised there was no seats left.
"You can have mine" Scott said getting up.
"No it's ok" She smiled at Scott and sat down on Ben's lap
His arms instantly wrapped around her waist and he kissed her neck.
Suddenly Mitch appeared through the door, "Hey you made it" Bron said trying to move, but Ben's arms were holding her down.
She turned around to face him, putting her hands on his shoulders
"Let me go!" she playfully growled at him.
"Never" he replied and kissed her.
"Cut it out guys" Matt groaned disgusted.
Bron kissed Ben again for Matt's sake and then turned to face him.
"Your just jealous" she said.
"No that's Lyle," he said winking at her.
Lyle turned around at the sound of his name.
"What?" he signed.
"Nothing" Bron said shaking her head and giving Matt a dirty look
"Congratulations Ben, Bron, you must be very happy" Mitch said when he finally got the chance.
"Thanks Mitch, yes we are" Ben replied.
"Where's Terri?" Mitch asked.
Von just shrugged.
Just at that moment she walked in the door. She forced a smile and Von could see something was up.
"You all right Terri?" she asked.
"Your never going to believe this, but today must be the day for marriage proposals!"
"Huh?" Bron asked confused.
"Malcolm just proposed to me"
"You're kidding" Mitch said almost spitting a mouthful of champagne all over the table.
"I wish I was" Terri said looking down at the ground.
"Please tell me you didn't say yes," Von asked cautiously.
"Well I haven't said anything yet, it was such a shock. I love him, but I don't want to marry him"
"Where did this surprise proposal come from?" Mitch asked.
"He's got a new job offer overseas and he wants me to go with him, but I can't just leave. I love my job and all my friends, I just don't know what to do?" She said confused and upset.
"It's your decision Terri, if you don't want to go then don't, he should have told you about it before hand" Mitch said and Terri could detect a hint of anger in his voice.
"Enough about me, this is Bron and Ben's night, I don't want to spoil it"
"No it's ok, nothing could spoil tonight" Bron said smiling.
"Right its time for a speech" Matt said, as the happy couple kissed again. "Now! there'll be plenty of time for that later"
Bron pulled away and stood up.
"Ok, well I don't really know what I'm supposed to say, but I guess I'd just like to thank you all for coming tonight and for wishing Ben and I all the best. I know that we are going to have a long and very happy life together ,and Ben I love you more than anything in this world and I always will. um.. yeah your turn Ben"
Ben stood up and smiled "well I just want to reinforce everything that Bron said, thanks for coming and for being great friends and colleagues to us both, and I look forward to a very happy life together with you Bron, because you are my life and I love you with all my heart"
They both turned to each other and smiled, each one of their friends saw the love in their eyes. As they watched them kiss they all thought about their own relationships.
Mitch hoped that their marriage didn't turn out anything like his and he came to realise why his had gone disastrously wrong. He never felt love for Rose that was even close to what he saw in Ben and Bron's eyes. He had only felt like that once before in his life. He turned to look at Terri.
Terri had listened intently to Bron's and Ben's speeches and she knew she couldn't marry Malcolm. She wasn't even sure she loved him. Both partners needed to be completely sure there was no-one else if a marriage was to work and she knew deep in her heart that wasn't true for her. She also held a glimpse of hope that it wasn't true for Mitch either and that's why his marriage to Rose had failed.
Luke felt a pang of regret that things had never worked out between him and Bron, but he could tell that she never felt for him anything remotely close to the way she feels for Ben. And if Ben could make her happy, then he would just have to live with that. Beside he knew where Bron's heart truly belonged when they were going out, she spent almost as much time with Ben as with him, maybe more. He began to wonder if they hadn't had something going on from the beginning.
Scott felt jealous of Ben for the first time in his life. He never wanted to fall in love but being around Ben and Bron was infectious. He sometimes wished he could have what they have, after all they were both incredibly happy. He took another sip of champagne and told himself to stop being stupid, and that as Ben had said Rebecca wasn't his type.
Von watched the love between Ben and Bron and suddenly felt very alone. It seemed everyone was finding love except for her. Although most of the time she preferred it that way, it was times like this she wished she could be as happy as they were.
Jared looked at Kylie and he knew that ever since he had taken speed their relationship had been slowly falling apart. He knew it was his fault and he wished he could find a way to make it up to her.
Kylie also watched them with sadness. She had forgiven Jared for taking speed, but it had hurt. Bron had said to her when they first arrived that Jared would ask her to marry him one day, but she doubted it, even if he did she didn't know what her answer would be.
Lyle watched Bron with a smile on his face. She was the most beautiful and caring person he had ever meet and he loved her, he knew they would always be great friends, but he didn't hold hope that it would become more. Ben made her very very happy, he could tell. He hoped he would find someone who made him that happy one day.
Matt didn't cringe or make as face as Ben and Bron continued to kiss. He could see that they were both truly in love, god even jod's was in love now. Maybe it was time he started looking for a girl.
The night went on for a little while longer, Bron telling everyone about how she had proposed and how happy she was. Everyone seemed to forget their own problems as they listened to the happy couple talk. After everyone had left Ben and Bron headed for home.
Later that night they lay in each others arms exhausted but still smiling.
"I wanna get married now" Bron said happily.
Ben laughed, "Well I'm sure I could get one of the neighbours to be a witness, but I'm not sure where we'd find a celebrant at this time of night"
Bron giggled.
"And besides" Bencontinued, "Don't you want it to be perfect?"
"It will be perfect, if it involves you and me and us being together forever it'll be perfect" she rolled over and kissed him.
"I love you so much Ben"
" I love you too, and I always will"