I tried to get her tell me more, but Angela wouldn't say another word as the driver took us through the city streets to the new hospital across town. A huge crowd was assembled outside of the building with a press conference stage set up, complete with a podium of microphones.
Angela guided me onto the backstage area behind the platform curtain where I found my entire family standing there. Everyone looked terrific in new clothes and with new haircuts.
"Mom! What are you doing here?" I embraced her happily, careful not to wrinkle the new dress she was wearing.
"Ethan flew us out here as a surprise. I wanted to tell you on the phone earlier, but he had sworn me to secrecy, and you know I never break a promise."
"But why would he bring you all out here like this when he and I aren't even speaking to each other?" I was baffled.
Just then, Ethan appeared on the opposite side of the stage. He looked incredible in a black Armani suit with a gray and blue striped tie that brought out the colors of his complex eyes.
I didn't realize how much I had missed him until I suddenly caught sight of him and was reminded of just how handsome and sexy he was. It took all my willpower not to run across the stage and embrace him. I longed to tell him I was sorry I had ever broken up with him and that I didn't need a commitment as long as we were together.
But that wouldn't have been being true to myself, and in the long run, I would have regretted it, so I forced my feet to remain planted in their place, no matter how much my heart ached.
Ethan locked gazes with me from across the distance and my breath caught in my chest over the meaningful exchange. Then, he drew in a breath and strode to the podium in the center of the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming on such short notice. I've asked you here today because I have several important announcements to make. First, I would like to introduce you to a brave and intelligent young man, Mr. Thomas Brandt. Tommy, please come out here."
Ethan held out his arm in welcome as Tommy rolled his wheelchair onto the stage. My little brother looked both nervous and excited as we all held our breath in anticipation of what could possibly be about to happen.
Ethan was speaking into the microphone at the crowd. "I recently had the pleasure of meeting with this young engineer and hearing his ideas on how motorcycles can be used to enhance the therapy of people with muscular dystrophy. I took some of his ideas to my engineering team at Speed Motorcycles and they are going to look into developing some of them.
“To thank Tommy for his ingenuity, I am creating a grant through this hospital to provide top-level medical care, treatments, and therapies to patients with muscular dystrophy, and I want Tommy to be the first recipient. Any care you need will be provided for free through this grant, either at this hospital or through sister hospitals across the country, including the one in your hometown. Your family will never have to pay another dime for your care, and I promise the same for thousands of other youths in your same situation."
"Are you serious?" Tommy gasped and I had to hold back tears as Ethan hugged my youngest brother.
"I am. The world needs more people like you, who are thinkers and problem solvers, and I don't want my money to just sit idly in some bank account when it could be making a real difference in someone's life. You reminded me of the importance of helping others, and I wouldn't feel right if I didn't pay you back in some small way."
"Thank you so much!" Tommy was crying now, and so was I. Everyone in my family was.
The paparazzi reporters out in the crown blasted Ethan with questions about his new grant program and how patients could qualify for it, and what great designs his company would now be working on thanks to Tommy.
Ethan answered them all with intelligence and charm, but then one reporter from the front shouted out, "You said you had more than one important announcement to make. What is the other one?"
"The second announcement is even more important to me than the first." Ethan cleared his throat and looked rather nervous as Tommy cleared the stage and my family circled around him, hugging and kissing him happily. I was proud of my brother and very happy for him, but I couldn't take my eyes off Ethan and continued to watch his speech, spellbound.
"As everyone knows, I have long been a committed bachelor with a well-deserved reputation as a playboy and womanizer. Some of you have even said that I will never find love. Well, I'm here to tell you tonight, and announce to the whole world, that I am ready to commit to something else. I have found love, and her name is Kayla Brandt."
I wasn't sure I had heard him right over the gasp of the crowd. My ears must have been playing some kind of trick on me, but then I saw Ethan lock eyes with me as he held his hand out to me and beckoned me onto the stage.
"Kayla, I've been a fool and I've treated you like a real jerk. I don't blame you for walking out on me. I don't deserve you, but I'm trying to change that. I want to be a better man — one who deserves to have a woman like you in my life.
“So, this gift I'm making to Tommy and to other patients with muscular dystrophy is only the first of many. I pledge to spend the rest of my days finding positive ways to make a difference in the world and to give away my money for good. Everything you do is about being true and kind in this world, and I want to be the same.
“I'm not entirely unselfish, though. I hope that in doing this that one day I can win your heart again, and when I do, this time I'll cherish it the
way I should have from the start, and never let you go again."
I couldn't believe what Ethan was saying, and in front of all these reporters for all the world to hear. Blinking back fresh tears of joy, I choked back a sob and said, "So, does this mean you're willing to commit to me?"
"Yes. A billion times, yes." He didn't hesitate for moment. He got down on one knee and pulled out a jewelry box from his inside jacket pocket. Stretching it out to me, he said, "This isn't an engagement ring, because we've only been dating a month and I know that's too soon to get married, but it's not too soon for me to know that you're the girl I can see myself having a future with. In fact, you're the first and only girl I've ever felt that way about. So, if you'll accept this token of my love, I vow to be committed to you and only you from this moment on."
With trembling hands, I opened the black velvet box and gasped at the contents inside. It was a gold locket on a chain, and as I nodded my head yes vigorously, Ethan slipped the necklace around my neck as the crowd behind the press applauded noisily and the paparazzi went crazy, shouting out at him from below.
Ethan pulled me into his arms and I saw that tears were brimming in his stormy, gray eyes. Then we kissed, long and slow and deep — the kind of kiss that takes your breath away and makes everything around you disappear.
When we finally came apart, gasping for breath, Ethan held his hand up to the crowd and said, "No more questions. If you'll please excuse me, Kayla and I would like to be alone."