A Night to Remember

Disclaimer: "The Letter" is the intellectual property of Yangyang Mobile Games.

It was a crisp, cool November night in Luxbourne. Standing in front of one of the city's most prestigious restaurants, Hannah Evans was grateful that it had stopped raining yesterday. She takes a quick glance at her watch. 7:55 PM. Their reservation was at eight. She started tapping her foot impatiently and took a look in the reflective surface of the restaurant's window. After her divorce, she had decided to cut her hair and wear it at shoulder length. She was wearing a white coat for the cold, which concealed a black dress underneath. Black heels clicked against the pavement as she began to pace and look down the street.

Just at the right time, apparently, as a figure rounded the corner and came running towards her. Coming to a stop before her, Marianne McCollough propped herself up on her knees and was panting heavily. After catching her breath, she looked at her watch.

"With one minute to spare!" She whooped. Though she quickly regained her composure and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Hannah. I didn't think that last meeting would take so long. I really should have made more of an effort to get here sooner." She nervously scratched the back of her head and looked genuinely flustered. Hannah honestly thought it was adorable. She then took a proper look at Marianne. She was wearing a nice tan dress suit and her usual black gloves and black boots.

Hannah let out a slight giggle and offered Marianne her arm, who gratefully hooked her own arm around it as they walked inside. "Don't worry, darling. You made it. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right."

Once they were seated and had ordered their food, they spent their time waiting with small talk. "So, what kept you so busy today?"

"Ugh, my client insisted that I finish the design of his condo today. Normally, that wouldn't take so long, but this guy felt the need to constantly change his mind about everything. I scrapped over a dozen plans because this twat couldn't make up his mind. I swear, the moment I realized I might actually be late for our date, I had to physically restrain myself from throttling the bastard."

Hannah let out a giggle. "No need for such violence, darling. It's just a date, so it's not the end of the world if you need to cancel." A lie. With what Hannah had planned, she would've been positively furious if Marianne had canceled. But she needed to play it off for now.

"Absolutely not!" Marianne exclaimed. "I'm your girlfriend, Hannah, not some minor business partner. When we make plans, I need to make sure to stick to them!"

Hannah frowned. Luke would only ever do what he wanted, often disregarding anything Hannah wanted to do. Unfortunately, Marianne was afraid of becoming that complacent as well, which is why she often went to painstaking lengths to make sure Hannah never felt neglected. It was sweet, but Hannah sometimes felt that Marianne was trying to hard. She was truly happy in this relationship and didn't want Marianne to get stressed out over it.

When the waiter served the wine, she smiled again and lifted her glass. "Come, darling. No more of that. I'm here to have a lovely evening with my beautiful girlfriend, so let's forget about the rest of the world for now and just enjoy ourselves. Cheers, love. To a wonderful night."

Marianne returned her smile and lifted her glass. "To us." They clinked their glasses.

Dinner was truly wonderful. They ate, they talked, they laughed. Hannah was enjoying herself so much that she almost didn't notice how little Marianne was drinking. Normally, when they went on dates, Marianne would get absolutely smashed. Hannah didn't mind. She actually found it endearing how Marianne would start shamelessly flirting with her when drunk.

"Darling, it's fine. You don't need to hold back, just because you were a little late. You can drink as much as you want."

"Huh? Oh, right. No, I need to leave early tomorrow, so I can't afford a hangover."

"Seriously, I thought you had off tomorrow! Is this because of that client from today?"

Marianne nervously scratched her cheek. "Maybe."

Now Hannah wanted to throttle the bastard. She was hoping to sleep in and have a nice breakfast with Marianne and their children, especially after... Well, guess that's out the window now.

Admittedly, the mood dipped a bit after that, but it didn't take long for them to get back to more joyous topics.

"Oh, and the look on Kylie's face was priceless!"

"I know, right? She looked like she was just done with life! Would've been kinda sad if she hadn't been so cocky beforehand!"

The two of them howled with laughter. Then dessert was served. Hannah took a deep breath and decided that now was the time. Just as Marianne was about to start eating her dessert, Hannah stopped her with a gesture. Looking confused, Marianne put down her spoon.

"Marianne, I..." Hannah could feel her cheeks start to heat up. She willed herself to calm down. She could do this. She had rehearsed this after all. "Marianne, we've been dating for nearly four years now. You were there for me during my divorce, you helped me raise the twins, you've become an irreplaceable part of my life. I don't want to think about what my life would be like without you." Marianne's eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. Hannah could tell that she was beginning to realize what was going on. Pulling something out of the coat she'd hunt on her chair, she got out of her chair and got down on one knee in front of Marianne. "Marianne McCollough, I love you. You are strong, intelligent and fun. And whiley you are already a part of my family, nothing would make me happier than to make it official." With that, she held up a small box and opened it, revealing a gold diamond ring. "Marianne, my love, will you marry me?"

Marianne was stunned. Jaw now properly dropped, she stared down at the ring. Then, she started laughing. Softly, at first, but soon she was roaring with laughter.

Hannah felt a bit discouraged by that. Roaring laughter wasn't usually a good answer to a proposal.

After a few moments, Marianne was clearly trying to control herself. "Oho, I'm.. I'm sorry," she said between laughs. "I'm sorry, Hannah. But I can't help it! This is... This is just too perfect! I can't believe this is actually happening!"

Now, Hannah was thoroughly confused. That didn't exactly sound like a rejection, but seeing Marianne still laughing and fighting back tears was strange.

Finally, Marianne managed to stop laughing and looked down at Hannah with a bright smile, eyes shimmering with tears and affection. This made Hannah feel more hopeful.

Without saying anything, Marianne reached into her pocket and produced a little box very similar to Hannah's.

Now it was Hannah's turn to drop her jaw and stare. Her brain just seized all functions. After a few moments, her brain kicked back into gear and, before she knew it, she too was laughing uncontrollably. Desperately fighting back tears, she was soon breathless from how much she was laughing.

She had no idea how long she kept laughing, but once she finally managed to stop, she looked up at Marianne. "What... What are the odds of that happening?"

"I don't know! But if you ask me, I'd say we hit the jackpot!" She had another giggle fit. "I guess this answers that question for both of us, yeah?"

Hannah smiled and got up, plucking the ring out of the box while Marianne pulled off one of her gloves and offered her her hand. It felt so warm as Hannah took it and slipped the ring on her finger.

After Marianne slipped her ring on Hannah's finger, the two shared a deep and passionate kiss. Hannah then sat back down and stared happily at her ring. Then, a thought crossed her mind and she looked up at Marianne.

"Is this why you've barely been drinking? You were afraid you'd screw up your proposal if you were drunk?"

Marianne nodded. "I was so nervous. So terrified that I might get something wrong."

"Wait, so, do you actually have to go to work tomorrow?"

Marianne shook her head. "No way! I want to enjoy my first night with my betrothed to the fullest!"

Hannah could feel her heart skip a beat. Betrothed. They were betrothed now. She couldn't be happier. She had the biggest grin on her face as she watched Marianne flag down a waiter.

"I'll have a glass of absinthe, a double whiskey and a shot of tequila. Scratch that! A bottle of tequila and a glass!" Hannah could do nothing but shake her head as the waiter walked away. "I'm engaged now! I'm gonna get properly hammered and then I'm gonna sing my fiance a song!"

Hannah chuckled lightly. This was a perfect evening.

(**)

"So I dare you to let me be your,

Your one and only!"

Marianne's singing rang in Hannah's ears as they stumbled towards the front door of the Evans Mansion. Just as she had punished, Marianne had gotten well and truly drunk. Hannah was also quite tipsy by now and could feel how flushed her face was.

"I promise I'm worth it,

To hold in your arms!

So come on and give me a chance,

To prove that I am the one who can,

Walk that mile!

Until the end starts!"

The two of them laughed as Marianne finished her song. As they approached the door, Hannah noticed the door open and one of the maids waiting for them. With Marianne's arm around Hannah's shoulder and Hannah's arm around Marianne's waist, they entered the mansion and walked into the parlor, where they were greeted by applause.

Zach, Isabella and the twins were standing, beaming brightly and applauding as the newly engaged couple entered the room. Though, considering that the twins were only three years old, Hannah assumed they were just clapping to go along with the two adults.

"Eyy, whas this?" Marianne asked in her drunken stupor. "Shouldn't the lil munchkins be in bed by now?"

"Well, me and Belle figured we could keep them awake for long enough to welcome you back," Zach replied.

"And you, hic, you knew that we were gonna get engaged?"

"Well, yeah, I mean you told Belle you were gonna propose. And Hannah told me she was gonna propose." Zach laughed. "Imagine our surprise when we found out. Had ourselves a good laugh."

"So did we," Hannah replied. "Oh, look at the little ones. They can barely stand. It really is time to put them to bed."

"Yeah, you two go do that," Marianne replied. She then placed her other arm behind Hannah's knees and lifted her up bridal style, eliciting a yelp from the blonde. "We have a betrothal to celebrate!"

With that, she carried Hannah out of the room. Despite being black out drunk, Marianne had seemingly no problem carrying her all the way to the bedroom, whispering sweet nothings in her ear the whole time.

Finally entering the master bedroom, Marianne kicked the door shut behind them and laid Hannah down on the bed. Seeing how flushed Hannah was, she brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face. "Tá grá agam duit."

Hannah didn't actually understand what she was saying, but she could recognize its meaning from her voice.

Marianne then leaned down and kissed her.

(**)

Hannah's head was throbbing. Raising a hand to her head, she ran her fingers through her head and groaned. Even the singing of the birds outside was painful to her.

Next to her, she could feel Marianne begin to stir. She, too, was clutching her head and muttering to herself. "Imigh sa diabhal!"

Despite the miserable state they were in, Hannah couldn't help but smile. The fact that this was how she would spend the rest of her life made her incredibly happy.

She pulled Marianne into a hug, who quickly buried her face into her chest and moaned. Gently stroking Marianne's head, Hannah looked over at the clock. 11 AM.

"Hey, darling. Are you okay to eat breakfast?"

"Mmmmm."

Hannah giggled. "Well, I guess we can still..."

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Excuse me!" Zach's voice echoed through the door, causing Marianne to groan again. "We're getting ready to eat breakfast. We just wanted to know if you guys are gonna join us."

Hannah was about to answer, but Marianne beat her to the punch. "We're coming! Just give us a minute!" She sat up and started stretching.

"Are you sure, dear? You shouldn't push yourself."

"I'm fine," she replied, before gripping her head again. "Okay, maybe not 'fine', but good enough." She gave Hannah a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, luv. I've had worse hangovers."

At least Hannah could believe that. Slowly, the two got out of bed and got dressed.

(**)

The breakfast table had been fully decked with bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit and toast, as well as butter, various jams and syrup. Hannah was sitting at the head of the table, with Marianne, Annalise and Isabella sitting to her left and Zachery and Henry to her right.

The coffee was doing wonders for Hannah's hangover and she was already happily eating some pancakes.

Marianne was also eating some bacon and washing it down with coffee while Annalise was animatedly telling her about the drawings she and 'Aunt Bella' made yesterday. Meanwhile, 'Aunt Bella' was simply gorging herself on everything on the table.

"Thank you for taking care of the twins and staying over," Hannah said to Zach. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Nah. Neither of us had to work and Ashton is currently too busy to spend time with Belle anyway. Besides, we love these little guys."

Hannah smiled. Looking around the table, she felt truly happy inside. Here she was, eating breakfast in her own house, surrounded by the people she loves.

Her family.

Placing her hand on Marianne's, she gave her a loving squeeze. When her betrothed turned to her, she smiled as they looked into each others eyes.

To many more happy days.