But the one thing scarier than living my life without my demons is living a life without you. I let you go once, and by God's good grace, I was able to get you back. I won't make that same mistake again."
I take a deep breath and going down on one knee, I reach into my pocket for the ring. I sneak a quick look up and see she's dumbfounded. I take another deep breath and look steadily into her eyes.
"I don't know that I'll ever deserve you, but I want to spend the rest of my life letting you convince me that I do." She laughs at this and my smile grows. "Kelli, love of my life, owner of what's left of my soul, will you marry me?"
Before she even has a chance to respond, the audience begins to chant, "Say yes! Say yes!" I nod towards the audience with my head, and she turns to see a room full of signs that bear "Say yes!" on them.
She laughs, then cries, dropping to her knees before me, nodding her head, unable to speak.
"I'm sorry, Babe, I'm gonna need to hear you say it. A nod's not gonna cut it," I say.
She rolls her eyes, takes a deep breath and says, "Yes, of course I'll marry you."
I feel like my smile's going to split my face in two, but before I can get the ring on her finger and kiss her, Bernie busts in. "What did you say?" he yells into the mic.
"I said yes," she says again.
"What?" he repeats, egging the crowd on.
"I said yes," she says again, practically yelling.
"What?" he roars and this time holds out the microphone for her to use.
"I said yes!" she screams into the mic and the audience cheers. "Now let him put the fucking ring on my finger and kiss me, would you?"
Bernie howls as I put the ring on her finger, and a kiss on her lips.
THE END