You Never Know Who Reads Your Stories Pt. 03

Seeing some of these things, including a picture Jenny had included of her and I and our parents, and the letter my sister sent me had me very teary. Emily came home as I was looking at these things and she saw that I was a little emotional. She held me close and really looked after me. Emily cared for me so much.

**********

It was now late November and Emily was about to go on her promotional tour for 'The Warrior Within'. Her parents were away and they invited us to go and stay at their house for the weekend, to escape the attention we were attracting in London.

Emily and I left very early Saturday morning to head down to the house. We arrived and after unpacking we had a swim in their heated indoor pool. Looking outside it was a very frosty morning with the grass all white.

Once dried and dressed, Emily insisted we get rugged up and head outside as she wanted to show me something. Coats, scarves and hats were all used as we headed into the back garden. Walking down on the grass, it crackled under our feet from being so well frosted, our breath hung visibly in the air.

We went through the small grove of trees at the bottom end of the area behind the house and came out in the corner of the property. In this secluded corner was a bench seat, a table and the ground was paved with bricks. From here the view looked down over the nearby village. It was a stunning place. Looking back I could see a sign on the tree which read 'Emily's Corner'.

Emily had the biggest smile on her face. "I have wanted to show you this for so long. This is where I used to come and sit, read, do my homework... Dream... particularly when the weather was warmer." Emily giggled.

She continued "My father made this for me as my place... I loved coming down here, especially after Sophie had left home... It was my own little world."

I could see Emily's eyes sparkling even in the weak sunlight. I went up and wrapped my arms around her from behind, cuddling her tight. I could feel Emily relax in my embrace. She seemed so happy in this corner. "What did you used to dream about Em?"

"Everything... What I wanted to do when I grew up, the life I would have."

"What did you want to be back then?"

Emily cuddled into me a little closer. "I initially wanted to be a nurse, but after having stitches once, I decided that wasn't for me... I then wanted to be a teacher and this seemed good until I went in the school play in 4th form... I was hooked on drama and acting then."

The look of contentment on Emily's face was beautiful. I just had to ask "You must have dreamt about 'boys' when you were down here?"

Emily blushed a little. "Yes of course Matt. All those boys from the boy bands who would want to sweep me off my feet Ha ha ha... You know I met the band last year. Al, who I fancied was a complete ass." We both laughed at this.

Seeing Emily so happy and in a place that was so special to her, I just knew now was the right time. I reached into my pocket and confirmed I had what I wanted in my pocket. It was something that I had carried around for a few weeks just waiting for the right opportunity.

"Emily, can I ask you something?" I said.

"Of course my darling, anything."

I let go of Emily and began to pace a little. "Em I have wanted to ask you something for a while now, but I never found the right time or the right words... You'd think with my writing and all that I could be quite eloquent, but I struggle sometimes..." I looked at Emily and could see a bit of a concerned look on her face. She looked so beautiful. Her cheeks a little 'blushed' from the cold weather, green eyes sparkling, little wisps of her stunning red hair escaping from under her black woolly hat.

I had slipped my gloves off and took hold of her hand.

"Emily I love you so much. You make me so happy. I have never been with anyone who is so supportive and encouraging, stunningly beautiful and yet so down to Earth, happy and considerate, and amazingly talented as you." Looking at Emily I could see a quizzical smile forming on her face.

"These last 8 months together have been amazing and I never want this to end. So..." I dropped down on one knee and looked up at Emily. She looked surprised and a little excited as well. She began giggling nervously, and tears starting to form.

"So Emily Isabelle Windsor will you marry me?" I said, with my heart pounding in my chest.

The tears had now started to roll down Emily's face as her smile filled her face.

"Yes, yes, yes Matt. I would love to marry you!!" she said. She pulled my hand and I stood up. Her arms flew around me and she kissed me really hard. Moving our faces apart, I wiped the tears off her face.

"I love you so much Matt. And I definitely want to spend the rest of my life with you. You mean everything to me." she said before we kissed again.

I reached into my pocket and lifted out the ring box I had been carrying around for the past couple of weeks. Emily giggled excitedly as I opened the box. The ring had an Emerald in the centre, to match her beautiful eyes, and this was surrounded by diamonds.

"Ohhh Matt it is so beautiful." She said as I slipped it onto her finger. It fitted perfectly and Emily gazed at it. "It's stunning Matt. I love it and I love you." She kissed me again. "Jenny made this didn't she? Oh she's so talented. I love it. Oh Matt I can't wait to be married with you." Emily babbled. Cuddling together we weren't feeling the cold, only warm glow of the love between us.

We did eventually head back inside. Once there we telephoned her parents and I asked her father for his blessing and he couldn't have been happier for us. After Emily spoke to both her parents, she wanted me to ring Jenny and tell her the good news. I quickly went to my bag and picked up the letter Jenny had sent to me in the parcel I received the previous month.

"Emily before I ring Jenny I want you to have a close look at your ring. Can you see the two diamonds on either side of the Emerald near the band are different to the others?"

"Yes they are aren't they? Why is that Matt?"

I smiled, handing over the letter to Emily. "I think I will let Jenny tell you herself."

The passage in the letter read 'Matt, the diamonds at the side of Emily's ring came from Mum's favourite earrings. You know the ones Dad gave her on their 25th anniversary. She is wearing them in the picture of us all that I sent to you. I really wish Mum and Dad were here to meet Emily and to see you two together. They would have loved Emily so much.

I set the diamonds in the ring so that Mum would be with you both and still share in this with you. I hope you don't mind...'

Emily was crying as she read this, and I was tearing up again. "Ohhh Matt, this means the world to me... I can't believe Jenny would do this. This ring was so special already, now it is even more so."

I rang Jenny and let her know the good news and then Emily spoke to her. Tears flowed freely and I could hear Jenny crying on the phone as well. After calming down we also rang Emily's sister and she was so excited for us, and I could hear her say to Emily "I told you an Aussie man would be good to you."

*****************

Emily went on her promotional tour for the 'Warrior' movie. She travelled through Europe, America, Asia, back to London for the World Premiere, and then we both went on the final leg to Australia. After speaking with Margaret and the movie people it was decided that Emily wouldn't publicly announce our engagement until the end of the tour. They didn't want her engagement to dominate conversations about the movie.

Our friends all knew we were engaged, but Emily kept it quiet from the media. She didn't wear her ring in public, but kept it on a long necklace she wore all the time.

I travelled with her to Australia, where we organised a week there after all of Emily's media commitments had been taken care of. We caught up with her sister and family in Melbourne and I really enjoyed finally meeting them all. They were so happy we were getting married.

Emily's last interview of the tour was on the biggest current affairs/entertainment program in Australia. I didn't go into Melbourne with her for this but stayed with her sister's family. We watched the program and Emily was on for two segments, with an ad break in between. During the ads Emily messaged me to make sure I was watching after the break.

The show came back on and they all talked some more about the movie. One of the hosts then asked Emily about enjoying Australia and how she had spent time here before. Emily replied that her sister and family lived here and she had been here many times. She also said hello to her niece and nephew.

"And we also believe that your boyfriend is from Australia?" The female host asked.

Emily grinned and pushed her hair behind her right ear as she always did. "Well he used to be my boyfriend. Actually he is now my fiancé." She lifted her left hand up and showed everyone her ring.

"We got engaged about a month ago and kept it quiet... until now." A picture of the two of us came up on the screen, cuddling together with Em showing off her ring. Everyone congratulated her and they finished off the interview.

After that big surprise we stayed in Melbourne for a couple more days, before heading to Sydney to catch up with my family. My sister had arranged a surprise engagement party for us and most of my old friends attended, and Emily's sister and family made the trek up as well. Emily got to finally meet my best friend Cameron and his wife Kirsten. It was a great night, being able to share more of my life with Emily.

***************

The next six months of our life were really hectic. We had Christmas back in London, before Emily jetted off to begin filming the final Warrior movie 'The One True Warrior'. She was away on location for 6 weeks before coming back to London and filming for another 8 weeks. She then filmed a smaller movie in England for the next 6 weeks. Then it was off to LA for post-production work on the 'Warrior' film and then doing voice work for an animated movie.

I stayed home and wrote, finishing 2 more screenplays. My first screenplay had been accepted and was approved for production. We were to film it in Australia in November for about 6 to 8 weeks.

It was now late June and I had managed to fly out and join Emily for the last couple of weeks in LA. The studio had organised a very nice beach side Malibu house for Emily to use while she was there. I joined her, managing to do some work while there.

One evening Emily came 'home' from work really down. She had a tough day on the set. She had also spoken to her mother and had heard that our plans to be married in the church in the village near her parent's house were in jeopardy. Apparently the press had caught wind of our plans and they were all over the village, planning ways to get pictures of us getting married.

After cuddling together and calming down Emily, I went to go to the kitchen to get a drink when I said flippantly "Why don't we just go and get married in Vegas? Ha ha ha"

I was in the kitchen for a few minutes and when I came out Emily had a big grin on her face. "Why don't we get married in Vegas?" she asked.

We talked for a few minutes and both realised that this would be a great solution. We were never having a big wedding, with only close friends and family in attendance. As many were coming from Australia, it wouldn't matter where they were flying too. We rang parents, siblings and friends and organised for them to come to Vegas. Our Australian family and friends just changed their tickets, and Emily helped organise tickets for our English family and friends and Margaret organised all the details (thank God for managers!!)

Two weeks later Emily and I were married at the 'Bellagio' in Vegas. My best mate Cameron was my best man and Sarah was Emily's maid of honour.

Emily looked so beautiful. I had to keep pinching myself that I was marrying this stunning, beautiful, gorgeous, talented woman. I still kept wondering what she saw in me, but the way she looked at me when we were standing together in front of our family and friends put all of those fears to rest.

We honeymooned in Hawaii for 10 days before heading back to regular life in England.

**************

It was now the middle of November and we had been filming 'our movie' for just over a week. Emily and I had been in Australia for three weeks finalising details of the shoot, meeting the cast and crew and rehearsing the film. Emily had been a bit under the weather since we had arrived and we put this down to stress in organising her directorial debut.

We were at our 'home' for the shoot and were watching the 'rushes' of the days filming. We both had been a bit tense and I hadn't always agreed with some of Emily's choices she made when filming, but kept my opinions to myself. Watching a scene however I made a comment, and then Emily snapped back. I made a stupid retort and Emily growled back.

It was on.

Verbal barbs were flying. Emily and I didn't argue very often; we did have our differences but we were always respectful and mindful of the other person, taking their opinions and working out the best solution.

But this time was different. This was an old fashioned shouting match.

We argued about everything on the movie. They were all petty little things we argued about, but we were both heated up about this. We nit-picked each other about everything. It was all about the movie. The argument went on for half an hour and I remember shouting at Emily "It is MY Story."

"Well it's MY MOVIE!!" Emily shouted back.

Our argument was then interrupted by my phone ringing. I looked and saw it was my best friend's wife Kirsten ringing me. That seemed very strange as Kirsten never rang me. I answered and Kirsten was in tears. Cameron had been in an accident at work and was in hospital, unconscious in a critical condition. It didn't sound good.

I collapsed down onto the floor, still talking to Kirsten. Emily looked towards me and the anger that had been on her face had been replaced by a look of real concern. I told Kirsten I would be there as soon as I could.

Immediately I told Emily what had happened and she insisted that I go and see Cameron and Kirsten. I got my keys and organised myself. Emily came over and gave me a big hug and I left.

The hospital was an hour and a half away and when I did finally arrive I was taken into ICU where Cameron was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and drips. Kirsten was there and I immediately gave her a hug, comforting her as best I could. I went and talked to Cameron, encouraging him to pull through.

Through the night sitting there beside Cameron, all I could think of was how stupid it was that Emily and I fought. I hated that we had our fight. I hoped that this fight was only due to the tension about the movie, and not about us in general. I loved Emily so much and I didn't want to hurt her. I didn't want to let her go.

I ended up staying the whole night at his bedside. Kirsten went home for a couple of hours and came back just after 6 in the morning. She came back and woke me up, insisting that I go to their house and freshen up. I was giving her a hug when we heard a noise from Cameron bed.

"Hey let go of my wife. You have your own." Cameron croaked.

Kirsten and I were both so pleased to see him wake up and be in relatively good spirits. The doctors came and examined him and determined that he had some internal injuries and a few broken bones, but was going to pull through. After staying a little while longer I decided to head back to Sydney.

Travelling home I thought about how lucky it was that Cameron was going to be alright, and how stupid it had been to fight with Emily about something as trivial in the long run as a how something should be shot for a movie. I rang Emily's mobile and it went straight to voicemail. No surprise there as she was probably filming.

I then decided to ring the production manager and ask him how everything was going. When he answered he immediately asked me how Emily was.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Isn't she there?" I replied.

"No she called a day off today saying she was going to the doctors as she still wasn't feeling well."

I told him I had been away all night, and I would let him know when I got home and saw Emily. I was now worried as I hoped Em wasn't sick. I missed her and felt so bad about our fight.

I arrived home and called out "Emily, are you here?"

"Yes Matt I'm in the lounge. How's Cameron?"

I had gotten to the lounge room by this stage. "He is going to be fine. He has some internal injuries and broken bones but will be ok."

Emily was hugging me by this stage, and I held her close, really close. She did have a strange look on her face, but she seemed happy to see me.

"I'm so sorry for last night Matt. I don't know what came over me." Emily said.

"I'm sorry too Em. I never should have said the things I said. It is your movie, you know what you are doing and you can do whatever you want."

"You were right Matt about some things. I should have taken your ideas seriously... I'm going to re-shoot a couple of scenes the way you said."

I kissed her and asked "How are you feeling Em? What did the doctor say?"

Emily held me tight and kissed me again. She took a deep breath.

"We are pregnant Matt." She said smiling apprehensively at me.

"Really?? Oh Emily that is great. Really? We are going to be parents? Oh Emily that is amazing."

"You are really happy Matt?"

"Of course I'm happy Em. We are going to have a family. I love you Emily."

"I love you too Matt. Father of our child."

***************

Looking back now at how all of this happened over 12 years ago, I still can't really believe it. Emily mentioned the other day about taking the kids to see an Australian football game the next time we were in Australia and it got me thinking about the first time we went to a game, our first dates and how we met. So I decided to write it all down to keep so we would never forget.

We now have 2 children. Alex, our son and first born, is now 11 years old. He looks a lot like me, but has his mother's green eyes and her wonderful nature. Our daughter, Isabelle, is now 8 and she has her mother's looks, but has my laid back temperament. She is such a 'Daddy's girl' though and can wrap me around her little finger. With Emily away for work a lot I became the 'work from home' Dad and I thoroughly enjoyed doing this.

Emily is now 39 and in the prime of her acting and directing career. Having the children when we did allowed Emily to escape from the shadow of her 'action' character 'Aru' and be able to expand and do many other roles. I look across the office to her side of the room and can see numerous awards for her acting and directing. BAFTA's, AACTA's, a Golden Globe, and standing tall on her shelf that very coveted 'golden man' statue. She won that for Best Supporting Actress in 'Saving Susan' where she played the best friend of a terminally ill woman. Emily was magnificent in the role and thoroughly deserved the award.

Looking out of the window and into our garden I could hear the kids playing together. We moved out of London after Isabelle was born and bought a house in Surrey, feeling more like we were in the country rather than a relatively short distance to London. We both loved the house and the kids loved the area and were both in school nearby.

I looked across at my bookshelf and I could see a few awards that I had won and I could see my own golden man looking back at me. I won him the year after Emily for Best Screenplay for 'What Goes Around' a dramatic love story I wrote. I thanked Emily in my speech, crediting her for being my discoverer, my muse and my best friend, and the woman I love. I have had 4 screenplays made into movies and still write today.