- Text Size +

Epilogue

Outside on a cold winter’s day in Kentucky, Brian deeply inhaled the fresh country air. A fresh blanket of snow had covered the ground overnight. Only a week earlier, Brian had shared in Noelle’s first white Christmas. Now, it was New Years Eve—the dawn on another beginning only a little over a year after Brian’s divorce became official and he and Noelle were finally able to be together.

As expected, their relationship hadn’t been easy. Brian had been touring the world for much of the last year while Noelle was in school, but they’d made it work. Anytime either of them had more than just a couple days off, they were together. During the summer, Noelle toured the United States with Brian. This year, she would do the same for the upcoming tour that was scheduled with the New Kids on the Block.

Luckily, Brian had the holidays off. They spent Thanksgiving with Noelle’s parents, AJ and Emily in Florida. Then, they flew back to the home that they now shared outside of Los Angeles. Brian sold his bachelor’s pad at the beginning of the year.

When he had been with Leighanne, Brian had this uncanny sense that he would need that home again someday, but with Noelle he knew better. When they decided to move in together, there was no hesitation on Brian’s part when Noelle suggested that they find a place that would be their own and not just his. They ended up finding a beautiful home in Calabasas. It was too big for just the two of them, but it was too perfect to pass up. Anyhow, both Brian and Noelle hoped that someday, they’d be filling the house with babies.

Brian looked over at Noelle. He reached out and took her gloved hand into his. Noelle wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned into him as they walked down the empty streets of the city where Brian had grown up. The hotel where they were staying was getting smaller and smaller in the background as they continued through the city.

It was freezing out, but over the many times that Noelle had come with Brian to visit his parents, she’d fallen in love with Lexington. She’d decided months earlier that if Brian ever felt the need to be closer to his family, as long as she was finished with school, she’d easily follow.

Brian leaned down and kissed the top of Noelle’s head. “Are you freezing?”

“Yes,” Noelle said with a laugh, “but it’s okay. I’ve gotten over my fear of freezing temperatures. The snow is kind of nice.”

“Does that mean that you want to try to ice skate again?” Brian asked with a smirk. Neither of them had forgotten the date that they’d had in New Jersey. Noelle had never taken to the ice again.

“No,” Noelle replied, chuckling along with him. “I’m good with just the snow.”

Brian laughed along with her. Then the couple fell silent again. Up ahead, Brian could see the destination that he’d had in mind. It was a park that Noelle loved. When it was warmer outside, they’d had lunch at a picnic table under her the shade of a huge, flowered tree. Now, that tree was barren, but still beautiful with snow clinging to its branches.

Brian stuck in hand in his pocket and fiddled with the jewelry box that had settled there. He was nervous, though he knew that he didn’t have reason to be.

When they arrived to the park, Noelle broke away toward the snow-covered picnic table where they’d shared that meal that day. She swiped her hand across the table to clear the ice and then traced her fingers over the heart that was carved into the table.

“Our initials are still here, B,” she said with a smile, remembering the afternoon of their date. Brian had carved the engraving with his car keys as Noelle watched for passersby. They giggled at their childish behavior, and fully expected their initials to be sanded out of the table by the time that they’re returned to the well-maintained park. “They haven’t done away with us yet.”

Brian laughed softly. He leaned down to kiss Noelle again. “There’s no doing away with us, Baby.”

Noelle smiled and pecked his lips one more time. She looked up to the sky as light snowflakes began to fall around them. She didn’t even notice Brian fall down to one knee in front of her as she reached back onto the table, grabbed a hunk of snow and chucked it on him.

Brian closed his eyes and laughed as the snow hit him right upside his head. The words that he’d been planning for the last month were running through his head; the ring box was held out in front of him and now covered in chucks of slush.

Noelle’s mouth fell opened at the sight of him. He was proposing and she’d thrown a damn snowball at him. At least he was laughing, that was good. Noelle fell to her knees in front of him, not even caring about the water that was soaking the knees of her pants.

“What are you doing?” she whispered as Brian opened his eyes again.

“I was trying to be romantic,” Brian replied with a grin. He took the beautiful, platinum engagement ring out of its box and held it up in front of her. “I’m trying to propose.”

“Yes!” Noelle answered, before he’d even had a chance to ask the question.

“Wait,” Brian replied laughingly, though his heart was lifted with her quick response. “I’ve been planning this. Can we pretend like you’re surprised?”

“Okay,” Noelle laughed, trying to hold her in tears before they froze to her face. “I’m sorry, go on.”

“Stand up,” he instructed.

“Brian…” she groaned, but his stare was unyielding and unforgiving. She sighed and stood back up, using his shoulders for leverage. “Better?”

“Noelle,” Brian started softly, smiling at her huffiness and ignoring her impatience. “You are everything that I’ve ever hoped for and everything that I’ve ever dreamed. I was walking around numbly in this world before you came into my life, and I didn’t even know how much I had been missing. You’re the voice in my head and the song in my heart. Will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

Now, Noelle couldn’t hold in her tears. Sometime over the course of their relationship, Noelle realized that she was Brian were going to be together forever. Now that it was coming true, she didn’t know that much joy could possibly exist in a person.

“Now is when you say yes, Elle,” Brian whispered to his future wife.

“Yes,” Noelle repeated, falling back to her knees in the snow in front of him. “Of course, a million times, yes.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Brian broke their kiss and pulled the engagement ring out of its box. Before he slipped the ring onto her finger, he showed her the inscription, reading it aloud as he slid the ring into its proper place, “Once upon a time.”

Noelle looked down at the shimmering diamond that fit perfectly on her ring finger. Noelle wrapped her arms around his neck again, this time tackling him back onto the ground. She pressed her mouth against his in another passionate kiss.

“My yes comes with conditions,” she muttered happily against his lips.

“What’s that?” Brian asked, knowing that he’d give her anything that she’d ever asked for.

“Your wedding ring has to be inscribed too,” she answered.

“What’s it going to say?” Brian laughed. “Big Daddy, maybe? Or with my name and address so in case this old man loses his way home?”

Noelle laughed and rolled her eyes. “No, it’s going to say ‘I Want it That Way’,” she laughed. “Or wait, how about ‘I’ll Never Break Your Heart? Yeah.”

“Really?” Brian huffed silently, unsure whether she was joking.

“Why not?” Noelle continued her game. “We met on the Backstreet Boys tour. The Backstreet Boys play a huge part is us being together. We should celebrate that.”

“You’re serious right now?”

Noelle laughed and shook her head. She leaned in closer and whispered against her lips, “No, not seriously. If I’m ‘once upon a time’, you get to be ‘happily ever after’. Maybe our story isn’t the kind of stuff that fairytales are usually made up of, but you’re my happy ending and that’s enough for me.”

Without responding, Brian pulled her in and kissed her lips again. Proudly, he would be able to say that those would be the only lips that he’d be kissing for the rest of his life—and this time he knew that it was true.

***

As the years pass, it’s as if I’m watching my life as it unfolds on the big screen, and it’s my favorite movie.

I watch with admiration as my beautiful wife walks across the stage during the USC commencement ceremony, finally having received her doctoral degree in obstetrics and fertility research after years of hard work and dedication to her craft. Despite the sabotage of a once-respected doctor who has recently fallen from grace due to a string of illicit affairs and unsubstantiated research claims, Noelle has risen above and obtained her dreams.

I watch with pride as my career takes off once again to great heights and new unknowns. With a newfound heart and passion, the Backstreet Boys are finally perfecting their craft and getting the respect that we have always deserved.

I watch with love as Noelle brings three beautiful children into our lives. First, we are blessed with a son who we named Noah, and then a couple years later, with twin girls, Elle and Brie. Chaos constantly surrounds me. My house is never empty or quiet. There are always children running around fighting over toys or squealing with delight as they joyfully play together. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. My family, my life, is finally completely.

It hasn’t been easy. We don’t get to see as much of each other as we would like. I still travel the world and make music while Noelle runs her practice out of Lexington, where we decided to live and raise our family after she graduated from medical school.

No, it isn’t easy, but it’s my life. Before I met Noelle, I was free-falling in the open sky. She likes to say that I had just as much a hand in saving her, but I don’t believe that. I just pulled the chord, she’s the one that lifted us up and then brought us safely back down to the ground. She’s my safety, my protection, my way back home. She’s my parachute.