The rusty, old Beatle coughed and spluttered it’s way up the street. The red of the car nothing but a distant memory. The vehicle spat up gravel as it squealed to a halt.  A man, dressed in a suit nearly as faded as the car’s paint and with nicks of fabric plucking out all over, stepped out of the car and jogged towards the passenger door, taking cover from the rain under his jacket. He opened the door, took the woman sitting there by the hand, and guided her out of the car. She was wearing a magnificent, yet dated, white dress and a makeshift blindfold, presumably his tie, over her eyes. Her jet-black hair danced in the wind and tickled his face.

“Come on now, follow me. And no peakin’!” he told her.

“Hurry up! The rain will ruin my dress!”

“It’ll be fine” he reassured her.

He led her through a splintered gate, clinging to its hinges, and up a garden path. He told her to stay put, as he went to work on the blindfold. She clutched her arms towards her chest to combat the cold.

“Tadaa” he proclaimed through a smile. She blinked, she blinked again, but her facial expression didn’t change. Well, apart from the hardly noticeable upwards crinkle in the corners of her mouth. She gazed up at the house; with her almost dream provoking emerald eyes. The dying house. The walls were peeling, the windows were smashed, fading colours, a broken swing, a lawn more brown than green, decaying trees and the distant chaos of a bird’s nest perched on the roof.

“It’s all I, we” he stuttered, “could afford. I… I know it ain’t much but… it’s ours.” She was silent.

“Fuck, you hate it” he panicked with saddening worry

“I knew I should have waited to do th…”

She placed a finger over his lips, silencing him completely.

“I… I LOVE IT!” She screamed with jubilation

“We have our own house, our very own house!” she said whilst showering him with kisses. “It needs a bit of work” she proposed as a piece of the roof crashed to the floor, making them both jump back. They turned to each other with gleaming eyes and contagious grins. “A lottt a work” she re-worded sarcastically. “But it’s ours” she breathed with a peaceful happiness, whilst leaning on his shoulder and clutching his arm. The relentless rain and howling wind no longer a thought in her head.  She climbed up to the cusp of his ear and whispered ever so gently  “for all three of us.”

He didn’t click at first, but after a double take he exploded into bubbling joy “What?!” he shouted in disbelief, hardly able to take the smile of his lips. “You’re-“ she nodded with a grin as wide as his, taking hold of his freezing hands. “I’m gonna be a-“ she nodded again. “Yes, yes, yes, a million times yes!” she told him.

He couldn’t formulate any words to describe the utter perfection of the last three and a half minutes, so he laughed a joyous laugh, took his wife in his arms, and they both danced in the wind and the rain.