Chapter 1

Mandy thought back to her 18th Birthday party as she stood there next to her husband, her hand still resting on his shoulder.

Her first birthday with Bob, she smiled remembering what a great night it had been. It had come such a short time after they'd met.

Their first three months together had passed so quickly for them. For Mandy's 18th birthday, Bob threw her a fantastic surprise party. He took her to the only restaurant she ever wanted to visit, McDonald's. He'd arranged with their friend and owner Garry to use the kids' party room.

Bob had given him one-thousand dollars to fix up the room. Plus he'd ordered an Ice Cream Cake to be delivered at the end of the dinner. Of course Bob had a very special surprise in store for Mandy too.

It was to be a candlelight dinner. Something the staff at McDonald's had never done before and of course, they'd never held a party there for adults either. Garry, was told not to spare any expense and to rearrange things so there was just one table in the center of the room.

Bob wanted tons of colorful balloons and bright streamers strung around the room. He'd instructed Garry to deck the table out with a McDonald's kiddie table cloth and to put a Kid's Meal at Mandy's place as a joke. The candle in the center of the table was to be lit, waiting for them.

When they arrived, they stood in line and Mandy ordered her old favorite, a Number 1 Value Meal: A Double Quarter-Pounder With Cheese, Fires and a Coke ... S-U-P-E-R—S-I-Z-E-D, as Bob liked to say.

As usual, the counter clerk entered the order. Saying its total, he waited for one of them to pay. Mandy looked over to Bob and nodded toward the credit card machine. He just looked at her with a blank face. After the second time and getting no response from Bob, she gave him a nudge saying, "It's my birthday! You don't expect me to pay for dinner out on my Birthday?"

Garry had been standing to the side of the counter waiting for his cue. Stepping up to the register sliding the clerk out of the way he told her in a surprised voice, "Really? It's your birthday? Well, then Mandy tonight it's On The House!"

She gave another nudge to Bob and with a glance to Garry and back, told him. "At least someone cares." Quickly Garry said, "Happy Birthday," and handed each of them their drink cup.

"Remember how to do this?" Bob joked as they headed to the beverage fountain. Turning toward Bob, Mandy leaned into him bringing them nose to nose. "Yes," she said as she put her lips to his for a brief kiss.

After their cups were filled with soda, Bob surprised Mandy. He took her hand and guided her over to the Party Room. It had a big sign on it, "Private Party." Mandy held back, telling Bob, that the room was reserved for a private party.

Bob laughed and opened the door saying, "I don't think there's anyone here more special than YOU tonight." Mandy squealed and bounced into the lavishly decorated room with glee, jumping and twirling around laughing.

Just seeing her so happy, bubbling with laughter and smiling that broad smile, made the day for him. The expense didn't matter. It was for his love. It was for Mandy. His Mandy!

When Bob got to the table and set down his soda Mandy jumped into his arms. She locked her hands behind his neck, her legs around his waist, and began kissing him over and over saying, "I Love YOU!"

Catching his love, Bob took one hand held it under her and stroked her head with the other, saying every time his lips were free, "I love you Mandy!" back to her.

Mandy tried to think back to when she had her last birthday party before her 18th birthday. It must have been when she was twelve because her father was there. He mother told her that birthdays were over after her father had died. She had no more parties of any type ever again.

Her mind drifted back to that evening Bob had given her that magnificent party. It had been perfect. She knew that it didn't have to be McDonald's, but that it really was the only place. It was a natural. It was 'Their Place'.

They even had their own 'Waiter' who kept asking if they wanted refills on anything. He even asked if either of them wanted anything else like apple or cherry pies for dessert.

Mandy had finished her serving of fries and was munching on the remainder of Bob's. He slapped her hand lightly away from his fries saying, "MINE!"

"NO!" Mandy corrected him, "OURS!"

"Is that what you really want?" he asked her.

"What's mine is yours and what yours is mine. It's all 'OURS!'

"Yes, that's what I want," she said very firmly and with a stern and tough look on her face. Jutting out her lower jaw to emphasize her remark she made her face look even more stern.

"Sounds good to me," Bob told her.

Mandy quickly changed her frown to a smile. Before she could say anything, the manager poked his head in and told them the cake had arrived.

"Cake?" Mandy said as she perked up.

Bob didn't say a thing as the manager brought in the white ice cream cake ablaze with 18 candles.

Mandy laughed and giggled as the cake was placed in front of her. Bob told her to blow out the candles and make a wish. She closed her eyes for a second, took a deep breath and blew out the candles in one sweep.

The manager told her, "Good job," and handed her a knife to cut the cake. Mandy took the knife and as she started it toward the cake, Bob told her to remove the candles first. Then he told her to look very closely at the cake.

As was her custom when anything nice happened to her, she let pools rise up in her eyes, ran over to Bob and kissed him. "I haven't EVER had an Ice Cream Birthday Cake before!

"Thank you so much! I love you!"

She kissed Bob again and sat down in her seat across the table from Bob. Looking at the cake between something caught her eye. In the center of the cake there was something sparkling. The candle on the table was not too bright, but the center of the cake did sparkle.

She leaned over to try to get a better look at it. As she began was looking at the center of the cake, distracting her, Bob simply asked her if she'd read the inscription on the cake.