Part 17
The next day, Howie dropped Sarah off at the center and headed to the attorneys' offices. Everyone was going to meet there first and then take the limo to the Youth Center.
At the office, Howie caught Jeff alone and asked, "Did you send the flowers?"
"Yes, Howie! I sent the flowers. There's one single red rose in the middle of them all and on the card, I signed it 'The New Owners'."
Kevin had heard them and laughed, "You'll have to forgive him, Jeff. He's just a little nervous about giving Sarah EVERYTHING she wants on a silver platter."
"This girl must be one hell of a lady for you guys to be doing all this," said Jeff.
Brian spoke up, "Believe me, she's definitely special."
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Sarah was working on some paperwork when Rachel knocked on the door. She looked up and motioned for Rachel to come in. "What's up?"
"There's a delivery man with five arrangements of flowers, a pile of men getting ready to set up the gym for something, and a sea of press outside."
Sarah stood up and looked out to see what was going on. She didn't recognize the group of men setting up the gym but they were the road crew for the guys. She started out the door to find out what was going on but ran into the delivery guy with the flowers.
"Where do you want these, miss?"
"Rachel, put them in my office."
Sarah headed across the gym and found the man who appeared to be in charge. "What exactly are you doing to the center? I have kids who will be arriving soon."
"The new owners asked us to do this?"
"Who ARE these new owners and why haven't they consulted me?"
"I'm not at liberty to say right now, Sarah. I'm suppose to tell you that they will be here shortly and everything will be clear then."
"How do you know my name?"
"The new owners."
Sarah threw up her hands in frustration and then headed out to deal with the press. As she walked out the door, she was met by a hail of questions, cameras flashing, and microphones being shoved in her face. She suddenly realized exactly what Howie and the guys went through and loved them even more for protecting her from it all. Out of nowhere, Raoul appeared and hustled her back inside.
Inside, Sarah looked up at him, "Thanks! What are you doing here?"
"Came to check on you. What's going on?"
"I don't know. The place has been bought by someone and they seem to be making a big tado over taking over this place. It certainly is becoming a HUGE pain in the butt too. Do me a favor? I have kids getting ready to arrive and I don't want them to have to go through that circus out front."
"No problem. I can handle it."
Sarah smiled, "I thought you could. I sure am glad you came when you did!"
Sarah went back to her office where she was greeted by the five arrangements. There was a card in one of them and she took it out to read, "The New Owners'. She wasn't sure she liked these new owners. They'd come in and taken over and the flowers were obviously sent to pacify her. What escaped Sarah's attention was the single red rose in the middle of each arrangement.
An hour later, the children and their parents started to arrive and Sarah went out to greet them with the rest of the staff. It was all Sarah could do to keep them calm as she tried to talk to the parents. It seemed that the parents had received an invitation to meet the new owners today which shocked Sarah. She knew nothing about it.
Jeff arrived with several of the board members and was escorted to Sarah's office. Larry said, "Sarah, I'd like for you to meet Jeff. He represents the new owners. Jeff, this is Sarah Taylor, our director."
Jeff smiled as he took Sarah's hand in his and said, "WOW, they weren't kidding when they said you were beautiful."
Before Sarah could say anything, a pair of hands covered her eyes from behind. She could tell by the body against her that it was a man and he was tall. Sarah reached up to feel his hands as Jeff said, "Don't be shocked. The new owners just wanted to surprise you."
Sarah heard music start to play and immediately recognized it as the song Brian had written for him mother. Then she heard their voices as they started singing 'The Perfect Fan', but just the first part of it. Kevin had been the one with his hands over her eyes but he let her go and she turned around to see all five of them grinning from ear to ear.
Sarah started crying and Howie took her in his arms. He laughed as she said, "You sneak! You're the new owners, aren't you?"
Larry said, "Sarah, they're going to explain it all to the parents and the kids first and then hold a press conference to let the public know as well."
Howie kept his arm around Sarah as they all headed to the front of where the parents were waiting. They stood in a semi circle around a mic with Sarah in the middle and Larry at the mic. He cleared his throat and started, "For some time now, the Youth Center has been in financial trouble and at one point, we thought we would have to close our doors but fortunately for us, an angel appeared on our doorsteps in the form of Sarah."
The kids and parents all cheered and Sarah blushed as the guys smiled at her.
Larry continued, "I feel the same way. Sarah breathed new life into this center with teaching swimming lessons, forming a choir that has performed in various competitions, and generally doing whatever she could to keep this place open. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and we started making plans to shut the place down. Then up steps our second angel, Sarah's boyfriend, Howie Dorough. He knew how much Sarah loved this place and he wanted to help. Originally, Howie and his bandmates were only going to make a donation but that only postponed the inevitable."
Kevin stepped up, "That's when we decided to buy the center. We looked at the books and we had our accountants look at the books as well. Sarah had made some tremendous gains but it hadn't been enough. Now the center is a part of Backstreet Boys, Inc. and Sarah will run the place for us. We want to incorporate some educational programs to help the kids."
Brian spoke up. "We've also changed the name to the Backstreet Youth Center."
Sarah was blown away by what the guys were saying and she looked at Howie in disbelief.
When the guys were finished telling the parents, the kids, staff, and Sarah the news, everyone stood and cheered, more for Sarah then for the guys and Sarah turned to Howie with tears of joy. Howie held her close and whispered, "I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy, 'Angel'."