Woman risks pride and $50 investment on sign of love

~ Show of affection helps raise money for Ronald McDonald House charities.

It was a risk for 27-year-old Heidi McIntosh to invest $50 -- the price for using the reader board at the Broadway McDonald's -- to ask her boyfriend Daniel McBrant to marry her. Confident that he would say yes, she also purchased an engagement ring for her beau of little more than six months.

The McDonalds' "Give a Little Love" campaign began Jan. 26 with an idea to auction off use of the reader board or, for a $1 contribution, to display a paper heart showing donors' support of Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Tri-State area.

McIntosh felt pretty sure he would say yes. "He was my first love 12 years ago. He left the area five or six years ago, and when he came back to Cape he called me up," she said. They each have two children. Neither have been married or even engaged.

McIntosh said she saw the advertisement and knew a lot of people would see it. "We live in the area and are always driving down Broadway."

McBrant saw the sign on Broadway at about noon Wednesday. He had taken the day off from the Cape Girardeau Country Club, where he is a cook and dishwasher, to spend time with McIntosh. "We were going to spend some quiet time, go to the movies, out to eat," he said.

Then McIntosh got him in the car and said, "I'm going to take you to see your surprise."

McBrant said his reaction was, "Really, really, really wow. I still can't stop grinning or laughing about it. It's the first time I've been proposed to."

According to McBrant, this is the first and last proposal for both of them. "I'm very impressed and very happy. I don't think anything else in the world could have made me more happy."

The couple will set a wedding date for sometime in August.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities are temporary residences that give family members of children needing medical treatment a place to eat, sleep, relax and find support from other families in situations where traveling far is necessary.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension