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“How you don’t end up with cavities every time you drink your tea, is a mystery I don’t think I’ll ever decipher,” I tease.
“It’s because of my phenomenal dental hygiene routine,” he replies, chuckling. He then grins wide, showing off his pearly whites.
“I guess you’re right,” I muse as the teenage server heads our way with our platter of trashcan nachos. “Look, they’re here!”
He bursts out laughing as the young girl sets the tray down, along with a ton of napkins, some plates, and two plastic forks. Thanking her, he waves his hand toward me. “Ladies first.”
“That doesn’t always work out for you too well,” I retort as I glance at the awesome, cheese covered chips. I can see the meat and all the other things on it; pretty much everything except the kitchen sink, or in our case, the jalapenos. “Wait, what’s this?” I murmur, seeing something sparkling in the middle of a glop of sour cream. I dig into the sour cream and come out with… a ring. “Jared?”
When I look up, I see he’s down on one knee, a glass of water in his hand as he takes the ring from me and quickly rinses it off.
“Cassidy, ever since we were teenagers, I knew you were the one for me. Every good memory I have has you in it, and since you’ve come home, I’ve wanted you in my life. I want to spend the rest of our lives together, raising a family, growing old and gray, and eventually, when we draw our last breaths, spend eternity with you. Will you marry me?”
By now, tears are steadily flowing down my face, as his words evoke a vision of our future. It’s one enveloped in love, secured by the foundation of our past, and anchored with the promise of a bright and beautiful future. It may be too fast for some people, but this is about us, no one else.
“Yes, yes, Jared, I’ll marry you,” I whisper, my hands shaking as he slips the ring on my finger. He stands and draws me into his arms before kissing me in front of everyone at McGhee’s. As I return his kiss, I realize I don’t give that first flip. People have been talking about me for years and I’m still standing, and since they don’t pay my bills, feed me, or sleep with me, their opinion doesn’t matter.
He finally pulls back slightly and says, “I asked your mother for permission to marry you.”
As we resume our seats, I lean forward and ask, “You did?”
“Of course, I did. I also went and visited your dad’s grave and told him what I wanted to do and asked for a sign. A red cardinal flew down and landed on his headstone.”
My heart catches in my throat. I’ve always heard that whenever you see a red cardinal, it means a loved one is near.
Daddy, I guess that means you approved of what he was going to do, I mentally think. Thank you for your blessing.
“So now what?” I ask.
“We plan a wedding,” he replies, digging into the nachos.
I start laughing because he has to remember the binder I started creating back in high school. I’ve planned my dream wedding for so long, I think I could recite everything I want from memory.
“Guess I need to pull out my book then, huh?” I tease, causing him to chuckle. “Because now that there’s actually a prospective groom involved, I need his input as well.”
“You’ve already had my input, Cass,” he says. “Remember when we talked about flowers? What did you do?”
I think back and grin. “I changed them to what you suggested if memory serves. Calla lilies and lilacs.”
“So, we need a venue, caterer, cake, bridesmaids, and groomsmen,” he continues, while slowly decimating our dinner.
I take a few minutes and grab some for myself while I think of the checklist that’s in the front of the binder and shake my head. There’s so much more than what he mentioned that my head is spinning with everything we have to do.
“I think we have a few more things, Jared,” I reply. “Quite a few more things.”
“Well, bring your binder with you when you and your mom come out to the house tomorrow,” he says. “Seeing as we’re doing the walk-through while she decides what to order for both houses, we’ll have plenty of time, Cass.”
I start laughing because my mom, when she heard about what Jared had done to ensure she was nearby, decided she was going to be responsible for purchasing all the furniture for both houses. When Jared tried to protest, she pulled the ‘mom’ card and how he had gotten her an awesome settlement, and this was one way she could contribute since he told us both there was no mortgage on the houses or the property.
“I still can’t believe you gave in!” I exclaim.
“Did you really think I was going to win against her?” he retorts, forking some of the nachos onto my plate.
“This has been the best day ever,” I whisper.
“Hands down, I totally agree,” he replies, grinning at me. “So, the real question is, when do you want to get married?”
I stop and think about when we can get lilacs and calla lilies. “We need to get married by May or June if we want to have the flowers on my list.”
