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Ricky smiled. He reached across the table and held my hand, caressing it. Then he kissed it gently. The softness of his lips was endearing. He was the most special man I’d ever known. I felt honored to be with him and I hoped he understood that.
“Come on, let’s take a nice walk. It’s a beautiful night for it,” Ricky said.
The night air was pleasant. It was warm, but not bordering on hot as it had been recently. Even the humidity seemed to be down a bit. I inhaled deeply as I walked along the quiet sidewalk. We were in a nice part of town which typically enjoyed a bit of tourism, but it was as if most of them had received some type of memo telling them to stay home because very few people were out walking the way we were, and none of them were dressed up as nicely either. But I found I liked it. There was something so fun about dressing up when most people weren’t. It instantly put you a cut above the rest and made others stand up and take notice. As we passed, several people were checking us out. A few guys were giving me the eye hardcore.
“I think that our fan base is increasing,” I teased.
Ricky laughed. “With your beauty, I’m sure you make fans everywhere you go.”
I put my arm around him and held him tightly. “You are too good to me,” I said. “Too much of this and I’m liable to get a swelled head.”
Ricky shook his head. “Never happen.”
We walked a few more minutes in silence and then we stopped right in front of a building. It was an art exhibit.
“Ah, this looks nice,” I said.
“Yeah, I thought it would be something special,” Ricky said.
We entered the exhibit. There were a lot of people inside already browsing and looking at the artwork all around. It was nice to see an exhibit with a great turnout. There were more people here than the one Ricky and I had gone to when we first started dating. That seemed like forever ago for some reason.
“What do you think about this piece?” Ricky asked, pointing to a painting on his right.
I walked over beside him and took a good look. It took me a moment, but then I recognized the painting as my own. What…?
I looked at Ricky who was smiling widely. He was almost laughing with joy. I turned back to the painting. Then I noticed the painting beside it. And the one behind that one. And another one.
My work. All of the paintings in this section… it was my work…. how…?
“Ricky… what is going on?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“This is your showing,” Ricky said. “These people are here admiring your amazing work.”
Tears stung my eyes. I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping. This was truly a dream come true. “But… how?”
Ricky leaned in close. “A woman I saved in a fire a few months ago… her mother owns this gallery. And I got in touch with her. She agreed to look at your work and she loved it. She decided to stage this showing for you. And I enlisted Becky and Tessa to help me get your art out of your old apartment and out of the studio you set up at home.”
I was flabbergasted. This was the best day of my life. I had always dreamt of having my own gallery. People were actually looking at my work. I could see they were enjoying it and a few pieces had already been sold. Wow…. This was incredible. There was no way… just no way this could have happened without my knowing…
But it did. Ricky had done all of this for me. He helped set everything up.
Ricky held me close and kissed me sweetly as he wiped away my tears with his hands. “I want all of your dreams to come true, baby.”
“I love you. I love you so much,” I said.
“I love you, more,” Ricky replied. “Now there is one more surprise for tonight and I hope you love it just as much. Are you ready?”
“I’m not sure my heart can handle another surprise,” I told him.
“Well, let’s see.” Ricky pulled something from his pocket right then. He got down on one knee and looked up at me.
This was not happening. Yes! Surely not… but there he was getting ready to pop the world’s biggest question.
“Oh, my!” I gasped as Ricky started to speak.
“Julie Peters, you have made me the happiest man in the world, and I wanted to see if you’d be willing to top that and make me even happier. Will you marry me?”
Everything slowed down just then. I felt like I could actually feel my heart raci
