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Did she want to marry him? She knew the answer was yes. She breathed a yes into his neck, so soft that he wouldn’t hear, but his musician’s ears must have picked something up. He tipped up her chin and looked at her with eyes glistening with love.
“Wanna go ring shopping?” he asked.
“I would like nothing more,” she answered happily, knowing it was true. She snuggled into his neck and breathed his woody, masculine scent, and as his arm curled around her, she knew she was the luckiest girl in the world.
“Okay, the car’s here,” called Rory to Arsen as he was grabbing their suitcases. Looking down at her hand as she took hers, she tried not to be disappointed that their trip to the jewelry store didn’t result in a ring. The one she and Arsen had liked best, a cathedral pavé half carat platinum, was far too extravagant and she forbade him from buying it for her.
Besides, there was probably a ring in her grandmother’s jewelry box that they could use, though they hadn’t gone looking yet. Arsen had been away a couple of weeks, getting his solo stuff sorted out and doing the legal details of leaving Insurrection, so they really hadn’t had much time.
She also tried not to be concerned that she didn’t have a proper proposal story to tell her friends. Sure it had been romantic, but who tells a proposal story about being in bed?
Her friends would probably love it anyway, but she thought she might just keep the whole thing to herself. It was still private. No ring, no date, no big proposal. But none of that mattered since she had the love of her life, she told herself, her lips thinning.
“What’s wrong, babe?” asked Arsen.
“Nothing,” she smiled, shaking her head, trying to lose the feelings of envy that were brewing inside her. “You have the plane tickets?”
He patted his pocket. “Sure do,” he grinned, and kissed her cheek. At least she knew her friends would think he was super hot and thanked the heavens that she wasn’t attending the wedding of her best friend Alicia, all by herself.
They rode to the airport in silence, but when they didn’t go to the regular terminal entrance, she sat up.
“Driver, I think you missed the turn,” she said. Arsen put his hand on her leg and shook his head. They kept going.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, but she could see the sparkle in his eye. She hit him on the arm. “What are you doing, Arsen?”
He rubbed the spot in an exaggerated fashion. “Hey, you brute!” Then pulled her to him and kissed her hard. “It’s a surprise.”
“Aren’t we going to NYC?” she asked. The last thing she wanted was for a surprise to get in the way of their trip to the wedding.
“I guess I can tell you,” he grinned. “We’re taking Insurrection’s private plane. It was their final thank you for me.”
“Are you serious!” Rory almost hit him again, but stopped herself. “Oh my God!” She’d never been in a private plane before, and at least she could tell her New York friends that story.
“You bet!” The driver dropped them off at a small, private terminal, and they whizzed through the security detail. When they climbed up the stairs onto the plane, Arsen stopped her, told her to close her eyes, and then covered them with his hands for good measure.
When he said she could open her eyes, she was shocked. The cabin was beautiful, but more than that it was filled with endless red roses, and Arsen was kneeling in front of her. Tears filled her eyes.
“Rory. You saved me from a life I never wanted, by showing me what rock solid love really is. You’ve made me happier than I ever thought I could be. You’re a goddess, you’re a woman, and you’re the sweetest girlfriend a man could ever have.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
Rory couldn’t breathe. He opened the box, and it was the ring that she had secretly wanted him to get the whole time, but didn’t think she was worthy of. The cathedral pavé half carat platinum. “You shouldn’t have!” she choked out as she fell to her knees in front of him.
“You’re not going to hit me again are you,” Arsen grinned. She vigorously shook her head no. “Rory Loughlin, will you make me the happiest man in the world, and marry me?”
“I will! Yes, I will,” she said, as he slipped the ring on her finger. She collapsed against him. “Yes, yes yes yes, yes,” she said into his soft dark hair.
He laughed and kissed her wherever he could reach.
“Should we celebrate with champagne once we take off?”
She smiled big through her tears, and hugged him again. “Yes! Champagne, and the mile-high club.”
His eyes crinkled as he laughed. “I knew I was marrying the right girl!”
They buckled into their seats and as the plane took off, Arsen put his arm around her. As Rory drew a rose up to her face to inhale its scent, a pure happiness filled her being, and she couldn’t wait to begin the next chapter of their lives together.
And to tell her friends her fabulous engagement story.
THE END
