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Driving to his parents' house was like a walk down memory lane. With each passing block, an old memory was unlocked from way back when. It was a bitter-sweet feeling because the memories themselves held so much pain and joy.
We came to a halt right in front of his house. Immediately, I was taken back to his eighth birthday party. I had been invited. I was so excited because I didn’t get invited often to places, mainly because I didn’t have friends.
When I got to the party, I had thought this would be the start of a new journey. I would finally be welcomed into the in-crowds, and I would make friends, but that hadn’t been the case. Marcus had made it his personal mission to make sure I was miserable and crying by the end of the day.
His hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped at the contact. My eyes snapped to Marcus who was looking at me strangely again.
“What?”
“I was just saying that we need to get our story straight before we walk in.”
I nodded. “Okay. Well, we hated each other and then we realized that we were actually hiding our true feelings for one another, and then we fell in love and didn’t want to deny each other any longer. Then you proposed to me, and I said yes ‘cause we didn’t want to waste any more time.”
“It’s good.” He shrugged. “But I would never buy you that ring. It’s tacky and ugly and no one would ever believe that I got it off of a firefighter's salary. It looks like it costs at least 100,000.”
“Ninety-five thousand to be exact, but those are just statistics.” I waved him off. “And it’s a beautiful ring. You can just tell everyone you took out a loan.”
He didn’t even blink when I told him the price.
He shook his head. “No. I would never do that. Besides, we have a tradition in my family.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. Grabbing my left hand, he slid the flashy ring off of my finger. For some reason, that single action had butterflies forming in the pit of my belly.
Ew.
Whatever was going on with me needed to stop. I was not this person. I didn’t feel butterflies for anyone, least of all Marcus aka, my arch-nemesis aka a thorn in my side.
He opened the velvet box, revealing a gorgeous ring that sat in the center. The ring had a beautiful blue diamond sitting in the center of it. The band looked to be made out of platinum. I was sure that this ring was not in a firefighter's budget but yet he was offering it to me.
“It’s beautiful.” My eyes connected to his. “Where did you get it from? Did you steal it?”
He let out an ungodly snort. “No. It’s a family heirloom. It’s passed down from generation to generation. My mom had it on her finger, my grandmother had it before her, and so on. If you walk in with that tacky thing on your finger, my parents will know that I'm not serious about us."
“Hey,” I protested. “I paid a lot for this ‘tacky’ ring.”
“This is why I will never understand you rich people. Just because something has a higher price tag doesn’t mean that it holds more beauty.”
I rolled my eyes, but I didn’t say anything. He was right of course, but I would never admit that to him. His head was already three sizes too big for his body.
Marcus slid the ring onto my finger, and then placed my ring into the now empty velvet box.
“So, you will meet my mom, Lara, and my dad, Bill. My sister, Danny, will also be there because she lives with them and her son, Axel. He’s about eight or nine months old now.”
My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. “Danny had a baby?”
He nodded.
I remembered Danny as that baby who could barely formulate sentences correctly. I think she had been about three or four when I had left Riverroad with my mother. I wondered how she had grown up. I also wondered if she still looked like her older brother.
“Okay, let’s go pull off the charade of a lifetime and pretend that we are insanely in love with one another.”
He hopped out of the car, and I did the same. When we came together at the front of the car; he threaded our fingers together. When he did that, I didn’t miss the way my chest fluttered at the contact. I pushed the odd feeling aside and focused on the task at hand.
We walked up the porch steps hand in hand. This house was like a blast from the past. The last time I had been here was the last day I had been in Riverroad. After that party, I left this town, and I never looked back.
We came to a stop at the door and knocked.
I was so nervous. I was shifting from foot to foot. Marcus squeezed my hand, telling me to stop.
When the door opened, I froze, and my back stiffened. Standing on the threshold was a woman who had the same blue-grey eyes that Marcus had but her hair wasn’t a dark brown like his. Instead, hers was lighter and from the shade it was I could tell that it wasn’t natural, but it still looked good.
In her hands, she held a baby who clung to her for dear life. His head rested in the crook of her neck as he sucked on a little pacifier.
“As I live and breathe. The last time I saw you, you had mud on your face and were beating my brother up in the backyard.” She chuckled. “It’s nice to see you again, Maddison.”
“Hi, Danny.” I lamely offered her a small wave. I didn’t even know why I had done that. I cursed myself internally.
She stepped aside and let us through. “Welcome to family dinner.”
This was either going to go really right or really wrong.
