AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I didn’t think you would say yes,” he said, “given some of my performances to date.”
“Are you kidding?” I said, grinning at him like I was high. “In a hundred days you have been my first thought of the day, my last thought, and every other thought in every waking moment.”
He smiled and I leaned in to kiss him ... a slow, champagne tasting kiss. We pulled away and I looked at my ring hand again ... I was engaged!
“Think we should announce it?” I asked.
“You’re a chick, I know you’ll be keen to,” he teased.
“I’m engaged to the most gorgeous guy on the planet, and I’ve just experienced the most romantic proposal ever ... hell yeah, I’m keen,” I said. “But we should tell our parents before social media,” I said.
“My family knows, the girls helped me pick out your ring, and Tia is desperately waiting, well hoping, for an invitation to be a flower girl,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Your parents know too.”
“That’s what you were talking about with Dad?” I asked.
“I didn’t ask for your hand in marriage,” he said, holding up his hands in defense, “I know modern girls don’t need to be given away from one man to the other ... well, Nikki and Ana said that, and Tia just went along. Mom agreed.”
“Thank God for that,” I said, because I seriously would have been pissed about that. I’m a stickler for my independence.
“I just let your dad know that I intended to propose and that I hoped they would support us, which he was happy to do.”
“So my fiancé, we probably should both call our parents though, and then we can put our announcements up,” I said, and grinned, liking the sound of the word ‘fiancé’. “And then we turn our phones on silent so the rest of the night is ours.”
The Russian agreed.
*****
I went inside to get my phone from my handbag and The Russian grabbed his from the kitchen. He dialed his parents; they wanted to talk with me, and so did his sisters, which was really sweet. They were so excited for us, even though it had only been one hundred days. When eight-year-old Tia came on, I put her out of her misery.
“I was hoping that you could do me a big favor and be my flower girl?” I asked and I swear she screamed so loud that my ear was likely not to be fully functioning again for a week. Finally, the phone went back to The Russian who asked for the dog, Brodie, since he was the only one who hadn’t gotten on the phone. I laughed and after hanging up, we called my parents. Mom was congratulatory but cautious, like she couldn’t allow herself to be truly happy because her other daughter would never have a wedding. Sigh. Dad was wonderful and of course wanted to perform the ceremony. While The Russian spoke with Dad to receive his congratulations, I quickly called Josh, Steffi and Aimee. I told them I couldn’t talk but wanted them to know first, before they saw it in my news feed. So exciting!
We then quickly prepared an announcement each.
“What have you got?” The Russian asked, grinning at me like I was an excited kid in an ice-cream shop ... I was much more excited than that.
I showed him the photo I had just taken of my hand with the huge rock on it – seriously, that ring if sold could fund the elimination of polio worldwide – one of my ambitions, but that was another story. Behind my photographed hand and ring were rows of roses. I wrote “Breathtaking proposal ... in one hundred days, I’ve loved you in one hundred ways.” My hashtags were #engaged and #forevertaken.
The Russian grimaced. “You can’t give away my proposal ... the guys will bag me for the next ten years,” he said.
“Do you seriously think it is not going to get out there?” I asked him. “Hell, the first question every journalist and female will ask is how did he propose?”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, but I may have to go undercover.”
“I won’t do it if you don’t want me to,” I said, studying him, “we can keep it our secret.”
“No, go on ... tell everyone you’ve got the best, most romantic fiancé in the world, they won’t be surprised, I’m sure,” he said, his lips curling into a small smile. Such a big head.
The Russian got me to help him with his message; he used the selfie of both of us in front of all the roses, with just one hashtag - #shesaidyes.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Ready,” he agreed and we pressed send and put our phones on silent. I put mine down and picked up our champagne glasses, handing The Russian his glass.
We looked at each other, just basking in the happiness of the moment. We clinked glasses and enjoyed the delicious bubbles, the quiet, the moment.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other,” I said, softly.
“Good huh?” he said. “We’ve got all the time in the world ... unless, you’re worried you don’t know me well enough?” He frowned.
