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I can’t stop looking at him, confusion all over my face as my fingers tear the wrapping off the box. What’s making him think about kids? When I glance down at it, I’m sure that it’s a mug. Normally, I’d be excited, but this talk of children is kind of hard to ignore.
I open the box, and it’s a mug, just like I thought. White with Christmas trees on it, I lift it up to read what it says.
And nearly drop it.
“Will you marry me?” Bright red letters across the front in a cutesy font. When I look back at Phillip, he’s getting down on one knee.
“Oh shit,” I whisper.
He reaches into his pocket, a wide smile on his face, and he pulls out the little box. “Addison Adelaide, you transformed my life into a chaotic adventure. Every day is better than the last, and I can’t imagine my life without you. Will you make me the happiest man in the world by marrying me?”
“And I thought a tie was a good gift,” I mutter. He just grins. “Yes. Yes, a thousand times. I’d marry you every day if you’d let me.”
He opens the little box, and inside it is a ring I’d never have expected to see. It’s a simple gold ring with touches of filigree on the edges, but nothing fancy. And it looks old. Definitely not the ring a billionaire would propose with.
Did he get me a thrift store ring?
“This was my mother’s ring, and though you can say a lot of things about my father, there was nothing but love between the two of them. I hope I can make you as happy as he made her.”
He pulls the ring out of the box, and I put my hand out. As he slides the ring over my finger, it feels like everything in the world is right. I never thought that a ring would matter to me. It’s just a little piece of gold and crystal.
But it’s more than that. Today, it’s more than that. It’s the thing that connects us. More than words, this means that it’s real.
“I love it,” I whisper. Our gaze meets for a few moments, and I know that this is one of those perfect moments.
“Well, kiss the man!” my mom says from the love seat, and I can’t help but laugh. Phillip laughs too, and I bend down to kiss him. That happiness is almost tangible as our lips meet. My life is perfect.
We are perfect.
When he stands up and pulls away, I say, “Now it’s time for your real present.”
* * *
Mom follows us as we walk down the sidewalk of Manhattan. A few blocks away from where Phillip’s father has lived for almost forty years. “Why are we here?” Phillip asks.
“I had a chat with your father a month ago,” I confess.
He turns to me, and I feel a little awkward with my mom listening, but it needs to be said. “You’re a very hard man to buy gifts for, you know that, don’t you?”
“I told you that from the very beginning.”
I give him a smile. “Well, I sat down and talked to your father about what you enjoyed doing when you were growing up.”
We take a corner and in front of us is an empty lot between two brownstones. Just a patch of green in a world of gray. And in the middle of it is a bench. In the corner, there’s a statue of a woman and three little boys around her.
“The one thing you and your brothers all loved was coming here with your mother,” I say. “He said that you used to sneak out and come here when you were a teenager.”
He turns to me, shock in his eyes. “This is my Christmas present?”
“He bought this lot when you were born. He knew little boys needed grass to play in, and there weren’t any parks close by. A week ago, he sold it to me.”
And for the first time, I see tears well up in Phillip’s eyes. “Thank you,” he whispers.
I wrap my arms around him. “I love you,” he whispers. “You were right. You knew what to give me, even though I didn’t know it. This is the best Christmas present I could ever get.”
I look up at him and say, “I’m glad.” He holds me in his arms, squeezing me tight. “I was thinking, maybe when we’re married, we could think about having a few kids of our own.”
And it’s like I’m seeing a different man. The fiery look that he’s always given me is transforming into something softer. “You mean that?” he asks.
