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A NEW YEAR TO REMEMBER
JARED
The sight of the tears in her eyes were, for once, a welcomed sight, as I knew what caused them was a thing of pure beauty. It was the love that she had for me and the happiness I could see my proposal had given her. I had to confess, it didn't exactly go completely to plan but then, this was Ella we were talking about.
It also had to be known that the moment of panic and pain I had felt when she begged me not to continue after speaking about knowing my plans was immeasurable. A nightmare coming true, and one I had spent the last week worrying about. I had felt as if a fucking Devourer was sitting on my chest, trying to squeeze the life out of me, starting with crushing my heart. But then when she had begged me not to leave her, I realized that we both had it all wrong. That she believed me to be making a very different plan and, of all the things, I was astounded she would think it was me fucking leaving her!
I suppose I couldn't blame her, not with all things considered. And she was right, I had been quiet this last week, but oh how wrong she was as to why. To think that my struggles had been dealing with the treachery of my wife.
In all honesty, even referring to her as such, well, it now left nothing but a bitter taste on my tongue. No, in fact my main thoughts this last week had been all centered around Ella. How I had wanted nothing more than to make her my wife and, with it, came the planning on how to achieve just that. Trying to come up with the best way to ask her.
I had never been nervous for anything before in my whole life, but the thoughts plagued me as to what I would do if she said no. What I would have done had she said it was too soon. Asking myself what my backup plan would have been when trying to convince her.
Because as soon as I finished my conversation with Marcus that day by the lake, I knew what I wanted to do. Hell, but I had known that I wanted to marry the girl ever since practically first meeting her. I had just been too blind and pig headed to fully admit it to myself. But with everything that recently happened, I realized how much time I had wasted before admitting my mistakes. How much time I had waisted before making her mine sooner.
Which was why I was making no such plans to leave her and to just go off and fight a war like she believed. But instead, the exact opposite. I was making plans so that she would never leave me again.
I wanted to make her my wife as soon as possible and despite the timing, it had little to do with the fact that my first marriage had clearly been a sham. Lerna was dead to me, despite what I had seen on that lake. For she could have walked onto this rooftop right in this very moment and she still wouldn't have existed to me. Ella was the only one I ever wanted.
However, despite spending that very same day contemplating how I was going to ask her, including things like having the opportunity to ask her father's permission. That granted, wasn’t something I needed but was something I wanted to do more so out of respect for the man. But my thoughts and plans also included things like getting her a ring, just like the one I showed her now, one I had specially made for her. One I finally had the chance to pick up today, along with her dress, designed solely with her in mind.
Naturally, I marveled at the sound of another gasp and once again the tears that continued to flow. Tears that I knew were of a happy kind, making her eyes sparkle in all of the fairy lights that I had requested. Hence my need to speak to Dom, who naturally enlisted the help of his sister.
In a nutshell, everybody was in on it. Everybody knew what was happening at this very moment, other than Ella. In fact, everybody was so excited for us, I was just surprised that nobody had ruined the surprise. Heck, but every time I had looked at her mother, she was giving me the thumbs up, looking so excited she was close to bursting. I knew they were all down there right now as the countdown to midnight began, all wondering on whether Ella had said yes or not. Because yes, I had been quiet, but after that first day of planning, the reason for my mood change had been down to the question Orthrus had asked Ella about her future.
Of course at the time it had seemed innocent enough, for she clearly had no clue as to why he asked it. but then the moment she had hesitated in answering, my hope hesitated also. I knew Ella loved me, she had made that abundantly clear ten times over what would be deemed necessary for a man to feel secure in his relationship. No, Ella’s love for me had never been in question, but her answer about the future, however, had.
The moment after I asked her to marry me, though, she finally gave me the answer I had admittedly been praying for.
“Yes… a thousand, million, times yes… yes, I want to marry you!”
I couldn't help but close my eyes for a moment as I drew in a shuddered breath of utter, pure relief. The worry and nervousness that had wreaked havoc on me all week quickly faded away like an unnecessary memory. One I no longer needed to keep. It was as if a lifetime of happiness all hit me at once, and instead of staying on one knee and following tradition as I placed the ring on her finger, I couldn't help but stand. Then I scooped her up into my arms before kissing her.
The feel of both our tears merged together as I unashamedly let them fall. For she had made me the happiest man in the world and I wanted her to recognize that in its purest form. With the feel of tears of pure joy that had never fallen before there was her.
“I can’t… believe this…” she stammered through her own tears of joy and, again, it was beautiful to see.
I pulled back so as I could frame her face with my hands, at the same time, taking her tears away with my thumbs as I asked her in a gentle way,
“Can't believe what, baby?”
She melted at my soft, tender tone like she usually did before admitting,
“I can't believe how I got it so wrong, I've been so worried and all this time, you were just planning to make my dreams come true.”
Hearing her sweet words gave me a lump in the back of my throat, the happiness an immeasurable thing as I had never felt so complete. never in all my years had I experienced joy like it, and to know that Ella was feeling the same thing, well, it only made it all that much sweeter.
“The ring!” she suddenly shouted, making me chuckle as her hands were everywhere as if trying to find it. But I had slipped it back into my pocket so as I could use both hands to hold on to her.
“You look like you're trying to maul me for it,” I teased, making her growl, which was admittedly an adorable sound I only ever wanted to encourage her to make. She was cute as fuck, even when she was wearing this ball gown and stunning the room with her beauty. Gods in Heaven but I thought that my heart would stop at just the sight of her! She was breathtaking in the literal sense, as I had felt as if I couldn't breathe. I knew the dress would be perfect on her, but it was her beauty that made it a true vision to behold.
But despite not knowing what I ever did to deserve it, by the Gods, I would fight until my last breath to keep it!
So, as I pulled the box from my pocket and opened it up to show her, everything in me felt right, knowing I had made the right choice. Her expression of wonder told me so. Which was why I eagerly wanted to get it on her finger.
It was the symbol of my claim she had on my heart. I was old fashioned when it came to my belief of marriage, even now when I was no longer a mortal being, it was still as sacred to me. And I couldn't wait to enter into a marriage with Ella as my wife.
My eternal heart was one she owned.
