HAPPY FOREVER AFTER

“How about breakfast in bed?” Daniel asked.

“Mmm, that sounds nice. I don’t think I can move and I’m suddenly feeling lazy.” Emma replied.

He smiled because he couldn’t imagine anything better than the two of them sharing an intimate meal in bed. Hell, if he had his way they wouldn’t leave the bedroom for the rest of the day.

“Let me go fix something up for the both of us ” He said. “You stay here and get comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

He kissed her nose and then carefully disentangled himself from the warm clasp of her body. He eased her onto her side, pulled the rumpled sheet over her and rolled toward the nightstand, sitting up and putting his legs over the edge of the bed.

He glanced back to see that she’d immediately commandeered his pillow, which made him chuckle, because it was exactly what she’d done in the past.

“What?” Emma asked as she watched him. “Why are you smiling?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Just happy”

“You can’t have your pillow back, just so you know” she mumbled.

He smiled and headed for the bedroom door. “Never let it be said I interfered with the comfort of my woman.” He said and Emma grinned at him.

Daniel went to the kitchen and rushed through the breakfast preparation and soon he was heading back to the bedroom with a small stool and tray of coffee, eggs and bread.

Emma sniffed the air appreciatively as he came into the room and Daniel grinned.

“Smells good” she said as he balanced the stool on the bed in front of her and slid back into the bed beside her. They ate together and halfway through the meal, Daniel stood and walked to his desk drawer from which he withdrew a thick file.

“What’s that?” Emma asked as he returned to her side.

“Just work stuff. Barrett asked me to give it to you” he said.

“Oh” she said as she took it. “Thanks. I’m going to have a lot to do when I go back to work”

He removed the stool and put it on the floor while Emma opened the file, but instead of work stuff, there was a picture of her in it. She stared at him looking confused.

“Daniel, What’s this?” She asked.

“It’s a plan!” He replied. And there was a boyish excitement in his voice that made her laugh.

As she turned the pages again, There were more pictures of her, but on another page, A piece of paper had been pasted in. A drawing not of her. But of a hollow circle of wood, the grain spinning around the outside and through the centre. Her forehead creased as she turned the book through ninety degrees, trying to see where this fitted into the story.

Maybe it was pasted into the wrong book? She thought. But when she turned the page, there it was again. The grain slightly different this time, more delicate. And the dimensions were different, too. The outer circle slightly narrower, the space inside larger.

When she turned the page again, the same image greeted her. This time with scribbled dimensions in millimeters, and fractions of millimeters, and something sparkling and glinting at the very top of the arch.

She dropped the book.

It was a sculpture, or a plan for one. A tiny sculpture, about the size of…

She looked up at Daniel in surprise. “A ring,” She said.

He smiled down at her, then he reached inside his drawer and pulled out a small box, specially carved with a question mark on top.

As he handed it to her, she held his gaze, looking long and intensely into his eyes, trying to calm the galloping of her pulse and the hitches in her breathing. The box was smooth and warm in her hand, and she took a moment to trace the inscription on the lid with the pad of her finger.

She opened it slowly, pulling her eyes away from Daniel’s now, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

A diamond gleamed at her, nestling in the wood grained platinum.

“Oh Daniel, it’s so beautiful.” She breathed. She was so taken aback by its delicate beauty that for a moment its greater significance was lost on her. All her brain could process was the care and attention put into this exquisite item. He had gone through a lot of trouble to make one… Specifically made for her…. She thought. Until Daniel reached for her left hand, and pulled it towards him. Then he got down on one knee.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

“Emma,” He began. “I know you said you wanted to take your time about this, and I know it’s because you wanted to be sure that I was doing it for the right reasons. I want to assure you that I am, you’ve already made me happier and luckier than any man alive deserves to be. And I want you forever. You and our baby. There is no other woman I would want to spend the rest of my life with because you are one of a kind. Will you please be my wife?”

Emma simply smiled and grabbed his hand harder. She sat up on the bed.

“Yes, Daniel . Of course, yes. I will. I love you. I will always love you, and everything you’ve given me, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She slipped the ring onto her finger, then looked at him, beaming with happiness. Then leaned over to kiss her fiancé. When she released him, she had tears in her eyes.

“I love the ring.” She said, “It’s so beautiful. And you had it specifically made. You didn’t have to go through all that trouble”

Daniel grinned at her. “You are worth it, baby. You are special. And there is no other woman in the world I would ask to marry me… Three times”

Emma stared at him and remembered the first two times he had talked about getting married -when he found out that she was pregnant and that night they left her mother’s house… And she smiled as she pulled him up to join her on the bed.

“I love you so much, Daniel,” she said.

I love you too, Emma”