Chapter 13 - The Proposal I Didn’t Expect
Daniel proposed in my yellow-door kitchen at 6:10 p.m. while pasta boiled over.
No restaurant.
No crowd.
No photographer.
He had ring in tea tin because Oliver had been searching drawers.
“Claire.”
I turned.
He was kneeling.
“Absolutely not.”
His face fell.
I laughed.
“Not while stove on.”
I turned burner off.
“Continue.”
He shook head.
“You’re impossible.”
“Yes.”
He tried again.
“I don’t want absorb your life. I don’t want replace Trevor. I don’t want rescue you because you already did that.”
Good opening.
“I want build something beside you. Separate accounts, shared plans, annual financial disclosures if that makes you happy—”
“It does.”
“I know.”
He held ring.
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at Oliver coloring table.
Mia doing homework nearby.
Yellow door.
Ordinary house.
No marble cage.
“Yes.”
Daniel smiled.
Oliver shouted, “Cake?”
Apparently children universally understand engagement.
Trevor congratulated us next day.
His voice shook slightly.
But he said it.
May you like
“I’m happy for you.”
I believed him.
