Discovering Something Special

Right after Queen asked that, the whole table looked at my left ring finger currently spotting a gold ring band with an obvious ruby jewel sitting on it. My mom and Quincy"s mom joined Queen to squeal together. My face was flushed from all the attention I was getting. Quincy"s mellow voice sounded next to me.

"We got engaged," he announced as he pulled me into an embrace and looked into each other"s eyes. We stayed like that for a minute or so before everyone snapped back to reality, starting with my mom who triggered a squeal cycle.

She squealed, Queen squealed, Candace squealed, then my mom did again.

Flora, Claudia, and Beatrice were completely caught off guard. The guys were smiling though, which made us 4 amigos suspicious. Quincy had told them about it earlier.

To be honest, the whole engagement thing came as a shock to me also. I never thought that I would wear a ring around my finger at the age of 22, but all that OCD future planning went out the window the moment Quincy waltzed into my life. From the moment we had said our first "I love you(s)," I knew I was willing to spend the rest of my life with this man. He was perfect in every way. He wasn"t in my life for 21 years and I lived fine. A year later, I couldn"t paint a picture of my future life without him in it. The thought of being away from him or losing him hurt my heart so much. I got engaged to the love of my life, and it all felt so surreal.

The whole table was filled with words of congratulations, hugs, kisses, pieces of advice, and jokes about married life. The older generations were glad that the last of the 3 amigos finally got hooked, but now, they were all waiting on the 4th amigo, Beatrice. After dinner was over, it was time to dish out the gossip. Quincy was dragged away by the men, who seem a lot calmer than the women folks. I was dragged away by the females whose eyes were filled with excitement and expectations.

"So how did it happen?" my granny asked, leading everyone in the room to nod their heads.

Quincy and I talked about what we wanted to do for our first anniversary.

He said, "what about the beach, babe?"

"The beach sounds good. We haven"t been there in a while," I replied. The last time we went was a year ago when we started dating.

"Would you like to sleep out or sleep in?"

"Let"s sleep in. I love being in our s.p.a.ce," I said, snuggling closer in his embrace. I loved the smell of him.

"Anything you say," he replied, tightening his arms around me.

I couldn"t believe I"d been with him for 1 year. It felt like forever, and I"d love for it to stay that way.

As usual, I was tired after the night exercise and was extremely drowsy when Quincy murmured into my ears. I could only catch on to some words before falling asleep in his arms: "propose... think..."

Earlier that day...

"This is to your order sir. See if you like it," she said.

I picked up the black velvet box she handed me, having a feeling that she could probably hear my heart beating from how nervous I was. I opened the box, and there they were. I commissioned 3 gold rings: one engagement ring and two wedding bands.

Summer"s engagement ring had a pretty ruby sitting on it. The inside of the ring was engraved with our names. Her wedding band was studded with tiny rubies, matching the former. Inside of it was engraved with the date of our confession; I had sent out the order for these rings the day after. My ring had her full name engraved inside of it, and her birthday was engraved on the outside of it. It was also studded with tiny rubies around both sides. The rings were perfect, just like the girl that was going to be wearing them.

On one of our dates, we had talked about marriage.

"Just two people, no kneeling, and a sincere confession. That"s the perfect proposal hon," was what she had said.

"Would you like me to do it that way?" I asked back.

"Surprise me silver eyes," she chuckled.

Months later, and I still hadn"t come up with a unique proposal. I wasn"t sure she was gonna say yes either. I mean, we"ve only been together for a year, and she might think I was moving too fast. Even if I fail once, I still had to try.

After confirming our schedule for d-day, there was nothing left to do but to connect emotional while exploring each other"s bodies. Right before she fell asleep, I whispered in her ear impulsively.

"Darling, I"m gonna propose to you tomorrow. Think of how you"re gonna reply."

I wasn"t sure if she heard, but it was most likely she didn"t. I hit myself on the head for letting the cat out at such a critical moment. Sèx really was intoxicating.

D-Day

The couple had breakfast together, consisting mainly of kisses and strawberry jam. Quincy went to work as usual while Seraphina stayed home, catching up on some of her telenovelas. The plots in most telenovelas could be solved in 2-3 episodes, but it extends into a web of complicated emotions, which is the interesting thing about them. Telenovelas define the word "drama" appropriately.

By 1pm, Quincy was back home, and the couple set out for their trip. The drive took about 2 hours, and it was totally worth it. The beach wasn"t crowdy at all which came as a surprise since the weather was heating up. The water was clear, blue, and refreshing. The couple walked hand-in-hand on the beach before proceeding to play in the water. On their short breaks, they whispered lovely words to each other. They played for a few more hours, then they headed out for dinner at their place. They chose the African restaurant they had gone on their first date. During dinner, they talked about the past year, how they matured in each other"s company, how their feelings had changed since then, and experiences that brought them closer.

After dinner, they went on a casual stroll. The summer breeze was cool, and everything seemed magical.

On getting home, Quincy princess-carried Summer onto a high stool he had placed in front of a couch before they left. Once he had her secured her there, he sat himself on the couch.

Summer thought back to the words she heard in her sleep and her heart was beating out of control. She didn"t think about it the whole day as Quincy never said anything during breakfast, lunch or dinner, but his action right now proved something.

Quincy nervously wiped his sweaty hands with a towel. Maintaining eye contact with her, he began.

"Seraphina Summer Jacob. You wouldn"t let me kneel, so I placed you in a higher position to show you how you dominate my world. You are incredible. You are a miracle. You are a walking blessing. I must have done multiple great deeds in my past lives to be deserving of you. You bring out the best in me. You inspire me. Best of all, you love me. You love me so much, you trusted me with your tears, your smile, and your every emotion. Based on this, I would like you to trust me with one more thing, your future. Our future. Marry me darling."

By the time he was done with his proposal, her face was drowning in tears. His proposal was totally unexpected and better than she had ever imagined. She was shaking from excitement, and when he pulled out the ring, she felt faint. It was gorgeous. Rubies represented love, and yes, she loved this man in front of her. She loved him so much, she cast her life plans to hèll.

"Quincy Jeremiah Davis," she said with a cracked voice.

"I would love to take on your last name and bear it proudly. I would love to wear that ring around my finger to flaunt around as the future Mrs. Davis. In this life and possibly the next, and the next after the next, you belong and will belong solely to me. Our future is in your care. Yes, in a million ways, yes, I will marry you."

With shaky hands, he retrieved the ring from the black box and slipped it on the 4th finger of her left hand.

"You"re mine for life darling," he declared.

"You"re mine too baby," she replied.

The couple held on to each other throughout the night.

The room was quiet before Candace burst into tears, once again triggering a teary cascade. Even Seraphina partic.i.p.ated this time. That day in her memory was the most perfect day of her life. Their confession day comes in a close second.