by Cee, DW
Sitting on the plane, my heart reverted to the old days and felt that unwanted tingle. Donovan was most likely pissed that I had made a decision on school that was contrary to his own. I supposed one day we’d get this relationship stuff right.
“Laney?”
“Yes Dad?”
He handed me his phone.
“Hello?”
“How can you possibly think I could be with anyone else after having been with you, Princess?” The waterfall immediately began. “Thank you for forgiving my idiotic behavior. I love you and have a safe trip home.”
“I love you too,” I whispered. “And I’m sorry to have made you move your life to Europe. Once you came, everything fell into place for me, and knowing what I have to do, I need to start now.”
“I’ll be home soon. We’ll talk then.”
“OK. Bye.”
“Bye, Princess.”
From here on out, all was good, and I was all smiles till we got home. I got a warm welcome from my brother and Nick and a dinner invite from Max and Jane at their new home the next night.
I started school on Thursday, though I wasn’t officially enrolled yet, and the amount of schoolwork I’d missed was scary. I ran into Max and Nick and we sat down to a fun lunch.
“Where’s Donovan right now?” Max asked biting into his sandwich.
“He still stuck in Germany. He’s been so busy, we’ve hardly had time to talk. We chatted briefly this morning.”
“When are you two getting married now that you’re back here and he’s out there?” Nick had disapproval written all over his face. “You women are nuts. Why go all the way out to Europe, make a man follow you out there, then come back here within a couple of months? Are you out to purposely drive him mad?”
Max partly spit up his drink as he found what Nick had said to be comical. “And I thought Jane was the difficult one in the family. You are deceptively a pain in the ass, Laney Reid.”
Dinner at Max and Jane’s was postponed to next week after I caught my bearing with school and after Donovan came home. Though Donovan and I spoke briefly and texted here and there, we hadn’t fully communicated much since I left Europe. And to make matters worse, Donovan wasn’t coming home till Saturday. I missed him.
“Mom.” I complained. “Could we ever have a get-together without making it such a big to-do?”
“And what would be the fun in that?” Mom looked at me as though I was crazy. “Get dressed. Everyone will be here soon.”
I did just that and greeted all the Reids and Taylors who walked through the door. Every one of Donovan’s sisters and family members came to the party—everyone but Donovan. Not liking this feeling of being apart from him, I went outside on the front porch and sat on the swing waiting for him.
So many memories were associated with this swing. I could still remember the heartache of a twelve-year-old who knew that her knight in shining armor was not coming for her. I remembered wondering if he was marrying Kate and why it was her and not me. Then there were the more current memories of hoping for graduation because I couldn’t stand the pain any longer, the memory of Donovan coming to see me on this swing after his date with Jane, the memory of Donovan ignoring me all night, then coming here to tell me he’d play my tour guide in London. There were so many memories. I wondered what new memories we’d create on this swinging bench now that we were in love.
“Hey.” That voice was here again. “What has you so deep in thought that you don’t see the love of your life walking up your driveway?”
He was here! “Donovan!” I flung my body on this man who had kneeled in front of me to greet me. “When did you get here? Why’d you take so long? God, I missed you.”
“Obviously, you didn’t miss me enough not to pack your bags and start med school against my wishes.”
“It was something I…”
He brought both hands on my face and kissed me longingly, lovingly, tenderly. “What were you thinking about so intensely?” he asked when we were done with our embrace.
He continued to sit with his knees on the ground, in front of me. I couldn’t convince him to sit next to me. “I was thinking about all the times you broke my heart and I had to come here for solace, then my last thought was what kind of memories we’d make here now that we were in love.”
“I remember the day I met a spunky ten-year-old, who looked like Goldilocks with her beautifully long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. There was something special about this ten-year-old that made me think of her from time to time, and look forward to seeing her again. This was the same girl who threw up on me, pushed me in the ocean while we were both fully clothed, and the same girl who followed me around with her genius-sized vocabulary.” He held my hands in his and kissed them fondly. “Then one day, I see that this girl was no longer a girl but a stunning woman who made my body stir and senses come alive. She was so beautiful, so sweet, and so caring. And I wanted so much to love her, but I was never honest with myself or courageous enough to try.”
“You’re going to make me cry, Donovan,” I warned as he went even more sentimental on me.
“While I made this woman smile, and while I made this woman cry, I was falling in love with her but had no freakin’ clue what these feelings were and what to do with them. Stupid me focused my energies on other women who didn’t mean anything to me when compared to this brave and beautiful woman who cried too many tears over me. No more crying, my Princess. This swing is the most fitting place for me to tell you that I know now what it means to love a woman and I know now that you mean everything to me. My life, my breath, my all, I give to you. I can only be complete with you. Delaney Grace Reid. Will you marry me?”
I was so caught up in all he was saying, I’d barely noticed that he had switched positions, and was on one knee. And though I saw him put his hand in his jacket pocket, I didn’t register what he was doing. He had just asked me to marry him. He knew. He’d figured it out. Oh, my gosh! I was going to marry Donovan Taylor! But, none of it was going to happen if I didn’t answer his proposal.
“Yes.” I whispered. “Yes I’ll marry you because you have been my life, my breath, my all, for as long as I can remember. There’s never been anyone else, and there never will be. I love you Donovan Taylor and can’t wait to be your wife!”
He placed the ring on my finger and pulled me up for another heart-stirring kiss. We would have gone straight back to Donovan’s had our families not come out to congratulate us.
“I love you,” he whispered one last time before we were front and center at our engagement party.
“You all knew? That’s why everyone’s here?” I had no idea Donovan had worked so hard to get the family together to witness our engagement.
“Let me tell you, Fiancée. You did not make it easy for me this week.”
“I’m sorry.” I spoke quietly because I knew I had made Donovan’s life difficult. “I promise to be good from now on.” I teased.
“Yeah…” He shook his head in disbelief. “I need that in writing.”
I was curious to know how this proposal came about, but didn’t want to take away too much of the spotlight from my dad, who was celebrating his birthday, and Ma and Pa who were celebrating their anniversary with all their children and grandchildren. Amanda came over and hugged me like she’d found her lost sister. I was grateful to have found her and her family. As Donovan warned earlier, I did end up falling in absolute love with her and Kelley’s boys. I also got to know Rachel and her husband. They juggled a ten-month-old, who reminded me of James. I played with him and gave his parents a much-needed rest.
We made love the moment we came home and made up for the week’s absence. Of course our first attempt lasted all of three minutes with the built-up tension. The next attempt was truly the most delicious lovemaking, as we took time to express our love and lust for one another.
“How did you finally figure out I wanted a proposal?” This question was
on the tip of my tongue the entire night but I’d kept it in. I knew I wanted this to be our first topic of pillow talk. Of course nothing beat the intimacy of being joined as one with Donovan, but our pillow talk that happened after each act of intimacy, I cherished almost as much as the love making.
“After Max and Jane left for home, I happened to speak with her on the phone and she asked me how things were going between us. I told her that telling you we were getting married was like telling Ellie to do something. The only answer I ever got was a firm no. Jane suggested I ask rather than tell you we were getting married, and even then, it didn’t fully dawn on me what you wanted.”
“So how did you figure it out when you didn’t know after Jane spelled it out for you?”
“It was that night after the firm party when I asked you if you didn’t want to marry me anymore. I had said that more to get you to pity me, but the look of sad resignation I saw in your eyes when you told me that you didn’t need anything from me, and that you’d get your mom to start preparations. It was then that I wondered what the hell was wrong with me. I should have known from the start that all you wanted was a confession of my heart and a proposal of marriage. You were always too fanciful and too headstrong to give in to a demand.”
“That’s why you wouldn’t let me finish my sentence and you stuttered your way through that conversation?”
“Yes. That’s why.” He lifted up my ring finger. “You like the ring? It’s not as big as I would have liked on your finger, but when I saw this diamond, I knew it was for you.”
“I love it. When did you have the time to purchase a ring?”
“Oh, between doing your grandfather’s bidding to sell the company, keeping one irate girlfriend from being too pissed with me for not taking her on this business trip, and looking for an elusive princess cut fancy pink diamond, this week has been hell. This,” he kissed my ring finger, “was the reason why I didn’t take you with me. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if you knew I was searching for this diamond.”
“I’m sorry!” I kept my head tucked in his neck in shame. “I went a bit overboard, huh?”
Donovan let out a loud, “Yeah! You can say that again.”
“I really am sorry, but I’m not sorry I started med school. Especially now that we are getting married, I want to move on with my life so we can start a family. I want kids with you and seeing you with the twins, I know that’s high priority for you too.”
“We’ll figure out this long distance engagement, somehow.” Donovan kind of sighed which made me giggle. Poor guy…
“Can you tell me how this pink diamond came about?” I lifted up my left hand and stared at the gorgeous diamond staring back at me. “I’ve never seen a pink diamond before. It’s stunning!”
“Back in Scotland I asked your parents and your grandparents for permission to propose to you. After they approved I started talking to Gram about possible diamonds for you. It was your grandfather who put the idea of a pink diamond in my head and I went all over Europe looking for THE one I thought was perfect for you. When I finally saw this one, I knew I’d found your ring.”
“It’s gorgeous. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ring.”
“It fits you. You were born to wear this ring. I want you to know, it’s a good thing you enrolled in med school as a Reid. I think I used up half your tuition on this piece of jewelry.”
“That’s crazy! You could have taken one of my mom’s small diamonds, and I would have been fine. Even a plain wedding band would have suited me. You know all I wanted was a proposal.”
“I know. Your parents, Roland, and Gram all offered me anything I wanted from their collections, but this is what I wanted to get for you.”
“I’ll cherish it forever.” I thanked him.
“Oh.” He lit up. “I forgot to tell you that you got a ring named after you. The jewelry store I ended up purchasing this three carat pink fancy diamond from liked what they had created for you so much, they made another one just like it and called it the ‘Delaney.’”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I am not. Next time you go to Munich, you can walk in the store and tell them who you are.”
“What a gift!”
…Forever…
“Shit! I’m late. How can that be?”
“You are late. Let’s go!” Sam urged as she helped me into my wedding gown.
“Huh…? Oh, yeah. Let’s get going.”
As I talked to myself, I became worried and excited about what I thought might be happening.
“You’ve got to hurry. The ceremony’s supposed to take place in thirty minutes and we’ve yet to leave for the church. I saw Donovan earlier and he looks so handsome, Laney.”
“I know,” I answered dreamily. “He’s always devastatingly handsome, especially in a tuxedo.”
“He is. I thought Jake and Max were handsome. I think your Donovan is off-the-chart on the handsome scale.”
I smiled. “Thanks. I think so too.”
After putting on the gown Gram sent me from London, and the Swarovski glass slippers I got from Grandfather’s treasure chest, I carefully walked down the steps. Since Gram had purchased Emily’s wedding gown, she decided to start a new Reid family tradition of taking all the future brides wedding dress shopping with her. During our three-month “separation,” Gram had this gown made for me, and each time I visited Donovan I went in for my fittings. Somehow, even separated by all of America and the Atlantic Ocean, Donovan and I still saw each other at least once a month. I flew out to Europe whenever I had a random Monday or Friday off and took long weekends, or he came here whenever he had more than three days to spare. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.
Crazily enough, Gram and I never found the perfect gown in the stores, no matter how hard we tried. She eventually turned to a seamstress she’d used for decades and after we brainstormed ideas for a gown, we ended up copying Grace Kelly’s wedding dress, minus all the lace over the actual bodice of the dress. Instead of the peau de soi and lace of Grace Kelly’s dress, mine had a peau de soie and tiny crystals over the bodice of the dress. The crystals just seemed appropriate after all the dresses I had been in with Donovan. Plus, it matched my shoes. But, the big bummer was, I had to lose a bit of weight. Actually, it took more than a few pounds, to get that dramatic Grace Kelly waistline look when the taffeta cummerbund fused the top and bottom part of my dress together. Losing weight was painful, but once I put on the dress, I knew it was worth it. Donovan would be pleased.
“Let’s go or we’ll be late!” Sam resorted to nagging. “Everyone is there already.”
“Oh, all right! I’m going as fast as I can. It’s not easy moving in this dress and I think my circulation is cut off by the cummerbund.”
“You look so beautiful, Laney. That’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen. I might want to borrow it when I get married.”
“That’s what I thought when I first saw Emily in her dress. But I’m sure Gram will come up with an even more stunning dress for you.”
“I don’t know what could beat your dress.”
After inching down the steps, I finally got outside and found the first of my wedding surprises from my husband-to-be. It was an exact replica of Cinderella’s carriage waiting for me.
“For you, Princess Laney.” Sam was all smiles as she helped me step into the carriage.
“Where did this come from? And why aren’t you getting in?”
“As for where? Ask the groom. And as for why? I was told you were the only one to be in this carriage. My carriage awaits in the form of my Volkswagen Beetle.” She pointed to her car.
“That’s silly. Get in with me.” I urged.
“Oh no! Your fiancé told me that I was not to be in the carriage.” She laughed and pretended to be offended. “Your husband-to-be had specific ideas of what this wedding is to be like for you. He wanted it to be your fairytale.”
With that she
shut the door and waved good-bye. I traveled down the lanes to the nearby church and waved to the few passersby who gawked wondering what nut was in Cinderella’s pumpkin-shaped carriage on the streets of LA. They probably thought I was a star filming a movie.
When the carriage pulled up to the church, Doug, Nick, and Max were waiting for me, ready to be my escorts.
“You look beautiful, little sis.” My brother actually paid me a compliment.
“The groom is waiting anxiously for you.” Nick smiled.
“He was sweating bullets thinking you might not show. You’re cutting it a bit close, aren’t you? The ceremony starts in a few minutes.” Max was the last to speak.
“Well, you try going to the bathroom after getting into layers and layers of clothes. And the carriage only goes like two miles per hour,” I quipped in return. “It’s not easy moving around right now.”
“Now that your chariot has brought you here, your knight in shining armor awaits inside.” Max held out an arm and I carefully walked up the steps and into the church.
“Oh, Baby!” Dad was almost in tears when he saw me. “You look stunning.”
“Thank you, Daddy. I guess it’s time, huh?” He was sadder than I had hoped. “You know I’ll be around all the time. And it’s not like Donovan and I will be far. We’re just a few minutes away.”
“I know, Baby. It’ll just be different knowing I won’t see you every day.”
“Between med school and events on the cul-de-sac, I’m sure I’ll see you just about daily. And don’t forget our Sunday dinners.”
“I know…” I did my best to stay chipper for a father who believed he was losing his daughter too soon.
We stepped closer to the closed door where Emily, along with the twins, was waiting for us. She gave me a radiant smile and whispered, “You look beautiful!”
I whispered back a “Thank you,” and embraced the twins with a loving touch to their backs.
We decided to make the wedding party simple—Jake, Emily and the twins. Since the twins were younger than the usual flower girl and ring bearer, we thought Emily would walk in with them in tow.
