by Kim Law
She turned back to Jaden and didn’t worry about the crowd. “What’s the best part?” she asked. Because she was ready for the best part.
“That I want to be with you forever.”
Someone’s hands reached around him and clipped a microphone onto his shirt, and then both of his hands were free to take hers.
“I love you, Arsula Jane Moretti. How could I not? You’re the only person who’s ever thrown things at me, then had me begging for more with only a smile. And not just once, either. Also, I know I’m rushing things—and we both know I should have learned my lesson about rushing already—but I need you to know how I feel. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Arsula. I’ll promise to wait as long as it takes until you feel that way, too. But I didn’t want to go another day without telling you—”
“I love you, too.”
Relief washed over him at her words.
“Really.”
“Good.” He nodded, and he squeezed her hands tight. “Good,” he said again. “Because I also kind of already got you a ring, too.”
The crowd laughed, and Arsula couldn’t help but chuckle along with them. She loved this man.
“It doesn’t have to be an engagement ring,” he told her. “And probably it shouldn’t be. Because it’s not exactly a conventional ring. But then, this isn’t necessarily an engagement either—unless you want it to be.”
She decided to remain quiet. The man might as well have to sweat it out a little.
“You don’t even have to wear the ring if you don’t want to,” he went on. “But I saw it, and I knew it would be perfect for you.”
She waited for him to hold out this unconventionally perfect ring, but instead, Megan returned to the stage carrying a small white baker’s box, while behind her two teenagers sporting The Cherry Basket’s logo rolled out massive carts, each covered in white linen.
“Thank you,” Jaden said as Megan handed over the box, then faded back into the background.
Jaden turned to Arsula.
“There’s one other thing before we get to the ring.” He opened the box and lifted out a cupcake sporting a bright-red cherry on top. “I made you a birthday cupcake.”
A part sob, part laugh choked out of her. “You made me a cupcake?” she whispered.
The sheer pleasure from the miniature cake now held in the palm of Jaden’s hand couldn’t be measured.
“I did. And in fact”—he nodded to the two Cherry Basket employees, who whipped the linens from the trays to reveal three tiers of cupcakes on each—“I actually made enough cupcakes for everyone who showed up here today. I’ve spent the last forty-eight hours baking cupcakes.”
Whoops went up through the crowd, and once again Arsula was reminded that they had an audience. But she didn’t care. She wouldn’t choose to be anywhere but here.
“There is one small difference between your cupcake and everyone else’s, though.” Jaden leaned toward her, his lips within a breath of being in kissing distance, and he placed the cupcake in her hand. “Yours has your ring in it.”
A smile bloomed on her face so wide that she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get it off. “You baked me a cupcake and put an unconventionally perfect engagement/nonengagement ring inside of it?”
He gave a shrug. “It seemed like the right thing to do.”
She couldn’t love this man more. “It was the perfect thing to do.”
Plucking off the muffin top of the cupcake, she carefully set it back inside the box so she could fully enjoy her birthday cupcake later, and then she dug two fingers into the base. It didn’t take long to find the ring, and she laughed with the man in front of her as she lifted it up.
Only, then she saw it.
Emotion backed up in her throat as she pressed one hand to her mouth. “Where did you get this ring, Jaden?”
“What?” Desperation crossed his face. “I’m sorry. I told you it was unconventional. Forget this ring.” He tried to take it away from her, but she held firm. “I’ll buy you a new one,” he promised. “A better one.”
“Where did you get it?”
She knew her demand seemed out of place, but she couldn’t yet find the words to explain. She looked out at the crowd and found her mother looking back. Her mother wore the same confused expression as Jaden.
“I found it at the flea market,” Jaden finally answered. “I saw this woman with eyes that reminded me of yours. But really . . . I’ll get you a new one. Or I’ll wait until you’re ready to agree to marry me.”
She closed her eyes as she began to understand. “Why did you go to the flea market?”
“What? Arsula, why are you asking all these questions? I’m trying to talk to you about forever here.” He glanced toward the crowd, where everyone had gone silent.
“Why?” she asked again, her voice now soft and patient. “It’s important, Jaden. I need to know why you went.”
“But I don’t know why.” He seemed even more confused than before, but she could see him trying to think through it. “I woke up that morning, and I missed you. I’ve been freaking missing you since the minute I walked away. And that day . . . I don’t know . . . I woke dreaming about you, so I—”
He stopped talking, and she smiled at him as she saw realization dawn.
“You went to the flea market and found this ring because you’d dreamed about me?”
He nodded. “I suppose I did.”
Then he looked at the ring that was still clutched in her fingers. “Does this particular style of ring mean something to you?”
“You’re catching on, sweetheart. But first, what was the dream about?”
“Seriously?” His shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. Nothing, really. You were just there. In my head. And you were standing with that cart with the squeaky wheel that we got there.”
Her heart began to race.
“So I got up, and I went,” he went on. “I was there before they opened. Because I missed you. But then I just wandered around. I didn’t even stop anywhere until I saw the woman who had your eyes.”
Arsula’s grin grew even wider, and she silently thanked her great-aunt.
“And then I saw the ring,” he told her. “It was just there, and I knew I had to buy it.” He took it from her and held it up. “So that’s my story. Are you going to say that you’ll take me back now and that you’ll accept this ring as a promise of my love?”
“Are you going to admit that you listened to your intuition and because of that you found me the perfect ring?”
He sighed, but the smile on his face gave him away. “Are you sure?” His words croaked out. “It really is perfect?”
She nodded. “It really is.”
“And I did have that dream . . .”
“Aunt Sul is in your head.” She motioned to the screen where her brother was now holding up the picture from Baby A’s room. He pushed the photo forward when Jaden turned to look at it, until nothing else could be seen. “Check out the ring in that picture, Jaden. That’s Aunt Sul beside me, and that’s her ring on my finger. Her ring was supposed to have been mine after she passed, but it wasn’t there when we looked for it.”
Boyd’s finger pointed to the object of discussion, and then Jaden looked down at the matching black opal in his hand. His expression fell. “How did . . .”
“Aunt Sul,” she said by way of explanation. “And I have more news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s not a promise ring, dear. That’s my engagement ring.”
About the Author
Photo © 2012 Amelia Moore
As a child, award-winning author Kim Law cultivated a love of chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, The Gigantic Talking Raisin, in sixth grade and immediately became hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a degree in mathematics and worked for years as a computer programmer. Now she’s living out her lifelong dream
of writing romance novels. She has won the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Golden Heart Award, been a finalist for the prestigious RITA Award, and served in various positions for her local RWA chapter. A Kentucky native, Kim now lives with her husband and an assortment of animals in Middle Tennessee.
