Pilot looks up at his mother and then cranks his head around in search of his brother, who is sitting on the corner of the sofa looking pitiful.
"He made me break the lamp because he was a dinosaur." Pilot is so serious it breaks my heart that he's in trouble.
I nod, as if I understand perfectly, "OK, well then," I look past Pilot's shoulder to his brother in the other room, "obviously dinosaurs do not belong in the house then."
Jackson nods sullenly.
Melissa looks like she's done, "I think we're headed home," she says, "I'll replace the lamp, I'm sorry."
She begins packing up Tuna's things-- it's Bear's nickname for her and it was an easy habit to get into, I have to apologize to Mel every time I say it aloud-- and ushering the boys toward the front door.
"Mel it's no big deal," I laugh as I take the baby from her, "I told you there's nothing in that room that mattered."
"I know," she sighs, "but I can't just let them go breaking things and not replace them."
Walking with her to her car I assure her, "They're boys, young ones. If it's that important to you send them over one day and I'll put them to work to earn their way out of it."
"What are you going to do with a 3 and 4 year old?" Mel laughs as she buckles everyone into their car seats.
"I have ideas," I tell her giving the boys a wicked glare and loving the way they both look at me like they're scared.
Truth is I'll probably make them help me make cookies. Which means making a bigger mess for me to clean up than a broken lamp while rewarding them with sugary sweets at the same time. I'm not about to tell their mom that though.
Melissa and her brood pull out of the driveway and the now familiar sound of a single engine plane flying overhead brings my thoughts back to Bear.
Bear
Nervous doesn't being to cut it.
"How'd you do it?" I ask Rogue.
He laughs at me, again, and his hand lands hard on my shoulder, "Dude I was a fucking mess. I had no idea what I was doing when I bought that ring, at least you went into this knowing she expected to marry you."
I try to chuckle like that's reassuring but it gets stuck in my throat.
"You have any idea what you're looking for?" Rogue's leaning casually against one of the cases, looking like he's not at all interested in any of the little necklaces behind the glass under his hand. He and Mel have been together awhile now, they got 3 kids together, and the way he looks at her still makes me and the guys give him shit.
I know one of them little pendants is going to end up around Mel's neck. Just because.
Meanwhile, I'm sweating up a storm and feeling totally lost in here while the gal behind the counter does her best to coach me through this.
"This design is really popular right now," she tells me, trying to be helpful.
I shake my head. I don't want what's "popular," ain't nothing about Dorthy that deserves to wear what everyone else has.
I love her old fashioned name and the way she makes it something elegant and strong. I love her independent fire and the way she keeps me on me toes and keeps me in line. I love her cooking and her kissing, and every contour of her body, and I love that she's back home right now trying to turn my empty house into a home that's warm and welcoming for our friends and family when they visit-- and for our own family as soon as it starts growing.
She's a one of a kind woman and she deserves a one of a kind ring.
"Nuh," I realize it's not much more than a grunt, but I had no idea this was going to be so hard, "I need something better."
This is the 6th jewelry place I've been to in the last month. Rogue flew all the way down to Seattle with me today to help me out. Not that he's much help at all.
"Have you even asked her what she wants?" Rogue laughs at me again, lightly tapping on the glass case, directly over a little silver chain with a sparkly thing on it.
"Uh uh," I shake my head, irritated, "I want it to be a surprise."
The girl behind the counter's eyes widen but she doesn't say a damn word. I think she's scared of me or something.
"Do you have any idea what you're looking for?" Rogue's tapping turns more to pointing and the sales girl seems relieved to have an excuse to scurry away from me and rushes to pull out the little necklace that he still hasn't admitted to wanting to see.
Pulling my cell out of my pocket I pull up the last image on my screen and shove it toward him.
"Hmm," Rogue mumbles as he turns the screen toward the sales girl.
I'm barely even paying attention to the way she suddenly grins and nods even as she puts the necklace back and hands him another one. I'm too busy staring at what I'm pretty sure is about a thousand rings that all sparkle like-- well, diamonds, duh-- under the fancy jewelry store lighting. They all look the same to me.
The picture on the phone is from her nieces. They sent me a bunch of photos and designer names and shit that don't mean anything to me. The pictures are all stuff they say are what she likes and I've been trying to find something like 'em.
It's been over a month since Dorthy came up. She spent a week back home awhile back, quitting her job and packing up her apartment so she could move in permanently with me.
She's there when I get home and she's there when I get up for work in the morning. It's the best thing in the world.
I always knew I wanted a wife. My own woman to have and to hold and all that, share my life and my home with, but Dorthy's more than I ever expected.
She's more than I deserve and it kills me every day I look at her hand without my claim to her on it yet. I want a giant fucking rock that nobody's gonna miss so everyone knows she's taken.
"Dude," Rogue steps up to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. I don't miss the little box that he slips in his pocket and I wonder what he ended up picking out, "you got the girl, this is the easy part."
"Yeah?" I give him a skeptical look, "was this the easy part for you?"
He laughs as the sales girl emerges from the back room with a tray of rings, "Yeah it was. I don't even remember buying Mel's ring, I was so worried about figuring out how I was gonna convince her to stay with me instead of taking the job offer to go travel the damn world. I barely remember giving her the damn ring."
The man was a fucking mess, I remember. Joe and I thought he was just enjoying a little tourist tail on the route that summer. When Mel's job called her into the city to talk about another job, the man went ape shit, but he came back with his ring on the girl's finger and I lost a helluva bet to Joe over it.
"I think one of these might be more what you have in mind?" The sales girl's voice breaks into our conversation sheepishly as she pushes the new case across the counter toward me.
The rings look more like the ones in the photos the girls sent. They all look a lot like each other still, but they're different than the ones in the cases out in the showroom.
"We do offer a generous exchange policy," she says, her voice cracking just a tad.
"That way if she doesn't like it, or you want to put in a bigger stone or some shit," Rogue translates.
"Yeah I get it, I just want it to be perfect, you know?"
"Then you probably should have brought Dorthy," Rogue chuckles as he leans his elbow on the counter.
I'm sick of hearing it. I want to propose to her right, with one knee on the floor and a ring in my hand for her. And I want it to be a surprise. It's the least I can do considering we found each other because of a fancy match maker. We knew we were planning on getting married right from the beginning, I can at least make the proposal something special.
"What about that one?" I say to no one in particular as I point my finger at a delicate little band with a bunch of bling on the sides and big square stone on the top.
Damn, no wonder the gal behind the counter's scared of me. My hand looks like a Sasquatch paw next to all these tiny little rings.
She picks it up and hands it to me.
"You can resize it first?" I ask, seei
ng the little tag on it that says "6." Dorthy's file from Raven lists her ring size as a "4."
"Yes sir," the sales girl sounds so excited, "Our jeweler comes in at 8, you could pick it up by noon tomorrow?"
That's not what I want to hear and I start to grumble something about getting back home.
"That'll be great, thank you," Rogue interrupts, politely and getting a sigh of relief from the gal.
"Wanted to take it with me today," I mumble.
"Then you have to wait to get it resized," Rogue tells me. "The girls already expect us to be here a day or two, you can handle another day."
I hand over my credit card and sign the paperwork while Rogue laughs at my impatience.
"Dude," he says, waving goodbye at the clerk that looks like she just got released from a hostage situation, "she already wants to marry you, man, that's more than I knew about Mel when I took this ride."
All I can give him is another grunt.
I know we told the girls we might be a few days down here, but I was hoping to get home tonight.
Dorthy
I'm nervous. Really nervous.
Something's up.
First, my parents called this morning.
Then both my nieces called, "just to see how things are going."
Even my sister called asking for copies of some pictures she said she doesn't have.
I was already suspicious but then Bear came home and told me he was flying me down to Anchorage for the weekend-- and that I should bring a nice dress.
It's been a long time since I put on high heels and fussed with my hair and makeup beyond the everyday stuff.
"Wow."
I can't help it, the first time I see him is a shock. He's trimmed his beard, less mountain man, more respectable banker. I'm glad he didn't shave it off, it took me a little getting used to, but I really like it. And it suits him.
He's wearing a nice button down shirt and slacks that show off his broad shoulders and trim waist and for a second an irrational surge of possessiveness grips me. As much as I love the idea of being seen around town with the handsome man standing nervously in front of me, I don't like the idea of other women looking at him the way I'm looking at him right now.
"Wow, yourself," he says and whistles as his eyes travel down my body appreciatively. "You ready?"
I nod and take his arm.
The restaurant is beautiful, the food is delicious-- what I eat since I'm so distracted. I'm trying not to expect Bear to propose to me tonight...but I can't help it. Which means I'm constantly on the look out for any little hint that it's about to happen.
We've been talking about the wedding more in the last couple of weeks, narrowing it down to next June, back home.
I expected Barrett to start asking me what kind of ring I'd like or even take me shopping but he hasn't said anything and I haven't had anyone else asking me either so now I'm not sure. Still, with the entire family managing to call me at some point earlier and a fancy dinner in the city-- I expected something big tonight.
Our dessert plates are cleared and so far it's been an excellent dinner with the perfect date, but nothing more.
Still, Bear looks almost as nervous as I've been feeling and it's making me think he's got something up his sleeve after all.
Leaving the restaurant, it's still very much light outside. It's getting closer to the summer solstice and even this far south it's light till 11 at night. Right now it's still early in the evening and the air is warm. Bear takes my hand and leads me in the direction of the water.
"You know," Barrett has my hand in his, keeping his pace slow so I don't have to work to keep up with him, "I'm glad we got things worked out."
He tells me this almost every day.
I squeeze his hand as best as I can considering how small my hand is in his, "Me too, Barrett."
"I didn't know what to expect from Raven's services," he adds.
The woman who runs the service we both used to find each other also contacted me recently. Asking how things were going and if the match was working out for me. She seems like such a lovely person, and I hope to get a chance to meet her in person some day.
"Me either, really," I agree with him.
A modern day match maker, an arranged marriage, it all seems so surreal and far away now. I still can't believe I went through with it. And that it worked.
I look up at Barrett and enjoy getting to study his profile as he looks ahead, down the street and toward the waterfront as we walk hand in hand. His jaw is set in a determined way and his eyes appear to be scanning the distance as if he's looking for something in particular.
At this point, I've stopped expecting anything. Maybe this is just a nice weekend out of town for a couple that's been busy falling in love for the last few weeks. A chance to show each other off out public. We don't get to do much of that back home.
The sound of a plane approaching from a ways off attracts my attention.
Bear is a bush pilot and Rogue owns the air taxi service. I've been down to the strip a million times by now. Flown in and out a few times.
I know the sound of the planes. I can tell Rogue's Beaver from Joe's Beechcraft, and I know my Barrett's Cessnas from the other two Cessna's that sometimes fly over the same airspace.
Barrett has schooled me on all the different planes used for flying bush and which ones are local.
The sound I hear now is the deep hum of a Beaver. The Beaver has a specific engine sound to it and every time Rogue flies in or out of the airport when I'm there, I can't help but be amused at the way the other pilots stop to listen to it.
Bear tells me the Beaver is the envy of all the other pilots there. Yet, it's not what he bought himself when he bought his second Cessna.
I'll never understand the boys and their planes.
As the sound grows nearer I'm not at all surprised that we stop in our tracks so that Bear's head can search the sky for the plane.
What else can I do? I let Bear's hand drop mine so he can wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me close to him as I join him in searching the sky.
I don't think much of it when the yellow prop plane comes into view pulling a banner.
"Ahhh," I coo when the banner makes its way past us and I can read the message that says, "Make me the happiest man alive..." but when the plane circles around crosses the sky in the other direction I'm so stunned I barely notice that Bear's arm is no longer wrapped around me.
I do hear him clearing his throat to get my attention and even though I shouldn't be at all surprised to find him kneeling on the sidewalk in front of me, it still takes me completely off guard.
"I wanted to make it official," he tells me with a sheepish grin as he opens the little ring box and holds it up to me, "What do you say?"
It's adorable how nervous he is, like he seriously thinks I might say no.
I look back up at the plane that is circling back again and re-read the "Marry me, Dorthy" written on the other side of the banner. It's only when I see the plane dip its wing and Melissa waving frantically from the front that I realize it really is Rogue's plane.
The plane makes another pass and then disappears from sight and I hear the signature sound of the engine fading into the distance.
Looking down at Bear, still on his knee and almost at eye level to me, I'm utterly speechless. This isn't at all what I was expecting.
And I absolutely love it!
My hand is shaking like a leaf as I hold it out for him to slip the gorgeous ring on my finger and somehow I manage to squeak out a "yes."
Bear
First I worry that we're too late to get to the right position to see the plane. And I can't do much to hurry Dorthy along with her in them sexy little high heel shoes she's wearing.
Then I'm ticked that Rogue's late when I check my watch and still don't hear the Beaver.
Then it's there, that distinctive roar headed toward us and I'm so fucking thrilled that Dorthy automatically stops to watch for the plan
e like she knows I'm gonna want to watch it fly over, that I almost forget that I only have so much time to get this right.
I can't believe how nerve wracking this is-- and I already know Dorthy wants to marry me. I can't believe Rogue went into this blind like he did. Man must have been insane when he asked Mel to marry him.
I watch Dorthy read the other side of the banner as Rogue pulls the plane back around. I hold my breath as I watch it register on her face and then I think she's never gonna look back down and see me holding up this box in front of her.
When she finally does, the look on her face is so blank I feel sick. What if I'm doing this all wrong? But then I find my voice and next thing I know I've got the ring on her finger and my fiance's arms wrapped around my neck as I pull her up off her feet and into a grateful kiss.
There's plenty of light left in the long twilight of early summer and I think maybe we'll walk all the way down to the shore but Dorthy's got other plans.
"Take me back to the room, Bear," she whispers against my ear before I set her back on her feet.
I like the idea of getting her back to the room even better.
She's wearing this slinky little black number that hugs her feminine curves like it was painted on her. It's been distracting me all night, seeing her all dolled up like this.
A woman doesn't get much chance to dress up back home. There's not much point, of course, but it's just not practical to put on a skimpy little skirt and some high heels to drive the truck down to the market.
Dorthy cleans up damn nice. Her blonde curls are all pinned up on her head with a few hanging down by her face and with mascara on, her big blue eyes look like sapphires shining in her face.
That dress though-- my cock twitches as I close the door behind us and yank off the tie that's been choking me all night-- that dress should be illegal on a body like Dorthy's.
It drops low in the front and shows off her milky white cleavage, it hugs her body all the way to her hips and then flares just under her ass and ends shortly after that.
A Wise Investment: Arranged Marriage Romance Page 7
