“You’ll have to earn it,” I teased.
“I’ll do anything you ever ask of me. Anything,” she said. She sounded serious, more serious than the conversation warranted.
In response I kissed her lightly on the lips. She sat on the bench as she watched me quickly wash myself and turn off the shower. I wrapped her in a towel and gave her another for her hair. She looked at me seriously as I pulled a towel around my waist.
“You okay?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Shall I find you a comb?” I asked, looking around and then bending to open the doors of the vanity. As I stood,something caught my eye, a smear on the mirror. Except that it wasn’t a smear. I looked again. It was the words “marry me” created by the steam on the mirror.
My heart started to race and I was pinned to the spot. Had I written that? No. I didn’t understand. I used my hands to steady myself against the sink. I couldn’t turn around as the realization of what was happening crept over me. Her front pressed against my back and her arms snaked around my waist.
“Hey,” she mumbled into my back. “Turn around.”
I took a deep breath and turned in her arms. She tilted her head to look at me. “Is this what you want?” I asked.
She nodded. “I want you forever. I want to make you happy.”
“Who told you? Mandy?” I asked. This wasn’t a coincidence.
“I didn’t do this for any reason other than because I want to be married to you.”
I groaned. It was what I wanted to hear but I knew it wasn’t the whole story. “Anna, I know you don’t want to get married.”
“I would have said yes. If you had asked me at New Year’s. I would have said yes.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
I walked her backward into the bedroom, our arms wrapped around each other.
“No bullshit, I would have said yes. I could never say no to you, Ethan.”
“But you don’t want to get married. You told me that night that you didn’t want to. If my memory serves me correctly, your exact words were ‘It’s not like we’re getting married or anything, god forbid.’”
“Shit, is that what I said?”
I nodded. The words were etched onto my brain.
She pulled at me so we were both lying face up on the bed. “It’s how I’ve always felt.” I froze, not wanting to hear any more about how she didn’t want to marry me. “It’s how I felt right up until I heard you had been planning to propose.” I didn’t move, couldn’t move. “I’ve never wanted the big, white wedding. I’ve never been one of those girls. The thought is horrifying to me. And I’ve never associated marriage with anything particularly happy. My parents seem to be together because they have to be, rather than because they want to be. I’ve seen so many people divorce or waste time in unhappy relationships. I don’t want that. But when I heard you were planning to ask me, I realized that’s not us. We’re not unhappy and I don’t believe we ever could be. As long as I don’t have to wear a huge white dress and parade down an aisle, Iwantto marry you. Iwantto marry you because Iwantto be with you forever and I want the world to know but even more than that, I want to make you happy and if that’s what it takes, then I want it too.”
I found my voice finally. “This can’t just be about what I want, Anna.”
She lifted herself up onto her elbow so she was looking at me. She put her hand across my chest, across my heart. “I want to make you happy. That is good enough reason for me to say yes. I’d do anything for you Ethan. But actually, I want it for us, too. I want to tell the world you’re mine and I’m yours. I never thought I would feel like that but it’s different with you. I never expected to be lucky enough to have what we have.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?”
“I’ll marry you, since you asked so nicely.”
She grinned at me. “Do I get the ring? I hear it’s awesome.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Oh, I get it. Jewelry can be very persuasive, huh?”
She prodded me in the ribs. “I’ve done the hard bit. I asked the question. I think I deserve a reward.”
I pushed her back against the mattress, and slid my lips across hers.
