He smiled. At least she was still excited about the proposal, more so than he could have hoped for. Giving her a surreptitious wink, he said, “Agreed,” and she giggled with delight and clapped her hands.
Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “Daisy, you’ve got me intrigued now. This must be a pretty good gift.”
“I certainly hope so,” Ethan murmured, handing her the Tiffany’s gift. The distinctive blue box and ribbon combination was so unmistakably elegant, it was a travesty to even consider wrapping them further. “This is from me, and Daisy helped me pick it out. She has great taste,” he added, giving his daughter a smile, which she giddily returned.
Vanessa seemed duly taken aback. “Oh my…something from Tiffany’s?” she gasped, her face lighting up as Ethan had hoped.
Jane was right; there really was something about the packaging alone that turned even the most sophisticated of women to mush.
Letting the little blue box rest in her hand for a moment, Vanessa went to untie the white bow, but then paused and looked up.
“Daisy, I’ve already told your dad this, but I just wanted to let you know how happy I am to be here, to be sharing Christmas with both of you. It means a lot, darling.” She reached over and patted Daisy’s hand, who in return gave her a huge Cheshire Cat grin.
“Go on, open it!” the little girl urged, and Ethan smiled, enjoying the moment.
He moved closer to Vanessa and reached out to take Daisy’s hand.
Smiling, Vanessa pulled slowly on the soft satin ribbon as if savoring every second. When it gave way and fell into her lap, she took a deep breath before finally lifting off the lid of the box.
As she did, her eyes grew wide. “Well, what have we got here,” she murmured happily, opening the little felt pouch and reaching inside. “A bracelet. How lovely.”
What the…?
Ethan stared at the box, unable to believe what he was hearing. He glanced sideways at Daisy, who was just as wide-eyed.
If he didn’t know better, he could have sworn that Vanessa was joking, but it wasn’t really the kind of thing to joke about.
Moving closer to get a better look, he checked to see what she was holding in her hand. Yes, there was no mistake—it was indeed a bracelet, a charm bracelet.
Cute, but no diamond solitaire.
What the hell is going on?
“Yes, we…um…picked it out together, didn’t we?” he said, catching Daisy’s eye. She sat there looking just as shocked as he. “It seemed like a nice keepsake of our trip—our special time here, just the three of us.”
Ethan’s mind was racing. Lecturing had its advantages in that it helped him think on his feet.
“Yes, we got it at Tiffany’s,” Daisy said rather unnecessarily. She looked at him as if trying to gauge what they should do next.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you,” Vanessa said, but he barely heard her.
For a moment, he wasn’t sure how to react, but he knew deep down that he had to try and rescue the situation before she noticed something was amiss.
Eventually he reached for the box. “Here, let me. I want to see how it looks on,” he said, lifting the bracelet out of the pouch. He took Vanessa’s arm and fastened it around her wrist. “Beautiful, though not as much as the woman wearing it.” He smiled but was certain she would be able to see through it. He’d always been dreadful at deception.
“Thank you, both of you.” Vanessa twirled the bracelet around on her wrist. “It’s just…beautiful and the perfect memento.” Sitting up straighter, she took a deep breath and smiled conspiratorially at Daisy. “So I think it’s your dad’s turn now.”
“Oh no, we should really let Daisy open the rest of her things first,” Ethan interjected quickly, running a hand through his hair and making a great show of looking around for his coffee cup.
Any excuse to extricate himself from this uncomfortable and truly mystifying situation while he tried to get a grip on what he should do or say. What in God’s name had just happened?
He could hardly come right out and tell Vanessa that, instead of a bracelet, she should now be sporting a sparkling diamond ring. By rights, all three of them should be celebrating their engagement! So much for a romantic Christmas surprise.
No, first and foremost, he needed to sort this out so as to deliver the proposal she truly deserved.
“No, I insist. Really. We should take turns.”
Daisy gave him a look. “No, Dad. Your turn now. It’s only fair.”
