Taking out the box, she smiled, hoping she had done a good enough job of retying the ribbon so that he wouldn’t notice it had been tampered with.
But it seemed he hadn’t spotted anything amiss. “Can’t wait to see it on you,” he said, and she swallowed hard.
Here we go…
Rachel pulled at the delicate white ribbon, and as it fell away, she gently lifted the lid off the box. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped, wide-eyed, slowly opening the velvet ring box inside. By now though, she was no longer acting; the sheer beauty of the ring was more than enough to send her swooning all over again. “Gary…”
“I knew you’d like it. I saw it, and straightaway, I thought, yep, perfect for Rach. She’ll be able to wear that with just about anything.”
His sense of humor certainly kept her on her toes, that was for sure. This wasn’t exactly the right time for joking, although Gary was such a devil that she wouldn’t put it past him to keep her on tenterhooks just for the fun of it.
Despite his best attempts at levity, Rachel still couldn’t help but be overcome by emotion. From now on, she had someone to share her future with—someone who’d be there throughout all of life’s ups and downs.
And right then, she sorely wished her parents were still around so she could share this momentous milestone and reassure her beloved mum and dad that she was doing okay without them.
She smiled, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes. “Well, yes, of course I will. I’ll never take it off.”
She looked at Gary, still waiting for him to make some sort of romantic gesture, even if he wasn’t able to get down on one knee just yet.
“Let’s have a look then,” he said. “Put it on.”
“Well.” She turned the box toward him. “I was kind of hoping you’d help me with that.”
Suddenly, his eyes grew even bigger than hers, and for a long moment, he couldn’t seem to meet her gaze. The silence was beginning to make her uncomfortable when finally he spoke. “So you…erm…like it then?”
Rachel’s eyes shone, and all of a sudden, she understood. He was nervous; in spite of all his jokey bluster, the poor guy was terrified. “Gary, Iloveit! And I love you. I will be so proud to wear it.”
“I…yeah…me too…I mean, proud to have you wear it,” he fumbled, trying to sit up a little straighter.
She nodded at him encouragingly, still holding the box.
“Oh, right,” he said, reaching to take the ring out.
She set the box down and held out her left hand.
“So…do you want to…will you marry me?” Gary asked, his jaw quivering a little.
“Yes, yes, I will. Of course I will!” Rachel replied, overcome, a tear streaming down her cheek. She could never have imagined this would be so emotional, considering. What would it have been like if shehadn’tknown in advance? Leaning over to hug him, she then sat back to see that he was still wide-eyed. “You poor thing, I can’t believe you pulled this off in your condition. We really could have waited till you were feeling better.” Then she paused. “Oh, who am I kidding?” she continued, laughing and wiping another tear from her face. “I’m so glad you didn’t. It’s so gorgeous. I love it. And I love you!” She beamed, holding the ring up so the diamond sparkled magnificently in the light.
“Yeah, me too. Ah…how about some more of that champagne?” he said, sounding weak too—from the emotional strain, no doubt.
“Yes, of course. A toast.” Her heart singing, Rachel picked up their glasses and topped up each one with what little champagne was left. She handed him his glass, waiting for him to say something meaningful, but before she knew it, he’d knocked it all back in one go. “To us,” she said, faintly disappointed that he hadn’t waited, but still, what did it matter?
Taking a sip of champagne, she relished anew the lovely sensation of bubbles on her tongue. Here she was, in New York, engaged to be married! And not only that, but she now owned the most stupendous, amazing,magnificentTiffany’s diamond ring.
It was every girl’s dream come true.
Chapter 16
Later that night, well after Rachel had fallen asleep, Gary lay wide-awake in bed alongside her in the darkness for a very long time.
What the hell?he kept asking himself, the light from the digital clock on the nightstand reflecting off the side of his face. Even after popping an extra Vicodin an hour before, he just couldn’t quiet his mind long enough to nod off.
Over and over again, he replayed the scenarios in his head: shopping for the bracelet, seeing the cashier wrap up and place thebraceletin the bag, going outside, waking up in the hospital…then tonight, Rachel beaming at him as he placed this colossal diamond ring on her finger.
Eventually, he drifted off, but in his dreams, he was back in Tiffany’s arguing with the blond over how much his credit card had been dinged for. Was there some kind of girlie conspiracy thing going on or something?
Then minutes later, he was once again wide-awake, the images from his dream still clear in his head. Tiptoeing out of the room, he slunk off into the sitting area and fired up his laptop to check his credit card statement.
