The Leap Year Proposal

Chapter Ten

Anouska

Sunday 19 January

Anouska kicked off her shoes and sat down on her hotel suite sofa with her iPad. She’d grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge when she came in and she took a thirsty swig of it. A gin and tonic would have been preferable but that was out for at least a year.

Today’s meeting with her Brazilian manager had been gruelling. Plus, she hadn’t felt as refreshed as she usually did when flying out over a weekend. Although she’d left on Friday, she’d only arrived yesterday, and the flights had taken a lot more out of her than she was used to. There was no way she’d be able to do this on a regular basis, or even semi-regular, until the baby came. It was good she was putting her contingency plans in place now, which was difficult as she had no real explanation for her staff as to why– she hadn’t told Zach or Leigh-Ann yet, so she couldn’t exactly tell anyone else.

She’d honestly intended to tell him last week, but when she’d called upon leaving the office to tell Zach and Todd she was on the way over for a bite to eat, Todd had answered and suggested she grab a takeaway that night as they’d had a bit of an incident at the bistro. He hadn’t been in a position to elaborate greatly at that point, because as it turned out Zach was talking to the police, but Zach had filled her in later.

A jealous ex-husband had burst into the bistro and punched his replacement almost unconscious before Zach and Todd and other diners were able to come to his rescue. Todd had not long waved off the ambulance whilst Zach had, together with other diners, restrained the perpetrator until the police arrived. Then, once the police had taken the guilty party to the police station, Zach had needed to give the police a statement whilst Todd dealt with the other diners and offered them all to-go boxes, refunds or vouchers for a replacement meal. Many had waved off his generosity, but a few had taken him up on the offer, despite it not being Zach or Todd’s fault. But Zach and Todd both had excellent business sense and knew reputation was everything, so were more than happy to dole out a few vouchers to stop negative reviews.

By the time Zach came home that night, the last thing she had any intention of doing was telling him he was about to become a father. Talk about choosing your moment. If there was ever a bad time, that was it. And from then until she left for S?o Paulo, Zach had been withdrawn, morose even.

So the chance had passed her by once again. Yet a tiny piece of her couldn’t help being relieved. Here, alone with her thoughts, she could process why she was so afraid. Afraid that Zach wouldn’t want the baby. Afraid that Zach would no longer want her. People changed once they had babies, didn’t they? It happened all the time. One minute you were a high-flying executive earning a six-figure sum and the next the extent of your conversational topics was limited only to those directly regarding your infant: breast-feeding, dual pumping, the best nappies to buy, or worse, when they did focus on you as a person again, it was by how much your perineum had torn during labour, why having a C-section was the worst thing ever, why bottle-feeding was akin to introducing your child to Satan himself. In many respects you ceased to exist as an actual person once that small human came into the world.

She really needed to stop reading these blogs and articles. Despite all of the frightening comments, she couldn’t wait to become a parent, and what scared her most was that Zach may not feel the same way.

Anouska took another sip of her drink. One thing about travelling alone, it gave you plenty of time to think. Great, just what she needed, even more time inside her head.

She smiled, though, as she thought of one of Ellie’s recent texts. She was proposing on the twenty-ninth too. Scott was finally committing to her. She was pleased for Ellie, really she was, but was she cursed, or was the universe hellbent on telling her something?

Jess and Ellie were going to propose.

Time to be honest with herself. She wanted to get married. Listening to the girls tell her their ideas for their proposals had infiltrated her subconscious somehow and made her revisit her feelings. She’d always thought she’d eventually get married, although she hadn’t been one of those girls who have vision boards of their wedding from the age of eight, nor their bridesmaids picked out by the time they’re teenagers. But she’d genuinely assumed she’d meet the right guy and at some point they’d marry. She’d met the right guy, but he hated marriage. He hadn’t always hated marriage, but a certain someone, a certain Marcie , had forever tainted his view of it. His ex-fiancée had let Zach down so badly he could barely remain civil when the subject of marriage cropped up in conversation. He always quickly changed the subject, or made himself scarce when in company and it was possible to do so.

Now, here she was, having a baby with the man she’d always wanted to marry, but whom she’d never told so, given his very vocal negative viewpoint on the matter, and now she was spending a significant amount of her free time with two friends who were about to propose. Either someone up there was having a good old laugh at her expense or it was a sign.

But how could she propose when she couldn’t even tell Zach she was expecting his baby? Crikey, how screwed-up could you get? If there were awards for it, she’d be top of the podium.

She figured there was no harm in doing a little research, and she definitely wasn’t in the mood to do any work, so she typed ‘leap-year proposals’ into Google, which returned the following results: Leap Day Customs and Traditions; Leap-Year Proposals: Why women traditionally propose; Leap-Year Proposal– what’s the story behind it? The last one– ‘How To Get It Right’– sounded right for her. She didn’t want to make a complete hash of it, after all, did she?

She clicked on the ‘How To Get It Right’ one and read through why they should get married and prerequisites for it: common goals, next logical step, previously discussed marriage. She couldn’t tick that last one, but the others were solid. Then it suggested where and how they should get married, obvious stuff about not tailoring it to your likes and dislikes but your partner’s. That was something else she’d have to consider. Where? Definitely in private. Zach was a very private person. Although he played the role of extrovert restaurateur, when it came to his personal life he was the exact opposite. That’s why she had to make sure no one knew before he did about the baby, as he’d be devastated and would view it as a breach of trust. First, though, she had to gather her thoughts. Should she wait until after the proposal? Should she tell him then propose? Should part of her proposal be having a little gift made which read, ‘You’re going to be a father’? Her mind was awhirl and she didn’t know where to start.

A text coming in on the group chat interrupted her thoughts. Ellie. How’s Brazil? Are you living it up at a samba club? Hope you’re having a caipirinha or two for me. And some of that delicious picanha . A string of emojis followed: hearts, a ballerina– Anouska guessed there was no specific samba dancer emoji– a steak and two different cocktail glasses .

Anouska appreciated the irony. Usually, when she came to Brazil, she did partake of both the cocktail and the steak, but not the dancing. She knew her limits, and embarrassing herself in front of a huge roomful of stunningly beautiful, amazingly talented samba dancers wasn’t her idea of a good time. Maybe if she’d been there with Jess and Ellie or the girls from the hen party it would have been a different dynamic and outcome, but there was no way she’d put herself through that relatively sober and with her male territory manager.

However, this trip to Brazil would encompass neither caipirinha nor picanha as cocktails and potentially undercooked meat were most definitely off the menu for her right now.

All these thoughts of food were making her hungry. She grabbed the room service menu, and after flipping through, selected the slow-cooked prawn stew with coconut milk. It was the best thing in this area. She’d have gone to her favourite restaurant, Camar?es, tonight– funnily enough, it meant prawns– but she simply didn’t have the energy. She’d have to pass on her favourite dessert of quindim because of the egg yolk in the custard, but she’d settle for her second favourite of bolo de rolo . The fruit roll was one of the prettiest desserts she’d ever had, and it didn’t taste half bad either.

Oh no. Now she was salivating. Time to get that order in then she’d reply to Ellie. Her mobile pinged again. She glanced at it then logged on to the room service app and placed her order. Now to kill some time before it arrived.

Thanks for that, Ellie! I’ve now had to order room service as I was starving. Long day today and I don’t seem to have recovered so well from the flights. Still shattered. However, tonight’s dinner should perk me up. She then attached images from the hotel website of the meal she’d just ordered. Ha, revenge was sweet!

Then she noticed Jess’ message. Hi, ladies. Hope you’re well. I’ve had a couple of other ideas for locations. How about Luxembourg City, or Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence– a bit commercial, but gorgeous– or how about Santorini? How’s the weather in Brazil, Anouska? Got to be better than here. It’s -5 °C. Brr! X

Anouska smiled. One of the things she was struggling with most was the heat. Her iPad showed it was still 23 ° C and it was eight o’clock in the evening. Earlier, it had been above thirty degrees.

She reread Jess’ message. Personally, she thought all three of those options sounded lovely, although a great deal depended on Jess and Mark’s personal taste. Despite the three of them sharing a little insight into their other halves’ likes and dislikes, Mark in particular, as when they’d last met, they’d only known Jess was going to propose, they’d really only scraped the surface of getting to know them. How well could you really know anyone when you’d never met them and everything you’d learned about them was second-hand information?

Her phone buzzed again and images of the three locations came through from Jess. She’d been right with her gut feeling. They did all look great places to propose. Aware her food would be arriving soon, she tapped out, All of those look gorgeous, Jess. Go for it x

As she waited for room service to arrive, Anouska’s thoughts inevitably returned to her baby, their baby, her and Zach’s baby. She already knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man. With an unexpected surge of resolve, Anouska decided enough was enough. It was time to face up to her fear of rejection.

She checked the time again in the UK. Not too late, hopefully. The bistro didn’t close until eleven. She had to do it. She had to. She couldn’t wait any longer. She dialled Zach’s number. No dial tone. Drat. She walked over to the window in case reception was poor where she was sitting. Ah, better. Just as she was about to dial Zach again, a knock came at the door. ‘Room service.’

Anouska sighed and then tried to control a hysterical laugh that bubbled up from deep inside her. Something or someone was conspiring for her not to tell Zach about the baby. A wave of exhaustion swept over her as she strode towards the door.

Half an hour later, with two almost empty plates, a half-empty cup of guava juice beside her and her hand resting on her swollen belly– not from pregnancy but from the amount of food she’d consumed– Anouska sat back sated, but unable to move an inch. It was as well she was busy texting the girls. Ellie had had her in stitches over her ever more bizarre proposal ideas for her and Scott– Anouska was really glad she wasn’t Scott. Proposing whilst swimming with sharks, whilst white-water rafting or a marginally more sedate possibility, whilst hot air ballooning over the Serengeti desert in Tanzania were Ellie’s top three of the moment.

As she lay thinking of the girls’ intention to propose and her own situation, she came to a decision. She wanted to get married. She needed to get married. She had to take back control. Perhaps if she proposed to Zach, instead of the other way around, that would be enough to make him realise it needn’t be like it was with Marcie. She wasn’t going to cheat on him. She wasn’t Marcie. He had to have faith, and believe in her. He had to believe in them.