Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Diana looked up from admiring her ring only to realize that, oh shoot, she was late for book club. Even so, it wasn’t easy to tear her gaze away from the sparkling rock on her left hand.
She was just so excited. She and Anthony had laughed over Diana’s misconception…
after he’d apologized for making her worried.
Now that she knew the full story, she completely understood, though.
Working full time and being a partner and parent took up a lot of time.
She understood how planning a proposal as perfect as the one he had gifted her with would cut into those responsibilities.
Besides, as he and Eloise had laughingly described, there had been a lot of hiccups in getting the plan in action.
Supposedly one version of the plan had involved Eloise calling from school pretending to be sick, before they’d realized that even pretend throwing up was not exactly the most romantic.
By the time they’d been done with the celebratory cake that Anthony had stashed away in his car, they’d all been in stitches.
The smile hadn’t faded from Diana’s face in days.
It was making her late for a lot of things, though. It was like her ring hypnotized her and the next thing she knew, she’d been dreaming about the wonderful life she, Anthony, and Eloise would have together long enough that she needed to hurry.
She was ultimately only a few minutes late to book club, so she was surprised to find that everybody seemed to already be settled in and discussing the book when she arrived.
There were almost always a few stragglers, and the group almost always had some bit of friendly gossip to turn over before they got into their literary discussion.
Had she somehow managed to be even later than she’d suspected?
“Hey, everybody,” she called, quickly stripping off her hat and scarf. The winter weather had come back with a vengeance these past days. “I’m sorry I’m—”
“Congratulations!”
Diana jumped as her friends shouted the word in unison; when she turned around, they had all leapt to their feet and were holding a banner between them that said Congratulations on your Engagement, Diana!
There was a great deal of glitter. Diana could see at once that a certain ten-year-old girl had a hand in its creation. Poor Eleanor; she was never going to get it out of her floorboards.
Somehow, that realization only added to how touched Diana felt. She pressed her hands to her heart as tears sprang to her eyes. Her friends were all beaming at her.
“Oh my gosh, you guys,” she said. “How did you know? I mean, I’m guessing Eloise?”
“What gave it away?” Miriam teased, tapping a finger on what was clearly a children’s drawing of a dog. This specific way of drawing was apparently all the rage among the tween set.
“Okay, okay,” Eleanor said, neatly bundling up the banner and putting it aside. “Let us see the ring!”
Dutifully, Diana thrust out her left hand. All her friends oohed and aahed over Anthony’s choice.
“This is so perfect for you,” June praised.
“I think it’s an actual vintage setting,” Winnie said, sounding impressed.
When everyone had praised the ring, Eleanor led them into the kitchen, where a cake iced in white and dusted with edible glitter was waiting, surrounded by white and gold balloons.
When Diana looked closer, she saw that the frames around the cake were full of quotes about love and marriage…
all from books they’d read as part of book club.
“You guys!” Diana explained, tears threatening to spill over. She didn’t normally consider herself a particularly weepy person, but there had been so many wonderful surprises this past week that she felt at her emotional capacity. “I can’t believe you did all this!”
Cadence slung an arm over Diana’s shoulder, leaning her head against her friend affectionately.
“Well, we love you, so you have to put up with us being happy for you in all your successes. Besides, you’re the first book club engagement.
” She shot a knowing glance at Winnie and Eleanor, who both had serious boyfriends, as if trying to judge which one of them was most likely to be the next finding their way down the aisle.
“Now. Let’s eat cake while you tell us the story of how he popped the question. ”
Eleanor pulled a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and they ate raspberry cake with fluffy white frosting while Diana explained how Eloise had distracted her so that Anthony could create the perfect setup to pop the question.
“And then you were all dressed up and done up in your photos,” Cadence marveled, clearly impressed. “It’s genius.”
This, of course, led to a round of everyone wanting to see the photos they’d taken that evening, including the classic ring shot.
“That little girl is so excited that you’re marrying her dad,” Miriam confided, smiling fondly. “Anthony brought her to see us about this plan for tonight, but he made sure we knew it was all Eloise’s idea. She wanted you to have a party with your friends as well as with your newfound family.”
Diana was officially crying now. She didn’t even bother to hide it.
“She was pretty mad that fairy tales make stepmothers out to be mean though,” Eleanor added with a laugh. “She told me I needed to get some ‘nice stepmother books.’ And then she listed your many positive qualities. At length.”
“I love her so much,” Diana said, wiping at her eyes.
“I love them both so much. I can’t believe that I not only get to marry a man that I love beyond reason, but that I get to have his wonderful, wonderful daughter in my life, as well.
I just… I can’t believe how blessed I feel. I can’t believe that this is real.”
“Hey, and don’t forget your awesome friends either,” Miriam added. “You’ve got us as part of your fairy tale ending too!”
“No fairy tales!” Eleanor reminded her. “Eloise’s orders.”
“Yeah, some of those stories are really creepy anyway,” June added.
Diana took another bite of cake, focusing on the delicious meld of flavors in her mouth to avoid any more tears. Happy tears or not, if she kept crying, she was going to end up with puffy eyes tomorrow.
“Well, no matter what kind of story it ends up being, I can’t wait for the next chapter with you all,” she told her friends.
They all toasted to that, except Miriam, who murmured, “It’s a romance, sheesh,” before taking her sip with a twinkle in her eye.