Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
When she comes downstairs and turns the corner into the living room, she audibly gasps. There must be at least fifty, no, maybe one hundred candles all around the room. The fire is crackling, and Jack has laid out a beautiful picnic on a cozy blanket on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“How, what...um…” She's positively speechless.
Jack walks over and takes her hand. “I had some help,” he says, beaming at her. “Rusty is the best.” He leads her to some pillows on the blanket, and gestures for her to sit down. She follows his lead and sits.
Lizzie can see he’s nervous, and suddenly this is all starting to make sense. Immediately, she’s self-conscious about what she’s wearing, but then, looking at Jack, who’s equally casual, it all seems okay.
Jack sits down next to her and clears his throat.
“You okay?” she asks, feeling nervous.
“Yeah, I’m good.” He reaches behind him to the coffee table that has a bottle and two poured glasses of red wine. “Here, it’s a 2010 Merlot that Rusty opened for us.” They each take a sip.
“Wow, this is so good,” Lizzie says, and takes another sip. She’s starting to feel as uncomfortable as Jack looks.
“Uh, so, I wanted to…” Jack takes another sip of wine, then he takes both their glasses and puts them back on the table. “This isn’t exactly how I expected tonight to go,” he says. The words are no sooner out of his mouth than the power goes out, leaving them illuminated only by the fireplace and candles. They both laugh. “Could this night get any more cliche?” he jokes.
“Cliche?” Lizzie asks.
“You know, two people, stuck in a snowstorm, drinking wine in front of a fireplace, the lights go out…”
“Let’s hope this is a romantic cliche and not a scary movie cliche!” Lizzie says.
“Totally the former and not the latter,” Jack says. “So anyway, as I was trying to say.” He pauses. “I love you Lizzie. I’ve loved you since high school. I know I blew it when I left to go to California-”
She shakes her head and takes his hand. “Water under the bridge, it’s all in the past.”
“I know, but I will always feel bad about it.” He takes a deep breath. “My plan had been to do this at the restaurant tonight. To have the waiter bring this,” he takes a box out of his pocket,“on your dessert plate. But here we are.”
“This is totally better,” she says, smiling.
“I think so too.” He moves onto his knee. “Lizzie, you are the most amazing person I know. And you would make me the happiest man in the world if you would say yes again to me. I know I am nowhere deserving of having you say yes twice to me, but I am nothing if not adventurous and am asking you, if you, Elizabeth Martin, will please do me the extreme honor of marrying me? If you say yes, I will go out tomorrow and buy a lottery ticket because it will mean I am the luckiest man in the world and should spread that luck around.”
Lizzie’s eyes immediately well up and she moves, kneeling, facing him, and hugs him hard. “No,” she says, and Jack's face falls. “Oh! No, I didn’t mean no to the proposal! Oh god, no! Now I can’t stop saying no! What I meant was, you’re not the luckiest person, I am!”
“Oh my god,” Jack says, grabbing his chest, and sitting back on his heels. “I thought, ‘Dude, you have been reading this relationship completely wrong!’” He sits down on the blanket and sighs. “So that’s a yes? Amidst all those nos there was a yes, right?”
“Oh my god, I am so terrible at this!” Lizzie laughs. “Yes! Absolutely yes!” She says, kissing him.
“Phew, now maybe my heart will start beating again.” He opens the box and reveals a beautiful art deco-style ring. “So I got this at Jess’s Vintage Bridal Shop, she’s started carrying some vintage jewelry as well.” He slips it on her finger. “It’s from the 1920s, and I thought it was beautiful, but if you don’t like it Jess said I could-”
“Oh my gosh, not like it? I love it! And it fits perfectly! How did you do that?” Lizzie is moving her hand around admiring the ring.
“Your parents,” he says.
“My parents?”
“Yes. I went to see them a few weeks ago to do the traditional thing, you know, get their blessing, and to apologize again for how things turned out last time, which they graciously told me wasn’t necessary, but it was for me. Anyway, when I mentioned I was looking for a ring, and your mom gave me one from your collection that she knew fit you well, and loaned it to me.”
“And this ring was the perfect size?” Lizzie says, unable to stop admiring it.
“Not exactly, I had it resized, and it seems they did a good job because you could get it on, and it’s also not falling off,” he laughs.
“So you’ve been planning this for quite a while,” she says. “And at the same time trying to get this enormous project passed. How was I so oblivious to all of this?” she says.
“That makes me feel great, that you were oblivious, I kept thinking I was going to say or do something to tip my hand, but apparently, unless you’re just being kind, I did not. I really wanted this to be a surprise for you.”
“Well, you succeeded! You could definitely knock me over with a feather!” Lizzie feels so exquisitely happy. She has never been a woman who felt incomplete not being married, or desperate in any way to land a guy, but everything with Jack has felt so good, so solid and happy over the last year, that this just feels...right. Definitely meant to be.
“So I know I’ve had a lot of time to think about all this, and you haven’t, but I have been thinking about when would be the perfect time to get married on the Cape,” Jack says, looking unsure about already talking dates for a wedding. “But there’s no pressure, none at all, I’ll do whatever you think is best.”
“Actually, there is a time that I happen to think would be perfect,” she says. Then, they both at the same time say, “Soon!” Lizzie nods, “We both screwed it up last time, so maybe we should just do it-’
“No, that was all me, I’m the one who left,” Jack protests. “I screwed it up.”
“But I didn't see what you were going through, and I’m sorry for that,’ Lizzie takes his hands. “I promise to be a better partner.”
“Me too,” Jack says, kissing her. “We’re a lot smarter than we were three years ago,” he says, laughing.
“So…why wait?” Lizzie says. “We might as well do it as soon as possible?”
“I totally agree! Though the, ‘we might as well do it’ doesn’t exactly scream romance,” Jack jokes. “How long does it take to throw a wedding together anyway?”
Lizzie laughs. “Uh, generally one does not ‘throw a wedding together,’ babe. Honestly, it can take like a year.’ She pauses. “I’m just worried about all you’re going to have going on with breaking ground and getting Terra Marique going, do you think you’re really going to have the bandwidth to be part of planning this? I bet most wedding planners would say trying to do this before summer is crazy,” Lizzie says.
“Really? I have no idea about any of this, but I’m willing to learn and don’t want to be one of those guys who is no help in making decisions and just shows up on the day. I don’t expect you to do it all,” he says.
“How very twenty-first century of you, sweetie,” Lizzie says, teasing him.
“Hey, I’m a guy who can choose flowers and music with the best of them!” Jack replies. “How hard could this be?”
Lizzie is a little concerned that Jack’s being so casual about planning their wedding. She’s never had the desire to have anything huge and fancy, but does want it to be a notch above a neighborhood clambake.
“Well, it’s a little hard, which is why there’s a $62 billion-dollar a year industry devoted completely to wedding planning,” she gently offers. She shrugs. “I wrote a story about Cape weddings last fall.”
Jack laughs. “Yes! I know, but I really think there has to be a way to keep it simple with no-drama, don’t you?”
She takes a deep breath, and pauses before replying. ‘Okay, simple and no drama will be our theme. And not too big,” Lizzie adds.
“The only one I need there is you,” says Jack.
“My parents might find that a little hard to accept…” she says.
“Oh, mine too, but I love the idea of sharing this just with the people that mean the most to us,” Jack says.
“I totally agree,” Lizzie says.
“Wow, so we’re actually doing this,” he says, embracing Lizzie and laughing.
“Yes, apparently we are,” she says, hugging him right back.
“I cannot wait to be married to you,” Jack says, reaching again for their wine glasses. “We are going to have the best time. I know not all the time of course, I’m not stupid, but I think we’re good together. Like really good. Right?”
“Yes, definitely right. I look forward to spending my life with you, Mr. Cahoon. I think it will be a fun adventure.” She takes her glass and clinks it to his. “To us, and to happiness, challenges, and the whole catastrophe.”
“Hoping for more happiness than catastrophe,” Jack says, smiling at her. “But yes to all of it. I love you, Lizzie.”
“And I love you too,” she says, kissing him. She then looks down at her ring. She’s so happy, but feels a little twinge of worry. Let’s hope this turns out differently from last time, she thinks, and then quickly dismisses the thought. It’s going to be fine. I hope it is, she thinks.