Chapter 17
Foliage surrounded her as she took a few tentative steps forward.
Tiny golden lights illuminated a walkway lined with colorful flowers that she could barely see in this darkness.
Somewhere water flowed, a constant source of soothing, rolling sounds as Jamie followed the curving path between overgrown ferns and tall trees that barely had room in that otherwise large dome.
Her heels clicked on the path, echoing against the manmade wall and the man-transplanted flora.
These weren’t the best shoes for walking in, but Jamie pressed on, ignoring any soreness spreading across her feet.
What in the world is this about? What waited for her at the end, besides Etta? Dinner? A surprise party? It was too early to celebrate her birthday. It wasn’t their anniversary.
Something else was afoot, and even though Jamie knew what it was deep inside, reason and logic told her to forget about it.
Flowers she could barely see kissed her skin as she brushed against them on her walk.
Pebbles littered the walkway, kicking this way and that every time her foot pointed somewhere new.
Evermore, the pathway wound from one exhibit to the next.
As Jamie progressed, however, she noticed that the overhanging trees gradually gave way to the fake stars twinkling above her.
That wasn’t all that twinkled when she made it far enough.
The path ended at a curtain of violet lights.
Strings of them hung from the ceiling, swaying this way and that in the air conditioning.
Jamie touched them with her fingertips, watching them glisten against her skin, making her already lavender dress glow more intensely.
Her diamond tennis bracelet sparkled so brilliantly that she was momentarily blinded.
Yet she knew to part the curtain and see what awaited her.
It was a clearing in the center of the dome.
More strings of lights hung all around her, pouring from the stars above, turning the world into a hazy purple paradise.
She saw the source of the watery noise: a waterfall spilling from a fake hill on the other side of the dome, a swiftly coursing stream making its way around her feet.
Flower petals were scattered across the floor.
The farther Jamie walked, the more a shadowy figure came into view many yards away.
Etta. Jamie knew it like Etta knew it was her the moment she emerged from the lights, cast in that violet glow.
Although she wanted to quickly go to her, Jamie took her time, drinking in the sights, the sounds, and the flowery smells surrounding her. She also smelled the faint scent of food. Italian, of course. What an elaborate dinner for the sake of doing so!
“You are something else,” Jamie said, unable to contain her grin as she came within several feet of Etta.
She, dressed in a sensible blouse, smiled back at her. “And you are the most radiant woman in this universe.” Her chin pointed up, toward the stars twinkling on the dome’s ceiling. “I’m a lucky woman to have you come out here for me.”
“How could I pass it up after all the trouble you went through?” Jamie didn’t touch her, nor did she come any closer.
Her hands fumbled in front of her, one foot lifting off the ground while the other took on the brunt of her weight.
“After the trouble so many people went through for us? I thought you were too busy for something as extravagant as this.”
“I’ve been planning this for a while.”
“You rented the whole planetarium for us, huh?”
“Jamie,” Etta said, voice steady as she changed the subject. “I could never tell you how much I love you.”
Freezing in place, Jamie’s ears hearing her, but her heart refusing to believe what was happening. Jamie glanced around. She saw other people in the dome with them. Men in white serving uniforms standing around food being kept warm. Sommeliers carrying an assortment of wines and Champagnes.
And one woman in a suit holding a long, black felt box.
“I love you too,” she said, ignoring the lump in her throat. “Now, what is this about?”
Etta approached, hand raising to give her a red rose. I feel like I’m on a TV show. “You’re the only woman I want with me for the rest of my life, Jamie. If I asked you to believe nothing else, it would be that.”
She bit her lip, hands twisting in front of her. No… it can’t be… this is a joke… Etta would never joke about something like this, and yet Jamie thought it. This can’t be happening. Not to me. Something like this would never happen to me.
Yet when Etta got down on one knee, her hair and complexion awash in the soft violet light, Jamie tasted nothing but air in her mouth. “Etta, what are you…” The thorns on the rose stem cut into her skin, and she could do nothing but ignore it.
“I’m doing something I should’ve done a while ago… but in my folly, I didn’t truly appreciate you. I apologize for that.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything.”
Etta took her hands, soft skin so tender that Jamie had a hard time believing she was really there.
“Yes, I do. I have to apologize for every time I made you angry, sad, or uncomfortable. I don’t want you to feel that way.
I love you, Jamie. I want you to be happy until the day you die.
Until that day, I want you by my side, always. ”
She swallowed, hard. “Okay.”
“Do you want to be with me until that time?”
Etta almost sounded uncertain… as if a woman as confident as her… a woman who could have anyone she wanted… would be uncertain whether Jamie would want to be together for the rest of their lives. “I want to be with you, Etta.”
Etta kissed Jamie’s fingers, lips lingering over her knuckles as she curled her hand into a fist. “Then marry me, Jamie.”
The world came to a complete stop. The lights stopped twinkling.
The stars stopped shining. The water stopped flowing and the flowers stopped swaying in the breeze.
Jamie stared at Etta’s face, and then beyond it, into a void that screamed at her, “These things don’t happen to boring people like you. ”
Except it had.
Except they did.
“Oh, my God.” Jamie could barely hear her voice as Etta stood up, hands taking her by the wrists.
“Oh, my God!” She snatched her wrists and covered her mouth with her hands, her shock so great that it took all of Etta’s strength to get her to release her lips again.
The woman holding the felt box opened it, revealing five rings to match Jamie’s tennis bracelet.
“Choose one. If you’ll say yes.”
Jamie gaped at all five diamond rings. One was huge, gaudy, and deliriously beautiful.
Another was understated and classy. Yet another was a mix of the two, with one prominent diamond and two tiny ones on either side.
None of these were Jamie’s favorites. She was instantly attracted to the two in the end.
They were identical, except one had two tiny sapphires on either side of the small diamond in the center while the other was a bare, silver band.
Jamie picked the sapphire one out of the box. Finally, things began to sparkle again.
Etta brushed the hair away from her cheek. “Is that a yes? Will you marry me?”
Jamie looked between her and the ring. Two things she never thought she would have in a million years. Lightyears, even. This really isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. How could it be? I’m nobody. Etta could do so much better.
Better, like Adele. The only other woman Etta ever proposed to. Except she said no. Did it happen like this? Was Etta truly trying again… in the same manner? I don’t know if that would be great or terrible.
Jamie looked her in the eye. What did she see in Etta’s soul?
The woman she loved. The woman she adored.
The woman she went through hell and back for.
The woman who cut her most important business asset out of her life when she found out what that asset was doing to the people she cared most about.
The woman who never said she loved Jamie until all of that was said and done.
A broken woman. A woman desperate to believe in true love again.
“Yes,” Jamie whispered. “Yes, Etta. I’ll marry you.”
They embraced, Etta suffocating her. Jamie felt ten tons of love explode against her, Etta’s heart thumping wildly in her chest as she squeezed her girlfriend – her fiancée – for all her worth and kissed her throat.
Jamie’s dress wrinkled beneath her touch.
She didn’t care. All she wanted was to feel her body against Etta’s, even if other people – strangers – watched in either indifference or awe.
“You’ve just made me the happiest soul in the…” She glanced up. “Cosmos.”
Jamie brushed something from her eye, but she wasn’t sure what.
Surely it wasn’t a tear. Definitely not a tear, for who would cry as her girlfriend took a gorgeous ring and slipped it onto her ring finger?
Not my girlfriend anymore. Etta’s my fiancée now.
That sent the lump plummeting down her throat and landing in her stomach, never to be seen again… that night.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
They didn’t go as wild or as passionate as they may have liked in present company, but it was a good, tender kiss to start their engagement.
“The night isn’t over,” Etta whispered in her ear, the excitement palpable in her voice. “I’ve arranged dinner for us as well.”
Jamie pulled away from her, although she remained locked in a loving embrace. “I knew I smelled Italian. You may be full of surprises, but your surprises are full of the same old Etta.”
“Last I checked, you loved Italian food too.”
“Indeed I do.” Jamie rested her hand on Etta’s shoulder, her eye going straight to the small ring on her finger. “Not as much as I love you.”