Chapter Thirteen – Ladd
Ladd
I paced back and forth in my father’s office while my parents watched me wear out the carpet.
“Why are you so nervous?” Dad asked.
Stopping, I faced them. “What if she says no?”
My father rolled his eyes. “She’s not going to say no, Ladd. Anyone can see how much that young lady loves you. You’ve been dating for what?” He lifted his hands and started to count on his fingers.
“Eight months,” my mother replied.
I couldn’t help but smile. There was a reason my mother handled the books and not my father.
“That’s longer than I knew your mother before I asked her to marry me.”
“I would have married your father the day I met him, truth be told.”
I sat down in the chair across from my mother. “So, you believe in love at first sight then?”
She smiled. “Oh, most certainly. I knew the moment I first laid eyes on your father that he was the one.”
“I felt the same,” my dad added before he walked up and put his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Is that how you felt with Vivianne?” Mom asked.
I nodded. “There was something about her. I felt something deep in my chest the second I spotted her, and I knew…she was the one.”
“Have you talked about what life will look like after you both graduate?”
Screwing up my face, I replied, “Sort of. Not in any kind of serious way. I mean, Viv knows what my plans are, but we haven’t spoken about hers. She’s kind of hinted about wanting to move to River Falls with me.”
My mother reached for my hand. “Then the only way to find out is to ask her, Ladd. Just from watching you two, I can see how much you love each other. I don’t think she would say no.”
“What if she isn’t ready to get married? Maybe she wants to live her life a bit.”
My father shook his head. “Something tells me the poor girl has lived enough life already at her young age.”
“When did you want to do it?” Mom asked.
“I was thinking tonight. After everyone opens their gifts, I wanted to do it with all of you present. I know she doesn’t have her family in her life, and I think it would be special for both of us to have everyone there.”
Mom smiled. “Did you have any plan on how you wanted to ask?”
I exhaled. “Don’t I just drop to one knee and go for it?”
Dad groaned. “Lord, did I hear the boy right?”
Standing, my mother shook her head. “Ladd, that is not the way you’re going to ask the girl to marry you.” She turned to my father. “Let’s brainstorm.”
Now it was my father and mother pacing.
“It’s going to snow tonight,” Dad said. “She seems to really love it when it snows.”
Stopping, Mom pointed. “The back porch!”
“We could put some candles out there to give it a romantic feel.”
“Oh, Gus, I love where your head’s at! I can take some of the poinsettias and place them on the porch. Ooh, we need someone to take pictures. Is the camcorder charged?”
My father gasped. He actually gasped. “Of course it’s charged. I’m not a monster, Nellie. It’s Christmas Eve, for heaven’s sake. I charged it this morning!”
“Who do we trust to record this? I’ll take pictures, but we need it recorded.”
Dad tapped his foot as he thought. I started to say something when they both pointed at each other and spoke at once.
“Lilith!”
“My mom!”
“This is perfect,” Mom said before she walked over and shoved me toward the door. “Ladd, all you need to do is show up with the ring. We’ll plan everything else.”
“Well, I mean, shouldn’t I know what’s going on?” I asked as Mom opened the office door.
“Yes, of course. I’ll fill you in after we have it all planned.”
I turned and looked past my mother to see Dad quickly plugging in the camcorder—and I almost laughed out loud.
Focusing back on my mother, I asked, “You won’t wait until the last minute to tell me, right?”
She laughed. “Of course I won’t.”
The door shut, and I heard her groan, “I knew you didn’t have the camcorder charged!”
There was a light knock on my bedroom door, and before I could even say anything, David slipped in.
“Are you nervous?” he asked as he made his way into the room.
“A little.”
“Don’t be. She’s going to say yes.”
I drew in a breath and slowly let it out.
“Do me a favor, when you open your gift from Vivianne, will you please act like you love it? I didn’t want her spending all kinds of money on gifts for you guys and Dad, so I talked her into buying flannel shirts.
I told her we always wore them around the ranch when we’re working. ”
He smiled. “Dad already talked to me, Mike, and Jason about it. We’ve got you covered.”
Hitting the side of his arm, I said, “Thanks so much.”
“Mom sent me up here to let you know what the plan is.”
I laughed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Mom and Dad are more excited than me.”
He nodded. “They really like Vivianne. We all do. I think what Mom and Dad like most is how happy you’ve been. Have you told them about the partnership with Mitch yet?”
I shook my head. “No. I want to get it all ironed out first. Once we have all the legal stuff out of the way and we start getting things moving, then I’ll tell them. I want to show Dad that I know what I’m doing and can do this without his help.”
“I think he already knows you can do it.”
“I know,” I said with a grin. “But it will be nice to get it all down and bring him to the building and show him what it’s going to be.”
“Did you guys come up with a name?”
“I’ve got two different names to pitch to him. Mountain Sporting Goods or River Falls Mountain Supplies.”
He frowned as he thought about both names. “I kind of like them both?”
“Yeah, so do we. Viv liked Mountain Sporting Goods, since we’ll sell more than just mountain gear.”
David nodded. “I can see that. Yeah, thinking of it that way, I think I like the sporting goods better.”
“Me too.”
“So, have you shown the ring to anyone? Mom asked me if I’d seen it because she hadn’t.”
I shook my head. “I wanted Viv to be the first person to see it.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “Seriously? I don’t get to see it? I mean, I’m assuming I’ll be the best man at the wedding; therefore, you’ll need to trust me with the wedding band. I think it’s only fair I see the engagement ring first.”
I stared at him. “That strangely made sense. But no. Viv will be the first to see it.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. I didn’t want to see it anyway.”
Shoving him, I said, “Get out of here.”
Once he was gone, I walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer.
I took out the blue velvet box and snapped it open.
It was a ring I’d found in a jewelry shop in Estes Park a few months back.
It was an Old European cut diamond in an intricate group of geometric shapes that made up the setting.
There were small diamonds that went down the platinum band as well.
It was beautiful, and I knew Vivianne would adore it because it was different and antique.
She loved anything that had a story behind it.
The owner of the jewelry store said he’d bought it at an estate sale just a few weeks prior. I’d had to take money from my savings account for the business, but it was money well spent. And with Mitch agreeing to fund the remodel, it worked out perfectly.
I shut the box, then slipped it into my jeans pocket. With one last look in the mirror, I gave myself an internal pep talk.
You got this! She’s going to love it. She’s going to say yes. Just don’t fuck anything up!
With another couple of deep breaths, I opened the door and headed downstairs. I could already hear Vivianne laughing, along with my mother and grandmother.
Any doubts I had about her loving River Falls or my family were wiped away when I saw her dancing with my father while Nat King Cole’s “Deck the Halls” played. My heart felt like it grew ten times its size as I watched her laugh while Dad spun and dipped her.
“It’s like she’s always been here,” my brother Jason said, coming up beside me.
I nodded. “It is.”
He bumped my arm. “She’s going to say yes.”
Glancing at him, I smiled. “You think so?”
A wide grin appeared on his face. “Even I can tell she loves you.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Thanks, Jason.”
He shrugged, and we both turned to see Dad dip her one more time as the song ended. Something about the moment would be burned in my memory until the day I died. I had a feeling that after tonight, my life was truly going to begin…with Vivianne by my side for the rest of my days.
Her eyes met mine as she laughed again.
My heart went wild in my chest because without a doubt, I knew I was going to love this woman until I took my last breath.
After eating a full Christmas Eve dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, yeast rolls, and more desserts than I could even count, we ended up in the family room.
Mom and Dad opened their gifts first, which had been the tradition since we’d grown old enough to buy them their gifts. When my father opened Vivianne’s gift, he held up the shirt and grinned. “Perfect timing, Vivianne. I needed some new shirts!”
Vivianne beamed from next to me. Then my mother opened her gift and took out the necklace. She read the engraving, looked at Vivianne, then burst into tears. Both women stood and hugged each other.
“It’s the most perfect gift I’ve ever gotten!” my mother declared as Dad looked at the rest of us with raised brows and an expression like Mom had just wiped away years of his gifts. I tried hard not to laugh, but I lost the battle.
Grandma opened Vivianne’s scarf, deciding it was the most beautiful scarf she’d ever seen.
Vivianne clapped her hands and told my grandmother, “I fell in love with it and I had to buy it for you.”
By the time I opened my gifts—a flannel shirt and a journal—I had no doubt in my mind that my family loved Vivianne.