EPILOGUE
“Seriously?” she said.
“What?” Eline asked.
“We’re on vacation,” she replied and closed Eline’s computer.
“No, we’re not. We’re about to be on vacation. And it’s not really a vacation. It’s just visiting my parents in my home country that we’ve both spent significant time in.”
“We’ve also planned a few day trips, and we have that one night in Paris to look forward to. Your parents will not be joining us there,” Arlowe told her, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Babe, I found two things that you need to fix. Should I not have told you? Now, it’s all taken care of, and the update can go out before our flight.”
“Which boards in ten minutes. Cutting it pretty close there, Claasen,” she said.
“You didn’t turn in your code until last night. I’d say you’re the one who cut things close, Romano.”
Eline leaned over in her uncomfortable airport chair and kissed Arlowe on the lips.
“I am glad you found yet more of my mistakes, but I’m ready to not work for the next two weeks.”
“So unlike you, but I love it,” Eline said, opening her laptop back up. “And I’m going to turn it off, so don’t close it on my fingers, please.”
“I won’t. I love your fingers. I want to protect them and keep them safe.”
“Oh, yeah?” Eline teased, closing the laptop lid again. “How do you plan to do that?”
“I was thinking we’d just keep them stowed in certain places.”
Eline laughed and put her computer inside her bag at her feet.
They’d been together for a year now and living together at the house since Eline’s visa had gotten approved and she’d moved in, and even though Enya still lived there, the two of them really felt like they had their own place with how quiet Enya was and how much she usually kept to herself.
It had been a nice test for them, and before they’d left on their trip, Arlowe had sat Enya down and told her that they were going to get their own place when they came back.
Their plan was to rent a two-bedroom apartment near the office while they saved up for a house of their own one day, but eventually, they wanted to purchase at least a three-bedroom place so that they still had an office that they could share and a spare room that could become a nursery when they were ready.
If they chose to later, their shared office could be converted into another bedroom, but that would be a big if since they were both thirty-five and hadn’t even started planning to have their first baby yet.
When they arrived in Amsterdam, Arlowe let Eline take the lead since she was much more familiar with getting from the airport to the train station and to the trams before they’d walk to their hotel room, which Eline had insisted on getting because she hadn’t wanted to stay with her parents for two weeks.
Arlowe hadn’t argued about that, of course, and while Eline’s mother had, it had been easy enough to convince her that this was their one and only vacation this year, so they wanted to have a space of their own.
Having checked into their hotel, they’d dropped off their bags upstairs and decided to go out for dinner right after so that they could be in for the rest of the night and get some much-needed sleep because they were meeting Eline’s parents at their home the next morning for a breakfast, which would be more of a brunch, and they both wanted to be well-rested for that.
Their dinner had been in some place Eline had taken her to that only locals really knew about, and it had been pizza with Japanese beer for some reason, but Arlowe liked both the pizza and the beer, and after that, they’d taken a walk by a canal, just enjoying being back in the place where they had met.
Both of them had been way too tired to do anything but shower when they returned, so they’d done that together before they’d climbed into the full bed, laughing about Eline’s old apartment and Arlowe’s old dorm room twin bed because now, they had a king bed at home with a lot more room.
Arlowe didn’t mind snuggling up with Eline, though, and they’d done so all night – well, until Eline had gotten too hot and pushed her away, which Arlowe was used to.
When they woke up the next morning, they rushed to get ready because neither of them had thought to set an alarm, and it was already nine.
They were supposed to be at Eline’s parents’ place at ten and had to take two trams to get there, so they hurried out of the room and into the elevator, where Arlowe pressed Eline to the side wall and kissed her.
“Since I won’t get to do this for a while today,” she said and pressed her lips back against Eline’s.
“I like the way you think,” Eline replied, pulling Arlowe back in for more kisses until the elevator dinged and the doors opened. “Hold that thought. I’ll be more awake tonight.”
They made their way to the tram stop, and four stops on one tram and three on another later, they were at Eline’s parents’ house, being greeted by the ecstatic parents who had missed their daughter.
“Arlowe, so good to see you,” Eline’s mom said.
“You too, Mrs. Claasen,” Arlowe replied, pulling out of the hug. “Mr. Claasen.”
She nodded at the man who had just pulled out of a hug with his daughter.
“Arlowe, how are you coming along with that algorithm for me?”
“Dad, we just got here,” Eline replied with a laugh. “Let the woman breathe.”
“Coffee?” Eline’s mom asked.
Twenty minutes later, Arlowe had walked Eline’s father through the algorithm that she had been working on for the math’s portion of their app, which wouldn’t likely roll out for another six to nine months.
He’d seemed impressed, which had made Arlowe happy, and when he went into the kitchen to finish up cooking the food, Arlowe followed him, leaving Eline and her mother in Eline’s old room, going through some of Eline’s things that her mother thought she might want to take back with her at the end of the trip.
“Mr. Claasen?” she said.
“Yes?”
“I was hoping to ask you a question while I’m here.”
He stopped stirring and turned to her.
“I was expecting this.”
“You were?”
“Yes, I was. Her mother was, too. You’ve been together for what, a year now? And time before that as well?”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied. “And I have a ring. I want to ask her while we’re here so that we can all celebrate together before we go home.”
“You want to ask her here?”
“We met here,” she said with a little smile. “She loves it here. I love it here. I planned something for tomorrow night to give us enough time to really enjoy our vacation and to celebrate with you and your wife.”
“And Eline knows that you’re asking me for her hand in marriage?”
“She doesn’t know that I’m asking, no. But she’s mentioned that she’s not traditional at all unless it comes to this and that she wants to have your blessing. Her mother’s, too. I was hoping I could talk to you first, and maybe you could warm her up for me?” she asked, crossing her fingers.
He chuckled and said, “Arlowe has a question for us.”
Arlowe’s eyes went wide because she assumed that Eline would be with her mother, but when she turned, following his gaze, she only saw Eline’s mom and not her girlfriend.
“She’s in the bathroom,” Mrs. Claasen explained as she moved to stand next to her husband. “Were we right?”
“We were. She wants to do it here.”
“Here? In this house? Now?”
“In Amsterdam. I made a whole plan to go to a special spot for us, but I wanted to talk to you two first.”
“Well, I suppose that makes sense, doesn’t it? What did you tell her?” Mrs. Claasen asked her husband.
“Nothing yet.”
“And you love our daughter?”
“More than anything,” Arlowe replied.
“You’ll make her happy?”
“God, I hope so.”
“Then, you have my blessing,” Mrs. Claasen replied and turned to Eline’s father.
“You have mine, too,” he said.
“Really?”
“Yes, but we have to work on your Dutch, Arlowe. Last time we all talked on the phone, you sounded like you were trying to speak French, German, and Spanish all mixed together instead of Dutch.”
“Don’t give her a hard time. She’s trying,” Eline’s dad said.
“Trying what?” Eline asked.
“Dutch. She’s trying to learn Dutch.”
“She practices every day,” Eline shared proudly, looping her arm through Arlowe’s. “She’s getting better.”
“Thanks, babe,” Arlowe replied with a little laugh.
“Well, the food is done. Let’s eat,” Eline’s father said.
◆◆◆
“Arlowe, why are you rushing me? We’re just going to dinner. Are you starving or something?”
“No, and I’m not rushing you; you’re taking forever.”
“You told me to dress up,” Eline argued.
“Dress up, not dress forever. You look great. Can we go now?”
“I don’t have my shoes on yet.”
“They’re by the door.”
“I’m not wearing those tonight. I’m wearing the short heels I brought. They’re in my suitcase. Can you get them?”
“Sure.”
Arlowe stood up from the bed, where she’d been waiting for her girlfriend to get ready for the past thirty minutes, and went to Eline’s suitcase to look for the shoes. She pulled them out, set them on the floor, and Eline slipped into them right after.
“Damn, you’re gorgeous,” Arlowe stated as she looked up, her heart racing in her chest.
“Thank you. You look great as well. I love it when you wear blazers and ties, but you know I want to take them off you now, too.”
Eline ran her hands over her chest.
“Later. We have to go.”
“You said you didn’t make a reservation. Why do we have to go? We can take ten minutes.”
Eline lowered her hands to Arlowe’s belt buckle.
“It’s going to be busy out there. Tourist season and all that. I will be starving by the time we get to a restaurant.”
“Fine. Fine,” Eline replied before grabbing a purse and hanging it over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
When they made it outside, Arlowe checked the time on her watch instead of her phone that was tucked in a pocket, not wanting to mess with her pockets since she was keeping something pretty important in there, and she didn’t want to risk it falling out or it being discovered.
If they hurried a bit, it would still be what she had pictured, so she took them to the tram stop, and they got on.
Eline leaned into her how she always did, and they held hands until Arlowe nodded that this was their stop.
She walked them down the street along the water, and Eline kept pointing out different restaurants that they could try out, but Arlowe wasn’t interested in eating dinner right now.
She couldn’t keep anything down even if it were the best meal that she’d ever had.
Her heart was thundering inside her chest, and she felt like she was walking them so quickly, practically tugging Eline along, that she might pass out or, at least, sweat all the way through her blazer. Then, they arrived.
“You know where we are, right?” she asked Eline.
“Yes, we’re… Arlowe, we’re at the Magere Brug.”
“The Skinny Bridge, yeah,” she replied, her heart nearly drowning out her words. “We came here when I was here the first time.”
“I remember. We kissed on this bridge.”
“It’s the most romantic spot in all of Amsterdam. Legend says that a kiss between lovers while on this bridge or on a boat as it goes under it–”
“Ensures that they will be in love forever,” Eline said, and wrapped her arms around Arlowe’s neck. “Yes, as one of those locals, I do know the legend.”
“You taught it to me,” Arlowe pointed out.
“I remember that, too. Did you bring me here because we didn’t do that while we were here last time and you wanted to kiss in this spot again?”
“I actually brought you here for another reason.”
Arlowe reached up to her neck because she needed to remove Eline’s arms from her shoulders to proceed with her plan, and as she did so, Eline’s face went through a wide range of emotions.
She looked confused at first, then worried or, at least, somewhat concerned, then back to confused again, and when Arlowe knelt on one knee on the bridge and pulled a ring box out of her inner blazer pocket, Eline’s face switched to surprise, her hands covered her mouth, and she stared as Arlowe opened the ring box.
“I know it’s cliché because everyone in Amsterdam proposes here, but I’m not asking you to marry me on this spot because everyone else does it.
I’m doing it because when you brought me here and kissed me, we knew we were forever, meant to be, and now, we’re back here, showing this bridge and the universe that the legend is true.
Eline Fay Claasen, I love you more than anything in the world.
I always have, and I always will. I want to grow old with you, raise children with you, bring them back here to visit this magical place where I met their mother, and be yours always.
Love of my life, will you please be my wife? ”
“Yes,” Eline said and shook her head in disbelief. “Yes, Arlowe. God, I love you.”
Arlowe stood quickly and, with shaking hands, managed to get the ring out of the box and onto her now-fiancée’s hand, which was also shaking.
“God, baby… I thought that if you did this on our vacation, it would be that night in Paris that you wanted,” Eline said as she pulled Arlowe in against her.
“I wanted us to be there as an engaged couple. Plus, I thought you might want to celebrate with your parents.”
Eline pulled Arlowe’s face to her own and kissed her hard.
“I love you. Thank you for thinking about them.”
“I asked them, too.”
“Asked them what?”
“I asked for their blessing. They gave it to me yesterday.”
Eline’s eyes, which had already been welling with tears, spilled over then.
“You asked them?”
“You told me a long time ago that you wanted me to.”
“I did,” Eline confirmed and kissed her again. “God, we’re engaged.”
“And soon, we won’t need to worry about any work visa because you’ll be my wife.”
Arlowe wrapped Eline up tightly in her arms.
“You know my parents are going to want to talk about the wedding while we’re here, right?”
“I’m prepared for that.”
“You are?” Eline asked, sounding surprised.
“I’m prepared to let you do all the talking while I smile and nod at everything you say because I don’t care when and where or even how we get married. All that matters to me is that we do.”
“Will you wear a suit for me?”
Arlowe smiled before she kissed her fiancée and replied, “Whatever you want.”
“Can I wear a flowy white dress?” Eline asked.
“God, yes,” she said.
Eline smiled against Arlowe’s mouth and asked, “Can we go anywhere other than Amsterdam for our honeymoon?”
“I’ll go anywhere with you,” she replied with a laugh before she kissed her future wife.