Indelible Love - Emily's Story (38 page)

“No, of course not…well, kind of.” He
said, pulling me down onto the blanket for a passionate embrace.
Finally letting go, he explained, “Many times I wanted to propose,
but I kept thinking of reasons why it wasn’t the right moment.”
Facing each other, head in our hands, he continued, “for instance,
I wanted to ask you to marry me at the Japanese restaurant, but it
was a bit too soon after we had reconciled. I wasn’t sure you were
ready, and we still had too many issues to resolve. Then when we
were at the park, I thought about proposing with the eternity band,
but I knew that if you had said yes, I wouldn’t have let you stay
in Japan, not even for two weeks.”

“Yeah, I probably would’ve had a hard
time leaving you if you had asked that day. But, I was sorely
disappointed when you didn’t.”

“I know. I wish I could have taken a
picture of your expression when I put the ring on your finger
without much else than a warning for you not to take it off.” He
fell back on the blanket laughing at the thought of my churlish
expression back at the park. “Although I did feel terrible I didn’t
propose.”

“But Tuesday was the most difficult. I
desperately wanted to propose to you at Boucheron. The look on your
face when I placed this ring on your finger was magical. You
absolutely glowed. I used every ounce of self-control not to ask
you to marry me that day.”

“But why? You could’ve asked at
Boucheron. That’s why I was so sad that day. I couldn’t get this
ring and your would-be proposal off my mind. I was so bummed out. I
even called Sarah to grumble.”

“I didn’t go through with it because I
had this picnic in motion already. Also, I didn’t want to give you
another haphazard proposal like the one in the car on Christmas
morning. I planned a deliberate expression of my love and forced
myself to wait another few days. I was actually going to wait till
tomorrow, but I couldn’t hold out any longer.”

“I’m glad you didn’t wait till the
last day. You would’ve pushed me into depression if this didn’t
happen soon. As it was, I was giving myself pep talks in the
morning.”

Jake gently slid the dazzling ring
onto my finger. I couldn’t believe that we were finally engaged to
be married. This elation was far superior to how I imagined I would
feel. Our connection was finally complete.

“Wait. Why am I wearing a substitute
ring? Did you not bring my ring with you?”

“This is your ring, my love.” His face
beamed as he said this.

“What do you mean? What about this
whole story about your grandma’s ring? Did you make it all
up?”

“No, it’s all true. This ring belonged
to my Gram’s mother, and she told her to pass it down from daughter
to daughter. As you know, my dad does not have any sisters, so
there’s really no designated heir to this ring. It probably
would’ve gone to my mom and then to Jane. But, Gram offered it to
us. When I talked to Gram in Kyoto, she asked me to wait on the
proposal till we got to Paris. She wanted you to have this ring.
She was most impressed with our love for each other and is elated
to welcome you as her granddaughter.”

Teardrops percolated. Jake wiped them
off and placed his hand on my cheek before kissing me.

“Gram loves you too.” He comforted me.
“Let’s call her. She’s been waiting to talk to you. I wouldn’t let
her talk to you, because I didn’t think she could keep my
secret.”

We sat up and Jake dialed his gram’s
number and gave her the good news.

“Hi, Gram. I’m calling to let you know
that Emily accepted my proposal, and we’re getting married.” Gram
spoke for a long time, and Jake nodded his head to everything she
said. “Of course we can. Thank you for everything, Gram. I love
you.”

He just hung up the phone. “How come I
didn’t get to talk to her?”

“She wants us to Chunnel into London
right now. Do you mind if we cut Paris a day short?”

“Of course not. I can’t wait to
finally meet Gram.” I said. “But, Jake, shouldn’t this ring be
handed down to a Reid?”

“Sweetheart, you were a Reid the
moment I laid eyes on you. You just went about in a circuitous way
of becoming one. Mom and Dad have known for a while that Gram had
plans to give me this ring. They were pleased it would be handed
down to you. And as for Jane, she won’t care that she didn’t get
the ring. Her future husband can buy her a new ring. But…this does
mean you need to bear a daughter so you can pass it down to her.
Speaking of, how many kids are we going to have?”

“Five.”

“Five? I’ll be paying college tuition
the rest of my life. I’d like to retire one day.”

We laughed as we headed back to the
hotel to pack up our belongings.

Emily Reid—I reveled in that
thought.

Chapter 18 London

We Fed-Exed all the gifts and worn
clothes back to Sandy’s house and took my small suitcase to London.
By the time we were ready to leave, Gram had sent a couple of
tickets for us to come visit her. During our two-hour trip on the
TGV, I had many more questions for Jake.

“Honey, what kind of ring is this and
how big is it?”

“Do I sense a complaint that it’s too
big?”

“I’m not complaining, though it’s a
bit…monstrous. How can I go out with such a huge rock on my finger
and not have people stare at me? Oh, and where’s my eternity band?
I really miss it.”

“Your band is right here,” he said
taking it out of his pocket.

“Why’d you make me give this band to
Henri?”

“I had to hand it to Henri because we
had to fix it a bit.”

“What could you possibly fix on this
band? It’s perfect. I love it.”

“It only fits on your ring finger, and
you can’t wear it there anymore now that you have your engagement
ring. So, I had Henri carefully enlarge the ring. This is very
difficult to do. Only an expert like Henri can add to an eternity
band. Here.” He put out his hand asking for my right
hand.

He then placed the band on the fourth
finger of my right hand.

“Jake, I can NOT wear both these rings
at the same time. People will think I’m asking for a mugging. I
look so pretentious.”

“I think it looks great. Also, your
engagement ring is an original Asscher cut diamond. Joseph Asscher
patented this cut back in the early 1900’s, and my great
grandmother bought one of the original cuts before the Nazis came
and seized all their diamonds during World War II. The Asscher cuts
nowadays have seventy-four facets on the diamond as opposed to the
fifty-eight you have on yours. I thought about having the diamond
updated with more cuts but I decided to leave it as is. There are
very few originals out there.”

“So how big is this
diamond?”

“It’s about six carats.”

“Monstrous,” I said.

“Gorgeous,” he said.

When we arrived in London, Jake’s gram
sent her driver to pick us up at the station. I guessed this was
how the Reids travel in London as well.

“No Underground?”

“No Underground. Get used to it, Mrs.
Reid,” he answered putting his arms around me. My new title gave me
a warm tingle. It sounded delightful.

Gram also stood around five feet
seven. She had a pale complexion with bright blue eyes like Jake’s,
and her face was quite lovely. She was dressed from head to toe in
designer clothing. As soon as we arrived, Jake went over to hug his
grandmother but she passed right by him and came over to hug me
instead.

“Gram, this is my Emily,” he attempted
to introduce us. No introductions were necessary.

“Emily!” She hugged me like my
grandmother used to hug me whenever we hadn’t seen each other in a
while.

“Hi, Gram.” I hugged her just as
lovingly. “You’re so beautiful! Jake must have been crazy to think
I was anywhere as beautiful as you are.”

“Welcome to the family!” was my warm
invitation from Gram. “Let me look at you. Why are you so thin? Has
Jake not been feeding you?”

“Are you kidding me, Gram? She eats
like a horse. And, she’s got tremendously expensive taste.” Jake
tried to put his arms around me and pull me away from Gram. They
got into a bit of a tug of war. Gram won.

“Gram, thank you for giving us your
ring. It’s stunning.”

“Jakey told me that you refused his
first proposal because the two-carat diamond wasn’t big enough. He
came and begged me for a bigger diamond so I had to pass down my
heirloom so you would finally marry my favorite grandson,” Gram
accused.

My jaw dropped.

I started stammering. “No, Gram.
That’s not true. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you told her that.” My
eyes shot daggers. “Gram…” Then I turned to my fiancé,
“Jake…”

They both started laughing at me.
“Gram’s just kidding, Love.”

“Oh!” I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Funny, Gram.” I tried to laugh.

Holding hands, Gram led me to a grand
dining hall. She lived in a mansion-like flat with butlers,
drivers, and maids. All of her furniture looked to be antiques, and
although she lived most of her life in the States, she was born
here, so she fancied herself more English than American. I felt
like I was having tea with the queen of England.

The maid brought out an elaborate tea
with more food than we could consume. There was a variety of
scones, biscuits, and pound cakes. I couldn’t figure out the
variety of creams that accompanied the tea cakes. There were fruits
and chocolate and a myriad of teas to choose from. Of course, Jake
broke the tradition and asked for coffee. I followed his lead, as
hot tea was not my favorite.

“So when’s the wedding?” Gram
inquired.

“I don’t know,” I said. “We haven’t
discussed it.”

“How about the fourth of July?” Jake
asked.

“Next year, fourth of July?” I
questioned.

“No, I mean, July 4th, as in three
weeks from now.”

“In three weeks?” Gram and I both
said, our voices raised.

“Yup!” Jake wasn’t fazed at all. He
obviously didn’t realize that you couldn’t put a wedding together
in three weeks.

Gram wanted to know, “What’s the rush,
Jakey? She’s agreed to marry you. She’s not going
anywhere.”

“Gram, Emily won’t have sex with me
till we get married. I need to get married right away.”

I just about wanted to die. I hoped
that the ground would open up and swallow me whole. I couldn’t
believe Jake just told his Grandmother about my sexual history, or
lack thereof. My face flushed, my head fell to the ground, and I
went mute.

“Good for you, Emily. I’m glad to see
that my Jakey is marrying someone with virtues.” That sounded like
a compliment, but I was too embarrassed to thank her.

Jake realized that he would be in
trouble once we were alone.

“I’m sorry, Emi,” he said trying to
snuggle up to me. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You see,
Gram thinks highly of you for holding out on me.”

Nothing he said made me feel any less
annoyed with him. If my head were up, I would have shot something
even worse than daggers, at Jake.

While Jake tried to make amends, Gram
called everyone back in the States. The butler got Jake’s parents,
Uncle Henry, Aunt Barbara, Jane, and Nick all on conference call.
We told them the good news and Jane seemed the most excited as we
would become sisters shortly.

Jake announced to the family our plans
to get married on the Fourth of July, and I could hear Sandy
gasp.

“Mom, consider it a slightly bigger
Christmas dinner. Let’s have the wedding at the house, and we’ll
just use all the people you use regularly.”

“Emi, do you mind getting married at
the house? This idea just came to me. Also, we live so close to the
fireworks display, it will be beautiful at night during the
reception.”

Getting married at the house was a
fantastic idea if Sandy didn’t mind.

“Mom,” I couldn’t believe I had a mom
again. My heart exulted. “Do you mind if I call you Mom, already?”
I asked with hesitation. I wasn’t sure Sandy would feel comfortable
with me jumping into the family.

“Emily, Bobby and I’ve loved you since
the day we met you in Hawaii, and knew you would be a part of our
family. I am thrilled you want to call me mom.”

Sandy’s answer brought a smile to my
lips and a tear to my eye. I felt this weird mixture of sadness and
joy, as I no longer had to wish for a family anymore. They were all
here on the phone with me. Jake put both his arms around me and
kissed my head.

“Thank you, Mom and Dad. I love you
too.”

“Are you OK with getting married at
the house?” Sandy asked.

“If you don’t mind…I really like
Jake’s idea. Could you get the preparations started for me? I’ll be
back as soon as possible.”

“Sandy, Barbara,” Gram said. “I’ll buy
Emily and Jake their dress and tuxedo here. You get started on the
reception.”