Anniversary week: Finale

Neither of us remembers when we starting throwing around the 'm' word. We remember talking about how many kids we wanted to have, before we talked about marriage. WBH sat next to me in church, sketched out a ring and said "If I was going to make you a ring, someday, what would you think about this one?" It kind of went unspoken for a while that we were getting married.

To celebrate six months of dating, we booked tickets on the murder mystery dinner train. We'd been before, for my birthday, and while I'd been a suspect, my name was cleared. This time WBH was the suspect. The food was really good, the performers were really entertaining, but something was off with my date. He was called off the train before we embarked for a while. When he came back, he explained that they had wanted to make sure they hadn't lost any flowers he had ordered.* "I hope you aren't disappointed," he said "it just wasn't in the budget this time." Then he got really quiet. I asked him repeatedly if everything was okay, and he assured me things were fine. I grew a little nervous. He wasn't himself.

It wasn't until the midway stop at a winery that I figured it out. He was going to break up with me. A million thoughts were running through my head. He'd shown me the drawing, we named our children, and he was going to break up with me here, of all places? My gosh, the nerve! I excused myself to the restroom. Holding back tears, I steeled myself for the inevitable. I faced myself in the mirror, promising I wouldn't lose it in front of him.

When I returned, the tour continued. We found a body in the winery, with gaudy, tacky jewelry on it. We had a photo taken with the body (it sounds weird, but everyone was doing it). I thought it might be symbolic later. We sat silently across from eachother as the train lurched forward. The detective entered the car, and began accusing WBH. "You're a jeweler!" he exclaimed. "How do you explain the jewelry on the victim's body?" He handed WBH the microphone.

"Well," WBH began, "If I was going to make some jewelry..." He reached into his pocket," It would look like this." He took the box out and opened it. "Rae, will you marry me?"

Shock, then relief flooded my body. Unable to speak, I nodded my answer, and reached for the ring. Wait, he's supposed to do that part. I laughed as he put it on my finger and kissed him.

"WHAT DID SHE SAY?" Shouted an old woman at the back of the train car. "She said yes!" answered one of the actors, wiping her eyes. As the performace resumed, we were grinning from ear to ear. "I thought you were going to break up with me." I confessed.

"I showed you the drawing of a ring!"

"You were so quiet all night" I countered

"I was nervous!" he defended himself

"You knew I'd say yes!"

"It doesn't make it any easier!"

Mostly, we just kept grinning and giggling After the train ride he said "You know what? You never actually said if you'd marry me. You just nodded and took the ring."

"Yes!" I laughed. "Yes, I will marry you!"



* He was pulled off the train to confirm that he wanted to go through with the proposal. Apparently they'd done proposals before, and one had gone very wrong. Then, you're stuck in a train for hours with that person, and the whole car is uncomfortable for the whole night. So they wanted to be really, really sure.