“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.