Belonging to the Iceman

Engaged

She blinked, several times trying her hardest to find her voice.

"Shantelle!? Say something please?"

She opened her door, undid her seatbelt and stepped out into drizzling rain. Nicolas soon joined her still gripping the ring box as if his life depended on it.

"S'il vous plaît ne pas rompre avec moi, Shantelle! S'il vous plaît ne me quitte pas! Je ne sais pas ce qui m'a pris!" He said softly

She turned to face him "break up with you? Leave you, Nico?" She repeated, shocked "No, no, no, no, no, no, I am not going to break up with you, I am not going anywhere! Your proposal just caught me completely off guard, especially with your Father's condition, and at the moment marriage is the last thing on my mind!"

He looked up at the night sky, the clouds covering the normally beautiful, glittering stars as the rain began to fall harder.

"I'm not asking you to run away and elope with me tonight Shantelle," He said "I'm asking you if you want to become Mrs Nicolas Prost?"

She smiled; this was why she loved him so much.

And as she began to answer the rain began to absolutely pour down.

Through the deafening noise of the cold and heavy rain, she shouted "Only for you will I become Mrs Nicolas Prost! Oui Nico, Oui!"

His eyes lit up as he smiled a smile brighter than all the stars in the sky as he lifted her up into his arms and twirled her around, they laughed in the pouring rain as the passers-by stared and ogled at their odd behaviour.

"Come, my dear fiancée!" He said sliding Alain's great Grandmother's beautiful old diamond, ruby and sapphire engagement ring onto her finger, "Let's get out of this pouring rain before we catch a cold!"

*

She woke, the next morning to the warm morning sun hitting her face.

Suddenly someone jumped on her, scaring the wits out of her. It was Victoria, Nico's half-sister.

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE GOING TO MARRY MY BROTHER!" She squealed, a bit too high-pitched for poor Shantelle who cringed.

"I can finally call you my sister! I finally have a sister that I can love and you and I will be inseparable Shantelle!" 

The Australian hugged Alain's daughter "I always wanted a sister to Victoria!" She said.

"The ring?!?! The ring?!? Show me the ring!!" Victoria squealed searching for Shantelle's left hand.

She smiled and showed the teenager her left hand.

"It's got France's colours on it you know, a ruby, diamond and sapphire in it," Shantelle said as they both admired it.

Victoria gave her a look and said "well what nationally is the family you're marrying into Shantelle?" Her eyebrows raised.

Shantelle grinned and tickled Victoria, causing her to squirm and try and get away from her brother's Australian fiancée.

"Shantelle, is Papa going to pull through?" She asked suddenly going from laughter to trying her hardest not to cry.

Shantelle hugged the distraught young woman and said "The Lord is watching over him, we are all praying Victoria."

"Even you don't know do you Shantelle?" She asked

"I wish I did Victoria, I wish I did!" She said

"Papa's sixtieth birthday is on the twenty-fourth of February! That's just three weeks away! We were going to throw a massive party for him!" Victoria said, "But now I just want him to wake up, and be all right, I don't care about the party anymore!"