Loving Mr. Collins

Chapter 16

Abby
One day, I come home from work. I see that there's a candle in the middle of the dining table. Chris is sitting in his usual chair and has already set the table.
"Hey, baby," I say.
"Hey."
I give him a quick kiss.
"This looks very romantic."
"Thank you. I thought we could have a romantic night in.
"Yeah that's fine. Let me just put my stuff down and I'll be right out."
"Okay."
I set my purse and jacket on the bed and come back into the dining room. I sit down at the table and start eating.
"Abby, are you happy being with me?" He asks.
"Yes, of course. I love you."
"Then I guess that just leaves me with one final question."
I wait patiently for him to ask. He stands up and walks over to me. He gets down on one knee and holds an open ring box. I start crying.
"Don't cry because you're going to me cry," he says with an emotional laugh.
I let out an emotional laugh also.
"Abby, I know that it's been quite a journey, but I don't really care. You've made me happier than I ever thought I could be. I love my life with you and I want to spend the rest of it with you. Abigail Marie Ramos, will you marry me?"
I can hardly talk because I'm so emotional.
"Yes."
He slides the ring onto my finger. I stand up so I can kiss him. I jump into his arms, wrap my legs around his waist, and kiss him lovingly. He kisses me back.
"You said yes," he says happily.
"Of course I did. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
He smiles and kisses me again. He carries me to the bedroom and lies me down so we can celebrate. I look over at him.
"Did anyone know?" I ask.
"Yeah. Everyone knew."
"What? I'm amazed that no one said anything."
"Believe me, it was especially hard for me and your mom. If it had been any longer, she might've cracked."
I grin.
"Well, she'll be thrilled when I tell her. She hates keeping any kind of secret."
"Yeah. I learned that pretty quickly but she handled it well."
I move closer to him.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
I smile and fall asleep in his arms. The next day, we clean up the leftovers and tidy up the house. We invite everyone over so we can share the good news. We have lunch then gather in the living room.
"We invited you here because we have some good news," Chris says.
I smile.
"Last night, he proposed and I said yes," I says happily.
Everyone cheers for us and comes up to congratulate us.
"I'm so glad that you actually did it. It was so hard keeping this from you," Mom says.
"I can imagine."
"It was a little easier for me to keep it," Dad says.
"I'm sure. I'm amazed that you're okay with this," I say.
"It's like I said. I'm still getting used to it but I accept that you're going to make your own decisions. You've made it clear that you want to be with him so there's not much that I can do."
"Thank you."
My friends congratulate us next.
"You're getting married," Christina says happily.
"I'm getting married."
"I kind of figured that you'd be the first to get married," Violet says.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
She looks at Chris.
"I know you will, but please take care of her."
"Of course."
She smiles and looks back at me.
"Let's see the ring."
I grin and hold out my left hand. She takes it gently and admires the ring.
"Wow."
"I know right?"
"You have good taste," she tells him.
"Thank you. I can't take too much credit because Debra helped to pick it out."
"Did you?" I ask.
"Yes. He showed me like five different rings online over the past few weeks and I thought that was the best one."
"I agreed, especially when I saw it in person," Chris adds.
"I have to agree. You picked a good one," Christina says.
We continue to hang out until it starts to get late. I hug everyone before they leave, even my dad. Chris and I plop onto the couch and start talking about the ceremony. We'd done a bit of it with the guests but not the intimate stuff that matters.
"I know it sounds crazy but just listen," he begins.
"Okay," I say, slightly nervous.
"Destination wedding," he says.
"Oh. That's not too crazy. People do it all the time."
"I know. I just know how you always pictured getting married here at a church."
"When I was younger. I wouldn't mind getting the chance to travel and marry you at the same time."
"That makes it sound like we're getting married on the plane."
I laugh.
"You know what I mean. And side note, ew. I would never get married on a freaking plane."
He grins.
"So, you're down to have a destination wedding?"
"Yeah. I'd love to. Fiji always sounded beautiful in my head."
"You want something tropical then?"
"Yeah. I think it would be beautiful and we could have the wedding in the summer to like add onto it."
"That sounds perfect, babe."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. It'll give us a chance to live at the beach during the honeymoon."
"Exactly. That's like one of the few things that we still haven't done."
"Haven't we?"
"No. I don't even own a bikini. I'll buy some when it gets closer to the wedding date."
"When were you thinking?"
"I know everyone says June but I have to agree with them. We'd freaking melt if we did it any later."
"Yeah that's true. A June wedding sounds good. Maybe early June if you still want to get married in the spring."
"For sure. Violet will be happy about that because she's a flower."
He chuckles.
"Okay."
We talk about it a little longer and go to bed.