Head over Stilettos for my boss...

Chapter Thirty-Eight

You guys have no idea how sorry I am. Everytime I want to sit down and write, it’s either I can’t and I become too busy or nothing comes to mind. I’m so sorry to all those people who have been private messaging me to update and I’ve ignored them. Sorry for the massive wait. Your patience and your support has been legendary. Anyways, here is another chapter!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

After we received the good news from the doctor, Maxine insisted on staying with her mum and family for the next couple of hours, or until her dad woke up at least. Once again, I let her know that I was there to support her and help her in any way that she needed me to. I wasn’t about to leave her side for any reason whatsoever. I watched her as she sat by her mum who was recalling the events of the night and the lead up to her Father’s heart attack. To be frank, I wasn’t really listening to anything they said, I was more or less zoning in and out of the conversation. My focus was simple; my soon-to-be fiancée. I was planning in my head how I was going to manage to talk to both her parents without her being there and asking them for their hand in marriage before I whisked her off to paris. I also had to call my mum and tell her the good news of what I planned to do. It wasn’t going to be easy to have to sneak around and do all of this without Maxine knowing, but somehow I had to pull it off. I wanted her to be surprised when I popped the question to her. I didn’t want her to suspect me of anything whatsoever. Within a few minutes, I managed to think up my plan. Although it would be hard, I honestly thought it was definitely possible.

I continued gazing at Maxine, like the lovesick puppy I was, noticing the little things about her that I loved. How intense her gaze was when she was really focusing on something that had all her attention, in this case: her mum. How one eyebrow was slightly raised and her eyes a little squinted when she was listening hard. How she crossed her long, shapely legs and then uncrossed them every half an hour or so. I must have looked like a weirdo or stalker if someone didn’t know that I was staring at my woman but I didn’t care. I must have been staring too intently, as Maxine’s mother caught my eye and smiled a little. She whispered something to Maxine and Maxine looked back and me and broke out into a full blown grin which meant they were obviously talking about me. Maxine got up from where she was sitting with her mum and walked over to me, taking her seat in a chair that was next to me.

‘Hey you’ she smiled at me.

‘Why do I have the slightest feeling that I’m in some sort of trouble?’ I asked her feeling a little suspicious of what she was up to.

She chuckled back at me statement and shook her head.

‘You’re not in any trouble, unless you’ve done something naughty that I should know about,’ she said raising one eyebrow.

‘I’m a good boy, you should know that by now. How’s your mum doing?’

‘She’s staying optimistic which is good. If she was in pieces right now, I don’t know what I would do. I’m just so relieved that the doctor said the surgery was successful.’ She sighed.

‘I know,’ I said, rubbing her arm that was closest to me, ‘we’re all relieved that he’s going to be ok. We just have to pray that your dad wakes up soon so we can tell him off for scaring us.’

‘I know. I need to call my siblings and let them know what happened so look after my mum for me please.’

‘Of course. You know I will.’

She got up to leave, paused then turned around back to me.

‘And thank you so much for staying. I know you could have been doing something else right now but you chose to stay here with me. I appreciate that.’

‘You’re making it sound like I’m a friend. We’re together and so therefore, we’re in this together. I’ve already told you this. It’s nothing.’

She smiled at me and then turned back around to walk out of the waiting room to call her siblings. I took this as an opportunity to talk to her mum. I hadn’t expected such a window to occur to early but who was I to complain about it? I had planned on waiting for her dad to wake up and then asking them together which I still planned on doing, but there was no harm in talking to her mother first and then talking to them both again later.

I got up from my seat and walked over to Mrs Rivers who looked a little tired from all the events of the night. Her eyes were closed and she had her head against the wall behind her. I assumed she was sleeping and was about to turn back around and return to my seat until she said:

‘Sit down John.’

I froze. This was slightly scary.

‘Er, hi Mrs Rivers.’

Her eyes opened slowly and she lifted her off up from the wall and stared directly into my eyes.

‘Sit down.’ She smiled warmly at me.

I sat down on the seat beside her and placed my hands on my knees. I hadn’t thought about how nerve-racking this conversation had the potential to be and she wasn’t even the scary parent.

‘Are you alright?’ she asked me, still with a small smile on her face.

‘Oh I should be asking you that. How are you doing?’

‘I’m alright considering the circumstances. It could have been worse but I’m just glad that the dangerous part is over. Now it’s just a matter of waiting and seeing when this man decides to stop being lazy and open his eyes.’ She smiled.

I laughed a little at her words.

‘Maxine was right, you really are being optimistic.’ I stated.

‘It doesn’t pay to be pessimistic. My husband is a stubborn man. He’ll wake up eventually, he’ll just take his precious time doing it.’

I nodded slowly.

‘So, is there something you wanted to talk to me about?’ she questioned me, looking me dead in the eyes once again.’

I was totally lost for words. How did she know I wanted to talk to her about something? Had I been that obvious to the world?

‘Stop panicking. You just seem nervous. It’s quite rare for a guy to be nervous. Unless he’s about to ask something big. Hm, like a proposal maybe.’

My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe this. How did she know? This was more than a mother’s intuition. This was ridiculous. Maxine didn’t tell me her mother was physic or a descendant of a witch or wizard so what was going on.

‘Don’t look so freaked out John. You’re just easy to read and I joined the dots together. Simple.’

I managed to close my mouth and swallow my slight shock.

‘Erm, wow. I know I’m meant to ask both you and your husband for her hand but I just thought, whilst you’re here, I might as well ask you while I can. I will definitely ask you both together, but I just wanted to ask you first.’ I said to her.

‘I see the way you look at my daughter. It’s as obvious as day that you love her with all your heart. You’ve treated her so well and I know that you will take care of her for the rest of your life. She can be just like her dad: stubborn and impatient but I know you can reign her in, which is definitely a good thing. Now although I am the softer one out of both my husband and I, make no mistake that if you do hurt her, you will have hell to pay. I will make sure that you regretted meeting me. But yes, I do consent to you marrying my daughter.’

The shock was back and I had no idea what to say back to her. I didn’t even realise Maxine had returned until she shook me a little.

‘John, are you alright? What happened to you?’

I shook my head to shake myself off.

‘Oh, nothing. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.’

‘Are you sure? You seem slightly dazed.’

 I shook my head in denial and smiled.

‘I’m fine, really.’

One hurdle down, a few more to go and BAM! My target would be reached. It had the potential to take a while but I knew that in the end, it would all be worth it.