His Proposal

His Proposal - 36

Halfway through dinner, Aleysa walks out of the house. She looks at everyone and says, "I'm sorry about earlier."

Veronica rises and walks over to her. She places her arm around Aleysa. "You don't need to apologise, sweetheart. I'll heat your food. Could you take a seat next to me? I want to talk to you."

Aleysa looks at me. I nod. "Okay," she whispers. Aleysa walks over to the vacant seat and sits.

Veronica walks into the house and she heats the food. She leaves the house with the food a couple of minutes later. She sets the food in front of Aleysa.

Aleysa starts eating the food in front of her.

Jai squeezes my hand. "She's getting looked after by my Mom. Trust me, Aleysa is in good hands."

I know he's right, but I can't help but worry about her.

Looking at Jai. "I'm going to ask Aleysa in a couple of weeks where she wants to go the most in the world, and I'm going to make that happen for her."

He smiles. "I'll make that happen if she wants to leave the country. We will be able to use my parents' private jet. We could stay at a condo in Paris, London, or Sydney."

Nate whisper. "I want to go to Paris. I would love to see the Eiffel Tower. I heard it's beautiful."

Jai smiles. "It is. It's one of the most romantic cities in the world." He looks at me. "I would take you to the love bridge with a lock of our own, lock it on the bridge, and throw the keys into the river."

He's so romantic. I want to go to Paris now.

Aleysa looks at Jai. She places her hand on the table.

Jai rises, and he moves over to her. He takes a box off her and then walks over to me. He clears his throat. "Can I have everyone's attention?"

His family turned their attention to him.

He kneels in front of me and pulls out a ring. He looks into my eyes. "I know we haven't been together that long. I want to show you how much you mean to me." He takes the ring out of the box. "This is a promise ring. Someday, I want to marry you. With this ring comes a huge commitment on my part. If you say 'yes,' I know you're ready for more than we are."

I fling my arms around him. "Yes, Jai. I'm ready to commit to you. I have wanted more with you since I met you in that office inside Lusive."

I hear "aw" come from his family.

Jai smiles. "I was sweating bullets the last couple of days with how you would react to this." He looks at Aleysa. "Aleysa helped me pick out the ring."

I rise and move over to my sister. "Thank you for helping him."

She smiles. "If I die, you will have part of me with that ring. Put the ring on a necklace and it will be close to your heart where I will always be."

Tears begin to fall down my face, and I hug her.

She runs her fingers through my hair. "I love you, Chloe. You have done your best without our parents, and I believe they are happy for you."

I feel another set of arms wrap around me, and see Jai behind me. He lifts me. "I'm going to take her inside for a minute. We will be back."

Wrapping my arms behind his neck, I cry into his shirt. "It's hard hearing from Aleysa that she's going to die. She believes it so much. I can't do anything to help her through this." I rush out.

Jai puts me on the table and cups my face. "Chloe, we will get through this together." He pulls the ring out of his pocket. "Before you rushed off to your sister, I was supposed to put this on your ring finger." He slides the ring onto my finger, and he smiles as the ring fits perfectly on my finger.

"How did you know what cut would fit?"

Jai looks at the door. "Aleysa took one of your old rings and we had it sized to fit. If you ask me, she has great taste in jewellery."

During my third year at University, I went home to visit my family. Upon entering the house, I saw Mom and Aleysa sitting at the dining table, going through magazines.

"I like this one."

Mom leaned across the table, and she smiled. "That's a trio princess-cut Diamond ring. It's a great choice for you, princess." I walked over to the kitchen table, and Mom looked at me. "You're finally home. Do you want to look at rings with us?"

I shake my head. "No, thanks. I'm never getting married."

Mom frowned. "Why don't you want to get married?"

I looked at the ground. "I would never have the same love that Dad and you have."

She rose and moved to my side. She places her hand on my face. "You won't ever have what your father and I have..." She smiled. "You will have something greater. There's a man out there looking for a woman like you. You won't find him immediately, but he will walk into your life at the right moment. Or you will crash into him and make him a greater man than he already is. I would be honoured to hand you over to a man who keeps a smile on your face. That will help you get through any problems that arise in your life, and he has to be the type that's not afraid to ask your father for permission to ask for your hand in marriage. I'm old-fashioned with that last one."

I laughed. "Let me look at the rings. I can tell you what sort of ring I want. It has to be simple, yet beautiful at the same time. I don't care if it's cheap. I would love the man who gave me the ring with all my heart."

Dad and Nate walked through the door.

Dad looked at me and said. "Please, don't tell me my daughter is getting married."

Mom, Aleysa and I laughed.

I walked over to Dad. "You don't have to worry about me marrying at this time of my life. I'm busy having fun."

Dad hugged me and whispered, " It's not too much fun, I hope."

Wiping my face, I look at Jai.

He kisses my cheek. "I was talking to you, and you tuned me out. Where did you go?"

I smile. "I remember when I went home for Christmas during my third year at university. Mom and Aleysa were sitting at the kitchen table, looking at magazines, and I remembered the type of ring I wanted."

"What kind of ring did you want?"

I look at my left hand and smile. "It was this ring, but I don't know how Aleysa remembered the type I wanted. She was four at the time."

Aleysa walks into the bathroom. She looks at me. "Mom left me a book with things about you. She wants your fiancé to know things about you." She gives him a letter. "I know you're not engaged, but this is one of four letters she left for the guy you would marry."