I'm Gonna Marry Her Anyway

Can I Have Your Daughter for the Rest of my Life?

Rey was pacing.

She knew it was not ladylike to pace, her old foster mother, Maz, told her that before she passed away when Rey was twelve. But Rey did not care.

Ben was downstairs, calmly talking with Plutt about their engagement and asking for his permission, even if it was just a formality.

Their engagement.

It was still brand new to her. Rey could not believe that she was an engaged woman, she was so lucky. Engaged, and to Ben Solo, nonetheless.

He proposed to her under the old willow tree last night, where the two of them had done their homework together all throughout high school, their secret spot. The willow tree overlooked an old pond, and Ben used it to his advantage. After the two of them went out to get ice cream, they walked hand in hand all the way to the tree. Rey was wearing a yellow sundress with daisies, a rare sight for Ben. He looked at her face, noticing a bit of chocolate ice cream on her cheek. He stopped in his tracks, and promptly kissed her, licking away the ice cream from her face. Rey giggled up at him, and an idea sparked in his head. The engagement ring was burning a hole in his back pocket, and despite knowing that he was going to propose that night, he had no plan of how to actually do it. Now he had an idea. He ran past Rey, the willow tree not far away, and shouted back at her.

"Rey! I think I see a duck! I'm gonna go and see if I can catch it!"

"A duck!?" Rey shrieked. She knew that Han had taught Ben to catch birds, frogs and such things when he was younger, but she thought that he had outgrown his childhood hobbies long ago. Clearly she was wrong. "Ben are you crazy!?"

She ran towards where he was running, but she could not see him anymore, for the tree had shielded him from her vision. She looked around herself, but she could not see him, and for a second, she grew concerned.

"Looking for me?" Ben asked suddenly.

Ben had seen many joys in his life, but he was not prepared for how her face lit up and lost all it's tension when she turned around and saw him. Her mouth fell open in a gasp when she glanced down and saw the tiny velvet box in his hand. He opened the box, and revealed to her a golden band with a small diamond.

"Rey, I know it's only been a year, but -"

She cut him off by pressing her mouth to his. When she broke the kiss, she kept her mouth centimetres away from his and whispered.

"Shut up, nerd. Of course I'll marry you."

He chuckled and kissed her again before taking her left hand in his and slipping the ring on her finger. He glanced back up at her and noticed that her overjoyed expression had faltered.

"Ben." she muttered, under her breath. "How are we going to tell Plutt?"

"Don't you worry about that sweetheart, I'll find a way."

Past Rey might have accepted that answer, but present Rey was panicking. After Ben had walked her home, she ran up to her bedroom and grabbed an old necklace, so that she could use its chain to tie the ring around her neck. The ring was tucked under her shirt since she came home, and all she wanted to do was to wear it out in the open, on her ring finger. She walked over to her bedroom door, toying with the necklace in her hands, and pressed her head against the door and listened. She did not understand much of it, but she was absolutely sure that Ben and Plutt were arguing.

The volume of their voices grew louder and louder, and she found that she could hear them now without having to put her head to the door. She heard more shouting, and then the slamming of the front door.

That could only mean one thing.

Ben had failed.

She did not have to wait long to experience Plutt's reaction. He knocked on Rey's bedroom door once before barging in.

"A secret engagement! I can't believe you. We will have none of that in this house. Get dressed, we have guests coming for supper. Some family friends owe me a favour."

His tone was clipped and overly forced, which meant that whoever was coming over for supper was not going to bring good news for Rey.