You Are On My Mind

The Story Of Us

Jamie looked down at his food, contemplating whether or not to ask the question that had been burning in his mind for weeks now. "Danny," he bit back the next words, making his brother's name sound more fierce than intended.
"What?" He looked up from the mashed potatoes.
"Um..."
"Is there something wrong, Jamie?" Henry picked up on his grandson's body language. He knew the young cop wanted to ask a question, but was hesitant for some reason.
"No, I just had a question. It's kinda stupid."
"It won't be," Linda jumped in, quick to give everyone a boost of self esteem. Besides, she also had a strong bond with Jamie. He was like the brother she never had.
"Well, a guy in my precinct wants to ask his girlfriend to marry him." He lied, hoping no one would notice. "And I was just wondering... how you proposed to Linda." The last half of that sentence came out prouder. He noticed Linda's surprised smile, and his brother's fond one.
"It wasn't easy, Lemme Tell ya..."
************
~Winter, 1993~
Joe shook his as he heard a gaggle of giggles come from his sister's room. He secretly loved having his brother's girlfriend bunk down in the house. She was with them more than she was with her own family.
"No!" Linda laughed as she applied mascara to her lashes.
"I'm serious!" Erin giggled, pulling a dark green sweater over her head. "The whole thing!" She walked to the door and opened it, "see ya downstairs."
Linda smiled in acknowledgement, fishing her lipstick tube out of her bag. She was glad the Reagans had no problem with her hanging around their house like a hobo. Most days, she just dropped by, and they were always ready for her. It was like they expected her to come to the familiarity and steal the oldest son's clothes.
"Linda!" Danny leaned on the door frame with both arms, almost as if he was keeping himself from falling.
"Hi, Danny." She smiled widely at her boyfriend.
"Let's go outside, huh?"
Linda looked over her shoulder, out the window. "Danny, it's nine am and it's snowing."
"Exactly! Snow!"
Her smile got bigger, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. "Say we do go out in the snow. Where would we go?"
"To the coffee shop. I wanna treat you."
Why was she blushing so damn hard? "Alright. I assume Frosty wants to walk?" She raised an eyebrow cheekily.
"Yes, Frosty wants to walk." He have her puppy dog eyes.
"Deal."
*************
"So you proposed at the café?" Nicky interrupted, always the most interested in her Aunt and uncle's love history.
"Not exactly," Linda smiled at the memory, carrying on with the story.
*************
"Isn't it great?" Danny beamed as they walked the fourteen minute walk.
"What? The cold? The snow? The after math of New Years?" It was only five days into January. Linda was ecstatic that Danny made it home for Christmas and New Years. He was going back to Iraq in two days.
"And you."
"Danny...." she tried to hide her smile and blush. She blushed even more when he kissed her cheek.
Once settled in the cozy café, Danny helped Linda with her coat. He knew she appreciated the gestures, as she was always griping about human decency leaving the world. She sometimes referred to him as 'my gentleman', which he secretly loved.
By now, the young adults knew their coffee orders by heart. Neither of them noticed they had begun ordering for each other at restaurants. "He'll have a medium straight black coffee."
"And she'll have a medium coffee with milk and three sugars."
"Would you like the cream brought to the table?" The nice waitress asked.
"Yes please. Thank you."
Their drinks and breakfast Pastries came in a few minutes; Danny watched as Linda shook the sugar packets and poured them into the coffee one by one. He was lost in her beauty; her blonde hair was kinky from braiding it the day before. Her sweater was a soft titled neck, a pattern of red, white, orange, and burgundy adorned the sweater to about her belly button, while the rest was simply red.
Linda suddenly choked on her coffee. "Danny.... did you just ask me to marry you?"
"What? No- no I didn't." Crap. Shit. Damn. Crap crap crap. "Was that out loud? Oh, damn." He put his head in his hand, embarrassed he had voiced that thought.
"Yes."
"What?"
"Yes. But I expect one where you mean to ask me."
************
"What happened then?" Jamie didn't know that part of the story; the family only knew the part where Danny had asked Linda properly.
"We walked some more, came home, and then I asked her properly. I was still nervous even though I knew she knew it was coming," Danny continued the story.
**********
Linda fluffed the pillow as she stood in her winter nightgown. It was a pink button-up night shirt that went down to her knees. She pulled the blankets back, and saw a small, velvet box. Her breath hitched as she picked it up and turned around.
Danny stood behind her smiling. He grabbed the box and got down on one knee. "Linda, I didn't realize how much I loved you until I left. I think about you constantly; you're beautiful inside and out, even though you don't think so." He saw her blush a little ashamed. "I don't want to go back to that hell hole without making a commitment.... Linda Rose O'Shea, I love you with all I am and then some. Will you make my life complete and marry me?"
Linda nodded, laughing happily. "Yes. Yes! I'll marry you. Gosh, I'll marry you!" She dropped to her knees and took his face in her hands, kissing him in a way her mother would not approve.
**************
"I always love that story," Nicky smiled.
"So do I." Linda winked at her niece, knowing full well the young lady wanted what she and Danny had.
"Out of curiosity, why do you ask?" Danny cocked his head towards his brother.
"I told you. A guy at the precinct is going to propose, and I was just curious."
"Mhmm," Erin, Linda, and Danny answered in agreement.