Silver Lining

32. Rings

22 days after

Me and Theo woke up early on Christmas morning, and got ready to go to my parents house. We were spending the first half of the day at my parents house, and then we were driving down the Peninsula to have the second half of the day at Theo's parents place. I was wearing a lacy cream dress with no back, and I got Theo to braid my hair for me. I taught him how to French braid once, because it isn't easy doing it on yourself! Before we left, Theo and I exchanged gifts. I got him the new FitBit, and also the Bleu cologne by Chanel. He loved the Fitbit, Matt has one and when he showed Theo, Theo thought it was the coolest.

Theo handed me a folded up piece of paper with a big smile. "Ooh, what is it?" I asked excitedly.

He shrugged. "I guess you'll have to open it and see."

I unfolded the paper, and read what was written on it. In Theo's handwriting were the words 'an overweight male'. "What?"

Theo grinned. "It's a clue. You have to find an overweight male."

I laughed. "Is it Santa?"

He shrugged again. "I'm not giving you any help."

I poked his tummy. "I'm going to go find Santa." I stood up, and went around the house, searching for any Christmas decorations concerning Santa. We had two, a glass Santa plate from Theo's parent (their obsession with glass ever present), which had nothing suspicious on it, and a Romero Britto style Santa statue that was on the dining table, but that seemed to be normal as well. "Hmm, an overweight male...." I said out loud, and then walked all over the apartment, looking for anything that could be overweight male. When I walked into the living room, I leaped onto the Fatboy which was my favourite seat. Well, favourite bean bag. I looked around the living room. Theo was standing in the entrance to the living room, laughing. 'What's so funny?" I asked him, and he just shook his head, laughing. I looked around the living room so- "Oh! Overweight male, it's the Fatboy, isn't it?" I asked with a grin and Theo nodded. I jumped up, and dragged the Fatboy away from the wall. When the Fatboy was standing, it was the same height as me, so there was no way I could lift it. Underneath it was another folded piece of paper, and I picked it up and read it out loud. "How to cook. I know! Cookbooks!"

"You got that one quickly!" Theo told me.

We went into the kitchen and I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see the shelf above the stove that we kept the cookbooks and a couple of other things on. "Curse my lack of height," I said, and Theo came over and lifted me up. "Found it!" I told him, grabbing the piece of paper, and he put me down. I unfolded it, and it said 'Not a good place to sleep.'

I looked in the bathrooms, and other places I could think of that might not be a good place to sleep.

"Please give me a clue?" I asked after fifteen minutes, giving Theo puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. Where should someone sleep, but they don't?"

I knitted my eyebrows together in thought, and then my face lit up. "Ashers dog bed!" I excitedly ran into the bedroom. He really should sleep on his own bed, but he likes our bed. So we let him sleep in ours.
There was a small black jewellery box sitting on top of Asher's bed. I picked it up, and smiled at Theo. "What's in it?" I asked, but I was pretty sure I knew. I had pointed out a pair of earrings shaped like parrots the other day in the mall, and then when we got to the car, he said for me to wait in the car and he'll be back in ten minutes.

"I don't know," he said with a smile. "You'll have to open it, won't you?"

I grinned and lifted the lid of the box. Inside it was the most gorgeous ring I've ever seen.

"It's a promise ring," Theo said. "It's a promise to love you, and to always be honest to you, and to keep you safe and to make you the happiest person in the world. It's a promise for all of those things and so much more, because I love you, Madison Shaw."

I was crying because it was so sweet. "Aww, don't cry bub," he told me.

"But you're so perfect," I told him and he laughed.

"Nobody's perfect," he said, and before I could tell him that he was, he kissed me.

***

Since we were having Christmas lunch at Theo's parents place, Elizabeth and Steve, my parents, insisted on doing a big Christmas breakfast of eggs benedict.

"Christmas crackers at breakfast?" Both me and Theo asked when we saw the table.

"Yes, because we can't miss out on jokes," Steve said.

Elizabeth lovingly rolled her eyes at him. "It was his idea, not mine."

"I'm cool with more bad jokes!" I said, and Theo laughed.

My parents loved the ring Theo had gotten me; and I did too. It was a thin silver band that had been tied in a knot, like a pretzel, at the front, and had diamonds lined up on the band. It was beautiful.

Elizabeth even had a tear in her eye. "See? Elizabeth is crying. I told you that you're cute," I told Theo.

***

Theo's parents house was a lot busier than my parents. There was Theo's grandmother, Quinn was there, Theo's Auntie and her husband and three kids, Theo's uncle and his wife and their little baby, and of course Asher. Asher had a great time running around the garden with all the kids, they loved him.
We sat down to have lunch/dinner at four o'clock. There was a huge turkey, which Theo's mum had cut a small piece of meat off to put in a bowl and give to Asher, which Asher loved. His tail wagged so much. All of the food was amazing, but the best part was the pavlova that Theo's Aunt had made. Cooking obviously runs in the family, because it was amazing. She had put passion fruit on the top, and the way that the sour passion fruit and the sweet cream worked together was ace.

After lunch we all exchanged gifts. Theo's parents got us a little giraffe statue made of glass. "We should put it in the office!" I told Theo. "It would match so well." It was the perfect colours for the office. It was clear glass, with wisps of cream and green and black.

Once Theo and I got home at about eight o'clock, we did an outside movie in the park. We hung a white bed sheet up on the side of a fence, a movie projector, and a pile of blankets and cushions to sit on. We decided to watch Elf, because we have to watch Elf at least once each Christmas, and we haven't yet.