Two weeks later, on Sunday, June 8, Crystal studied her reflection in the bathroom mirror at Maitland Pizzeria. She tried out a few smiles, each with varying shades of coy, demure and not too revealing. Satisfied at last, she left the bathroom and walked into the packed dining room. Laughter, shouts and the buzz of conversation filled the air. So did the homey smell of garlic and pizza.
The finale of season four of Will You Marry Me? was about to premiere, and various patrons shouted for Crystal to join their table. “I will soon!” Crystal promised all tables except one—Davina’s. She sat first with her friend and Davina’s husband.
“Dolly?” Davina guessed. “Gene? Katy Perry?”
Crystal laughed. “Not even my mother knows.”
“It must be torture.”
Crystal caught her mother’s eye from across the room and grinned. Rosanna was laughing with Jerry, and they seemed in sync. Maybe they would reconcile. Maybe not. No matter what, Crystal’s mother and father did appear to have built an enduring love and friendship. They would always have each other.
“It’s starting!” Rosanna shrieked, pointing to the main TV. “It’s starting! Shh! Shh!”
The patrons hushed, and the Orlando cityscape swept across the screen. It panned out to the suburbs and finally to Nobles. The same screen capture that ran every week played: Crystal at Playalinda from a shoot taken the first day she landed in Florida. The wind lifted her hair, and she gazed toward the ocean as the sun set. The words WILL YOU MARRY ME? appeared onscreen.
Nate’s voice for the recap: “Last week, the overnight dates brought plenty of surprises.”
Crystal and Van onscreen after dinner. Van’s serious gaze on Crystal.
“I’m falling in love with you,” Van said.
Crystal facing the camera: “When Van said she was falling in love with me…” Crystal fluttered her eyes shut for a second and pressed her hand to her heart. “It made my day. It was exactly what I needed to hear, because I was falling in love with her too.”
The present-day Crystal, at Maitland Pizzeria, grinned in chagrin. She had acting skills. Oh, did she ever. Of course, it helped that she’d had people guiding her, telling her what to do.
“But on our overnight…” Crystal’s jaws clenched. “I saw a side to Van I did not like. Jealous and possessive.”
Van, sobbing and wiping her eyes in the departure limo after being booted: “Crystal blew things out of proportion.”
“Van did not make the final two,” Nate said. “Neither did Dolores.”
Dolores, pale and terrified, on camera. “I tried my best to focus on Crystal. We had fun. We laughed, but I could not get Becky out of my mind.”
Crystal on camera: “Dolores told me she had a girlfriend at home named Becky. They broke up, but their connection was too strong for Dolores to really try with me.” A pause, a sad shake of the head. “I suppose it is what it is, and I’m glad Dolores tried. If she had not come on the show, she might never have realized Becky is the one for her. I’m glad she was honest.”
Nate’s voice as Crystal pondering at a window played across the screen, “This week, Crystal introduces Dolly and Gene to her parents. What will her parents advise her to do? And the moment you have all been waiting for…”
Gene getting out of the limo, walking toward Crystal on the beach.
Dolly doing the same.
The podium, with flowers spilling from it. Crystal nervous and tense.
“Who will Crystal propose to? Find out tonight on Will You Marry Me?”
Commercial break, exasperated shouts.
“Sit here, Crystal!” called a table of longtime customers, and Crystal smiled her goodbyes to Davina.
A small child approached Crystal hesitantly. “Is it true?” he whispered. “The woman you pick is gonna be here?”
“Yes, Chad,” Crystal said, bending down to meet his gaze. “She will be here after the show is over.”
“Why not before?”
“So she does not ruin the surprise.”
“Where is she now?”
“At my apartment.”
The next hour or so centered around the visits with Crystal’s parents. Rosanna, on camera at one point: “I love Dolly. She is refreshing and genuine.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Crystal lights up around her.”
Jerry on camera: “Gene is the one for my daughter. She’s…” He paused. “Gene is deep and weird and complicated.”
Rosanna and Jerry dispensing advice.
Rosanna: “Who do you see at your side in five years? In ten years?” Waiting. “Did one of the women appear?” Rosanna asked gently.
“Yes.”
“Then that’s who you ask.”
Crystal’s grim smile.
The subsequent dinner dates, the final goodbyes, final kisses.
“See you soon,” Crystal told each woman.
Crystal choosing rings, getting dressed, on-camera interviews peppered throughout. The morning of the proposal, Crystal at the cottage near Playalinda, obviously on the verge of tears: “I cannot propose, Nate. I have thought hard about it, and I do not have a long-term future with either woman.”
Crystal on camera: “I hate it, but I must do what is right for me. I love both Dolly and Gene, but I cannot be with them. I need a feeling that I just do not have.”
Sad, eerie, wailing music.
Nate in front of the Playalinda cottage: “Crystal does not plan to propose. Will there be a happy ending this season?”
Commercial break, rushed but hesitant whispers among the customers. Rosanna, frowning, led Crystal into the kitchen.
“Crystal, are you engaged?”
Crystal smiled mysteriously. “Wait and watch, Mom.”
“You are. You must be. You would be crying and upset otherwise. Hiding in your apartment.”
Crystal shrugged. “Possibly.”
When the program resumed, Dolly filled the screen. She sat in the limo and breathed in and out. “I have never been more anxious in my life,” she confessed to the camera. “Crystal is the woman for me, but I’m scared she won’t pick me. I’m regretting a few things. I should have been bolder on the overnight. More passionate. I see her and Gene together, and…” Dolly winced. “I don’t know. I’m not sure Crystal and I have what she and Gene have.”
Gene in a plush purple bathrobe, holding up the dress she would wear later that day. Gene styling her hair, doing her makeup and so on. The show gave no hint of the efficient, furious styling crew behind the scenes.
Ten minutes later in show time, Crystal took Dolly’s hands into hers.
Crystal, at the pizzeria, held her breath, and her chest clenched. One of the most terrible moments of her life was about to happen. She sat with her parents, with one chair left open for the special guest who would join them soon.
Sweet words from Crystal to Dolly on the podium. Then Crystal on-camera: “I changed my mind. I decided to propose.”
A shriek from Rosanna. She grabbed Crystal’s arm. “Dolly! Congratulations!”
Jerry beamed. “Congratulations, baby.”
Crystal popping the ring box open, a zooming shot of the ring, murmurs of approval from the pizzeria customers, a lingering close-up of Crystal’s face as she studied the ring. Worry, anxiety and unreadable emotions flickered in her expression.
The terrible, monstrous, horribleness that followed, mixed with a lot of wailing, both from Dolly in the limo and Crystal on the beach.
“I can’t excuse what happened,” said a sniffling Crystal. “When I saw her, I wanted to marry her. Then I changed my mind again.” Sob, sob. “Dolly is the last person to deserve this.”
Later, when things had calmed a little, Nate asked the big question: “Does this change your plans for Gene?”
A tear-stained Crystal: “I am not proposing. I will not be engaged.”
Commercial break.
**
Gene in the limo when the show resumed: “I want Crystal to propose to me. I do. We would be happy together. We can have it all, but I am not sure she is in that place emotionally.” Gene wrung her hands. “I got to know Crystal in season two. It was evident she was guarded. Walls up high. The intention of season four was to help tear them down, but I am not sure we succeeded. Her walls may have just been too tough to penetrate, but I love her, very much.”
Black screen for a split-second. LOS ANGELES, appeared the text at the bottom of the screen with the L.A. cityscape. A shot of Rainbow World headquarters and a solemn Doug Whitman in his office. “My name is Doug Whitman,” he said. “I’m the president of development for Rainbow World. Thank you for joining us for this program tonight. When Gene Robertson phoned me and confessed she had fallen in love with Crystal Maitland, I was astounded. She and I talked for hours. We had heart to hearts. We cried, we shared. When she, at last, broached the subject of appearing on the show, I was flabbergasted. It could not happen. At heart, though, I am always a sucker for a good love story, and Gene is valued and cherished to me. She would not ask for this unless it was important. I allowed Gene onto the show against my better judgment. What resulted is one of the best love stories to unfold on all of television—all the better because it cannot, it will not be repeated. This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime events. Something like this will never happen again, ladies and gentlemen. Please enjoy.”
Back to Florida. Nate stood in front of the Playalinda cottage. “Crystal has said she will not propose. Can she set aside her fears and take the biggest leap of her life? Will she trust in love?”
Inside, Nate asked Crystal: “Who popped up in your mind when your mother asked who you see at your side in five and ten years? No one?”
“Gene,” Crystal said. “Gene did.”
Crystal sat in the cottage and watched a TV on which played footage of Gene and Crystal from season two, laughing, the public-service-announcements date. Footage from season four, at Nellie and Amy’s Pizza, Crystal and Gene’s various kisses.
Crystal on camera: “I’m scared. I’m terrified, but Gene is the love of my life.” Huge, uneven grin. “I realize that now. I have to try. Love is everything. I have been scared to let go, to just…to just trust. I must. I can’t let Gene get away.”
Crystal at the podium, Gene walking up to her. By this point, they were already engaged, but few people would ever know that.
Crystal took Gene’s hands into hers. Oh, she hated having to remove her ring less than an hour after putting it on. At the same time, she loved the bizarreness of her and Gene proposing to each other, even if the first one would never become public. Doug Whitman had been furious that Gene proposed. She could not come onto the show and take over. Crystal was the lead! The decision to propose was hers, or should appear to be hers. The story arc was hers. Gene proposing demolished all that. It did not fit in with the storyline so far and would be out of place. Plus, viewers wanted a sweet, predictable resolution to Crystal’s fears. Some reshooting was involved. Didn’t matter. Gene had finally come to her senses, and Crystal loved her.
“Gene,” Crystal said softly onscreen, “when I met you nearly a year ago, I knew you were a woman to be admired and reckoned with. You are fearless and super smart. What I did not know then, but know now, is that you have a gorgeous, tremendous heart as well. When I woke up this morning, I thought of you. The way you kiss me, the way you make me feel safe, the way you look into my eyes. We were both people too scared to trust in others, too scared to love. We have changed, but I have been scared all day. I have been too scared to let go of my walls and my fears. Holding back is easy. Risks are difficult. They are hard as hell. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but no matter what happens, this will not be one.” Crystal flashed a nervous but eager grin. “I love you, Gene Robertson.”
Gene wobbled a fearful smile in reply. It struck ice in Crystal’s heart because she did not seem to be acting. By no means did Crystal take a “yes” for granted. Gene could change her mind. She could have thought: “Oh my gosh, what have I done? I’m engaged, and I can’t be! No, no. I feel trapped, and I already hate Crystal.”
Crystal got on one knee and drew the ring box from her pocket. She popped the lid open so cameras could zoom onto the prominent NEIL BRYCE JEWELERS wording inside the box. Deep breath. “Gene Robertson, will you make me the luckiest woman on Earth and marry me?”
Hushed atmosphere in Maitland Pizzeria. Gene stared at Crystal for a prolonged, agonizing second. Then Gene’s face broke into a grin. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I will marry you.”
A shriek from Rosanna, and she leaped to Crystal to hug her. So did everyone in the dining room. At last, Crystal waded her way through the throngs of well-wishers to the front door of the pizzeria. She took out the ring that had been in her pocket and put it back on. She opened the door, stepped into Gene’s arms and kissed the woman who would be her wife.
.
**
Later that night, Crystal and Gene tumbled back into Crystal’s apartment. Gene pressed Crystal up against a wall and kissed her. They were leaving early in the morning for a flight to North Carolina, where Gene would introduce Crystal to her children and her parents, complete the circle. A few weeks after that, Crystal would leave for London, her first stop as the new host of Rainbow Travels. She would be gone two weeks at a time, and then home two weeks at a time, for five months. Gene would start work on Hip Joiners, which would be shot in Chicago for now. She would accompany Crystal on a few stops on her tour and help out in Maitland Pizzeria—even if Crystal would not be around. Crystal planned to come home to stay after Rainbow Travels ended, but Gene would not be surprised if she signed on to do other projects. She really could be a star, and Gene would not get in her way. She hoped for Crystal to make her acting debut on Hip Joiners as the demure maid who takes on a much more prominent role as the seasons evolve. Whatever happened, they would find a way to be together. They would find a way to keep Maitland Pizzeria going. It would stay in the family.
But for now, the world was theirs, and Crystal whispered: “I love you, you crazy woman.”
“I love you too.”
“Can we practice for tomorrow, when we become members of the Mile High Club?”
Gene laughed. “Lead the way.”
THE END