The next morning, Joshua’s cowbell rang before the rising of the sun. When she had given him the thing to summon her, she’d attached rules. One of said rules had been not to wake her before dawn. Obviously, he’d forgotten that one.
The ringing continued. Ariel flipped over on her side and groaned. Her eyes popped opened, what if there was an emergency? She grabbed her robe, donned it quickly, and raced down the stairs. She was headed to the spare room but changed directions when she heard the sound of the bell coming from the den.
She stepped to the door and did a gasp of surprise. Twirling around, she noticed that the whole room was lit with twinkling lights. Joshua sat on the couch grinning from ear to ear. In his hand he held a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates.
Ariel was rooted to her spot. Unsure of what she should do now, she watched as Joshua approached her.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” He said, grinning and handing her the box of candy.
She bent down and kissed his forehead. “Thank you. But I didn’t get you anything.”
“Oh, that’s okay.”
Approaching the subject gingerly, she said, “Hmm…you rang the bell. Was there something else that you need?”
“Nope. I don’t need anything.”
“Okay. Well, I’m sure this could have waited until the morning. But it does look like you went to a lot of trouble. So, thank you. Maybe we should unplug these lights now and get you back into the bed?”
She heard Caleb clearing his throat. How had she missed him? In the middle of the room, Caleb was on bended knee. In one hand was a single red rose, and in the other was a small square box. When he flipped the lid on the black velvet box exposing the contents, Ariel gasped. Inside the box sparkled a marquis cut diamond ring.
Ariel’s hands flew to her mouth.
Caleb spoke, “Will you marry me?”
Ariel was speechless. Joshua couldn’t stand it and added, “Ariel, we want to give you the greatest gift of all. A family. That is, if you’ll have us?”
Tears burned behind her lids. Did he mean it? One look at his twinkling eyes told her he did. “Yes, yes, yes!”
She ran and hugged them and Caleb slipped the ring on her finger.
She held her hand out and watched the diamond catch the myriad of light in the room.
It was a perfect fit.