He holds me tight for what seems like hours. I get an idea in my head, but I know I need to approach Declan about it delicately.
“Declan, I have an idea and I want you to hear me out before you say no. The people that work for my dad’s company are experts at this type of thing. He employs the best investigators in the South- possibly the country. Why don’t we talk to one of them confidentially and see what they can find out.”
“No way, I’ll never be able to
look at your father again if he finds out.”
“What if we work with Finn? Finn is fully trained and he knows his shit. He not only does the security, but he also does hacking and tracing as well. He’ll help us and keep it a secret. As long as you and I are not directly threatened, he won’t have to tell my dad.”
“FUUUUCCKKKKK!” He throws the remote across the room. “Those guys already know you’re too good for me and I’m going to hand deliver the evidence to Finn of all people? I don’t like your idea.”
“But you didn’t say no.” I point out. He knows I’m right, but won’t admit it.
“I didn’t say yes either. Give me tonight to think about it, okay?”
“Okay, sweetheart, you’ve got tonight. We’ll discuss in the morning.”
He lays back and throws a pillow over his face. I can’t help but feel relieved that I wasn’t on that video. The images of him are seared into my brain, but I feel worse for him. An image of his face from one of the slow shots pops into my head. I can tell that he didn’t feel anything for her. There was no emotion on his face. No compassion. No interest. At one point, one of the girls had tried to kiss him and he turned her away, plowing into her from behind, not wanting to see her face.
“Honey?” I say sweetly in his ear.
“Hmmm?”
“I have an idea to get our minds off this.”
“What?”
“Let’s pour some wine and call our parents to tell them our big news. I think we should call your dad first since my mom will probably keep us on the phone for the rest of the day.”
He lifts his head and grins at me, “Reason one million, I love the shit out of you. You can make the most fucked up situations better.”
“Come on.” I reach for him. “Let’s get started.”
I lead him to the kitchen and he opens the wine and I get the glasses. We call David on speakerphone first. He greets us warmly with happiness in his voice. Declan tells him I said yes to marrying him. David congratulates us and asks me if I was surprised. Apparently, when I walked in on them talking on Christmas, Declan had just finished telling his family he had bought a ring for me. That explains why Abbi and Ella wouldn’t look at me; they would have given it away. We ask him not to say anything to anyone for now because we want to tell everyone together. Before hanging up, we make plans to visit him next week.
“That wasn’t so bad. I was expecting him to tell us we’re too young or something.” I tell Declan.
“Are you kidding? He’s thrilled. I’m almost twenty-six. And before you, I had given everyone the impression that I wasn’t going to settle down, ever. Let’s just hope your parents feel the same way. Your dad kinda asked me to wait a while, but your mom was encouraging. I never had the chance to speak to Robbie.”
“Well, let’s find out what he thinks.”
I dial my mom. When she answers, I put her on speakerphone too.
“Hey, Mama, you’re on speaker with Declan and me.”
“Hey, guys, what’s up? Are you two safe with all this snow?” She carries on with small talk for about five minutes. Then I can’t take it any longer.
“Mama, I have some news. Well actually, we have some news; we got engaged!”
“Oh shit, this is great! JAMES, COME HERE NOW! RAVEN AND DECLAN ARE ON THE PHONE!”
My dad’s voice comes through the speaker and I swallow. Declan grabs my hand and tells him, “James, she said yes.”
My dad clears his throat a few times and I hear a barely audible sniff.
“Son, I thought you were going to wait a while, but nonetheless, congratulations.” He says gruffly, but I know he’s happy for me.
“I tried to wait, sir. But when we were at my dad’s and Raven gave me her gift, it just felt like the right time.”