Daphne Vs. Daddy
Lisa is patting my hand frantically, while looking repeatedly toward the door. I think she’s trying to comfort me, but quite frankly, she’s just acting weird. It was her idea for all of us to meet together tonight, and I can’t help but wonder why. She’s my oldest and truest friend, but she’s been acting super bizarre lately. I mean, when we got here, she was all bossy about who sat in which chair. I don’t mind going along with her ideas, but … why?
Finally, her shoulders relax a little and she says with a grin, “Well, you won’t be sad once you talk to Dominic.”
I stare at her through watery eyes, her face going in and out of focus. “Wha…what?” I hiccup.
I am a pathetic crier.
“When would I talk to Dominic? Are you telling me to call him? I probably should. I want to. I just don’t know how to say, ‘Oh, and by the way, Dominic, I listened to your insane ex a little too closely and I thought you were ashamed of being around me in public and I thought you thought I was too young for you and wouldn’t actually want someone like me and I thought you would break up with me so why not break up with you first, and hey, I’m a little nuts – want me back?’”
“Yes.”
The world stops for just a moment, as I hear his voice behind me say that single word. That one word I want to hear more than anything else. I'm hallucinating, that’s all there is to it. I can’t possibly be hearing Dominic’s voice behind me. I can’t possibly believe…
Peeking one eye open, I slowly turn in my seat and see…
26
Dominic
This is it. This is do-or-die time. Me, a single rose, a diamond ring, and the guts to lay it all out on the line. I can totally do this.
Just as soon as I can start breathing correctly, I'm totally going to do this.
I grip the rose in my hand, thankful that the floral industry has decided that de-thorning roses is a good plan, because otherwise we could add physical pain to the list of ailments I’m suffering under, along with emotional. Not to mention that handing someone a bloody rose isn’t the most romantic thing I could choose to do today.
With a deep breath, I step into the dimly lit bar. There they are, against the far wall, Daphne’s back facing toward me. Perfect. I can walk up behind her and surprise her. Lisa catches my eye and I swear to God, even from over here, I can tell she’s happy to see me, although she doesn’t do anything overtly welcoming, like wave to me.
I make my way over to the table, trying to keep my knees from knocking together, and can hear Di’s words to her group of friends.
“…want to. I just don’t know how to say, ‘Oh, and by the way, Dominic, I listened to your insane ex a little too closely and I thought you were ashamed of being around me in public and I thought you thought I was too young for you and wouldn’t actually want someone like me and I thought you would break up with me so why not break up with you first, and hey, I’m a little nuts—want me back?’”
“Yes.”
Okay, it probably wasn’t kosher for me to eavesdrop like that, but on the other hand, she was talking about what she’d say to me, if only I were here. And I’m here, right now. And I would give all that I possessed in the world to have her turn around and look at me. For her to give me a chance to fix this.
At the sound of my voice, she freezes in her seat, and I swear to God, the world stops. I’m not breathing and no one is talking and Daphne isn’t moving and I panic. What if she doesn’t want me after all? What if she was just venting to her friends, and doesn’t want me? She’s so gorgeous and smart and fucking hilarious and fun to be around, that she could pick any guy in the wor
ld. I grip my rose harder.
She slowly, ever so slowly turns in her seat and peers up at me, squinting as if she isn’t quite sure I’m real.
“Dominic?” she breathes.
I have to do it. I have to lay it all out on the line.
“Daphne, I love you. I want to be with you, both in the bedroom and out on the town. Yeah, I may be old enough to be your father, and at one point, I was your dad. But I don’t see you as a little kid. I see you as the woman you’ve become. I want you in my life, always.”
With a silent prayer to whatever gods may be listening, I drop to one knee and pull out the ring box from Tiffany’s. I open it and all the girls at the table gasp in unison.
I asked the jeweler at Tiffany’s for the biggest, purest, most gorgeous rock they had, and they came back with a stone so big, I’m not entirely sure Daphne should be let out of the house without an armed guard if she’s wearing it. I think the fucker can be seen from outer space.
But what I want more than anything is for Daphne to see it, and to know that above all else, I want her to be known as my wife. I want the world to know that I’m proud of her, and love her with all my heart.
“Oh Dominic,” Daphne says again, but this time, there’s happy tears shining in her eyes.
“Will you marry me?” I ask, for only the second time in my life. When I’d proposed to her mom, I’d done it while seventeen sheets to the wind. I only vaguely remember it. But this moment … this moment I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
Bringing a fist up to her mouth to hold her tears back, she nodded jerkily. “Yes, Dominic, I’ll marry you,” she says, the happy tears falling down her cheeks. She launches herself off the barstool and straight at me, knocking me backwards to the floor. I stare up at her and she grins down at me. “Yes,” she whispers, and to the clapping and applause of the whole bar, she shows me just how much she wants to be my wife.