Save Your Heart

After the reception, Derek and I went back to his place a little after midnight. I placed my purse and jacket on a nearby chair and headed for the freezer.

“Sit down. I’m getting you some ice for your hand.” I told Derek as I opened the freezer door. I scooped up a handful of ice, grabbed a washcloth from the kitchen counter, and wrapped it around the ice. Derek held out his hand when I walked over to him; it was more red than before and it was starting to get puffy.

“Thank you for tonight.” I said, gently holding the ice on his knuckles, sitting next to him on his couch.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked softly. I could tell he was exhausted by the few cracks in his voice. Whenever he was tired, his voice got raspy and low.

“I’m just fine. It’s you I’m worried about, sweetie.”

He brushed a stray hair away from my face. “Did I tell you how beautiful you looked tonight?”

I looked at him and smiled. He was smiling back at me, his blue green eyes glistening in the dark as the moonlight from the window hit them.

He lifted my hand and the ice off of his hand and got up from his seat. He gestured for me to stay in the kitchen before he walked into his bedroom. I watched the empty doorway as I heard him looking through things in there. A few minutes later, he walked out of his bedroom with his hands in his pockets.

I chuckled. “What are you doing?”

He sat down on the coffee table in front of me and took both of my hands in his. My heart started to race. He stared down at my hands as he rubbed the tops of them with his thumbs. “Rylin...Oh God...” My eyes widened, I had a feeling I knew what this was all about. A lumped was growing in my throat. Derek continued to rub my hands nervously. “Rylin, from the moment I met you, I knew I wanted you to be in my life forever. When you weren’t in my life for all that time, I was lost without you. It was if a part of me was missing. I don’t want that to ever happen again.” He looked up at me; a small smile was on his face and his eyes looked like they were tearing up. I couldn’t believe what was coming out his mouth. “I want you to be the only girl that I love for the rest of my life. I want to start everyday with you and I want to end everyday with you. I just want you.” A tear fell down his cheek. “I promise to make you smile all the time. I promise to sing to you when you can’t sleep. I promise to make you happy.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black box. I clapped my hand to my mouth and gasped. I had a feeling this was coming, but it didn’t feel real until I saw that box. He opened it revealing a beautiful, silver band with a princess cut diamond in the middle. “I know this is cliche knowing where we just came back from, but I’ve been wanting to ask you since before we broke up. I couldn’t wait any longer. So, baby, will you...marry me?”

The corners of my mouth lifted from ear to ear. My eyes were watering. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” I cheered. “Of course!” I couldn’t contain my excitement, I clapped and bounced up and down on the couch.

Derek started to laugh as he took my hand and slid the ring on my ring finger. He got up from the table and leaned over to me. “I adore you.” He said and gave me a soft kiss. We both started to smile during the kiss, so we departed. “You are going to be the most beautiful bride.” I wrapped my arms around his neck pulling him closer to me, so our lips crashed together again.