Guides for the Pre-Engagement Life

"Author Note: This Chapter is ALL Michael Phelps's point of view and still in first person.
I won't tell you why it's all in his perspective because it'll make a spoiler."

******

After my visit with Mom last week, Roxanne had been on my case about going to surprise her Mom and Dad, and it wasn't that I didn't want to, but I was worried about the fact that she was pregnant and going on flights. However, I admit, I was a bit worried when it came to her Dad, because he had that vibe where if you screwed up, you're screwed for life.
I didn't want that. I wanted to marry his daughter and spend the rest of my life with her.
I was probably just afraid of his stern opinion. I didn't grow up with a Father, so the only stern figure was both my Mom and Bob, but it wasn't the same as when it came to facing Roxanne's Dad, he was scary. Roxanne was 14 weeks pregnant when I was able to get out of training and other commitments to fulfil her wish to tell her Parents the big news, and since she had been showing a bit of a bump, she complained that she didn't want to spoil the news of the pregnancy when they see her with a bump.
But she was over the morning vomiting, constant complaint of a headache, getting tired all the time, and my favourite, she was no longer moody.

When the time came that we were headed to Chicago to visit Maria, Roxanne was more excited because she planned a little prank on both her Parents, and the one for her Mom was the one she least anticipated as she considered her Mom to be the easier one to prank out of the two. The moment we arrived at the doorsteps of her Mom and Step-Father's home, her Older Brother, Ralph, had opened the door, and he, also an ex-military man, had a strict opinion on me. He was protective of Roxanne, and he made that clear as day.
"Ralph!" Roxanne yelped as she wrapped her arms around her Brother, dropping the luggage on the way. She and Ralph hadn't seen each other in a while since he had chosen to spend most of his retired time in Vancouver with his girlfriend, and she constantly spoke highly of her Older Brother. "When did you fly in?"
"Oh, just a couple of days back, since I heard my Baby Sis was headed here for a few days," He spoke, his voice was so deep that it sent shivers up my spine. His attention turned to me the moment the siblings parted and he reached out to shake my hand. "Hey there, Michael, long time, no see. How's the swimming?"
"It's been good, just taking two weeks off to spend time with Anne before I'm back to business," I replied as I grasped a hold of his hand and gave a firm shake. He nodded and beckoned us inside before he called for their Mom and their Step-Father to come greet us, which we had to wait a couple of minutes before they peeked out of the kitchen. Maria gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and Nick shook my hand and a tap on the shoulder, the two had been married for nearly a year, well, a couple more months and they've been married for a year.
"So, my dears, you've arrived just in time for dinner!" Maria clapped her hands together and gestured for the dining room. "But first, Ricky's bedroom is the one to the right," She said as she pointed her finger about in her explanation. I nodded and lifted the luggage, but Ralph grabbed Roxanne's bags and muttered that he'd help me.
It got me worried.
Walking up the stairs, Ralph and I had that awkward vibe. We were in talking terms and were okay and everything, but that was one of those odd moments where you knew that something was going to happen. I wasn't sure what Ralph wanted, but I knew he was going to say something to me that I wouldn't know how to deal with. When we entered their youngest sibling's room, my girlfriend's Older Brother put down the bags to the side and quickly turned to me as though he was afraid I would run off before he had a say in anything. I gulped and slightly jumped when he did.
"Michael," He said my name in a cool, yet intimidating manner. "Anne loves you, and I've never seen her this way before. I mean, she had that ass of a boyfriend during High School, but I never met him, I was in the army. While you," He paused and waved his finger towards me. "You, Michael, she loves a heck of a lot, and I can see it. She's all love struck and she seemed to be interested to going further with you when we talked last week. So treat her right, okay?" He suddenly smiled, which made me confused. "I mean, I have nothing against you, Michael, it's just, I love my Sister too, and I've only got one, so I'm quite protective of her since she's easily hurt. I actually prefer you over that ass that left her for someone else. Just know that whatever you're going to do about this whole proposing thing, then go for it, because I know that Mom can't wait for it. But mine and Mom's opinions are only as strong enough to vie for you since Dad's is the one that determines everything that goes on, so I guess, good luck with asking him for that blessing you asked me about."

I contacted Ralph last week too. I asked him how to get through their Dad since I wanted his blessing to propose to his daughter, and even Ralph wasn't sure on how to crack through his Dad's strongest opinion. At least Ralph is okay with me proposing to his Sister, right? I suppose the next one to get was Roxanne's Mom.
I needed all their blessing before I could go on one knee and finally propose to Roxanne.
I'd been dying to propose to her since she moved in, but she's managed to ruin the moment by asking me about it and I had to change the subject and revert to another plan because she was always suspicious with whatever I was up to, and when I wanted to propose, we were delayed by all the things that happened between us. I didn't want to go on one bended knee just to keep us together. I wanted to do that when we were certain that we wouldn't have any more doubts and problems. I also took the ring with me to Irvine during the Championships so I'd propose to her when she turned up at the Aquatic Centre, but that moment was overtaken by the excitement of her pregnancy.
Then she randomly told me that her Parents were old-fashioned, which meant I had to ask their permission, but I was going to anyway!

After Dinner, Roxanne gave her Mom a wrapped up box with a note that said, "Don't forget to say cheese!", which was a sneaky way to say that once her Mom opened that box, she would snap a picture of the reaction as well as the reaction of her Older Brother and Step-Father. I stood beside Roxanne throughout the whole time as her Mom gave a confused look at the note and passed it to Ralph. She then tugged on the ribbon which loosened the wrapper and revealed the box, and it wasn't long before she ripped open the box and found a picture of the 14 week old ultrasound photo of our baby.
Maria dropped it. She covered her mouth and began to cry.
Ralph peeked and narrowed his eyes. There was a wide smile on his face.
Nick was the last to see, and when he did, he turned to us and said, "Oh my God."
On cue, Roxanne took the pictures.
I smiled as Maria scurried over to us and pulled us into a hug. She then gave both us a kiss on the cheek before she placed both her hands on the side of my face as her eyes watered while staring into mine, and there was a smile on her face as she wept. "Congratulations!" She sobbed as she gave me a peck on the cheek once more. "Oh my God, when I heard that you won't be able to conceive properly after the operation, I cried," She continued on as she tightly embraced her daughter.
I took the camera from Roxanne and took a photo.
"Oh, Mom," Roxanne mumbled as she parted from her Mom.
"How many weeks has it been, Anne?" Ralph asked while waving the photo about.
"14," She managed to reply before her Mom unexpectedly lifted her loose black shirt to show off her stomach and cried even more. The small bump was there. She's tried so hard to make it less obvious, but it started to poke out more each day.
I reached into my pocket for my phone and turned on a video. "Here," I called for Maria and turned the phone around to show the ultrasound video that I began collecting. They all gathered near me and focused on the one minute video of the baby that twitched its little fingers and toes around, and at one point, even stretched, and that made Maria cry even more. Ralph gave me a pat on the shoulder and congratulated me as well as Nick before the two men went to comfort the happy Grandmother-to-be.
I was practically smothered by Maria that I never really had a chance to talk to her about getting her permission to marry her daughter.

We had a day left before we were flying off to Long Beach, California to tell the news to Roxanne's Dad. And it actually took a while to get her Mom and Step-Father alone, they were too busy with the news of the pregnancy.
"Michael, are you okay?" Roxanne asked as she came to check up on me after she asked me to get something from her luggage. I didn't realize that I went for too long.
"Yeah, I am," I smiled and reached for her hand. We were on the down low with the PDA because we were at her Mom's house, and even though we slept in the same bed, we were still conscious on what might happen if we were to try anything. "How are you? You've got your Mom crying every few minutes after you mention about the baby," I chuckled and gave Roxanne a peck on the forehead before I brushed the loose strands of hair away from her beautiful face. She was a beautiful woman with a feisty, yet amazing personality, and I was fortunate enough to have her enter into my life.
"Can't be helped, I love the attention," She teased as she tossed her arms around me and tiptoed to press her lips against mine. "Anyway, I'll finish up in here while it's your turn to get some of my Mom's attention. I'm going to take a nap though, so wake me up an hour before we head to the airport, okay?"
I simply agreed. It was the perfect chance to go talk to her Mom. So without hesitation, I dashed down the steps to the Living Room where her Family was. Ralph noticed my arrival and told Maria and Nick that they should give me some attention and turned off the television on his way out of the room. I saw their eyes turn my way and I gulped, they both eyed me up and down before Maria asked me what her daughter was up to.
"She went to take a nap," I tried to speak up as I took a seat opposite them. I don't know why things got awkward, but somehow, when those situations when I'm about to be serious about something to my girlfriend's Family, awkwardness happened to turn up.
"Anything you want to talk about, Mike?" Nick asked out of the blue. "You seem rather... Out of it since you got here. Is something the matter?" He continued on, his eyebrow propped up as he leaned back on the sofa.
I began to fiddle with my fingers and tried to relax my mind before I made eye contact with Maria and Nick. "Well, I know I said that I was planning to marry, Anne, and I am, really. But she told me that her Family is old-fashioned, so I didn't want to make any moves to further our relationship without the permission of those closest to her," I began to explain. "I already asked Ralph, and he told me that he was okay with it because he was happy to see Anne happy, and what I wanted to ask both you and Nick is..." I paused and exhaled heavily. "Can I have your blessings to go on one knee and marry Anne?"
Roxanne's Step-Father merely nodded before he turned to the actual Mother and awaited for the response, though she paused and fell quiet, she began to sob and stammered to ask, "Why are you two making me cry all this time?"
Was that a yes?
My future Mother-in-law quickly moved her head up and down. I saw her tears swell up as she sniffed. "Of course, Michael, why wouldn't I agree?" She nearly yelled. "You are pulling a really big round of surprises for me. What did I do to get such good news?"
"You gave birth to Anne," I calmly replied with a big grin on my face.
What? It was true!

The Final Boss

Mr Joseph Miller.
He was the final blessing I needed to get. I already asked Ricky when we arrived in Long Beach and he was around to visit for a day before he went back to his College life. He told me that whatever kept his Sister happy made him happy, and he also tried - and I definitely thought he tried - to threaten me, but he took it back because he knew that his Sister would get to him if she found out that he said something bad to me. It was typical of Roxanne to play Commander against her Brother.
Mr Miller... Er, Joe, hardly ever smiled. His smile only came up when he spoke of his Children and the past and the joyous moments and what not, and it was hard to keep up with him because he always changed moods. Roxanne advised me to pay close attention to her Dad because his moody moments happen in the most random moments - which I think was where she got her moments too. Though what I noticed when we arrived in Long Beach was that my girlfriend was not fond of her Step-Mother. Well, I knew she wasn't, but every time they were together, it wasn't obvious until we went to Long Beach. She got very moody too that she spent most of the time taking naps.

One day, Roxanne wanted to pull the prank to her Dad. She planned this elaborate way to show the ultrasound picture of our 14 week old baby to her Dad. I admit, I was afraid it would fail, but she stubbornly said otherwise.
"It'll work!" She insisted as she placed post-it notes on different areas of her Dad's house that started from the front door. We were alone at the house due to her Step-Mother wanting to go buy things with her Dad.
"I'm worried," I grumbled as I followed behind her. She was mischievous when she needed to be, and I only imagined how she was like when she was a child. By the time we reached the Dining Room where she had the picture on the table and placed a post-it note right above it that had a scribbled arrow pointing onto it. Roxanne grasped my hand and pulled me towards the other end of the table and gave me a wink.
My heart raced and cringed the moment I heard the door slam. The footsteps got closer and closer, and my eyes were shut tight throughout the whole time. I held my breath when the footsteps stopped and reopened my eyes to find Joe and Kim - the Step-Mother - gasping as they both held the photo. As usual, Roxanne took a photo.
"A-Anne," Kim covered her mouth and released the photo. "You're pregnant?" Oh, her reaction wasn't what I expected. "How old are you? 24 right?" She went on. I took a quick glance towards Roxanne as soon as I felt my hand squeezed on tightly.
"Kim," Joe interrupted. "Princess, congratulations!" Now that wasn't what I expected either!
"Thanks Dad," She whimpered as she finally released my hand and ran into her Dad's arms into an embrace. Joe then reached over to shake my hand and congratulated me too, but then, he asked me to go help him with something from the car. I wanted Roxanne to help me, but she was instantly moved away by her Step-Mother and into the kitchen. I knew something wasn't good when her brows slightly furrowed and she glanced my way as though she also called out for help.
I gulped and rubbed the back of my neck as I walked behind Joe in small footsteps. I didn't notice until we reached the door that he still held onto the photo. I wondered what he wanted to talk to me about, and I knew it was going to be a serious one.
Those few minutes walking had felt like hours. It was slow and made me anticipate.
Once the door slammed and we were outside, Joe turned to me and suddenly embraced me. It was the first time he ever did that to me. "Thank God," He exhaled. "I can't keep up with the charade," He continued as he pulled away from me and stared at the photo with a bright grin on his face. It was the opposite on what I expected he would react. "Anne really doesn't like Kim, and everyone knows that, even Kim, who also thinks that Anne is a wild child from the three, but I think that's Ricky. But to be honest, I was only strict on the two of you because I've seen her cry," He explained as he gestured me to the bench behind me.
I remained quiet and followed him to the bench.
"Anne, well, you know that she's my only girl, and when I saw her cry her eyes out because she was broken up with by that idiot boy from New York," He suddenly flinched. "Ah, and I am strict on my children, but that's because I don't want them to grow up to get hurt and I wasn't sure how my daughter could handle a lifestyle being in a relationship with someone who was well recognized. Then this-" He lifted the photo up. "-This is definitely a blessing, since I thought I she wasn't able to have a baby, and she told me when she was younger that she wanted one, which wasn't what I wanted to hear from a girl at 18. Although I much preferred her pregnancy after marriage-"
"-Oh, that was what I really wanted to ask," I cleared my throat. I suddenly had a boost of confidence after hearing what Joe talked about. "I... I really want to marry your daughter," I managed to say. "I love your daughter and she was raised perfectly because she became a wonderful and beautiful woman, and I can't imagine not seeing her in my life. We have a baby on the way and I know you probably preferred children later on in our lives, but I'm just as excited as you are to see that she's still healthy and I think we're ready to take the next step in our lives and-"
Joe chuckled. He reached into his pocket and took out his wallet, which I didn't understand why at first, but then he pulled out a small photo of a younger version of himself and a three year old Roxanne dressed in a pink dress. "My favourite photo of all time is this photo of me and my Princess at three years old," He started. "I never knew how hard it would be to see her grow up, especially when she lived most of her life away from me." He smiled and made a nodding motion with his head as he unexpectedly handed me the photo. "I know she'll be in good hands."

He just gave me his favourite photo. Was that a yes?

"This is my new favourite photo," Joe proudly announced as he tucked the ultrasound photo into the pocket of his wallet. He then looked up at me, his hand rummaged through his pocket to put away his wallet. "Oh, I know I might be late, but I recently heard that you kept your promise about that New York brat."
I was busy staring at the photo that I spaced out.
"Was it true? Anne told me that you smacked a good one."
He must've been talking about the punch I gave towards that ex-boyfriend of Roxanne's, and I suddenly laughed. "I kept that promise," I said in between my laughter.
"Well then, I know you'll keep your promise to keep my Princess happy."
"You can count on it," I happily agreed.

Ah... Success!
All I needed now was the perfect moment to bend down and ask her to marry me. But knowing Roxanne, she won't be patient enough to figure out how I'll do it.

"Oh my God, Michael, what took you so long?" Roxanne groaned as soon as I walked into the bedroom that we were allocated. Her hands waved around as she ranted on about how she really didn't want to be alone with her Step-Mother, and I sat there with the photo of her three year old self in my hand. A smile curved onto my lips as I watched her pace and ramble on, and all the while, I fell more and more in love with the woman.

It wasn't long until she became Mrs Phelps, and she didn't have a clue.