Proposal - Part 4

I wished so badly that, that ride in the taxi could last forever. At that moment it didn't matter where we were going or what was going to happen. I was safe, warm, and content. Luke was holding me and I was so happy. As I was settling in for a long ride, the driver suddenly pulled up to the curb and stopped.


We were there already.

I peered out the window of the passengers seat and screamed in delight! We were at Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant. The place where Luke. exactly one year ago, had asked me to be his girlfriend. The place that I had thought for sure had closed down during the summer. The place that Luke had allowed me to go ahead and think that so he could surprise me tonight. I jumped out of the cab and twirled in front of the restaurant. In my mind I had decided that Luke somehow had gotten them to re-open the place up just for me, just for tonight.

The rest of the evening felt like a dream. The hostess led us to our table which actually was our own private room, sectioned off with tapestries and filled with candles and roses. The speakers were playing mine and Luke's favorite songs and it was all so perfect. Immediately I reached for my camera and started running all over the place taking pictures of every little detail. After the fifth picture Luke took my camera away and said there was plenty of time for that later. He led me to my chair and at once I started thanking him for such a wonderful anniversary surprise. We sat there for awhile just talking and smiling when Luke pulled out a piece of paper and asked me to read it to him. The paper was an e-mail I had written to him while away for school. I had written this to encourage him during a hard time that he was going through. I had no idea it had meant so much. By the time I had finished reading we were both almost crying.

Luke then crouched down next to me and said it was his turn to read me something. It was somewhat like a journal. He read different excerpts from different days of how he was falling in love with me and finished with something he had written the night before. By that time I was borderline sobbing.

Through my tears I could see that Luke had shifted to one knee and was holding a tiny, black, velvet box.

"Kimberly, will you marry me."

I could barely say the word yes through all my tears. I said it again and again just to make sure he heard me. We were both laughing by then and still crying. Through all of my tears I wasn't able to see what the ring looked like. No matter how many times I wiped them away they just kept coming back. It was about 20 minutes before I actually got a good look at the ring Luke had placed on my finger. I was startled by how lovely and perfect it was. The diamonds were sparkling in the candlelight and my entire world was glowing.

We were engaged and getting married for real!