The Story.
What must be first understood is that this has been a rather long time coming. When David and I got back together in April we were both pretty certain that it was going to end in marriage, but we didn't talk about it like it was a certainty, just a real likelihood. The week before I moved from Utah David said that "we know we are getting married." I decided that it would be a good idea for us to go do some ring looking so that we could be on the same page. So, like I said, this has been a long time coming.
Last week, I had two days off of work right in a row and decided that I would go down to Huntsville to spend more time with David and his parents (who are freaking wonderful!) So I borrowed my brother's car and left the house in Daingerfield at 9:40 or so. I made great time and got down to the Payne house at 12:47.
David took me out to lunch at Cafe Texan which is exactly as awesome as it sounds where he mentioned something about my ring not having been shipped from Utah yet. Despite that comment, when David stopped the car at the little city park of Huntsville - complete with a Texas shaped pond - I was certain this was where he was going to propose. He even led me to a little gazebo that was at the top of a hill. Come on.
But no dice. David leave me from the gazebo with only "Gazebo'd" to say for himself, which was enough because we had a good laugh about it and walked back to the car.
The rest of Tuesday was great. A couple of errands and then dinner with the neighbors followed by an episode of Sledgehammer, a Payne family favorite.
On comes Wednesday. We had a good breakfast that I don't know how to spell and a pretty relaxed morning, looking at plane tickets and helping Grettle, David's mom, move things around the house. We were stacking books on the bookshelf when David left the room to take a phone call. He came back and said the FedEx needed a David Payne to sign for some medicine for his father, David Payne, and the FedEx truck was going to meet him at the Valero about fifteen minutes away so that he could pick it up.
So David and I load up in the car and drive over to Riverside where the FedEx man was waiting at the Valero and we just chatted, enjoying our time together, knowing that it was limited. And I swear this whole part of the story is pertinent and I am not just trying to write a really long post. We get to Valero, David leaves me in the car, gets the package, tosses it in the backseat and we go back home.
On our way to the house I ask about my ring. No, David told me, it has not been sent from Utah yet. The setting has not even arrived to the jeweler in Utah yet. But he was feeling more confident that it would be here before the end of the week. I was very concerned. What if it didn't arrive before David left on Friday? Would I have to wait until the end of August (the next time I see David in the flesh) to get my ring? I don't know that I am that patient!
So life went on. We got to the house and spent a couple hours assembling the top bunk of a bunk bed for Grettle while she was busy working in her quilting room. We finished the bunk beds and David asked me if I wanted to go sit on the porch. Absolutely I want to go sit on the porch!
On the porch we sat, enjoying the muggy Texas heat.
"Do you want your birthday present now or do you want to wait until Friday?" he asked after about fifteen minutes or so.
"I want it now!" Or course.
David, motioning for me to stay on the glider seat, goes inside and then comes back out with a very nicely wrapped present tied with a red ribbon.
"Did your mom wrap this for you."
"She might have."
I smiled and began to carefully unwrap the present. Christmases with my father have trained me to unwrap presents as neatly as possible to conserve paper.
"And I want to see this on your coffee table every time I am at your house."
"You got me a hide-a-book!!!" I was very excited and I kissed David as a thank you. Indeed it was a hide-a-book. Lord of the Rings with another red ribbon tied around it.
"It's about time you had one of these." David said.
"Is there something in it?"
"Of course there is! What kind of guy do you think I am?"
I shook it and there was indeed something hiding in my book. So I untie the ribbon and open up the book. Inside there was tulle and a little white box that looked a lot like a box jewelry would come in. Trusting in David's word, I opened the box not expecting a ring to be inside because my ring was still in pieces in Utah and wherever ring settings come from. In the white box was a little black velvet box. When I retell the story to people I make it sound like I had some thoughts while I opened the black box, but I really didn't. Blank mind. Because I knew it was not my ring.
Opened the black box and in it there was the most beautiful diamond ring. I didn't get a very good look at it because I immediately freaked out, snapped the box closed and laughed. I eventually calmed down enough to kiss my fiance and put my ring on my finger though there was still a lot of nervous/excited laughter that I couldn't quite control.
I am leaning on David, looking down at my ring, when David says "Dad's medicine. Puh."
And then all the pieces fit together. The FedEx package. The confidence that the ring would be here. The ring being here. I had ridden with David to pick up my own ring! It seemed so obvious now.
So maybe I looked like a total dope, fooled by Dad's medicine, but I was, as Grettle said, the happiest dope in all of Texas!
