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I closed the file in my lap and placed it on the coffee table between us.
“Aarti, we both have been scarred by surprises,” I began. “So I will never surprise you with a marriage proposal. But I want you to know that I’ll be ready whenever you are. You just have to say the word.”
Her mouth gaped as her eyes widened. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you are proposing to me right now.”
I returned a sheepish smile. There was nothing standing between us anymore. “May be I am.”
She frowned. “This looks suspiciously like a surprise.”
“It’s not.” I reassured, holding my palms out. “See? No ring.”
She returned a bright smile, then got off the couch and stepped over to me. I stood with her, my heart lurching in my mouth.
“Yes. I will marry you,” she declared in the understated manner that had been the essence of our relationship.
Our bodies stunned to stillness for a moment before she gasped and placed a hand on her mouth.
“Shit! Did we just…” she cried.
“I think we did.”
Devi’s knock on the glass door shook us out of the limbo.
When I waved her in, she entered with a curious expression, studying our stunned faces.
“What’s wrong?” she asked urgently.
I exchanged a look with Aarti and we both grinned wide.
“I think we just got engaged,” I announced.
Her jaw dropped open, then a wide grin appeared on her face, crinkling her eyes.
“Oh my goodness!” she squealed.
She stepped over to Aarti and me. “I’ve never done this before but I’m going to do it today,” she warned before taking us both in a tight hug. “I am so happy!”
When she released us from her embrace, she declared, “I’m going to reschedule all your meetings for today. You both should go and celebrate, and we need to plan a grand party.” The wheels in her head were already spinning.
As Devi rushed out, I turned to Aarti. She averted her shy eyes.
My love, gratitude, and reverence toward her became the swift kiss I placed on her cheek. “I need to pinch myself. I can’t possibly be this happy.”
She looked at me and delivered a pinch on my forearm.
“Ouch!” I cried.
“Satisfied?”
“Yes. In so many ways, I can’t begin to express.”
“I need to call my parents,” she said and rushed over to retrieve her phone from her cherry red tote.
I pulled out my own and stepped over to the window.
While I waited for Amma to answer her phone, I heard Aarti’s voice, “Ma, I need to tell you something…something good.”
I stared at her jubilant face and found myself powerless against her brilliance and grace. As I watched her talk to her family, wearing the look of a lovelorn teenager in my eyes, I silently thanked our exes. Without them, we wouldn’t be here.
THE END