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My breath caught in my throat and I felt like my lungs didn’t know how to function anymore. There he was, on bended knee, with a beautiful, sparkling ring that was ready to slip onto my “Hi, I’m way taken!” finger. He had asked me the most four important words in my life – four words that required an answer. “Yes,” I said, struggling to gather some air into my body and brain, which had for sure killed a few of its precious brain cells. “Yes!” Taylor’s eyes lit up and he gave me the biggest smile ever before taking my left hand in his and slipping on the ring – a perfect fit. I stared at it as he stood up and kissed me softly, his arms holding me tightly. “I love you,” he said, his blue eyes sparkling almost as much as my new ring. “We’re engaged,” he said quietly; then, a little more loudly, “We’re engaged!” We’re engaged?! I thought, as I returned his many excited kisses. Oh my God, we’re engaged.
We drove to my house first; he wanted to be there when I told them the exciting news. I hadn’t quite gotten over the initial shock yet and he noticed. “What’s wrong?” he asked, as we made our way back to my house. “You’re not … saying anything.” “I’m just .. stunned,” I said, forcing out what I hoped sounded like a laugh. “Baby, you’re my fiancé now!” “I know!” he said excitedly. He leaned over and planted another one on me at a stoplight, taking my hand in his and grinning. “It looks beautiful on you.” It really did look beautiful. It was simple but exactly how I would’ve wanted my engagement ring to look like. I felt a small smile on my face as I admired it, still in shock at the fact that I was engaged. To Taylor Hanson. We got to my house and he parked in the driveway. We made our way up to my front door and found that it was locked, so he rang the doorbell and knocked on the door. We could hear someone coming to answer it. Within seconds, Erica appeared. “Hi,” she said, raising her eyebrows at us curiously. “Are you here to sell us something?” Taylor and I didn’t say anything. I simply held up my left hand with the ring facing her, trying not to laugh or smile or anything. At first, she looked at me like I had two heads, and then focused on the ring. “OH MY GOD!” she finally screamed. “OH MY GOOOOD, SIS!” “What’s happening?!” my aunt came rushing in, one of my cousins in her arms. “Why are you screaming?!” “Tay and Trish – they’re ENGAGED!” my sister yelled. “WHAT?!” my aunt’s eyes grew wide and she saw my hand that was still up in the air. “Oh my lord, CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO!” Before I knew it, my whole family was in the living room, hugging, kissing, and congratulating me and Taylor. We had been yanked in by my sister and then pulled in different directions. My parents both got teary-eyed and my sister was so excited that she was practically bouncing off of the walls. My aunts, uncles, and cousins who were at the house were giving us their congratulations. It was exciting, overwhelming; as my sister said, I had left the house for only an hour and came back with a future husband! So everything went well at my house; after shedding a few tears and smiling so wide that my mouth hurt, we headed to Taylor’s. I was more nervous about the reactions from everyone there – most specially Zac. When we got there, Taylor said, “Let me tell ‘em?” I smiled and nodded, slipping my ring-free hand in his as we went inside. The first person we saw was his mom, who was coming down the hallway with a basket full of white laundry. “Hi Tay! Hi, Trish sweetheart!” Mrs. Hanson greeted us, giving us a warm smile. “How are you? I haven’t seen you in so long!” “I’m great!” I said, letting go of Taylor to hug her. She put down the laundry basket to hug me back. “How are you?” “Surviving in this crazy house,” she grinned. “What brings you to Tulsa?” “Visiting for Easter,” I replied. “That must be nice,” she said. “I’m sure your parents are glad to see you!” “Eh, I’m sure they’re not happy about all the laundry I brought back,” I giggled. She laughed. “So, what are you two up to today?” I looked over at Taylor, who took a deep breath and beamed. “Well, Mom – we have big news.” Mrs. Hanson’s eyes widened. “Like what?” she asked cautiously. Taylor reached over and grabbed my left hand, holding it up. “We’re engaged.” “WHAT?!” Mrs. Hanson yelled, her jaw dropping open as she looked at my ring. “OH MY GOD!” It was almost the same scene here as it was at my house; everyone came rushing into the hallway, startled by Mrs. Hanson’s voice. And, like my house, we received tons of hugs and congratulations from everyone. Well, everyone that was there. Zac and Isaac had gone out to grab some food for the Easter dinner Mrs. Hanson was preparing the next day. “You’re gonna be my sis-in-law!” Jessica said excitedly, after she gave me the biggest hug ever. “And Erica and I will be – we’ll be part of the same family!” I laughed. “I know!” After giving our news, Taylor and I headed out to grab some lunch at a local restaurant. I called all of my friends in Tulsa and Santa Barbara, giving them the exciting news. They were all excited and wanted to know if we had a date set yet, but I told them we hadn’t. I even called Jenn, but she didn’t pick up. I left a message telling her to call me back as soon as she could. “You wanna call my brothers or should I?” Taylor asked, a silly grin on his face. We had pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and were just sitting in the car. “Uh, you call. They’re your brothers,” I said, forcing a grin. There was no way in hell I would call Zac. “Okay. I’ll put them on speakerphone so you can hear them,” he said. “Okay,” I said weakly. Taylor dialed a number and put it on speakerphone. It rang twice before I heard Isaac pick up. “Yep,” he said. “Hey Ike, guess who’s with me?” Taylor asked. “The Easter bunny bearing baskets of candy?” “No,” Taylor laughed. “Say hi, Trish.” “Hi,” I said. “Oh, hey Trish!” I heard Isaac say. “What’s up?” “We have huge news!” Taylor said. “Like what? – Oh wait, what Zac?” I could hear Zac in the background. “Um, yeah if you want cheesecake I guess you can get it,” Isaac said. “Sorry Tay, what’s up?” “Get Zac.” “Wanna talk to him?” “Yeah – no! I mean, get him near you and put on the speakerphone.” “He went to get cheesecake.” “Well – go look for him.” “That’s all the way on the other side of the grocery store!” “Okay, fine,” Taylor said. “I’ll tell you then.” “Tell me what?” “Trish and I are engaged!” Isaac was quiet for a long time. So long that Taylor asked, “Ike, you still there dude?” “Yeah, I’m still here, sorry. I thought I heard you say that you and Trish are … engaged?” “Yup, we are! Right babe?” “Yup!” I said enthusiastically. “Say hi to your new sister-in-law!” “Holy bejeezus,” Isaac said. “Congrats, you two!” “Thanks! Is Zac back yet?” “Not yet, must have trouble picking out his cheesecake. Why don’t you call him and tell him?” I felt my stomach tighten in a knot. “Alright, I’ll do that. Later bro!” Taylor said. “See ya.” He looked over at me and grinned. “Ready to tell Zac?” No, I thought. But I forced a smile and said, “Yup.” He dialed Zac’s number and hit speakerphone. It rang a few times before Zac picked up and said, “You can’t have my cheesecake.” Taylor laughed. “I don’t want your cheesecake. But I have to tell you something really important, dude.” “I’m not getting strawberry cheesecake, I don’t care how much you love it, Tay.” “Zac, you’re going to have a sister-in-law!” “What?” Zac sounded genuinely confused. “I proposed to Trish – and she said yes! Say hi, Trish!” “Hi,” I said weakly. “Oh, hey ‘Roo,” Zac said. “Congratulations.” “Thanks,” I replied. I wanted to make Taylor hang up that phone. “When’s the wedding?” he asked. “I don’t know,” I answered, right as Taylor said, “Sometime in December.” When I looked at him, he said, “Well, I’d like to have it in December.” “Oh, well, congrats.” “Thanks! So I’ll see you at dinner tonite, yeah?” Taylor asked. “Yeah.” “Great, see you later!” “See ya.” Taylor beamed at me after he hung up, then leaned over to kiss me. “Ready to eat?” he asked. I nodded. “I’m ready.” We walked into the restaurant and were seated quickly. Taylor was babbling away about how nervous he was to ask me but how something told him he needed to do it then. And how glad he was I said yes, and that he wanted to have children with me. When the waitress came by, he excitedly told her that we had just gotten engaged; for that, she gave us free ice cream as dessert. We got to discussing the wedding and our lives afterwards. It was a little more complicated than I would’ve liked; he wanted to get married in December, but I felt like I didn’t have enough time to deal with school, work, and a wedding. I suggested that we do it during the summer, but he wanted to get married as soon as possible because he wanted to “start [his] life with [me] right away!” I started giving in, but I also got him to really think about it with all that he had going on. We discussed having kids; we agreed that we both wanted big families, but didn’t have an exact number. I told him that I wanted to move out to California; he agreed. We eventually went home in the early evening; he had to get home for dinner and I had to go home to be with my family before I left. He came in to say hello and goodbye to all of them, receiving another round of congratulatory hugs. He kissed me tons before he left, yelling out the window, “Bye, fiancée!” as he drove off. I went back into my house, excited at the prospect of my own wedding …but also with a heavy feeling in my stomach.
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