InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (29 page)

            “I worship
you, Tia Hastings. Life without you would have no meaning, and you would make
me the happiest man on earth if you would be my wife.” He opened the box, but
Tia couldn’t take her eyes off of his and all the sentiment she saw there.
“Please. Say you’ll marry me.”

            A flood of
emotion washed over her in an instant, and in that moment, she knew beyond the
shadow of a doubt that she was the luckiest woman in the world. “Yes,” she croaked,
then louder, “Yes!” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she fought tears of joy.
“With every cell in my body, yes. Oh Dylan…” She held out a very shaky hand and
looked down as he slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand. He
kissed the ring and her hand before standing up and pulling her into his arms.
Their kiss was sweet and tender, and the fireworks in the distance seemed just
for them.

            “I love you so
much!” she whispered. “Oh my God…I’m going to marry you!”

            “I’m so lucky
to have you,” he said, his voice thin. “I can’t wait to make you Mrs. Miller.”

            “Oh…Oh!” she
said. “I can’t believe this! Once again, I’m going to tell you that you’ve
given me the best night of my life! I don’t…even know what to say…except I love
you...” The tears spilled then and Dylan kissed them away, picking her up and
turning her in a slow circle as she buried her face into his shoulder and
wrapped her arms and legs around him tightly. Just as she had shouted from the
top of the Eiffel Tower when he first told her he loved her, Tia leaned over
the balcony and yelled into the revelry, “I’m going to marry the most amazing
man in the world!” A small group of people below heard her shout, and turned
their faces up toward them. “Congratulations!” one called out, as the others
clapped their hands together and sent up a “Whoo Hoo!” She turned back to Dylan
and repeated the words; more quietly this time and only for him. “I’m going to
marry the most amazing man in the world.” She took his face in her hands and
planted a very shaky kiss on his smiling lips. “Oh my God, Dyl,” she whispered.
“I…” but she could still come up with no words to articulate what she was
feeling at that moment.

            Dylan finished
the sentence for her; “… can’t think of anything in the world that deserves a
toast more than that,” he said, moving to the table to pick up the champagne
glasses. Tia raised her shaking left hand to get a look at her engagement ring;
the symbol of the love she and Dylan shared. When she saw the fireworks
reflected in the crystal clear stone, she gasped out loud.

            Dylan turned
and saw her staring, gape-mouthed at the ring. “Do you like it?” he asked
nervously. “I admit I don’t know a whole lot about jewelry, but the guy from
Harry Winston said…”

            For a second,
she could only stare at her hand. The center stone was enormous—she’d never
seen a diamond so big. It was an oval shape, and smaller diamonds surrounded
it. The band, lined with even more diamonds, seemed insignificant to hold it.
Dylan waited anxiously for her approval, and she caught her breath and threw
her arms around his neck.

            “It’s
absolutely beautiful!” she breathed. “It’s also enormous—
oh my God
—did
you rob the Crown Jewels?” she joked.

            “They were all
big… hell, I’ve never shopped for an engagement ring before and I had to sneak
in the meeting while you and Jessa were out shopping. But you get the best,
sweetheart. The best of everything from now on, and I’m so glad that I can give
it to you. Are you sure you like it?”

            She cradled
his face in her palms and kissed his mouth. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect. I
would have said yes if you offered me one of those lollipop rings, but this
is…incredible!” She kissed his lips and then each cheek. “Oh my God,” she said
again, still in shock. “We’re going to get married!”

            He smiled and
handed her a glass of champagne as the grand finale exploded the night sky. “A
toast, then,” he said, “To the best year of our lives so far and the woman I
love; the soon-to-be Mrs. Dylan Miller.” He raised his glass and they tapped
the crystal flutes together, intertwining their arms to sip the bubbly as the
final shower of sparks cascaded down over Sydney.

“I’m
so relieved you said yes,” he admitted, taking a deep breath.

“Did
you doubt it for a second?” she asked.

“Maybe
for a second,” he smirked. “But let me tell you, no matter how confident I was
that you’d say yes, that’s a big deal, asking someone to marry you. I’ve been
sweating it all day!”

“Well
then, be glad that you only have to do it once, because you’re going to be
stuck with me forever, mister. I’m never letting you go.”

“I’m
counting on that,” he said, and they slipped into the room to make their own
fireworks.

Afterward,
as they lay tangled in each other’s arms, Dylan could sense Tia’s anxiousness.
“I’m reading your mind,” he said.

“Oh
yeah?” she said. “And what am I thinking, besides that I’m the happiest woman
on the face of the earth?”

He
smiled. “You’re thinking about how you want to make some calls to tell a few
other people that you’re the happiest woman on earth,” he teased.

“Can
we?” she asked anxiously. “Oh Dyl, I’m so excited…”

“Of
course we can,” he said. “I want to tell the whole world!” The truth of it was,
very soon they would tell the whole world, and they both knew that it would
bring even more attention to them. But neither of them minded in this case; not
one bit.

They
powered up the laptop and pulled up the video chat so they could deliver the
news in person. They called Dylan’s parents first, since it was already past
1:00 AM in Melbourne. Of course, Dylan had told them of his plan, so they knew
the call was coming. The video hadn’t popped up on the screen yet, but Tia
heard the excitement in Kelley’s voice. “Happy New Year! Do we have some good
news?”

“She
said yes!” Dylan sang as the video feed went through just in time to see their
excited faces.

“Congratulations
to both of you!” they said together. “Welcome to the family, Tia! We’re so glad
to have you as our daughter!”

“I
can’t think of a more incredible family to join,” she said, and they chatted
for a few minutes before ending the call. Her parents were next on the list.
“They don’t usually keep the computer on—maybe I should call them first,” she
said. “It’s kind of early there, isn’t it?” She’d had the time difference down
when Dylan was in New Zealand, but her mind wasn’t working at full capacity at
the moment; and she was way too excited to dig up some paper and do the math.

“Oh,
I’m pretty sure they’ll be online,” Dylan said with a smirk.

“They
know?” Tia asked incredulously.

“Your
dad does,” he smiled. “I couldn’t ask you to be my wife without his blessing,
you know.”

“When
in the world did you get his blessing?” she asked. “You only met them for a few
hours!”

“Hell,
he barely knew me a few minutes before I asked him,” he answered. “I was
surprised and glad that he gave it—after asking you to marry me, it was the
second most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. Makes standing on stage in
front of a hundred thousand people seem like a piece of cake, that’s for sure.”

“Oh
Dylan,” she gushed. “That’s so sweet! I’m so glad you did that!”

“Your
mum doesn’t know, though, so it’ll be a surprise to her, remember.”

 She
clicked their number from her contact list, and they answered almost
immediately.  “Happy New Year!” Tia exclaimed!

“Happy
New Year to you!” her mom said. “Although we’ve got a ways to wait for midnight
here. It’s not even nine in the morning yet.”

“Did
you two have a nice New Year’s Eve?” her dad asked, the hint of knowing in his
voice.

“Oh
Mom, Dad…I have the most exciting news!” She paused for a moment to catch her
breath. She still couldn’t believe she was saying this. “Dylan and I are
engaged!”

The
look on her mom’s face was priceless, and Tia was so glad, that even across
oceans and time zones, she could see her mother’s face light up when she heard
the news. How she wished she and Dylan had this connection while he was in New
Zealand, she thought. It could have been a game changer.

“Engaged?!
Did you hear that William? Our baby’s getting married!!” Tia watched as her mom
visibly choked up, and her smile lit up the whole screen.

“We’re
so happy for you!” her dad said. “Welcome to the family, Dylan. I’m proud to
call you my son, and I know you’ll take good care of our little girl there.”

“The
best,” Dylan agreed.

“Well,
let me see the ring!” her mother urged, and Tia held her hand up in front of
the camera. Dylan reached over and helped her steady it—she was still shaky
whenever she looked at it.

“Oh
my goodness,” her mother breathed. “Is that a real diamond? I’ve never seen
anything that big!”

“It
better be,” Dylan laughed.

“Oh,
it’s so beautiful! Exquisite!” she breathed. “I’m beyond words right now, you
guys—I’m just so incredibly thrilled for you both…”

Dylan
piped in. “Listen, I really want to thank you both for being so welcoming to
me, especially in light of the…situation. I do promise you that I’m dedicating
my life to your daughter’s happiness, and that I feel incredibly honored that
she’s agreed to be my wife…” he turned to Tia. “Damn it feels good to say
that!”

They
smiled at each other and then back at the camera. “I’m the happiest girl in the
world right now,” she told her parents, “and I’m so glad you gave Dylan your
blessing, Dad. It means so much to me. To both of us.”

“You
knew?” Danielle’s head turned; the surprise evident in her voice.

“He
asked for my blessing and I gave it,” Will replied, pulling her in and giving
her a squeeze. “I knew better than to let you in on the secret,” he said with a
taunting smile.

“We’ll
talk about this later,” she smiled at him, “and let’s just say that you’re very
lucky that I’m so excited right now; excited enough that I might let you off
easy—this time…”

They
spent some time catching up on news from home—it seemed that the media had
found Will and Danielle, and their phone was ringing off the hook. There was
also a small entourage occasionally camped out in the street in front of the
house looking for comments, interviews, anything that they could use to fuel
the fire. “Barbara Walters’s people called me,” her mom said. “I told them I
wouldn’t speak to anyone but Barbara herself, and they said they’d see what
they could do! If she calls, can I talk to her?”

“Sure,”
Tia agreed after getting a nod from Dylan. “But don’t spill the news about the
engagement until we go public, OK? I don’t want any of my friends to find out
on the news. We’ve got a lot of calls to make first.”

“Oh,
I can’t wait to see the look on Martha Granite’s face. Do you know she’s been
trying to hook Dakota up with some pro golfer that her cousin knows ever since
the day you brought Dylan to the club?  She just can’t stand the fact that
someone else’s daughter is dating a celebrity and hers isn’t. She’s going have
a fit.” Her mother especially liked the attention she was getting at the
country club, at her bridge club, and pretty much everywhere she went. She was
like a movie star, she said, and she was positively basking in it.

“Not
yet, Mom,” Tia warned.

“Give
us 48 hours,” Dylan added. “It’ll be out by then.”

“Oh,
it’s going to be so hard! I mean, who doesn’t want to brag that their daughter
is engaged?” Tia shot her a look with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “But I’ll
do it, I promise. I’ll be as good as Lexi.”

“We
better make those calls fast,” Dylan smiled after they cut the connection.

The
first two calls to Lexi went unanswered, so Tia tapped her screen again. She
was just about to hang up and try once more when Lexi finally came on the line,
her voice a barely audible whisper. “This better be the goddamned lottery office
calling to tell me I’ve won millions,” she croaked.

“It’s
way better than that!” Tia sang happily into the phone. “Turn on your computer
and pull up Skype—I’m calling back in five minutes with big news!”

“I’ve
only been in bed for like five minutes,” she said. “No brain function. Call
back later.”

Tia
laughed. “Oh, OK. I guess you can just read about it in the papers later, with
the rest of the general public. Sleep well,” she said, hanging up without
further explanation. She waited only a couple minutes before the little box
popped up at the bottom of her computer screen, telling her that Lexi was
online.

Lexi
answered the call without video. “This better be good,” she grumbled. “And it
better be short, too, because I am in desperate need of more beauty sleep.”

“You
have to have the video on!” Tia said. “I can’t continue this conversation until
you do.”