Miranda Lee - Contract with Consequences

‘I want to know why you’re here,’ she threw at him. ‘No more lies now.’

‘I haven’t told any lies,’ he replied with irritating composure.

‘What?’ she scoffed. ‘I’m expected to believe you really mean to buy a house here in Terrigal?’

‘Maybe not in Terrigal, but somewhere here on the Central Coast.’

‘But you always said that… that…’

He stilled her stammering with a firm hand on her upper arm. ‘Scarlet, do you think we could possibly have this conversation somewhere more private?’

‘Oh,’ she said weakly. ‘Oh, okay.’

‘Lock up, then, so that we can be on our way.’

She managed to lock up without dropping the set of keys. Just. John cupped her right elbow once she’d finished and steered her over to the passenger side of the Lexus. When he opened the door for her, she climbed in and belted up without speaking, possibly because she had no idea what to say. It wasn’t often that Scarlet’s mind resembled a tumble drier but this was one of those times.

‘I’ve booked us a table at the Seasalt Restaurant in the Crowne Plaza,’ John said as he climbed in behind the wheel. ‘Mum assured me the food there is excellent. I’ve never been there for dinner myself. Actually, I haven’t been anywhere local for dinner before. So this is a first for me in more ways than one,’ he finished up as he started the car and drove off.

‘Would you care to explain that remark?’ Scarlet asked, having found her tongue at last.

‘All in good time, Scarlet. All in good time.’

‘I think now is as good a time as any,’ she countered, unable to suppress her curiosity and her agitation any longer. ‘We’re alone. We’re well away from our street now. For pity’s sake, pull over and tell me what’s going on.’

‘Absolutely not. That’s not how this is going to be done.’

‘How what is going to be done?’

‘I’m not going to have you tell our children in later years that their father proposed to you on the side of the road.’

‘P-proposed?’ Scarlet choked out, her eyes flinging wide as she stared over at him.

‘You haven’t heard of that word? And there I’ve been all these years, thinking you were highly intelligent. It means asking for your hand in marriage.’

Scarlet didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He couldn’t be serious, could he?

Oh God, he was !

When a sob caught in her throat, he wrenched the car over to the side of the road, braking to a halt and snapping off the engine. ‘Well, you’ve spoiled everything again now, haven’t you? I was going to do this over a candlelit dinner with all the trimmings: music. Champagne. The works. But it seems some girls just can’t wait.’ As he turned to her he pulled a small silver box out of his jacket pocket and flipped the top open.

Another sob escaped Scarlet’s lips when she saw what was nestled in a bed of dark blue velvet. Her hands came up to clasp her face, her happiness so great it was almost overwhelming.

‘Oh, John,’ she choked out.

‘Scarlet King,’ he said solemnly. ‘I love you. No, that’s understating things. I’m crazy about you and I simply can’t live without you. Will you do me the honour of being my wife?’

Her eyes flooded, her heart too full for words.

His smile was gently wry. ‘You once told me that the only use you had for a diamond was if it came atop a band of gold and with a proposal of marriage.’

Her smile, when it came, was full of a joy which had no bounds. It filled all those empty places in her heart and in her soul which had needed to be filled.

‘It’s so beautiful,’ she murmured, reaching out to touch the huge solitaire diamond. ‘Is it one of yours?’

‘No. I actually don’t have any truly decent diamonds in my gem collection. I bought this one yesterday in Sydney, along with this car and these clothes. I wanted to impress you.’

‘I’m very impressed. But…’

‘No buts. I know I told you once that I didn’t do marriage; that I was a committed bachelor. But no man wants to remain a bachelor, Scarlet, once he truly falls in love. Trust me when I say all I want to do is spend every day of the rest of my life with you.’

‘Oh dear,’ she said, her heart having melted totally at his passionate declaration of love. Tears pricked at her eyes, tears of happiness.

‘No don’t say anything more till I’ve finished,’ he raced on, perhaps worried that she was about to protest further. Which, of course, she was not.

‘I dare say you’re also concerned about my relationship with my family, especially my father. There’s no need, Scarlet. Truly. I had a good long talk to Dad today and I found out something I wasn’t aware of. Apparently, after Josh died, Dad went into a severe depression which was never properly treated. He only survived day to day by becoming a workaholic. It wasn’t till he retired that Mum got him to see a more enlightened doctor and his condition was properly diagnosed and treated, which explains his change of mood lately. He told me today how sorry he was for the way he’d treated me, and Mum too. Terribly sorry.

‘So you see, there’s no reason for you to worry that I’m lying to you about coming to live near home. I’m actually looking forward it. I might even start up a local fishing-charter company rather than go back to mining work. After all, a family man shouldn’t be travelling all over the place, doing dangerous things, should he?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Scarlet said, her voice thickening as her eyes welled up again.

‘Hey, what’s with all the tears? I thought you’d be happy.’

‘I am happy. And, John…’

‘Yes?’

‘I love you too. Very much.’

His eyes gleamed. ‘I sort of figured that out around the same time I figured myself out. Shortly after your plane took off. It just took me a while to work out what to do about it. I had to come up with a proper plan, you see.’

‘Oh, you and your plans! I never did find out what your plan was for up in Darwin.’

‘Mmm. Yes, well, that plan is still in operation.’

‘Really? In what way?’

‘I’ll tell you all about it shortly. So is it a yes? Can I take the ring out of the box and slip it on your finger?’

She nodded and he did just that. It fitted her finger perfectly.

He clasped her hand tightly within both of his and looked deep into her eyes. ‘I can’t tell you how sorry I am for the dreadful things I said to you the other night, Scarlet. It was unforgiv-’

‘Hush,’ she broke in softly. ‘Love is never having to say you’re sorry.’

‘Thank God for that,’ he said with small laugh. ‘Otherwise I could be apologising all night.’

‘I’d rather have that candlelit dinner you told me about.’

‘Me too.’

‘There’s only one small problem I can think of,’ Scarlet said.

‘What’s that?’

‘What on earth are we going to tell our families and friends? They’re not going to believe in our engagement. It’ll look much too sudden in their eyes.’

John frowned. ‘You’re probably right. You might have to hide that ring for a while, at least till you’re safely pregnant.’

Scarlet’s mouth dropped open whilst John just smiled. ‘I did say that my Darwin plan is still in operation. It really was a good plan, involving great sex for days on end, followed by two or three days of abstinence till you entered your most likely to conceive phase…’

‘Good grief!’ Scarlet exclaimed.

‘Yes, I know it sounds a bit much when you say it out loud, but it’s still a good plan. Given we’ve already been through an enforced abstinence phase, I didn’t just book a table for dinner at the Crowne Plaza tonight. I booked us a room as well. And, before you say it, my darling wife-to-be, I know there are no guarantees of our making a baby tonight, but you have one thing going for you which is new-tonight, you will be made love to by a man who truly loves you. Tonight, you will feel safe and secure in his arms. Tonight, there will be no stress because, baby or not, we will still have each other till death do us part.’