"You should marry that girl."
Douglas had heard this said to him countless times over the past few months. From Muriel. From Norman. From Madge. The people he worked with, Akram. In the beginning the only thing preventing him from doing just that was the small matter of his divorce. But now that it had gone through, now the ties to his old, unhappy life were finally forever severed, now that there was nothing from stopping him, he suddenly found himself pausing to think. Not because he didn't want to marry Evelyn, oh no. He wanted to marry her more than anything. He'd find her and marry her in a million lifetimes given the chance.
There was a certain element of fear, however, surrounding the question. And it wasn't just his fear either, he could see that in Evelyn's eyes whenever they were alone, dining together, dancing together. It wasn't hard to spot. It didn't offend him either because he completely understood. Could they really do this, now? Of course the answer was a resounding yes, but that didn't stop them both feeling like it would end up the anticipated no.
"Of course she wants to marry you, don't be such a fool."
Muriel Donnelly had always had a way with words, and a particular compassionate knack. And trust her to know exactly what he was thinking – it tended to boggle his mind how she could do it so often and so well. The woman herself was sat now at her table, sorting through some papers, hardly casting a look Douglas' way. It took him a moment to focus and realise it was he she was speaking to, even though it was plain to see there was no one else around, and certainly nobody to which that sentence would be appropriate.
"Sorry?" Douglas said.
"She would marry you, you should ask. Spend your life free from regrets, so forth," she carried on, her eyes skating over written word.
"Heartfelt, I must say," he smirked as he ran a hand through his hair. He took a glance at his watch –
Evelyn would be here soon. It had been months but still, seeing her after work was his favourite part of the day, still caused a flurry of butterflies at seeing her step through the arch, still set his heart aflutter when he saw her beautiful smile widen as she spotted him. God, he was so in love with her.
Muriel sighed, put the papers that were dividing her attention upon the desk and finally turned to Douglas.
"Look, she loves you. Even a blind fool wouldn't be able to miss it. Just as he couldn't miss that you feel exactly the same. Now, you ask her to marry you, what's the worst that can happen? She says no? Oh that's possible, even probable. But her reluctance will give way once she realises there's nothing worth being scared of. Marriage ensues, everybody's happy."
Douglas contemplated her words as she promptly returned to her work, resolving then and there that obviously a proposal was on the cards, definitely. All he needed to do was to decide on a perfect way, the perfect time. It was at that moment he glanced upward, just as Evelyn emerged through the arch of the hotel entrance.
Suddenly, any inhibition seemed to melt away and all he wanted was to get down on bended knee right at that moment, as if the pull of gravity were becoming too great, as if it were willing him on. She stood there, as beautiful as she always was; hair glowing in the light, blue eyes shining, and that smile growing wider as their eyes met across the courtyard and sparked fireworks in his stomach.
He felt his own smile stretch until his face could pull it no further and instead of giving in to the pull of spontaneous proposal, he simply got up from his seat and bounded over to her. Upon reaching her, Douglas took her in his arms, span her about a little before pulling her in for a deep kiss, his love for her irrepressible.
Evelyn smiled into the kiss, her hands running up his arms whilst Douglas' own had found their way to Evelyn's jawline, gently tugging her as closely as he could. As ever he didn't want to let her go, but he managed to nonetheless, making sure to keep her close.
Evelyn's eyes, which had been closed in pleasure throughout their kiss, opened and – Douglas was happy to see – were slightly dazed by the unexpectedness of it. They quickly refocused to find his and her bottom lip was taken between her teeth as she smiled.
"What was that for?"
Douglas shrugged as though it were obvious. It was obvious. She just liked to hear him say it.
"I love you."
"Good thing too," she said as she put her hand upon his cheek. "And you'll be pleased to know, I love you."
With a smaller, gentler kiss, that didn't lack any of the passion that had driven the first, they began walking hand in hand through the hotel and Muriel watched them go, a glad smirk upon her lips.
You should marry that girl.
