So let's start with something small - something personal and pretty. I bet you'll know these shiny things.

They must be tacky trinkets, from I guess, Atlantic City?

Actually, Di, they're our wedding rings.

"Diana!" Dan's voice carried all the way to the sidewalk, where she was waiting for him so that they could go out to dinner, just the two of them for once.

He was, she kept reminding herself, her fiancée. Of sorts. He had asked her to marry him after she had told him about the baby, but it hadn't quite sunk in yet, and she certainly hadn't told her parents. How could she when it hardly made sense even when she herself thought about it?

So maybe it wasn't the life she had imagined. Maybe, she thought, it wasn't even the life she wanted, but it wasn't a bad one to have. Dan was kind, that was certain. He had his moments where he was even a little carefree. There were moments where he made her heart melt, and he had a comforting sort of strength about him. She put a hand against her stomach, feeling the warmth of it through her cotton blouse, dwelling on the most important part - that they had this life that they were going to bring into the world.

Dan reached her breathlessly with a goofy grin on his face and an equally uncharacteristically chirpy tone to his voice. "I have a surprise for you!"

"Okay," Diana said cautiously. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes."

She did as he asked, feeling the cool breeze on her skin. Wouldn't it be wonderful to freeze time right then and there - to be able to feel that moment for as long as she wanted? Yes, she thought to herself, bottle up the good moments so that they could take the place of the bad. But hopefully she wouldn't need that kind of reassurance; all her days from here on out would be good ones.

"Okay, open them."

A giddy Dan held out a small black velvet box. A ring box, she realized after a beat. And there, in the box, was the ugliest ring she'd ever seen. It was too large, too flashy, just utterly tacky; but Dan's expectant stare kicked her horrified gaze away from the box and into action.

"Oh, Dan, I love it!" Diana gushed falsely, and smiled weakly when she was rewarded with his beaming grin and the ring being slipped onto her finger. "It's beautiful."

"Then it's just right for you, Di," he said, and her smile turned into a real one. Who cared if the ring wasn't perfect? He had bought it so that she would be happy with their engagement, that was what mattered. Diana Goodman was going to be content.

"Can we go to that little Italian restaurant you like?" She piped up, feeling like they should at least do something that Dan would want to do. He shifted on his feet, looking crestfallen before he spoke.

"I was thinking something a little closer, maybe."

Panic seized her. Had she said the wrong thing already, so soon after the perfect moment? Had she ruined it completely? "Oh. I mean, if you don't want to - I just thought because it's where you wanted to eat the other day and we never got a chance to - it was a stupid suggestion."

"No, no." He looked suddenly worried, and took her hand as they continued walking. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" Diana's heart seemed to return to a normal pace, as it so often did when she was with Dan. That was one of the reasons that she could be sure that she loved him - his intuitive ability to make her feel safe. Safety was something she had little experience with until she met him, and it was a feeling she intended to savor for the rest of her life.

"I - uh," he cleared his throat. "I sold my car."

"You what?"

"I wanted to get that for you," he said defensively. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

"But you sold your car?"

"Yeah, I did."

"You sold your car," she murmured in awe, and suddenly burst out into loud peals of laughter. After a moment, Dan cracked a smile and then started to chuckle himself, and soon they had to stop and sit on a bench until their inexplicable bout of amusement subsided.

"You know," Dan said, keeping an arm around her shoulders. "If you're happy, then it was worth it."

"Then..." she paused, unsure. She didn't truly know the answer, but what was this - laughing with a man who made her feel more like herself than anyone had in her life - if not happiness? "Yes. It was worth it."