The Proposal
by BeeBee
It was Christmas day...and unusually cold in Carmel. Not a time I wanted to be outside. I'd gotten used to the balmy weather in northern California in the five years I'd been living there, and wasn't at all ready for the sudden cold chill that had taken Carmel hostage.
But, Jesse, evidentally playing a joke on me, told me that my Christmas present from him was a scavenger hunt in the freezing winter weather (not his words, exactly, but that's what it was). Great. How romantic. A wild-goose chase through Carmel in the forty-degree weather. And, by the way, Jesse was AWOL--he left right after telling me about my "gift" from him.
First clue:
Your second hint will be in the place where we met.
Easy. My room. I climbed up the stairs of my Mom's house--where we were having a Christmas gathering--and went into my old room. I looked on the window seat. There was a tiny slip of paper on the cushion.
Second clue:
You will find the next clue in the place where we kissed for the second time.
At the Mission. Great.
I went outside and got into my car. I drove down to the Mission, and went to the graveyard to get my next clue.
I went through several more clues--each getting progressively harder--until I came across one on the beach--yes, the beach, with the Pacific wind making me feel really, really cold--that left me absolutely stumped.
Final clue:
This place is where I will confess that I will love you until the end of time.
What kind of clue was that? Jeez, could he be any more cryptic about it? Wait, don't answer that.
I sat there in the freezing cold (and now, by the way, it had started to rain), on the beach with instructions not to return to my mother's house until I'd gotten my Christmas present.
I was going to die on that beach! I had no idea where the present was or what it was, for that matter.
"Give up, Querida?"
"Yes." I grunted.
I turned and saw Jesse. In his hand was a ring--an engagement ring.
"I love you, Susannah. Will you be mine forever?" he asked.
"Yes."
And we stayed outside for the longest time, kissing in the rain.
And I didn't feel so cold after all.