Chapter 9: The Ring Redemption
Mom and Lena loaded into Dad's police vehicle shortly after I went back into the house and told Mariana that we were headed out, to take care of Jesus and Jude, and to not let our little discovery slip.
Callie and I took the family car and drove behind them at a steady 60mph. Our hands were clutched together on top of the storage compartment between our seats. I unwisely took my time examining her, every feature; memorizing everything so that I wouldn't forget.
Until now, I had never noticed how she was completely clear of any make up, her hair had grown out in the months that she had lived with us, and it hung in loose curls just past her shoulders. Her pale pink lips were permanently curved upwards in the corners, and they were captivating with a smooth shapely figure.
My phone buzzed beside me, I picked it up as the ringtone started and pressed on the green button.
"Hey mom" I started, "Callie and I are going to pull over for a moment, she's getting a bit anxious"
Callie shot me a confused look.
"Ok then, we'll meet you at the station in an hour or so" I hung up.
I pulled onto the next side road and through an old field.
I shifted the car into park and pulled out the keys, I walked around the other side of the car and held the car door open for Callie.
No words were exchanged; she just slipped her hand into mine and let me guide her through the field.
The grass was a dull green and was long overdue for a trim, the stone walls the encapsulated every individual field were turning to dull rubble. But where we were headed it had a long rock wall with a big oak tree at the north end. It's was like something out of a Robert Frost poem.
I lead Callie over there, it was only a twenty minute walk, but through the hills and exiled fields, I felt like an old man trying to run a marathon. Now the weeping willow tree was in sight. I lead her under the branches and rested myself against the trunk, while she sat on an old wooden swing.
"Why did you bring me out here?"
I smiled a little to myself.
"If I'm going to be completely honest: I have no fucking idea." I rested my head against the trunk too, "Callie, when I was little, I always thought that I would end up marrying the girl of my dreams. I had no idea who she was at the time, I only knew her name"
"What was her name?" She came and sat down next to me, her head resting on my shoulder, not minding the pieces of bark that would stick in her hair later on.
"Her name was Emily Lovett"
Callie tilted her head at me, probably in confusion.
"When I was younger, and Mom and Dad were still together, they worked on the Lovett case for six months. And one day I met Bradley Lovett. He was sitting on our couch, crying." I smiled in spite of myself, "I thought that maybe he had lost his dog or cat, and that maybe I could help him. So I went over to him, and sat beside him on the sofa. I asked him what was wrong. He said to me 'Somebody has taken my wife and children, and I miss them a lot"
Callie was smiling too now.
"Well, being my six-year old self, I could do anything but ask more questions, so I asked him 'did you have a daughter sir?', well, he laughed at me a little, and they told me yes. So my only response for him was 'don't worry sir, one day I'll find her and bring her home for you.' He smiled a bit more and then asked me, 'when you bring her home, what should I give you in return?' I had to sit and think about what I wanted for a minute, but once I had decided, I knew that was all that I could ever want."
Callie keenly waited for me to reveal my response to Bradley, but I pulled her up till we were both standing, and led her over to the wooden swing once more. She instinctively sat down on it, and I continued to hold her hand.
"so I told Bradley that I wanted old one thing" I started, "I told the sad man one the couch that 'one day I'll find her and bring her home for you, sir, but then'" I knelt on one knee, "'Then you have to let me marry her.', So Callie, one day, after I take you home, would you" I produced a velvet box from my coat pocket, "Marry me?"
I opened the box, and in the little gaps of sunlight that had fought through the thick layers of the tree, you could see a small diamond ring, with a sleek sliver band.
The tears being seized on the brim of her eyelids, threatened to tumble past the poorly enforced barriers. Her lips quivered and I felt myself being pulled into everything that was her.
I still knelt with the ring before me, as an offering.
It was barely noticeable, but it was there, a nod. A yes.
"Yes, she choked out, "Yes, Brandon, one day you can marry me"
I removed the promise ring from its box, and slid it on her ring finger. It fit like a glove, which wasn't a surprise because after all, while she was sleeping I took it upon myself to measure her.
I captured her mouth in a kiss, passionately smashing my lips into hers, enjoying the feeling of her fingers grabbing my hair, searching for a better grip as we fell back wards into the grass.
She interrupted our kiss with a question.
"How long have you been planning this?"
"Well, yesterday, when I found out who you were, I decided to take a late night visit to my grandma. Needless to say, I spilled my guts out." She started to laugh at me, "And after that, I told her about how I was planning on getting you a promise ring, and how I had your measurements and everything. She disappeared into the attic for a moment, and when she came back, she gave me this ring."
"It's gorgeous" She commented, still staring at it in awe, "Are you sure that you want to marry me someday? I'm not exactly the perfect girl, and I might be living in Beverly Hills in a week from now"
"I've thought about that, but I really don't care. We can still meet on the weekends and on the holidays"
"C'mon, we should get going" She smiled at me in appreciation.
It was only a 10 minute walk back to the car, on account of it being downhill. We laughed and smiled the entire way down, and Callie made me give her a piggy back.
When the silver vehicle in sight, Callie hopped off my back and tugged me towards it.
I trapped her between myself and the car door, remembering to tell her something before we had to escape back into reality.
"By the way" I whispered, a mere inch away from her lips, "I love you."
"I know." She whispered back, "And I love you too"
