Ring
Nora notices it as soon as her eldest children walk through the door. She couldn't miss it.
Casey and Derek are home visiting while their new house is being renovated. The young couple moved in together last summer into a small apartment while they finished up school, but now that Casey is about to start her first year teaching and Derek is full-blown into practice season for hockey, they bought a slightly larger home. Casey wanted her own office and Derek wanted a home gym, and they both got what they wanted.
Derek is dropping their luggage on the landing of the stairs when Nora greets her daughter.
"What is that, Casey?" Nora asks, eyeing her daughter pointedly with her arms crossed over her chest.
Casey laughs nervously, shaking her head.
"How did you see it so fast?" she laughs, glancing back at Derek.
Nora laughs in return, walking toward her daughter, hugging her tightly.
"Because I'm your mother."
Casey hugs her mother back, reaching out her right hand for Derek, pulling him toward her. His arm slings over his shoulder and he kisses her temple when he's close enough.
"What am I missing?" George asks, laughing, confused by his wife's comments.
Lizzie elbows his side jokingly, looking up at her step-father.
"I'll give you a hint, George," Lizzie says, knowing exactly what her mother had been referring to. "Look at Casey's left hand."
George's eyebrows scrunch together, but he listens to Lizzie, looking down toward his elder step-daughter's hand.
George sees it now. And now he's not sure how he missed it the first time.
On Casey's left hand— her ring finger, to be specific— sits a simple, but beautiful, teardrop shaped ring.
"You proposed?" George wonders, looking toward his son, who smiles in return.
"Two days ago," Derek confirms, pulling his now-fiancee closer to him.
Casey smiles up at Derek, wrapping her arms tightly around him and resting her head against his chest.
"Well," Nora beams, turning to her eldest two. "Then tonight's dinner is a celebration."
George agrees, placing a hand on his son's shoulder with pride.
"Absolutely. This is definitely cause for celebration."
Nora decided against cooking dinner at home. Her children's engagement is reason enough to take the whole family out for dinner.
"You two have come a long way in the last four years," Nora smiles, looking across the table at Casey and Derek.
Casey's cheeks turn pink and Derek fake-coughs into his sleeve.
"You mean since our first Spring Break home from Queens," Derek clarifies, taking a sip from his water glass, smiling a cocky smile.
Nora laughs lightly, shaking her head at her step-son's bluntness.
That day feels like a lifetime ago to Nora. It's a day she'll never forget, unfortunately, but it feels a million years ago. She's watched their relationship grow and change over the last three years, and she couldn't be prouder of her children— both of them.
"I'm proud of you both," Nora says, admiring how her daughter turns to look at her fiancé, placing a kiss to his cheek.
"Thank you, Mom."
The family begin enjoying their dinners, chatting about different topics— mostly the renovations being done to Casey and Derek's new house. Casey explains excitedly how the new countertops for the kitchen were installed last week and how they expect to be able to move in by the end of the month.
It's when dessert arrives at the table that Nora realizes she hadn't asked what she considers to be an important question to the newly engaged couple.
"Oh!" Nora shrieks, startling Lizzie who's sitting beside her. "I can't believe I forgot! Derek, how did you propose?"
Derek is about to open his mouth to respond when Casey smirks.
"Well, that depends, Mom, if you're referring to the first or the second time?"
Derek laughs, squeezing Casey's shoulder and shakes his head.
"For the last time, Princess, that wasn't a proposal," he states, his tone light and joking.
Casey crosses her arms over her chest, scoffing at him.
Nora raises her eyebrows, questioning.
"Oh, right, what did you call it? A bill of intent?" Casey laughs, lightly checking her shoulder against his chest.
"Right," Derek agrees, still laughing. "Plus, I was distracted the first time. It was coerced."
Casey rolls her eyes.
"Oh, you were not coerced!" Casey argues playfully.
Derek huffs, pressing his lips to Casey's temple.
"Pretty sure it was actually the definition of coercion. But I'll concede. The second time was all on me. I did the whole bit, down on one knee and everything."
Nora chuckles at her children, shaking her head.
"Do I even want to know want you're talking about?" Nora asks apprehensively, already having some idea as to what her step-son is referring.
"Probably not," Casey responds quickly, taking Derek's hand into hers.
"I didn't think so," Nora laughs, taking a bite of her chocolate cake.
Casey smiles, looking down at her ring, admiring it.
"Really, though, Mom," she starts. "It was incredible. He took me out to dinner, but he knew I wouldn't have wanted to draw so much attention, so he waited until we were back home. I was taking out my earrings when I turned around and there he was, with the ring."
Casey's smile is ear-to-ear as she remembers the best night of her life.
"And he went into this whole speech about how I'm the love of his life and how he wants to spend the rest of his life with me—"
"I did, but what she won't tell you is that she hesitated!" Derek interjects, nudging his shoulder against Casey playfully.
"I did not!" Casey nearly yells, turning to her fiancé. "I was in shock!"
"I asked you to marry me, and you paused. Kinda bruises a man's ego, Princess," Derek says, feigning hurt.
Casey huffs.
"Oh, I think your ego is just fine, Derek."
Nora and George exchange a look, both laughing. Derek and Casey are already an old married couple, just in their twenties and without a legal document.
"You also cried later on that night at kind of a bad time— that's bad for the ego too," Derek adds, laughing.
"Oh, come on, Casey cries all the time. You proposed, you should've expected some waterworks," Lizzie points out, shaking her head.
"I did," Derek states, his lips turning up into a smirk when Casey drops her head into her hands and laughs uncomfortably. "I expected her to cry. Just not during sex."
Nora almost chokes on her drink and George's eyes widen to the size of golfballs.
"Derek!"
Hello, friends. This is the second to last installment in my "Red-Handed" series. Quickly, I just wanted to apologize for mis-rating the last one-shot. I clicked the wrong button, but it is correctly rated now. Sorry about that.
As I said, there is one more one-shot in this series, but fear not, I have like, a whole bunch of other one-shots also written, just not ones part of this series. So just stay tuned.
Thanks for reading.