The Proposal:
One Month Later.
Josiah stared at the laughing woman across the table. How had he gotten so lucky? He thought to himself. For in his eyes he was blessed by a God he had forgotten about a long time ago in the form of this beautiful woman. Everything about her was perfect; she was smart, pretty, funny for Josiah the list could go forever. She liked many of the same things Josiah did and shared a passion with him for the poor. It was often hard for him to believe that they had only met a month ago. Josiah had never found a soul mate before but he was pretty sure that this is what having one felt like. She was in short an incredible woman who he looked forward to spending the rest of his life with.
For although Josiah was past what was normally considered the settling down and marrying age he too had dreams of his own family; perhaps a house full of children, and a dog, every family needed a good dog in his opinion. And Josiah saw those plans fulfilled each time he looked into Maude Standish's eyes. He saw them raising a family, visiting his parent's house with a brood of Grandchildren for them to dote on, and most importantly growing old together, laughing over old memories, and God willing dieing within days of each other.
In fact Josiah had brought Maude here to fulfill this very dream for in his pocket lay a velvet ring box which contained a Two Caret Asscher diamond engagement ring for which he had used most his savings on. Not to mention the many loans he had taken out from the bank and the one loan from his brother Buck in the promise that it was for a very special lady. Now he was just waiting for the right moment to ask the love of his life to marry him.
Maude Standish was also waiting for the right moment, she was so close, and she could taste victory ahead. Tonight was the night he would ask her, she would say yes, and then she would be subject to the man's incredible wealth. She would stay for a couple of months and then one night would suddenly skip town with most of the man's money never to be heard of or be seen again.
It was a familiar game to her and one she had played so many times in the past that it did not even occur to her to think of the devastation she would leave behind. For Maude everything was money, wit, occasional chance, and appearances. With these a woman could do anything and she did.
For her Josiah was just another moneymaking opportunity, one she had carefully planned out. The man was obviously love stricken; to him she was the big catch. He was getting old; another chance like this would most likely not come along. Besides he thought they were a perfect match, the same interests, hobbies, etc. Maude had done her research very well. Besides Josiah had already admitted several times that he was rich in life, not to mention how his apartment displayed his wealth. She doubted the man would make her sign a prenuptial; so when she disappeared and later filed for divorce on some extravagant excuse there was no way he could withhold any money from her. Or she could just skip the divorce and move on to a new mark or take a vacation in the Caribbean for awhile; after all it wasn't like she had never done it before.
There was only one thing that posed a problem, her son, (the only child she had ever birthed, Thank God) was due to be kicked out of whatever semi-relative of his deceased father's she had him staying with at the moment. It would be easy of course to ship the boy off to one of the many boarding schools she periodical gave money to. Frankly however, the child only seemed to generate trouble there and no amount of money seemed to be able to prevent the calls from concerned head masters, schools nurses, etc. It would not look good if Maude were one day caught by Josiah talking to a Headmaster about a non existent child. No, if she was right Josiah probably was the sentimental type who dreamed of raising a family, perhaps the boy would be useful in this con after all. Besides it would be good to see the child again, it had been almost a year now since she had seen him, it would be good to make sure he had been following the life lessons Maude had insured he knew at a very young age.
Pulled from her musings Maude watched with a fake smile as Josiah reached into his pocket with a shaky hand and pulled out a ring box. The moment she had been waiting for all night was finally here.
"Oh, Lord if you have ever not given me strength before please shower it on me now; please don't let me drop the ring!" Josiah prayed frantically as he pulled the box from his pocket and fell on one knee. He took a deep breath to smooth his nerves and then recited from memory what he wanted to say.
"Maude, from the moment we met I knew you were the love of my life. Even though we have only known each other for a short time, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Maude, will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?" Maude let a moment of silence go by before she shouted as if she were the happiest woman alive on earth. "YES! Yes, Josiah I will marry you and in doing so make me the luckiest woman on the planet!" Fake tears shimmering down her face she threw herself at Josiah and passionately kissed him as the restaurant around them erupted in applause.
(Cole! here: Okay just say it! Poor Josiah, you have to be the ice queen not to feel sorry for him. I mean since we all know what is going to eventually happen. Don't worry folks I will try to get it over with soon!)
One Month Later.
Josiah stared at the laughing woman across the table. How had he gotten so lucky? He thought to himself. For in his eyes he was blessed by a God he had forgotten about a long time ago in the form of this beautiful woman. Everything about her was perfect; she was smart, pretty, funny for Josiah the list could go forever. She liked many of the same things Josiah did and shared a passion with him for the poor. It was often hard for him to believe that they had only met a month ago. Josiah had never found a soul mate before but he was pretty sure that this is what having one felt like. She was in short an incredible woman who he looked forward to spending the rest of his life with.
For although Josiah was past what was normally considered the settling down and marrying age he too had dreams of his own family; perhaps a house full of children, and a dog, every family needed a good dog in his opinion. And Josiah saw those plans fulfilled each time he looked into Maude Standish's eyes. He saw them raising a family, visiting his parent's house with a brood of Grandchildren for them to dote on, and most importantly growing old together, laughing over old memories, and God willing dieing within days of each other.
In fact Josiah had brought Maude here to fulfill this very dream for in his pocket lay a velvet ring box which contained a Two Caret Asscher diamond engagement ring for which he had used most his savings on. Not to mention the many loans he had taken out from the bank and the one loan from his brother Buck in the promise that it was for a very special lady. Now he was just waiting for the right moment to ask the love of his life to marry him.
Maude Standish was also waiting for the right moment, she was so close, and she could taste victory ahead. Tonight was the night he would ask her, she would say yes, and then she would be subject to the man's incredible wealth. She would stay for a couple of months and then one night would suddenly skip town with most of the man's money never to be heard of or be seen again.
It was a familiar game to her and one she had played so many times in the past that it did not even occur to her to think of the devastation she would leave behind. For Maude everything was money, wit, occasional chance, and appearances. With these a woman could do anything and she did.
For her Josiah was just another moneymaking opportunity, one she had carefully planned out. The man was obviously love stricken; to him she was the big catch. He was getting old; another chance like this would most likely not come along. Besides he thought they were a perfect match, the same interests, hobbies, etc. Maude had done her research very well. Besides Josiah had already admitted several times that he was rich in life, not to mention how his apartment displayed his wealth. She doubted the man would make her sign a prenuptial; so when she disappeared and later filed for divorce on some extravagant excuse there was no way he could withhold any money from her. Or she could just skip the divorce and move on to a new mark or take a vacation in the Caribbean for awhile; after all it wasn't like she had never done it before.
There was only one thing that posed a problem, her son, (the only child she had ever birthed, Thank God) was due to be kicked out of whatever semi-relative of his deceased father's she had him staying with at the moment. It would be easy of course to ship the boy off to one of the many boarding schools she periodical gave money to. Frankly however, the child only seemed to generate trouble there and no amount of money seemed to be able to prevent the calls from concerned head masters, schools nurses, etc. It would not look good if Maude were one day caught by Josiah talking to a Headmaster about a non existent child. No, if she was right Josiah probably was the sentimental type who dreamed of raising a family, perhaps the boy would be useful in this con after all. Besides it would be good to see the child again, it had been almost a year now since she had seen him, it would be good to make sure he had been following the life lessons Maude had insured he knew at a very young age.
Pulled from her musings Maude watched with a fake smile as Josiah reached into his pocket with a shaky hand and pulled out a ring box. The moment she had been waiting for all night was finally here.
"Oh, Lord if you have ever not given me strength before please shower it on me now; please don't let me drop the ring!" Josiah prayed frantically as he pulled the box from his pocket and fell on one knee. He took a deep breath to smooth his nerves and then recited from memory what he wanted to say.
"Maude, from the moment we met I knew you were the love of my life. Even though we have only known each other for a short time, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Maude, will you marry me and make me the happiest man on earth?" Maude let a moment of silence go by before she shouted as if she were the happiest woman alive on earth. "YES! Yes, Josiah I will marry you and in doing so make me the luckiest woman on the planet!" Fake tears shimmering down her face she threw herself at Josiah and passionately kissed him as the restaurant around them erupted in applause.
(Cole! here: Okay just say it! Poor Josiah, you have to be the ice queen not to feel sorry for him. I mean since we all know what is going to eventually happen. Don't worry folks I will try to get it over with soon!)