Part 3
The Blessing
Alex had never felt as nervous as he did now as he waited for one of Isabel's parents to open the front door. He wondered this briefly if he would feel this nervous when he finally got the chance to pop the question to Isabel.
Dutch Courage was what he needed right about now, a large glass of Dutch Courage maybe two large glasses.
"Yeah that would be great," Alex muttered to himself "Turning up drunk to ask for permission to marry Isabel, I'm sure Mr Evans would love a drunk son in law,"
"You know speaking to yourself is the first sign of madness," Diane stated when she finally opened the front door. "Are you going to come in or just stand there all night?"
Alex smiled weakly at her as he followed her into the living room, he was going to throw up, he was going to faint, he was going to be so embarrassed that he was going to have to run away to England and spend the rest of his days drinking milky tea and discussing the terrible weather.
"The second sign of madness would be dating Isabel," Philip joked "Alex, good to see you."
"Hello Mr Evans," Alex said, swallowing nervously as he sat down across from him.
"Alex dear, you've dated our Izzy for years now and you still insist on calling us Mr and Mrs Evans," Diane said with a shake of her head "Its Diane and Philip, there's no need to be so formal, you're practically family,"
Alex blushed slightly, every time he was around the Evans he felt like a teenager, it had gotten to the point where he even refused to kiss Isabel if her parents around just in case they walked in and found him with his hands near the honey pot so to speak.
"The boy has manners, there's nothing wrong with that," Philip said "Remember that boyfriend of Izzy's that insisted on calling us Phil and Di? What was his name again?"
"Nikolai," Diane replied "What about Grant? He seemed like such a nice boy, whatever did happen to him?"
Alex pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, great this was all he needed. Talking about Isabel's ex boyfriends a excellent way to get rid of all nerves and bring the green eyed monster to the surface.
"I actually had something to ask you both," Alex said before the topic of Isabel's conquests could go any further then it already had.
The Evans both gave Alex their full attention and stared across at him, "Go on then Son," Philip said
Alex nodded and opened his mouth hoping that the words would just come out of their own accord, of course they didn't and he felt like a goldfish out of water as he opened and closed his mouth. Why hadn't he listen to Sean when he had suggested writing everything down on a piece of paper?
"Would you like a glass of water dear?" Diane asked with a look of concern,
"Get him something stronger," Philip ordered "A brandy should do the trick!"
Minutes later a glass of amber liquid was pushed into his shaking hands, he down it in go, coughing and spluttering as the liquid travelled into his system.
"I'm in love with your daughter and I want to marry her! I would like to ask your permission for Isabel's hand in marriage!" Alex said quickly and then sighed with relief. He had done it.
"No,"
Alex felt his mouth drop open, "No?"
"No," Philip repeated
"But….but….why?" Alex stuttered, the palm of his hands were starting to sweat and he was seconds away from a panic attack. He couldn't believe it, no had not been the answer he had been expecting. He looked at Mrs Evans for help but just received a shrug.
Philip shrugged his shoulders "I just felt like saying no, don't take it personally"
"Don't take it personally?" Alex repeated in utter disbelief, he stood up in outrage "I love Isabel and I will marry her if she will have me."
"Alex, he's teasing you," Diane pointed out as her husband burst out laughing "Of course we give you our blessing."
Alex fell back down onto the seat, he didn't see the funny side of the joke in fact the only side he could see was the very unfunny side.
"Your face was priceless, I wish I had had the camera handy!" Philip stated still laughing.
"I'm so excited, our little girl is getting married," Diane said, she looked like she was on the urge of tears and Alex felt pretty close himself.
"If she will have me," Alex said, he knew that Isabel loved him but he wondered if she was ready to take that next step with him.
"Of course she will," Diane said patting him on the arm
Alex offered her another weak smile and prayed that she was right.
"Michael and Maria are getting married," Isabel stated as she joined her parents and Alex in the living room.
"They're what?" Alex asked nearly dropping his glass to the floor.
"They are getting married!" Isabel said "Michael came by to the office to ask for my help in preparing a setting for the proposal but then got all huffy and Michael-ish. Maria over heard him telling me that he didn't need my help and that when he proposed to Maria it would be perfect."
"And now they getting married," Alex said paling slightly. Michael was going to kill him when he got his hand on him but in the meantime Alex was stuck with having to find another way to make his proposal perfect
"Yep and Serena is pregnant." Isabel added "Did you know about that? I did try phoning you earlier but you didn't answer,"
"I was in meeting, did you just say Serena is pregnant?" Alex asked, his brain going on overload as it tried to devour all the new information
"Apparently so and Maria also mentioned something about us getting a dog,"
Alex shook his head, something somewhere had gone seriously wrong, "I need another drink,"
