Chapter 4
Calleigh and Ryan's date was the very next night and Calleigh could hardly wait. Ryan had been hinting all week that something big was going to happen tonight and Calleigh was hoping it would be the proposal she'd been waiting two years for. She still felt somewhat guilty about last night, but she had already decided that she would tell Natalia the whole story first thing Monday morning. That was not going to detract from her special evening.
She had just finished getting ready when the doorbell rang. She hurried to the door and found Ryan standing there with a big smile on his face. "You ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep, just let me grab my purse," she said and then they were out the door.
The first half of the date went wonderfully, dinner was spectacular and they had a great time laughing and talking. Later they made their way down to the beach. They were walking hand in hand down the beach when Ryan stopped to turn and face her.
"Calleigh," he began nervously, "You are the most beautiful person I have ever met. You are also strong, independent, compassionate, loving, and I couldn't imagine a day without you by my side."
As he launched into the most romantic speech Calleigh had ever heard, she smiled and inside she was dancing for joy. He was asking her to marry him! The day she had waited for for almost two years was finally here! Just as the speech was getting to its climax Calleigh felt an odd sensation and a moment later began hiccuping. 'I'm going to kill Eric Delko!' she thought to herself, 'he's ruining the most romantic moment of my life!'
"Calleigh," Ryan continued, although he looked at her kind of oddly when she began hiccuping, "I love you more than life itself. Will you marry me?" He opened the ring box and presented a beautiful diamond ring to her.
"Oh...Hic!...Ryan!" she said, annoyed by the hiccups, but not about to pass up this moment, "Of course...Hic!...I'll...Hic!...marry...Hic!...you!" He slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her into a kiss, a kiss which should have been very romantic, but through very persistent hiccups was deemed difficult.
"I...Hic!...love you...Hic!...Ryan!" she said softly in his ear.
"I love you too Cal" he said with a big smile on his face.
A third party watched from a relatively safe distance and chuckled when he saw the glare directed toward him from the bride-to-be. He just smiled innocently and waved. He knew he was a dead man.