Chapter One
"Yes!" I almost shouted happily and hugged Eric tightly, "Yes, I will marry you!"
He picked me up off the ground and twirled me around in the air before bring me back down towards his lips. We shared a soft intimate kiss and then he placed me back down on my feet, and I remembered where we were. My cheeks flushed a bright pink color from embarrassment as I looked around at all the people staring at me and Eric. In my pure excitement, I had forgotten that we were in one of the five star restaurants of New Orleans. God, how I hoped I had not made a fool of myself, but as I looked at Eric I realized that I really didn't care what anyone else thought. I was getting married! I was going to be Mrs. Eric Shawn Preston and no one could bring me down.
"So," Eric said his deep voice sending tingles through my body, "when do we tell your parents? Do I finally get to meet my future in-laws?"
"Oh," I gasped more than spoke, "my parents…"
With all of this excitement, I had forgotten about my mother. She would surely freak as soon as she found out. I had been so afraid that she would embarrass me with all of her medical terms and scientific explanations of love that I had put off introducing Eric to her. Why, as far as she knew, I was out shopping for something! I never could talk to my mother about anything. I had always talked to Grandmere, with whom I seemed to relate more. How on earth was I going to tell my mother that I was engaged?
"Well?" Eric pressed and my frown deepened.
His face had taken on such a serious and worried look that it made me feel horrible. Here he had gone to all the trouble to set up this wonderful evening just so he ask me to be his wife and I had gone and ruined it in a quarter of a second. I would just have to deal with my mother and get it over with. I kept telling myself that I was doing it for Eric, for the love of my life, who I was going to marry.
"Oh, Eric," I said and smiled slightly, "Soon, I promise. Just give me some time and I'll set up a date for her to meet you. Okay?"
He nodded, but looked so disappointed, so I caressed his cheek and gave him a soft kiss. That seemed to cheer him up a bit, so we both sat down to finish our dinner hopefully in peace. We were both quite for such a long time that I almost couldn't bear it. It was like he was torturing me, trying to make me feel bad and it was working. I fidgeted around a bit and noticed that everyone had gone back to their own interests. We weren't the highlight of the evening. I couldn't take it anymore! I needed him to tell me how much he loved me and that I could take however long I wanted to tell my mother, but I knew he wouldn't be like that. He was too stubborn, too set in his own ways, too spoiled by his parents as a child.
So, I finally spoke, "Eric, I promise I will tell her. I just have to find a hole in her busy schedule. She is always busy and I'm almost always alone in our apartment. Sometimes, I even stay nights with my Grandmere and she never even notices! I promise you that I will tell her as soon as I see her and then she'll definitely want to meet you."
"Great," he said enthusiastically and reached over to take a hold of my hand and squeeze it, "this is going to be the most wonderful time of our lives, Amber. I'll make sure of it!"
With that, things were back to normal. In no time, we started talking and kidding again and it looked like he was having a good time; however, in the back of my mind, I was worrying what my mother would say when I told her, and I was trying to figure out someway to put it off. She will throw a fit. I was suppose to start college in the fall, and even though I didn't really want to, Mother had made it such a big deal that I just couldn't refuse. How on earth was I going to do this?
