I really hope that you enjoy this post. I think that it's pretty important in the development of their relationship. Enjoy!

And I'm sorry to whoever asked me to end this soon but I still have a way to go yet. But if you all feel that way let me know and I can just stop posting.

Marissa's epiphany

"You first." Marissa said smiling.

"No … ladies first." Ryan replied thinking at least she was smiling. He thought that if her news was good then he'd rather hear it first; anything to delay making a decision about what he should do.

Marissa took his hand and pulled him over and sat him down on the side of the bed and sat down beside him, their hands still linked.

"You smell good." Ryan said breathing deeply and wanting nothing more than to bury his head in the side of her neck. But knowing where that would lead and the fact that he had some momentous decisions to make in the very near future, stopped him from acting on those ideas.

Now that the time had come to tell him what she had been thinking about all day … the words just didn't seem to want to come ... so she took the easy way out and spoke about something else. "I love my dress … and my shoes. You know that you didn't have to do that?" Marissa started.

"I'm really being selfish. I thought it was beautiful too and I just wanted to have the pleasure of seeing you in it." He replied.

"And here I was thinking you only liked seeing me out of clothes?" she teased.

"Well, I can't deny, I do like you that way." Ryan was starting to wonder if maybe they did have time for a quick romp in the bed ... but he knew that now was not the time; although it was becoming more and more difficult to distract himself from the idea, with Marissa sitting beside him, barely clothed and being flirty. "How was your day at the spa?" he asked.

"Great." She answered. There was a moments silence while Marissa tried to get back on track knowing that she wanted to clear things up with Ryan now ... while it was all still fresh in her mind. "I … I um …"

"You um?" Ryan queried. "Don't tell me. Let me guess. The masseuse was ugly." He teased.

"You know quite well I didn't get a massage. I bet you deliberately filled my day up with treatments so that there was no time left for one. Didn't you?" she asked laughing.

"Would I do that?" Ryan asked innocently.

"Yes. But that wasn't what I wanted to tell you about. Although I guess that the two things are sort of related." She added.

Ryan looked at her puzzled about what was coming next.

"I did a lot of thinking." She stated.

"About?" he asked.

"Us." Marissa replied.

Ryan had no idea what was likely to come next. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest. Were all his ideas about to go belly up anyhow? Maybe she'd changed her mind about what she'd said yesterday. He shook his head trying to clear it of the dozens of things going through it all at once. "What about us?" he asked.

Marissa could see that Ryan was concerned and wanted to reassure him. "Don't worry. It was all good. It's just that I realised that this." She held up their entwined hands. "Us ... It's different from before." She said and then realising he was even more confused she added. "Well I know that you're still you and I'm still me but we're different. I don't know if it's because we are older and wiser or because we both realise how close we went to losing one another when we were apart and we just don't want to ever be in that position again. But somehow, I know that what we have this time around is strong ... stronger than I ever imagined possible."

Marissa looked at him to see if what she was saying was getting through to him; it had all seemed so simple to her when she had thought about it. She tried to think of an example and continued. "The thing with Charlotte … the thing with me not telling you about the calls from Dan and my Mom … the disagreement that we had yesterday after you spoke to Dan … once upon a time we would have both over reacted to any one of those and ended up fighting or worse … taking time apart and then splitting up. But … okay … so maybe we could have handled things better … but there was never a chance that that would happen. Somehow I knew that even though we disagreed on things that we would work it out ... together… and find a way through it. I was angry with you yesterday. But there was never a chance that we weren't going to work through it. The fact is that you are the most important thing in the world to me and …" she held up her hand as Ryan was about to interrupt "and before you say anything, I need to finish ... I think just as important … is … that I have finally realised and accepted that you feel the same. I'm not insecure anymore. I have confidence in the fact that you love me just as much as I love you. Nothing is going to come between us again." She finished and smiled broadly. Proud of the fact that she had finally got it all out.

Ryan's face broke into a huge smile. He felt like he had just been given a precious gift. "Can I talk yet?" he asked softly.

"Nope I'm not quite finished." She added smiling. "And so … I've decided … that I'm no longer scared of my mother. Nothing she can say or do will ever make a difference to the way we feel about each other … and since it means so much to you … I am prepared to go and see her. On one proviso … and that is … you have to come with me." Marissa looked at Ryan waiting for a reaction … any reaction. But when he said nothing she added. "That's not because I'm insecure and think that she can do anything to come between us … but more … that I want to show her just how happy we are together."

Ryan bent his head and kissed her sweetly at first and then he moved his hand to gently cup her head as the kiss between them deepened. Marissa moved to push him back down on to the bed but Ryan resisted her.

"Wait." He gasped trying to stop her from kissing him so that he could talk to her. He was unbelievably happy that she finally felt confident in what they had. It was all he had ever hoped for. He knew that he had thought that the wedding would help her to realise and trust in his love. But for her to reach that point on her own was even more precious to him. And in light of her new faith in them, he knew that in stead of him making a decision about the wedding that they would make it – together.

Marissa hesitated, wondering what he wanted to say and what could be so important that he would stop what they had been about to do. "You don't want to?" she asked puzzled by his reaction.

"I want to very much." He replied, the look in his eyes telling her the truth of his words. "But there is something that I need to talk to you about."

"Couldn't it wait until after we've …" Marissa stood up and undid the tie around her gown to reveal her nakedness and making it quite obvious what she wanted to be doing.

Ryan took one look and wondered if he was up to this. "Oh God." He turned his head, knowing that if he continued to look at her, he would be powerless to resist. "I need to talk to you … like NOW! We don't have too much time to decide."

Marissa was stunned. But she could see that something was troubling him. It wasn't the reaction that she had been hoping for but if he had a problem … then they would sort it out ... together. Re-tying her robe she sat back down. "Okay … so talk."

Ryan didn't know how to begin. He took a deep breath and said softly "Do you remember I asked you a question on the Ferris wheel yesterday?"

Marissa looked at him and as their eyes connected he knew that she didn't need words to answer. "You mean ….?" She asked.

"Whether you wanted to marry me?" Ryan finished.

Marissa nodded.

"Well. I'm not sure if you'll like the idea or not … but I've sort of gone ahead and organised it." He added quietly, waiting to see what her reaction would be. Looking into her eyes, he tried to read what she was thinking but was unable to, she just looked stunned. He added. "I wanted it to be spontaneous and romantic and … but now I'm not so sure." He hung his head and then continued "I know that it might seem like a bit of a rush and if you don't want to then it's not too late to call it all off ... we don't have to." He offered. "It's just that after seeing the dress and then the wedding … and they looked so happy and then the Ferris wheel and it stopped and … " he knew he was rambling but he just wanted her to understand why he had thought it would be a good idea. "… I couldn't help but think that fate was trying to tell me … us … something." When Marissa still said nothing he hung his head back down and added softly. "Or maybe I was just trying to get what I've always wanted. I guess the simple truth is … I just didn't want to wait anymore. I wanted you to be my wife." He stated and wondered what in the world had ever possessed him to think that she would want to go through with this?

Marissa took a moment to process everything he'd said. She finally whispered "But how? When?"

Ryan looked up. "At the same chapel we were at last night … tonight at 6." He replied. "We have to go to the courthouse on the way to get the license."

"But what about the paparazzi? They will make it all a farce." She said.

"Well. There's a few other things that I haven't explained. "Like the fact that … as far as the rest of the world is concerned … Keith and Annabel are the ones getting married. You and I are just their witnesses."

"What? But how?" Marissa didn't think she could be more stunned … but it seemed that every word that came out of his mouth proved her wrong.

"They have agreed to play their part, as a favour to us … to me." he corrected since Marissa had known nothing about it. "They even spent a good part of the day shopping for a wedding dress for her." Ryan explained.

"So you're telling me that we are getting married today?" Marissa asked still trying to understand it all and wondering if she was dreaming.

"If you want to?" Ryan replied. "I know that we don't have anyone else here. But I thought that we'd still keep it to ourselves until after Seth and Summer were married and then we'll have a ceremony and reaffirm our vows. But if you want to wait for Seth and Summer to be our witnesses then that's okay with me. I'll do whatever you want."

Marissa was still silent as she tried to process it all.

Ryan realised that maybe he had been hasty in trying to push for this. "I'll understand if you don't want to right now. But you had said that you only wanted a small wedding …" he looked at her and gave her his cute half smile. "And you can't get any smaller."

"So the dress was …" she started.

"Uh huh." He replied.

"But what about rings …" Marissa asked.

Ryan pulled the boxes from his pocket. "That's where I've just been." He explained and handed them to her.

She opened the first one which had the matching set of traditional bands in it.

"They're for Keith and Annabel." Ryan explained.

Marissa closed the box and opened the other. She slowly moved her fingers over the intricate design of each one in turn.

"They are Irish Claddaugh rings. They are …" he started to explain and then looked at Marissa only to find tears in her eyes as a single tear drop escaped and moved down her cheek. "Ris don't cry. We don't have to. We can just wait and you can pick out whatever you want." He said as she started to shake her head from side to side.

She gulped, trying to compose herself. "I know what they are." She smiled at him through the blur of her tears. "My grandmother wore one and I always thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world." She looked up at him and held his eyes. "But that was until I saw these." She added and pulled the smaller ring from the box to try on her finger. It was a perfect fit and she lent her head gently on Ryan's shoulder.

"I thought that we could wear them on the pinky fingers of our right hands until we're ready to share it all with the world." He explained.

Marissa nodded and then took a deep sigh. She removed the ring from her finger and then placed it gently back in the box and handed it back to Ryan.

He assumed that she meant that she wanted to wait. That he could keep the rings until she was ready. "I'll just go and tell Keith and Annabel that we've changed our mind." He said.

Marissa grabbed his arm as he went to stand up and move to the door. "You're not going anywhere." Marissa replied softly. "We haven't got much time to get ready and if I'm getting married to you then you'd better be looking sharp." She said … a smile making its way on to her face as she started to realise just what she was saying.

Ryan turned to her the surprise evident in his eyes.

"Go on. Hop to it." She instructed … the smile broadening as she took in the shocked expression on his face.

Ryan stared at her. Now he was the one that was stunned. "Are you sure?"

"What? Sure that I want to marry you?" she asked.

Ryan nodded.

"Oh yeah." She replied simply.

"But what about Summer? Ryan asked. "I thought you'd .."

"Summer is going to have her own wedding. And we'll be there for that. All I need is you." She replied and then looked over at the clock. 'So exactly how much time do I have to get ready?"

"We are meeting Keith and Annabel at 5." Ryan replied.

"Well then you'd better get in that shower. You can tell me the rest of the plans while you are getting ready." She quickly kissed him and then pushed him towards the bathroom. "Actually …" she glanced back at the clock again and then untied her robe and dropped it to the floor. "I think I should join you. Just to make sure that you don't miss any spots." She laughed as he pulled her into his arms.