The Proposal
I walked lazily along the gorgeous Florence beach, holding Bruce Wayne's hand in my left one and my sandals in the other. I was currently wearing a white eyelet lace dress that was a gift from him and stopped just below the knees, and my glossy, dark brown hair was put up into a simple yet elegant French braid.
As I felt the warm seawater on her toes and glanced up at the sky, which was dotted with big, fluffy, white clouds that were streaked with sunset orange and baby pink as a result of the gorgeous setting sun, I had to suppress the urge to run into the water, clothes and all, screaming like a maniac.
Bruce's deep, rich baritone broke me out of my reverie. "What are you staring at, Miss Kyle? You have that spacey look in your eyes again."
"That's a secret, Mr. Wayne," I purred lowly, crouching down on my knees so I could collect some beautiful sea shells in a plastic bag I'd brought with me.
The day I had moved to Florence, I'd gone to the nearest store that sold scrapbooks and had bought five of them, planning to make copies of the scrapbook that chronicled their lives without the masks to give to Alfred, John Blake, Jen, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, and my little sister Maggie, whom I'd recently discovered was alive and well and living in San Francisco.
Bruce led me further away from the water and sat down on the sparkling white sand, just staring at nothing. I sat down next to him, setting my shell bag next to me, and opened my mouth to suggest a staring contest, but clamped it shut immediately, knowing he'd win, since his eyes always glared piercing daggers at me, which caused me to blink and lose.
Suddenly, I felt Bruce's arm around my shoulders. Since when had he snaked it around me? His eyes were twinkling mischievously, so I knew I was in for a surprise.
"Alright, Mr. Wayne. Spill it," I said, my patience wearing thin.
He smirked cheekily. "Not yet, Miss Kyle. First, you have to stand up and close your eyes."
I stood up, brushed the sand off my skirt, and closed my eyes. "Ready," I said, not knowing at all where this was going.
I heard something, almost as if he was taking a little box out of his pocket. "Alright, you can open your eyes now."
I did.
Immediately, my eyes focused in on Bruce, who'd gotten down on one knee, and seemed to be holding a little beam of pink sunlight in a black velvet box. No, not a beam of sunlight. I tried to blink away the tears so I could see what he was actually holding.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and finally saw that while Bruce wasn't holding a sunbeam, he was holding the most beautiful pink diamond ring I'd ever seen, and I'd seen quite a few, since I'd often gone window shopping with my mother and Maggie at Tiffany's before everything had gone bad.
"I love you, Selina Kyle," Bruce said, a few tears happy tears streaming down his face. "Will you marry me?"
Will you marry me? Those four, simple words hit me in the chest like a battering ram, but in the best way possible. I wanted to store them in a pretty little box, shelved in the deepest recesses of my heart and engraved onto my skin with one of those pretty, platinum Mont Blanc pens he used sometimes when he worked.
He smiled patiently, waiting for my response. I opened my mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, like a fish, but, Yes, Bruce Wayne, I will marry you, didn't come out.
"Today, Miss Kyle,"Bruce said impatiently. "I'm losing circulation in my legs."
That got the gears in my brain working again. "Yes, Bruce Wayne, I will marry you," I blurted out suddenly, feeling like a hundred-ton weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
He smirked. "Good." He walked over to me and I held out my hand so he could slip the ring on.
I held out my hand, admiring the way the ring caught the light once he'd put it on. "Just think, Bruce," I said dreamily. "I'll be Mrs. Batman in a few months' time."
Bruce wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. "But that's not all Lina," he growled in my ear. "Happy Valentine's Day."
Valentine's Day? I wrestled out his grasp and turned to face him. "Today is Valentine's Day and you didn't tell me?" I asked, trying not to shout but not doing a very good job.
"Wanted to surprise you," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been planning the day for weeks."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" I shrieked angrily.
"Wanted to surprise you," he repeated simply.
"But-" I started to say, but Bruce cut me off with a kiss I was much too willing to return.
"Do you like the ring?" Bruce asked when we broke our kiss.
"God, Wayne, you're so stupid sometimes," I purred lowly.
"So I'll take that as a yes," he said.
"Right," I said. "And now I've got a surprise for you."
"What?" Bruce asked innocently.
"This." I pressed my lips to his, and he gave in immediately.
Happy Valentine's Day, Selina, I thought as I kissed him. Happy Valentine's Day, indeed.