Milestones - Chapter 4
I don't think I ever remember asking her to be my girlfriend Chrom mused, drumming his fingers idly on the steering wheel. He managed to get out of the office for a couple of hours, meeting a new client he said while convincing Robin to stay. It was just going to be a friendly meeting over coffee, no real discussion of business. Robin had a suspicious gleam in her eyes but let him go anyway. They almost always went together, the slight hitch in his voice nearly betraying his true intentions.
Everything seemed to naturally fall into place. They spent nearly every waking moment together ever since they met, from meeting for schoolwork or even just going out for coffee. Neither of them bothered to go to parties to meet new people, normally preferring the night to themselves. They had been "seeing" each other almost exclusively until they fought then decided to move in together, rendering them even more inseparable. They were living together almost three months when Chrom's family came to visit and that was the only time he had ever had to explicitly call Robin his girlfriend, a fact that was otherwise already assumed by everyone they knew. Neither of them minded.
Oh well, little too late for that now. Chrom crinkled his nose slightly and laughed, the engine roaring to life when the light turned green. He was on the way to the jewelry shop Frederick had recommended, Robin expressing delight and awe at the ring Cherche was wearing when they had lunch the other day. Now was one of the moments where Chrom relished in Frederick's relative calm and silence, likely able to keep the impending proposal a secret. Everyone else probably would have spilled the beans not even five minutes from finding out.
How was he even going to propose? Ring at the bottom of a champagne flute was too cheesy. It was doubtful he was going to manage to find the time to set up their living room just so, rose petals strewn everywhere, candles illuminating their home. That and Robin was probably just going to laugh at him for all the effort. He was affectionate but he wasn't a cheesy, romantic sap. She was a little less affectionate, the gap replaced by mirthful mischief, but also shuddered at open displays of cheesy romance.
Restaurant ought to do it, maybe one with a private alcove or something. She'd probably hit me if everyone started staring at us. She was never one for attention, already easily embarrassed whenever people began to speak even a single word of praise about her. Robin much preferred to let her work speak for itself. Maybe I could set it up during afternoon tea. She does love those sandwich bites, the petit fours, the cookies, and tea. That would make it at least different from the cliché of proposing after dinner.
Chrom pulled up in front of the jewelry store, a parking slot conveniently available beside the entrance. It seemed to be popular and expensive, judging from the number of fancy cars parked in front. He swallowed a particularly large lump down, nervous but he assumed everyone inside was. Buying an engagement ring wasn't supposed to be something anyone was used to. Sucking in air, Chrom pushed open the door, hoping the sales staff weren't going to be pushy and forcing him to look at expensive, gaudy baubles for hours.
"Good afternoon Sir! How may I be of assistance?" The woman who greeted him smiled warmly, washing away Chrom's dread and anxiety. She looked like she was in her forties, happy too but he wasn't sure if that was because she was at work and he was a potential client willing to spend for his love. "Have you been here before? I can call for the sales associate who assisted you previously if you have." She smiled again, placating whatever was left of his fears. She was nice, she'd be perfect in helping him decide.
"Ah, no. I've only just recently decided I wanted to propose to my girlfriend…" Chrom said a little sheepishly, scratching his head, a faint blush dusting his cheeks. His eyes darted around, glancing over at the others who were in the store, artfully secluded, the rings they were examining well hidden from prying eyes. "But she's pregnant now, about six months, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out when it comes to the size…"
"Oh that's wonderful to hear! Congratulations, Sir," she smiled warmly, putting what he felt to be a motherly hand to his shoulder as she guided him to her desk. After seating him in a comfortable wingback chair, she took her place behind her own desk and pulled out some papers and a few laminated brochures, starting off the consultation. She kindly explained the process, laying the brochures in such a way he wouldn't be overwhelmed by the information, asking if he wanted some water as well. It was going to be a long, and hopefully fruitful discussion.
Chrom glanced at the brochures, one about the different gems they offered, another about how they were graded, the different settings, the process of designing a unique ring if he so desired. The large annoying lump came back, this time washed by the thankfully present cold glass of water, sobering him slightly. He didn't think this was going to be so difficult, his brow furrowing as he hummed in quiet contemplation. Maybe he should have asked Olivia or Cordelia to come, but having either of them supposedly attending a business meeting would make Robin even more suspicious. Frederick would have been a better choice, Chrom berating himself inside, but he wanted this to be a decision he made alone, a gift to Robin inasmuch as it was going to be a gift for him if she accepted.
"Has she expressed any inclination to any design about a ring?" The saleswoman kindly steered the direction for him, Chrom shooting her a thankful look as he picked up his phone and thumbed through a few pictures.
"Her mother had these made for her when before she was born," Chrom offered. He only just noticed the diamond earrings were cut to look like a square, rose gold curved almost protectively around each of the corners. "I think something made of rose gold to match, and maybe the same shape of the diamond if that's possible. Oh and here's a picture of her hand, if that's helpful too." The saleswoman clucked appreciatively, examining the new picture Chrom pulled up. Robin had long candle-like fingers, her prettily manicured nail beds long and trimmed with a similar rounded style.
"Let me pull up some files to see if the rings I have in mind are still here. I think we have a few options that might suit your requirements," she said gently, turning her attention to her computer to check what rings they had in store and where they were held. Chrom nodded, squirming in his seat as he pulled back his phone. He zoomed out on the picture, smiling at the picture. It was one of the few decent selfies he'd taken at the beach when they visited his parents, Robin's left hand lifted to shield her eyes, her mouth turned up in a wide smile. He jumped in his seat and nearly dropped his phone when it rang, Robin's picture taking over.
"Hey, what's up?" Chrom tried to bite back the nervousness in his voice. Gods, he was normally pretty collected but ever since he decided to propose, he was a bundle of nerves. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.
"Did the meeting go well?" Robin's voice sounded tired, serene but tired.
"Interesting developments. They were just shopping around and trying to figure out if they had the budget for a couple of consultation gigs," he lied.
"Tell me about it when you get home?"
"Sure…"
"I'll be going home in a bit, Mother Frederick insists. He caught me dozing off on more than one occasion." Robin laughed, Chrom's ears picking up a little when he heard it.
"Do as Mother Frederick tells you my dear. I'll head home in a bit, just finishing up my drink. I'll pass by that little cafe you like and buy dinner."
"Okay! Get me that dessert crepe too that we always share, except… I don't think I'll be sharing any."
"Guess I'll get one for myself too. Bye love, see you in a bit." Chrom hung up after Robin telling him to hurry home, Frederick clucking in the background about how she should be on her way as well. "Mother Frederick indeed." A chuckle escaped his lips. Just as he pocketed his phone, the saleswoman came back with a velvet-lined tray, various rings slotted in the different recesses. Chrom nearly had to close his eyes when the light hit a particularly sparkly diamond.
"Not all of these are set in a rose gold band, but I thought if you were willing to wait, we could order something similar but with rose gold instead," said the saleswoman, pushing the tray slightly forward. Chrom nodded, taking another sip of water before starting. They were all very nice. A quick glance showed that most of them in that slightly rounded square shape, others with the corners cut at a slightly more angular and linear edge, still others a perfect square. Robin would have been glad to receive any of them, he thought, but none of them screamed her name.
Breathing slowly, he started again from the left, thinking he may have skipped the details in his haste to look at all seven rings. Going over each of them like a prayer, his index finger ran against the velvet just below each ring, moving slowly as he eyed the different design elements on the ring. None of them were gaudy or were set with too many diamonds, each with a simple strength that did not belie its beauty. A small smile curved his lips as he imagined Robin's left hand, the diamond glinting as she moved to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, a shy smile on her lips as she looked back at him with only love in her eyes.
As he continued his inspection, his finger stopped in front of the ring in the middle and picked it up from its place. It had three bands melded together, the top and bottom made with rose gold. The slightly thinner middle band was silver, tinged lightly with blue, branching upwards towards the center, separating from the rose gold, lifting a square cushion cut diamond, impeccable especially in its cut and clarity, small light blue gems surrounding it. He found it. The ring was delicate, despite the amount of work that must have gone into it. It was perfect, just like her.
"This one," he barely managed to croak out, half-wondering if she heard. Her smile assured him that she did, taking the ring almost reverently from him as she set it on a different tray, a smaller one with only one groove. She took away the bigger tray and stood up, Chrom almost too transfixed on the ring to even notice. His fingertips brushed lightly against the small gems, aquamarine she said helpfully. She was born in March he thought, quietly admiring the coincidence of her birthstone surrounding the diamond.
"Let me set these away and I'll be right back." She could see the love in his eyes and his sudden and sharp inhale when he picked it up. It was presumptuous of her, but maybe not quite, when she decided to bring the rest of the jewelry that accompanied the ring when she came back.
It was rare that they made wedding rings to match the engagement rings they crafted, often because most couples chose to buy their wedding bands elsewhere. They knew their wares were high priced and it was often enough for them to be the start of the next chapter of their customers lives. Sometimes though, their founder would decide to design a three ring set himself, smiling wistfully about some things sprung from the mind of artists were destined for someone yet to come. They were a small business, only having the one store, but the work of their jewelers was spoken quite highly of.
"This comes with a matching wedding ring set as well Sir," the saleswoman offered helpfully, pulling out the two other rings and setting it gently on the velvet. The matching set was simple. Hers would be two even thinner bands interlocking, shifting almost imperceptibly from rose gold on the right to silver blue on the left. A sturdier, somewhat thicker version was his. A small round cut diamond sparkled faintly, set in exactly where the two bands interlocked. "The engagement ring stacks nicely as well on top of the wedding ring, if she would like to wear them both."
"I'll take these then" Chrom smiled, for the first time without any nerves threatening to crack. "I suppose you offer resizing services as well?" He reached for his wallet, pulling out a credit card and handing it forward.
"Yes we do. Please come back after your baby is born to see if we need to resize both her rings. If only because of experience, women's hands and feet tend to swell during pregnancy." She smiled again, taking the card and busying herself with pulling out payment plan details, Chrom visibly touched that she remembered.
-x-
It was just after six when he got home, shoving the door open with his shoulder, hands otherwise preoccupied with freshly cooked bread, pasta, and crepes neatly packed away. He wondered where he was going to keep the rings, almost afraid to keep them at home because Robin could find it. He wasn't going to delay the proposal, but he didn't have all the details quite figured out. After dropping off the food and setting up the dining table, he started to look for Robin.
"Love? I'm home. Want to have dinne—" Robin was seated on their armchair reading, her free hand resting on the peak of her swollen belly. She glanced up and smiled, beckoning Chrom to come over as she grimaced slightly. Lucina must be kicking. The soft light hit her features just right, blurred shadows falling perfectly to highlight her pregnancy even more. Chrom knelt down almost reverently, his plans for proposal changing rapidly as he gently set his head down, pressing an ear just shy of her belly button. How could he wait any longer to ask her to marry him if this is what he came home to every day?"
"How was the meeting?" Robin set down her book, lifting her newly freed hand to stroke Chrom's hair. She leaned back comfortably, smiling despite Lucina's rather forceful kicks. Chrom shifted, his face turning a shade more serious, his blue eyes darkening slightly. "Chrom…?"
"Will you marry me?" Robin's face paled slightly, grimacing despite herself as Lucina continued to kick. "Robin, love, will you marry me? Nine years we've been together but I think ever since I met you I thought we'd be together forever. I was even more sure when we fought about living together in college. I've always entertained proposing, but was always afraid because I thought you'd say no and leave me and I couldn't bear to be without you. After your nightmare last Saturday, I want to erase whatever hold your past and your father have on you and start anew, with me and Lucina for you to call your family and to come home to."
"Chrom…" Robin's eyes were quickly filling with tears as she angled herself forward, cupping his face in her hands. The words she was so proud to have mastery over were failing her now. All she could feel was her heart pounding loudly, her ears drumming wildly, and Lucina kicking almost, dare she think it, joyfully at what her father was saying. Chrom smiled again, pulling away slightly as he fished the velvet box he thankfully decided to keep in his pocket.
"Robin, love, will you marry me?" He opened the box, still with the three rings but her engagement ring glittering brilliantly in the dim light. Robin nodded, tears falling freely now as she rubbed her thumbs affectionately on his cheeks. Chrom turned slightly, kissing the palm of her hand before pulling away and picking up the ring and setting it on her finger. It was a slightly tight fit and would probably be perfect once the pregnancy-related swelling went down. "I hope it wasn't presumptuous of me to have bought our wedding rings already. It was a set and they looked beautiful together." Chrom shifted, his cheeks a deep red as he held her left hand, thumb running over the skin just before her new ring.
"I'm guessing you didn't have a meeting after all." Robin brushed her tears away with the back of her hand, her gaze alternating between Chrom and the ring, Lucina finally settling down, almost as if the excitement was too much for her and it was time to sleep. Chrom laughed sheepishly, apologizing but said it's not like there was any other way. Robin smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead, his skin tingling long after she pulled away. "Come on and help me up. Lucina was quite energetic today, tiring me out. I deserve a good dinner!"
"I'd carry you to our table but I don't think there's any safe way for me to do that in your state." Chrom's eyes twinkled, pushing himself off the ground and offering both hands to his girlf— fiancée. Robin grumbled as she pulled herself up, her back killing her as she waddled forward tiredly, leaning as much weight as she could on Chrom as he led them to the kitchen. "Want to keep it a secret for a while? A secret just for us... at least until the family arrives for your birthday."
"Mmm, it's a little tight anyway. I think I can just put it on the same chain as the necklace from Mother, it matches beautifully," Robin whispered almost breathlessly, squeezing Chrom's hand. "We should set up the spare room for Mom and Dad. They did say they were going to stay starting a month prior to my due date." They insisted she call them mom and dad when they visited that summer, his parents deciding that they weren't going to wait for her to officially, legally, become part of their family to treat her as such.
"I chose it with the jewelry your mother left behind in mind," Chrom said quietly, smiling as he helped her settle down in her chair. Robin's heart warmed at his thoughtfulness.
"You beautiful beautiful man, what ever have I done to deserve you?"
"Sometimes I wonder that myself." Robin laughed as she shoved him affectionately, shooing him into the kitchen and demanding her food.
-x-
The next two and a half months went by quickly. It was hard to keep quiet, Olivia and Cordelia sensing something different about her. Robin assured them it was just pregnancy hormones but her two best friends raised a dubious eyebrow, muttering to themselves that it was something else. Frederick would always have a knowing smile on his face when he heard them but kept to himself. He knew that look. It was the one Cherche had almost all the time ever since he asked her to marry him.
She and Chrom seemed to butt heads even more at work, unusual because despite Frederick's excellent pacing of work, there were a couple of emergency meetings that demanded Robin's attention and effort. Chrom worried that she was pushing herself too much, especially given how quickly she got tired but their arguments dissipated quickly whenever she saw the genuine worry reflecting in the deep blue of his eyes. She just apologized, mumbling something about hormones and inconsiderate clients, breathing him in as he pressed her into the crook of his neck, his chin resting lightly on the crown of her head.
Her birthday in early March was a low key affair, opting to celebrate it with family. As expected, Lissa screeched with delight, demanding to see the ring, when they had announced their engagement, Libra and Emmeryn smiling contentedly to the side, their level-headed daughter Clair wondering what Aunt Lissa was excited about this time. Chrom's parents were crying tears of relief when they found out Chrom had finally mustered the courage. He talked about it with them sometimes, when Robin wasn't around, terrified at the thought of her saying no. They saw how much they loved and needed each other to know that she was going to say yes.
Chrom popped open a bottle of champagne, offering a glass to everyone, substituting Robin's and Clair's with a bubbly Cinderella instead. Lissa couldn't keep still and insisted on seeing the nursery, prattling on about how she wanted to see if there was anything else she could add for her assuredly wonderful new niece Lucina, dragging a laughing Robin and a curious Clair behind her. It made the rest of the adults wonder who truly was the child, Lissa or Clair.
"What finally pushed you to do it?" Chrom eyed his mother, smiling sadly into his champagne flute.
"She had a nightmare about her father. She thought she was going to become like him, only a mother in name but no love in her heart for her daughter," he confessed, still a little sad that was what made him finally decide. "But I said she would never because she knew love and was full of it. I wanted to put the past behind her by making this, us, her family instead. You know how they say man and woman cut ties with their parents and to start their own family? Something like that. It's not like I rushed into the idea anyway, it was just the last thing I needed to be strong enough to ask."
Emmeryn, Libra, and Clair flew home after a couple of days, promising to be back as soon as Lucina was born. Lissa begrudgingly drove back home, living halfway between Chrom and Robin and their parents. She insisted to be told the minute Robin was in labor and she'd come rushing back, refusing to miss the birth of her second niece.
Finally on maternity leave at the start of April, Robin spent the next three or so weeks packing the hospital bag, cooking, and baking, her soon to be parents-in-law announcing she had missed her true calling and lamented their upcoming visit with their cardiologist with all the wonderful homemade food she was feeding them.
"How'd Olivia do? She called me earlier, very nearly crying my ear off about how nervous she was before your presentation today." Robin shifted in bed, trying to find a comfortable position but to no avail. She wished Lucina would come sooner, the size of her stomach and the frequency and strengths of Lucina's kicks making it nearly impossible to sleep. She was so exhausted but couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time, an hour and a half if she was lucky.
"She did very well. The clients were so enamored that they wanted her to be there and help them with their own presentation to their board. One of them even thought of asking her out for dinner after." Chrom settled into bed beside her, lying down close as he let his hand rest on her belly.
"Was Lon'qu there?" Robin put her hands on top of his, the weight comfortable and seemed to be settling Lucina down, hopefully for the long haul. At this rate, she just wanted one decent night's rest, her lids growing heavier and heavier.
"Yeah, he shot the poor man death glares." Chrom laughed sleepily. He shifted slightly, burying his face in her hair. Just as he was about to fall asleep, Robin elbowed him sharply, struggling as she tried to sit up straight. "Oww Robin what was that fo—" His words died in his throat as she turned to face him, her eyes glassy.
"My water just broke," she said simply. His hand flew down to the bed, feeling a wetness that shouldn't have been there.
-x-
I was struggling to write this for the past week and a half, and then when I finally decided to just sit down and stare at the chapter this afternoon, lo and behold I ended up writing over 3500 words to finish up this chapter.
As always, constructive reviews are highly encouraged. It lets me know what I'm doing right, if any, and what I can improve on.
Hopefully the next one won't take me quite as long to write!