Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story!
A/n: A big thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter! Please keep those reviews coming! As I've said before, they're what inspire me to write more.
To say that Willy and Ronnie's decision to open a bakery in Willy's original candy shop was met with enthusiasm was a huge understatement! The Buckets were thrilled with the idea and immediately volunteered to help, and as for the Oompa Loompas, well, the bakery was pretty much all they talked about (including, at times, when they were supposed to be working...which, needless to say, Willy was not pleased about!)! The rest of February flew by as they worked busily on plans for the bakery, as did March, and before they knew it, it was nearly April.
"My goodness, where has time gone? It seems like just yesterday that Willy and Ronnie came up with the idea for the bakery, and now here it is almost April!" Mrs. Bucket remarked at supper one night. "I'm with you, mom. Willy and I were just doing a holiday check today, and we were both a bit surprised to find that Easter is coming up in just a few weeks already," Charlie agreed. "Well, I guess time flies when you're planning a bakery," Mr. Bucket commented. "And going on lots of dates," Charlie couldn't resist teasing Willy. To everyone's surprise, however, Willy did not immediately retort. In fact, he smiled and his eyes took on a dreamy look. "Willy, are you having a flashback?" Charlie asked.
Willy shook himself. "What? Oh, no. Just thinking," he responded. "About Ronnie, right?" Charlie kidded. "Maybe, maybe not...but it's none of your beeswax!" Willy retorted. "So, is everyone looking forward to our next planning session for the bakery?" Mrs. Bucket asked suddenly (she could tell that Willy desperately wanted to change the subject!). Mr. Bucket grinned. "You know what the answer to that question is!" he teased. Mrs. Bucket grinned back. "Yeah, probably a pretty silly question," she said. Everyone laughed. Everyone, that is, except Willy. He seemed lost in thought again...only this time he looked nervous rather than dreamy. "Willy, are you all right?" Mrs. Bucket asked.
Willy quickly snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm 'kay," he said. By the end of supper, however, the Buckets knew that Willy was anything but okay. He kept drifting off in thought, sometimes looking happy, but mostly looking nervous. He didn't seem to be interested in talking about the bakery, and when Grandma Georgina accidentally knocked over her water glass, he jumped about a foot into the air. "Willy, are you SURE you're all right?" Mrs. Bucket asked as she began cleaning off the table. "I...I...I need to take a walk!" the chocolatier exclaimed as he got up out of his chair and headed for the door.
The Buckets exchanged glances. "I could use a walk myself. Mind if I go with you?" Mr. Bucket asked. To everyone's surprise, Willy looked almost relieved. "Not a bit," he responded. "I would like to go with, too, if you don't mind. I could use the exercise," Grandpa Joe spoke up. "Why not? The more, the merrier!" Willy replied, surprising everyone once again. "Have fun," Mrs. Bucket told them, hiding a smile (she knew darn well that Mr. Bucket and Grandpa Joe and "volunteered" to walk with Willy so they could try to talk to him about whatever was bothering him). "Thanks," Mr. Bucket responded as he, Grandpa Joe, and Willy stepped out into the Chocolate Room.
As soon as they were out of earshot of the other Buckets, Mr. Bucket turned to Willy and asked, "Would you like to talk about whatever is bothering you, Willy?" Willy hesitated for a moment, then replied, "You know that Ronnie and I have been dating, obviously." (it hadn't taken him long to be able to say that word to the Buckets!). Mr. Bucket nodded. But before he could reply, Willy spoke again. "Well, now I love her so much that I don't want to just date her anymore. What I mean is, I want to...well, I want to..." he stammered (Willy had shocked himself by also being able to say the word "love", and specifically that he loved Ronnie, to the Buckets shortly after he and Ronnie had started dating).
Grandpa Joe was the first to realize what Willy was trying to say. "You want to ask Ronnie to marry you, right?" he said. Willy grinned. "Yeah, I do. I mean, I know we've only been dating for a few months and everything, but I..." he began. Grandpa Joe held up his hand to stop him. "Willy, it's all right. You don't have to explain yourself. Sometimes a few months is all it takes. That's how it happened with Josie and I," he assured the chocolatier. "The thing is, as you know, I've never proposed before. So I don't really know how to go about it...and I want to make sure I do it right!" Willy explained.
This time it was Mr. Bucket who was the first to realize what Willy was getting at. "No wonder you were so jittery at supper! You wanted some man-to-man advice but weren't sure how to go about asking for it," he said. "Yeah, that," Willy agreed. "There's always the classic. You know, take her out for a fancy dinner and then propose at some point during it," Mr. Bucket said. To both his and Willy's surprise, Grandpa Joe burst out laughing. "What's so funny about proposing over dinner?" Mr. Bucket inquired.
"Under normal circumstances, nothing. But when I decided to propose to Josie, I intended to use that method. The only thing is, it didn't exactly work out the way I'd intended it to," Grandpa Joe explained, getting the giggles once again. Now Mr. Bucket understood what Grandpa Joe was getting at, and he laughed, too. He'd heard the story of his dad's proposal many times, and it was pretty funny. Willy, however, had obviously not heard the story before, so he had no clue as to why Grandpa Joe and Mr. Bucket were suddenly in hysterics. "Er, I'm trying to get some advice here," he reminded them.
Grandpa Joe recovered first. "Sorry about that, Willy. I suppose I'd better explain," he said. "Yeah, that would be good," said Willy. "Well, while I certainly wasn't loaded by any stretch of the imagination, I had more money in those days. So I decided to splurge and take Josie to dinner at this fancy seafood restaurant that had just opened. I made the reservation, bought the ring, and even arranged for a vase of flowers to be waiting at the table for Josie. I had meant to keep the entire thing a surprise, but during a phone conversation with Josie a few days before the big event, I let it slip that I was taking her out to the seafood place for dinner. But it ended up being a very good thing I did. It turns out that Josie is allergic to shellfish and a lot of other types of seafood," explained Grandpa Joe.
"Uh oh! So what did you do?" Willy inquired. "The first thing I did was cancel that reservation. But then I realized I had quite a dilemma on my hands. I didn't want to post-pone the proposal, but it was right before Easter so I knew that my chances of getting a reservation at another restaurant on such short notice were not promising. So in the end, we went to Wings 'N Things, which was a fast-food chicken place. Not exactly the romantic dinner I'd had in mind!" said Grandpa Joe. Now Willy was laughing, too. "Sounds like quite the experience," he said.
"It was indeed. There I was, down on one knee, proposing in the middle of a fast-food place, with the smell of fried chicken surrounding us and pretty much everyone in the place staring at us. When Josie accepted the ring, she was both crying and laughing. That naturally looked and sounded quite comical, which caused people to stare at us even more. On our way out, one of the cashiers remarked to us that it wasn't often they got to witness a proposal!" Grandpa Joe hooted. By now the three men were laughing so hard that their sides ached.
"What in the world is going on out here?" a very familiar female voice spoke up suddenly. Mr. Bucket recovered first. "Uh, nothing. We were just talking," Mr. Bucket told his wife. "Well, whatever you were discussing, it must have been pretty darn amusing. I thought a pack of hyenas had invaded the Chocolate Room!" Mrs. Bucket responded.
"Trust me, Nora, it was nothing. We were just having a good time," said Grandpa Joe. "All right, if you say so," Mrs. Bucket said, sounding like she wasn't believing them for a second.
After Mrs. Bucket left, the men somehow managed to pull themselves back together. "I'm afraid my story isn't nearly as interesting, Willy. Given how poor we were at the time, taking Nora any place for dinner was obviously out of the question. However, I knew that she loved chocolate, especially chocolate ice cream cake. I also knew that she really liked carnations, particularly red ones," said Mr. Bucket. "I have a feeling I know where this is leading," said Willy, remembering what Mrs. Bucket had said at Valentine's Day supper. Mr. Bucket grinned. "I asked her over to my place for a date. Before she arrived, I very carefully placed her ring, which I had saved and saved for, and a red carnation on top of the ice cream cake. And you can probably guess the rest," he said.
"Thanks, you two. I think I have some ideas now," said Willy. "Any time, Willy," said Mr. Bucket. "And if you ever need any more proposal or romantic advice, don't hesitate to come to us," Grandpa Joe added. "I won't. Thanks again," Willy said. As he got up and went on his way, Mr. Bucket and Grandpa Joe were pleased to see that he seemed much more relaxed than he had at supper. He was humming, and even skipping a bit.
Willy spent practically every spare moment of the rest of the week planning his proposal. There were times when he felt as if he would never be able to come up with the perfect way to propose, but finally he was ready to put his plan into action. He chose that Monday as the date, since it also happened to be Ronnie's last day at Slugworth's. Ronnie had told him that she would be working her regular shift, which ended at five (even though it was her last day there, Slugworth had insisted. Unsurprisingly, he did not believe in giving his employees any special privileges, even on their last day on the job!). So at twenty minutes to, Willy headed over to her apartment (Mrs. Jones had had a key to the apartment for emergencies and such, and after she'd left, Willy and Ronnie agreed that he should keep it.).
After what seemed like forever to Willy, Ronnie arrived. Needless to say, she was quite surprised to find Willy sitting in her living room! She opened her mouth to speak, but Willy beat her to it. "I was wondering, would you like to have dinner with me at the factory tonight?" he asked. "What kind of question is that? Of course I would!" Ronnie exclaimed, a grin spreading across her face. "I wanted to pick you up at Slugworth's, but I figured that would be too risky," Willy explained. Ronnie knew just what Willy meant. If Slugworth had seen Willy hanging around outside his factory, there was no way he wouldn't have asked questions! Not to mention the fact that just about anyone would find it suspicious that Willy was at his rival's factory! "Yeah, better this way," she agreed as they headed to the factory.
"I hope you're really hungry, 'cause I made us a feast!" Willy said happily as they walked into the factory. "Don't worry, I'm starving!" Ronnie assured the chocolatier. "I'm very glad to hear that. I think you're really going to like what I chose for dinner!" Willy said with a grin. Ronnie grinned back. The grin quickly faded, however, as she realized that she had forgotten to change out of her work uniform (because she didn't want to wear her uniform any longer than necessary, she kept a change of clothes in her purse and changed at Slugworth's before leaving to go home. That day, however, she had been so eager to get out of the place that she'd forgotten!). "Do you mind if I change out of my uniform before we head for the Wintergreen Room?" she asked (whenever she and Willy had dinner without the Buckets, they ate in the Wintergreen Room). "Not at all, but we're not going to eat in the Wintergreen Room tonight," Willy replied. "Then where are we going to eat?" Ronnie asked. Willy's grin grew even bigger. "You'll just have to wait and see," he said.
"Willy is sure acting mysterious tonight!" Ronnie thought as she ducked into the nearest bathroom (luckily there was one not to far from the Chocolate Room) to change. "That's much better!" Willy remarked when she emerged. Ronnie laughed. "I am extremely glad not have to wear that disgusting thing anymore, believe me!" she replied. Willy laughed, too. "Would you like me to burn it for you?" he asked. "I'd love that...but Slugworth told me that I'm to wash it and then mail it back to him," Ronnie said. "Oh, well. At least you won't have to see it again after that," said Willy. "I'm not going to miss it, that's for sure!" Ronnie agreed. Before either of them could say anything more, they arrived at their destination.
"Here we are! The Yummerific Dining Room!" Willy exclaimed. Ronnie looked around the room in awe. It was one of the fanciest rooms she had seen in the factory so far. But at the same time, it also managed to capture the fun and whimsical spirit of the rest of the factory. "It's beautiful! I didn't know you had a formal dining room," she said. "I don't use it much. In fact, the last time I used it was probably when I still had human workers. We would sometimes use it for candy tasting parties and other events," Willy explained. Then he gestured towards the table (which was small, with only two chairs, and topped with food that smelled so good Ronnie was practically drooling!). "Well, have a seat and let's start eating," he said. Ronnie didn't need to be told twice. She quickly sat down in one of the chairs.
Willy, meanwhile, was starting to take the covers off of the dishes of food. "So, what would you like for your main dish? Spaghetti or Lasagna?" he asked. "Is both an option?" Ronnie asked. Willy grinned. "You know it is!" he said. Ronnie grinned back. "Then I'll have a little of both," she said. Willy dished her up. After he had dished himself up and sat down, he asked, "So, do you like the theme I chose?" "I think you know the answer to that question!" Ronnie said, her grin widening. "I chose Italian food because, well, you know, we had Italian food for our first two dates," Willy said. "I figured that's why you chose it," Ronnie replied. Then she looked over at her glass, which was filled with a very familiar-looking red juice. "And this juice. This is Wonka's Special Valentine's Punch, isn't it?" she said.
By now, Willy resembled the Cheshire cat. "You bet it is!" he said. Ronnie was almost done with her dinner by this point, and she felt she should say something to Willy about how happy it had made her. "Willy, I want you to know how much this means to me. To be greeted by you after my last day at Slugworth's, and then for you to make me such a nice dinner...I don't really know what to say. 'Thank you' just doesn't seem to be enough," she said. To her surprise, Willy responded by jumping out of his chair. "As you know, Ronnie, Easter is coming up in a few weeks. So naturally Charlie and I have been working on Easter candies lately. One of the new candies we came up with is a hollow chocolate egg that has a little surprise inside. Each egg has something different in it. It could be a candy, a small toy, or something else. Anyway, I want you to be the first to have one," he said. Then he opened up a small container that was on the table, took out an egg-shaped foil-wrapped package, and handed it to Ronnie.
Ronnie eagerly took off the foil wrapping to reveal the most scrumptious-looking chocolate egg she had ever seen. "It looks delicious!" she said. "Go on, try a bite!" Willy said eagerly. Ronnie bit into the egg. Not surprisingly, it was among the most delicious chocolates Ronnie had ever tasted. "It's yummerific!" she exclaimed. Willy giggled happily. "Now that you've bitten a hole in it, why don't you find out what the surprise inside is?" he said.
Ronnie shook the egg, and soon something popped out into her hand. She looked at it, expecting to find a small candy, or maybe a small toy or some costume jewelry. To her surprise, what she found was none of those things. It was a ring, a real ring. And when she looked over at Willy, she discovered that he had gotten down on one knee. Before she had time to digest all of this, Willy spoke. "Ronnie, will you marry me?" he asked. Ronnie felt tears of happiness filling her eyes. "I will," she said softly as she embraced the chocolatier.
A/n: Sorry about the clifhanger. Couldn't resist!
Chapter 17 Preview: Willy and Ronnie invite their parents to the factory for Easter, and at Easter dinner reveal their engagement! Also, wedding plans are discussed and the bakery that Willy and Ronnie plan to open gains a new employee!