It's a shorter chapter than normal but it seemed to work. Also I think there will be now a couple more chapters than I originally expected.
Thank you for your amazing reviews, they do mean the world to me and I'm glad that you all enjoyed the risk I ended up taking.
"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Josie asked quietly as she glanced up at him in shock. "Did you just…?" she began in amazement as he nodded, his fingers brushing through her hair as he continued to smile at her. "Florian, did you just ask me to marry you?" she questioned, sitting up quickly as he continued to nod, unable to remove the smile from his face as she watched him in amazement. Florian Dupont has just proposed to her. An attractive, young, kind, loving man had just proposed to her and had managed to actually surprise her. She hadn't seen that particular question coming, she hadn't imagined him ever proposing to her. "You just asked me to marry you," she laughed in shock, not knowing what else to say as he continued to nod, staring up at her as she ran her fingers through her hair, not knowing what else to say to him. "Did you really just ask me?" she questioned as he sat up and rested his hand on her cheek, kissing her quickly as their smiles grew. "How long have you been thinking about this?" she asked quietly, staring at him in amazement as his arms snuck around her body, keeping her close to him as they sat on the bed in silence for a moment.
"Do you want me to be honest?" he questioned, smiling at her as she nodded slowly. "I have been thinking about marrying you for a while but I hadn't planned to ask you tonight," he explained as she nodded slowly, knowing that the proposal hadn't been particularly planned. "I haven't got a ring for you or any major romantic gesture but Josie, I just couldn't wait any longer," he explained as she bit into her lip, still staring at him in amazement. He really had just proposed to her. She almost couldn't believe it, that Florian had just asked her to marry him. "I know it's sudden and it is not something that we have ever discussed but I want to marry you, I want to spend everyday of my life with you, I want to call you my wife," Florian explained, kissing her again as she smiled against his lips. "Josie," he whispered.
"You just asked me to marry you," she muttered again as he laughed and nodded.
"Yes, I did just ask you to marry me," Florian smiled before kissing her again, a laugh leaving her lips as she continued to try to process what he had asked her. "I want to marry you Josie," he said quietly as she began to bite into her lip again, not knowing how to respond. "And this is usually the point, I have heard, that I get an answer to, you know, my proposal," he admitted nervously while she stared at him for a moment. "I know that this isn't exactly the best proposal," Florian apologised as she shook her head, her hand resting on his cheek as he stared at her in silence. "I know it's not romantic and there's no ring," he began.
"Florian," she stated, stopping him from carrying on with his comment before she quickly kissed him,wrapping her arms around his neck as they lay down on the bed again, Josie lying on top of him as she smiled down at him. He had asked her to marry him, he had actually asked her to become his wife. "I need a glass of water, would you like anything while I am downstairs?" she asked as he groaned, realising that she was trying to delay answering.
"Josie, if you don't want to…" he began quickly.
"I just need to think for a while darling, just give me a moment to think about it," she stated before she kissed him again and climbed out of bed, Florian watching her in silence as she pulled her dressing gown over her body and tightened it. "Five minutes and you will have an answer Florian," she promised as he nodded, the brunette walking out of the bedroom before shutting the door and breathing out in amazement. He'd just proposed to her! Walking down the stairs quickly, Josie approached her kitchen, surprised when she opened the door to see Agnes sitting in the room with a cup of tea in her hands. "I thought you'd gone to bed," Josie commented.
"I couldn't sleep, I keep thinking about everything that needs to be done before the wedding," Agnes admitted as she held onto the cup of tea while Josie got herself a glass of water and turned to face the younger woman. "Why are you awake?" she asked quietly as Josie remained silent, not quite prepared to tell her that Florian had asked her five minutes ago to marry him.
"May I ask you something?" Josie questioned as Agnes nodded, a small smile covering her face as she watched the older woman in silence. "How did you know that Victor was the one you wanted to marry in the end? That you were making the correct decision in agreeing to marry him?" she asked as she sat down in the chair beside Agnes and looked at her for a moment.
"I guess I couldn't imagine my future without him being there," Agnes responded. "Simple things, I couldn't imagine him not being there for," she explained while Josie bit into her lip. "And I love him and I want to be his wife, more than anything and I can't wait to start our life together as a couple," she stated as Josie glanced towards the door again before taking a sip of the water. "Is something the matter?" she asked quietly as Josie immediately shook her head before smiling to herself.
"I'm going to try to sleep again, goodnight Agnes," Josie suddenly stated, Agnes nodding before Josie slowly left the room and approached the stairs, breathing out as she glanced up at them. Walking up the stairs slowly, Josie approached her bedroom before smiling to herself. She could do this. She could talk to him about this, about what he had just asked her. Opening the bedroom door, Josie glanced into the room to see Florian lying in their bed with his eyes shut, looking completely peaceful, as her smile grew. She couldn't imagine ever looking at the bed again without seeing him there, lying on his side with his hands straying into the part of the bed that she usually occupied. She couldn't imagine waking up or going to sleep without him being beside her. She couldn't imagine being single, lonely, Josie Mardle again. "Florian darling," Josie smiled as she shut the door behind her, the Belgian opening his eyes to look at her as a large smile decorated his face.
"Welcome back," he said quietly as she slowly moved towards the bed and sat down beside him, smiling down at him in amazement. "Josie," he whispered before she leant down and kissed him.
"Yes," Josie responded as he stared at her. "I want to marry you, I want to become Mrs Josie Dupont and spend the rest of my life with you as your wife," she admitted as he laughed, shaking his head in amazement as he sat up and wrapped his arms around her. "Florian Dupont, I want to be your wife."
"We're getting married," he laughed as he kept his arms around her. "Mr and Mrs Dupont," he smiled as they lay down on the bed together, his arm wrapped around while she curled into his side and began to laugh. "You are going to be my wife Josie Mardle," he stated as he glanced down at her in amazement before she leant up and kissed him again.
"And you're going to be my husband."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Let's keep this between us Josie until I get you a ring to wear," he said quietly as he stood behind her as she finished pinning her hair up, confusion covering her face as he pressed a kiss to her neck.
"Florian," Josie sighed as she turned to face him, staring up at him in amazement. She still couldn't believe that they were going to get married, that he had actually asked her to marry him the previous evening. He had surprised her when he'd proposed, she hadn't been expecting it but she couldn't refuse. She loved him and she wanted to spend the rest of her life as his wife. "I don't care about having a ring, I'm just happy being your fiancee. A ring is just something I can wear, it doesn't change how I feel," she whispered before kissing him gently.
"But I do care about this Josie. I want this to be a proper engagement, where you have a ring on your finger for everyone to see and they all know that you're going to be my wife. You deserve a proper engagement," he declared, his voice passionate as she nodded slowly before glancing across at the clock and sighing. "You have to go to work," he moaned, tightly wrapping his arms around her body as she laughed and nodded, knowing that he didn't want to let her go yet.
"Can I tell Agnes please?" Josie asked quietly, knowing that Agnes would be the first person they both informed of their engagement. "I don't want any secrets in this house darling and Agnes is practically family Florian and I want to tell someone," she explained before kissing him quickly, Florian's hand finding hers while she stared at him.
"Let's tell her together then future Mrs Dupont," he smiled as Josie nodded, the couple walking out of their bedroom before walking down the stairs to find Agnes pulling on her coat.
"Agnes," Josie said quickly as the younger woman glanced up at them, smiling at how close the couple were standing and at the large grins that were covering their faces. "We have something to tell you."
"Yes," Agnes smiled as Josie glanced up at Florian, who smiled down at her before nodding.
"We are going to get married Agnes," Florian smiled, Agnes beaming at the news as Josie and Florian continued to stand on the stairs together, his arm wrapped around his fiancees hips.
"Congratulations," Agnes responded, unable to remove the smile from her face as Josie moved away from Florian and pulled her coat on before putting her hat on, preparing herself to leave for work in a few moments.
"I will see you tonight love," Josie smiled, kissing Florian quickly before she turned to face Agnes, who was still smiling at them. "We're going to be late if we don't leave now," Josie stated as she moved towards the door, Agnes shaking her head at the woman's comment as they walked out of the door and into the street. "I'm getting married," Josie stated, still in shock as she began to walk to work with the younger woman who nodded, the two of them smiling at each other before they laughed.
"We're both getting married," Agnes smiled. "How did he propose to you? Was it romantic?" she asked quickly, unable to stop herself from smiling as she looked across at the other woman.
"He just asked. We were in bed and he just asked me to marry him. Apparently he had been thinking about asking me to marry him for a while, he was going to go and buy a ring, but he suddenly decided to ask then, he felt that it was the right time and after a moment of panicking and getting over the fact that he had proposed, I agreed," she explained before laughing. "I'm getting married, I'm actually going to get married."
"You're going to have to try and stop smiling so much, people will start to ask questions about what has made you even happier and Kitty will gossip. She'll think of something to tell everyone. She will probably say that you have a lover somewhere," Agnes commented as they began to walk down Oxford Street together.
"I just have to wait until Florian has bought a ring before I tell everyone," Josie said quietly while Agnes' eyebrows rose at the comment. "It's his decision this time, he is the one who wants to keep things quiet at the moment until he can put a ring on my finger. He wants it to be a proper engagement," she laughed as Agnes smiled at her, taking in how happy Josie was. "He actually wants to marry me. Someone actually wants to marry me," she said, amazed still that he had proposed, before they entered the shop.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Under a week to go until you are a married woman Agnes," Josie smiled as she sat in the living room, her smile growing as she glanced across at the younger woman who was currently reading her book with a large smile covering her face. "You must be getting excited," she stated as Agnes nodded, shutting the book before she looked across at Josie.
"I can't believe that this time next week I will be married to Victor," Agnes admitted. "It has always been just George and I," she smiled as Josie nodded slowly, not saying anything as she watched Agnes in amazement. "And all of a sudden my family has gotten bigger," she explained as she glanced down at her own engagement ring, thinking about how she would be starting her own family soon. "I have you and Florian now, and next week I will be Mrs Colleano and Victor will be an official member of my family. All I've ever wanted was a proper family and now I have it," Agnes stated before she smiled across at the other woman. "I can't imagine what I would have done if I had been left in that house on my own."
"I can't imagine what I would have done in this house on my own. It will seem bizarre when you move in with Victor," Josie said quickly before she heard the front door open, her smile growing as Agnes laughed at the other woman's reaction. Watching the living room door open slowly, Josie smiled as Florian stepped in and glanced across at her, his own smile growing at the sight of her sat in her usual chair.
"Josie Mardle," Florian smiled as she nodded, a laugh leaving her lips when he got down on one knee in front of her.
"What are you doing? You've already proposed, you don't need to get down on one knee now," Josie declared as Agnes bit into her lip to stop herself from laughing, both women falling silent, however, when he revealed a ring box. "Florian," she whispered in amazement as he opened the box to reveal the ring he had purchased for her.
"If you hate it Josie," he began as she shook her head, silencing him as he slowly removed it from the box.
"It's absolutely perfect," Josie mumbled in shock, allowing him to slide the ring onto her finger before she looked down at the simplistic design. "You are wonderful and it's beautiful Florian," she stated, leaning down to kiss him quickly as Agnes continued to smile at them. "I love you," Josie smiled against his lips as he stared up at her, still kneeling on the floor in front of her. "I love you, you wonderful man."
"I love you too."
"You two are almost sickening," Agnes commented as Josie and Florian laughed. "I am going to go upstairs and read for a while," the younger woman smiled before she walked out of the room, leaving the couple alone as Florian climbed off the floor.
"We're getting married," Josie smiled as he pulled her off the chair gently while she laughed, his arms wrapping around her to keep her close.
"We're getting married."
Thoughts? I dislike it but once again, I like angsty chapters.