Chapter 4.35: This Isn’t Surprising At All

While the rest of the Waite family was eating dinner that Meya had prepared on the grill, Dexter and his new girlfriend were arriving at the park after their date at the museum.

“Are you surprised yet?” Dexter whispered.

“Surprised that you brought me to the park where we saw the Taylor Swift concert and became best friends?” She asked, leaning closer to him with a playful smile. “No.”

Dexter took her hands in his, kissed her on the cheek, and released one of her hands so that they could walk further into the park.

The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and the two stopped by a little pond. The sounds of crickets chirping and frogs croaking filled the air around them, with fireflies dancing through the solid limbs on the trees that shaded the lovebirds.

Slowly, Dexter crouched down onto one knee. Sasha began to feel anticipation and excitement rushing through her veins, swift and romantic like Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5.

“Sasha Pruett, would you make me even happier than I am right now and tie my shoe?” Dexter asked, failing at keeping a straight face.

“Dexter!” Sasha cried out, leaning forward with laughter.

Having a goofball for a father taught Dexter how important laughter is, and how sometimes the funny moments are the most memorable ones.

“Okay, okay, but seriously Sasha, you fill my life with more joy than I know what to do with. I know that we already had this conversation, using these little electronic boxes that we call cell phones, but I wanted to see the light in your eyes when you saw the beautiful ring that I picked out for my beautiful future wife.” He spoke slowly and softly, allowing every syllable to feel important. “I hope you know which one I think is more beautiful,” he added with a wink.

When Sasha held her hand up to her chest and seemed to be lost for words, Dexter kept speaking. “You mean the world to me, Sasha, and you gave up so much to come and be a part of my life. When we do get married, I want your family to come- as many of them as are able to make it. I want to pay for their trip to get here, and before you tell me that your family can afford it, I want to tell you that I know that they can, but I want to thank them for trusting me with you.”

Sasha was still speechless, and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Will you take this ring, and tell the world with me that we have chosen to support each other for the rest of our lives?”

In a moment of stillness, after waiting and feeling the calming lull of her lungs filling with air and releasing in back into the air, Sasha found her voice again.

“Yes.”