The Bridesmaid's Proposal

“Carly—Melissa just said that you told Miranda you loved me. Is it true? Tell me.” He shook her gently.

She swallowed hard. “Yes!” she cried at long last. “Even though you’re too old for me and I’m too young for you, it’s true. The difference in our ages no longer matters to me. I don’t care that Melissa loved you first. I can’t live without you, Fabio. W-what would you say if we got married today? We could make it a double wedding with Carlo and Miranda. She knows how I feel about you.”

A stillness ensued. “You’re asking me to marry you?”

“Yes.” Her voice trembled.

“You’re not joking.”

“No.”

“I didn’t know women in America did things like this.”

“They do when it’s a leap year. Today is February twenty-ninth, the day when a woman can ask a man to marry her.”

“That’s right … it really is the twenty-ninth. You do love me!” he cried.

“Yes, darling. In fact I took out a wedding license and signed it. All you have to do is sign it in front of the pastor after the ceremony, and our marriage will be legal.”

“Let me see it.”

She plucked it from the basket. He unrolled it and examined it, then lifted his head as if dazed.

“This is the real thing … All those times you told me you hated me and begged me to leave you alone, you were lying?”

“Yes!”

He folded the certificate and put it in his pocket. “I want to hear you say those words to me. Look at me, Carly, and tell me you love me.”

Don’t call him Alex, Reese. Whatever you do, don’t call him by his real name!