A week before the blessed day, Helene drafted a basic outline of the night.
Meet up at 5 at my apartment
Get ready together
Go to dinner at a nice restaurant
Throughout the week Anthony and I visited my parents house a few times for a variety of reasons, but while we were there Helene was preaching about her favorite tea steamer... and wanted me to try it. It's made with milk so I refused (I'm lactose intolerant), but she was determined that I try it and decided that we would go to the Starbucks in Barnes and Noble after dinner on Friday because they have non-dairy options. It is the only one that has the kind of tea she likes. Well that was fine with me. We also decided to go to Pei Wei for dinner since it was less expensive but still nice.
Friday came and I anxiously awaited work to be over so I could start my exciting evening. As 4 o'clock approached I texted Anthony and asked if I could drop by and see him before heading to get ready with Helene. He was with his guy friends so he couldn't, but we told me I should wear my pencil skirt and then come see him afterward.
Since my previous plans to see Anthony before getting ready were vetoed, I arranged for Helene to meet me at 4:30 instead of 5.
Helene came over and I showered and flat ironed my hair (at Helene's request). Helene recorded videos throughout the process of us dancing and getting ready. We got all dolled up and 2 1/2 hours (around 7) later we headed out.
I convinced Helene to go to Michaelangelo's instead of Pei Wei for dinner because it's yummy Italian!
At dinner we talked about life, dating, engagements, weddings, baby names, you know... Typical girl stuff. :) And... she recorded me eating... apparently she wanted to make a video montage of our night. The food was fantastic! The time spent was so fun! And of course, I texted Anthony the whole night. Helene caught me and I told her that I have seen him everyday since we began dating... But I hadn't seen him that day yet! I was DYING... So we planned what we were going to do the rest of the night. There was a decades dance at the Institute of Religion at the U of U that I wanted to go to.
After dinner (around 9), I called Anthony and ran the ideas by him... He wasn't up for a dance and that was okay by me! I just wanted to see him! I kept talking to him on the phone while we drove to Barnes and Noble. He was at Brady's house and was anxiously awaiting my arrival after we got the non-dairy tea steamers. Helene told me to get off the phone while we parked the car. As we walked inside she mentioned a book we read as kids... something about bears and LOTS of popcorn... she couldn't find it and wanted to look in the children's section of the book store... Well, Helene being Helene, there's no point in arguing with her, I went along with it.
We headed up the escalator and Helene recorded us as we walked to the Children's section to begin our search of a childhood memory. Feeling awkward, I told Helene about the dates that had taken me to read books in this very section! As we approached our destination I realized that this search is futile since there were SO many books and we didn't even know the title! Thinking of the time Helene was taking away from Anthony, I began to object to the search. At that moment, I rounded the corner of the entrance when...
Anthony popped out a bookshelf!
My thoughts raced:
Hey! You surprised us!
I thought you were at Brady's...
Are you joining us for steamers?
You look handsome!
Why are you wearing a blazer?
Wait... Why are you here?
"Aubrey."
He took my hand.
"How are you?"
I replied with a mediocre "good..." as he guided me through the maze of benches and book cases towards the story book stage, his eyes never straying from my gaze.
Everything was going slow motion. It seemed to take hours to step onto the little stage!
My mind continued to race:
What is happening?
It isn't March 27th!
Could this really be happening?
Anthony went down on one knee and my gaze finally broke his as he pulled out a little black box.
This is really happening!!!
"Aubrey, will you marry me?"
His voice didn't falter or tremble, it sounded deep, focused, and blissful.
I was overjoyed. A dream come true.
Now I just needed to answer.
A breathless but determined "yes" escaped my lips and I stared at the love of my life!
I didn't know what to do next so I grabbed the ring box and pulled Anthony into a hug. We kissed and laughed and smiled and kissed!
I finally saw the little audience we had:
Max
Brady
Anthony's little sister Isabelle
Helene
All taking pictures or videos of the happy moment.
There was a random little family there as well. ;)
Anthony turned to me and asked if he should put on the ring. All of the sudden I felt silly for simply grabbing it from him and placed the box back in his hand.
He carefully took the beautiful ring out of the velvet box and slid it onto my shaking finger. It was a miracle he didn't miss!
I looked up at Anthony, my fiancé, my future husband and realized I get to be with him forever.
Turns out that Anthony and Helene were in cahoots since the beginning of November!
I never suspected a thing.
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