How Much I Feel - Marie Force Page 0,104
hug her.
“Take good care of our beautiful daughter.”
“I will. Always.”
Now the big moment is upon me, and I’m hit with a crisis of confidence. Is proposing to her in front of everyone really the right thing to do? I debated this for months and decided she’d want the people we love to be part of this moment. I just hope I’m right about that.
Nona crooks her finger at me, in on the surprise since I spoke to her, Abuela, Viv and Vin two weeks ago to ask for their permission to propose. They were so excited that I’m not sure how the four of them managed to keep the secret for so long.
“I need to help Nona with something,” I tell Carmen.
“Okay.”
She’s so happy to have Dee in town that I’ve hardly gotten a word in with her since we sat down to eat. Dee looks like her sister, Maria, and Carmen, but I see Nona in Dee, as well.
“You ready?” Nona asks me.
“I think so.”
“Why do you look like you might be having a stroke?”
“Um, because I’ve never done this before, and I’m rethinking whether I should do it here.”
“Pshaw. She’ll love it.”
“You’re sure about that?”
“Hundred percent.”
“Well, it doesn’t get any more reassuring than that.”
“What really matters is that you’re sure about her.”
“One million bazillion percent.”
She kisses my cheek. “Then go get your girl.”
Fortified by Nona’s encouragement, I step into the open part of the horseshoe of tables that’s become a familiar part of my weekly routine. I’m at home in this place with these people, and more than anything, I’m at home with the extraordinary woman I met a year ago.
“If I could have your attention, please.”
Getting this group to shut up is not a simple task, but since I’ve never asked for their attention before, they go silent far quicker than expected.
“Carmen, could you come here for a second, please?”
She glances at Maria and at Dee, both of whom shrug. They have no idea what I’m up to. It was a big enough risk to tell her parents and grandmothers. I didn’t dare tell her closest cousins.
Carmen gets up and comes around the long table to join me in the middle.
I offer her my hand, and after giving me a confused look, she takes it.
Over my shoulder, I look toward the kitchen where my mom and brother are hiding. “Hey, Mom, Benny, you can come out now.”
“What’s going on?” Carmen asks, seeming shocked as my mother and brother join the party.
“Everyone, this is my mom, Donna, and my brother, Ben. Mom, Ben, meet Carmen’s family—and this isn’t even all of them.”
Carmen looks up at me, a baffled expression on her gorgeous face. “Jason, why didn’t you tell me your mother and brother are in town?”
“Because I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you have.”
“Good, because they’re not the only surprise I have for you today.” Here we go. As I look at her, at that one-in-a-million face I saw for the first time one year ago this week, all the nerves fade away. The only thing that matters is telling her what she means to me and asking her to be mine forever. “Betty, you’re on.”
From the kitchen comes the sweet woman I met the night before fate brought Carmen into my life. My beloved is speechless at the sight of Betty, who’s wearing the same red dress she had on the day we met Carmen and teeters on her signature spike heels. After Betty sent me a sweet thank-you note and fifty dollars to reimburse me for the money I gave her, Carmen and I have kept in touch with her ever since.
Carmen can’t believe what she’s seeing. “What the . . . Betty . . .”
Betty hugs my shocked beloved and then hands me the velvet box containing the ring. “Love you guys,” Betty whispers.
While Carmen is still processing the fact that Betty is here, I drop to one knee.
Carmen lets out an inelegant squeak and then covers her mouth as tears fill her eyes.
“We met one year ago this week.”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s next week.”
I shake my head. “One year ago this coming Tuesday, a momentous day in many ways.”
She gives me a stern look, putting me on notice that I’ll blow the most important moment of my life if I mention the word jail.
“Since that first day when you made me a prisoner to your love . . .”
Of course she gets my joke and gasps at how close I came to spilling