I smile up at the sun and lay down on the soft grass. It's one of those perfect late August days and I'm not going to waste it inside. I sigh contently as I wonder what to get Emmett for his birthday in a couple weeks. He's going to be 20, so it's a big deal. He refuses to let me get him anything but I'm not listening to him. He'll just have to deal with whatever I get him. I quiet my breathing as I notice slow footsteps coming toward me. Somehow I already know it's Emmett.
He stops about 2 feet from my head and I can feel his shadow over me, blocking the warm sun. "I know you're not sleeping, love." I fight to control my face. It's always impossible for me to not smile while around Emmett. He plunks down beside my head and I keep my eyes closed, a smile fighting it's way into my face. After a few minutes when Emmett hasn't said anything I open my eyes to see his face an inch from mine.
"Emmett! Get away." He pulls his head back and laughs, showing off that dimpled smile I love so much. I sit up and look over at him. He's wearing swimming trunks and an old shirt. I see a small bag beside him and raise my eyebrows. He tosses it to me.
"It's for you. I thought we could go swimming before lunch." I grin and open the bag to see one of my swimming suits. I wonder how he got it, considering all of that stuff is in my locked room at the house, but mentally shrug and look around for a place to change into it. "Don't worry, I won't peek."
"Yeah right you won't. I'll go change behind that tree."
"Whatever you say." He chuckles as I get up and jog over to the trees lining the river. I hide behind a larger tree and take the suit out of my bag. I look at it and roll my eyes. It's one of my smaller suits. One my mother definitely wouldn't approve of if she saw me wearing it. It happens to be Emmett's favourite, no surprise there. I strip down and shimmy myself into the suit, stuffing my dress into the bag and emerging from behind the tree. I look around for Emmett, but he's nowhere to be seen. "Emmett, come on." I sigh and walk over to the water. He's probably just waiting behind a tree or something to scare me.
I dip my toes into the water and sigh happily. It's perfectly warm. Almost like bath water. I walk in while looking around for Emmett. When the water is up to my waist I feel a hand on my ankle that suddenly pulls me under. I get a breath just before my face is submerged and I see none other than Emmett himself. I roll my eyes and break the surface, getting another deep breath. I splash Emmett just as he resurfaces, getting him full in the face. "You're so funny, Emmett, truly." He grins and splashes me back. I narrow my eyes playfully. "Oh, you're in for it now."
We spend most of the morning playing around in the water, acting like little kids. After we're too tired to stand up we head back to land and lay on the shore, our legs in the water. We just lie there for a while, content in each other's company. Emmett rolls onto his side, facing me, so I roll onto mine, facing him. He looks like he has something important to say. Which is odd, because he never keeps anything from me. "What is it?"
"How do you always know?" I touch the tip of my finger to his nose.
"You've got this look on your face. So tell me, what's going on?" His nose scrunches up in the cutest way when he's thinking hard about something. The way he looks at me makes me sit up a little straighter. This is big, I can just tell.
"Don't interrupt, just listen, okay? I need to get this out." I smile and take his hand. "You know how I'm done school and working at my father's law firm with my brothers. He wants me to join them soon. I've never questioned it, it's just something I've always thought I would do. I didn't really start to think about it until a couple months ago. And I realized it's not what I want to do with my life. I don't like the thought of sitting indoors all day long, reading about the innocent and the guilty. It doesn't appeal to me in the same way it did when I was younger."
"So what are you going to do?" This is news to me. I always thought he'd follow along, just like his brother's before him.
"I told you not to interrupt, remember?" I lock my lips closed and smile. "Anyway, I've really thought about it and I've found that I want something more in my life. I want to go places and I want to see things. I want to sleep in tents and travel by foot. I want to do all of this, and I want you to do it with me." It takes me a minute, but I finally get what he's telling me.
"You... want me to.. marry you?" He reaches behind him to his shirt I hadn't realized was there and pulls out a box. My heart starts beating triple time as I realize what's inside that box. Emmett gets up on one knee in front of me and takes my left hand.
"Jillian Elizabeth Marion. Would you do me the honour and the pleasure of accepting me as your husband?" When he says the word husband he opens the box to reveal a gold diamond ring. I look up into his eyes to see something I hadn't noticed was there before. Love. Lots of it. All for me. My breath catches in my chest as I look down at the ring again. It must have cost him a small fortune.
"I'm only 18, Emmett. I can't possibly.." He cuts me off my pressing his lips against mine. My hands fly up to his curly hair, running my fingers through it. He leans me back onto the grass and he lays beside me, never breaking the kiss. We've kissed before, sometimes going farther than this, but this somehow feels different. It takes me a few minutes to realize that the kiss isn't different, I'm different, we're different. I've always liked Emmett, but not until this moment had I realized that I love him.
With this new found realization I pull Emmett on top of me and wrap my legs around his waist. He responds by rolling us over so that I'm on top of him. I finally break the kiss when I'm in need of air and look down at him. All the things I never saw before are suddenly right there in plain sight on his face. I give him another long deep kiss before pulling back again.
"Yes, Emmett. I'll marry you."
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