First Love, Take Two

I couldn’t believe my parents had kicked me out of the house. They didn’t even let me change back into sweats. But they were right. I had to talk to Daniel.

First, courage. And tacos. Because, as I stared at my reflection, at my beautiful lengha contrasting with the horrendous dark circles under my eyes and frizzy hair, I knew that I couldn’t lose him again. We were headed for a long night, and I needed energy.

Drive-through tacos were hands down the best comfort food. It was impossible not to inhale two crispy tacos, a small queso blanco with warm tortilla chips, and a medium Big Red. I pushed my seat back as far as it would go and enjoyed how safe and normal Tex-Mex made me feel. I sipped my soda, contemplating my next move as people walked in and out of the restaurant.

As the last crunch of taco echoed through the car, I reminisced about all the things Daniel and I had been through. He’d always been the one, the only one. From that first touch, my heart knew it couldn’t live without him.

His dad had given him an ultimatum, and that was his decision. But as far as mine? I couldn’t be that coward anymore, that little submissive girl who shied away from conflict and drama. It had already destroyed me before. It wasn’t going to destroy me again. His dad had once told me that living for ourselves was selfish, but I’d learned the hard way that trying to live for everyone else was destructive.

I dragged in a deep, sobering, and shaky breath and finally looked at my phone again.

Time to woman up and get my man.

*  *  *

It was dark by the time I reached Daniel’s place. Ugh. All the Tex-Mex in the world wasn’t going to ease my nerves. All the Big Red in Texas wasn’t going to calm my jitters. I knew exactly what had to be said, and I wasn’t letting Daniel get away without a fight. If he wanted me and his family business, we’d find a way.

I blew out a breath.

The porch lights were on and the living room lights flickered. I gathered my thoughts, and then gathered my skirt in my hand as Daniel jogged out to help me from the car. He was dressed awfully nice in a suit. Maybe he’d been at another fundraiser.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, my hands already trembling.

“Wow. You look amazing.”

“My parents made me get out of sweats.”

His hands landed on my hips. He rubbed the exposed skin at my sides between the cropped top and the flowing skirt. I stepped away.

“Wait,” he said, pulling me back into him. “I’m not letting you go that easily.”

My words spilled out, otherwise they would never come. “Your dad hates me. I know because he told me to leave you years ago and he feels the same now. He said that I wouldn’t fit into your elite world, and maybe he was right. At least back then. I don’t know your world, but if you want me in it, I’ll be the best gala girlfriend anyone has ever seen. If you want me organizing events, I can do that, too. If you want me to get into politics and networking, well, I’m not great in that area, but I can act like I am. And I don’t mean changing myself to fit your lifestyle, but I’m more than prepared to be in your world because, no offense, if I can save lives when everyone is yelling and panicking and blood and guts and organs are spilling out, then I can handle some rich people. I don’t want you or your parents to think I’m deficient because our worlds are different.”

“Where’s this coming from?” he asked.

“I was terrified that your dad was right six years ago when he told me that I was holding you back. I don’t think I’m holding you back now.”

He shook his head. “Of course not. We support each other, not restrict each other.”

I clutched his shirt at his sides, fidgeting with the fabric in my fists, desperate to have him near and never let go. “I overheard you and your dad arguing at the gala. He wanted you to choose between me and your empire.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry you heard that. You know my dad is bullheaded, even though that doesn’t diminish any hurt he caused you. But we have to be better than the people who try to tear us apart. We have to speak our minds and work around it. We can’t allow them to manipulate us. We have to be a united front.”

“I’d hate to be the reason that you and your parents drift apart.”

He cupped my face. “You wouldn’t be the reason. Dad would be. Do you get that?”

I nodded.

He leaned his head back for a second. “My answer has always been you. It was you six years ago and it’s you now.”

My lips quivered.

“Hey. Hey. What’s all this?” he asked, brushing my tears aside.

“I’m happy to hear you say that.”

He pulled me against his chest. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”

“I was ready to fight for you.”

He chuckled and kissed my temple. “You always had me, Pree.”

“You’re jobless now?”

He muttered into my hair, “I’d already made plans to start my own firm. That day you gave me advice on asking Dad to let me lead a separate division? It didn’t go over well. And that’s when I knew that things would never change. I made diverging plans. I spent a lot of money investing in real estate and the stock market after grad school, and the risk paid off. I have the funds to start my own firm with my own money.”

I clutched the back of his shirt.

“My mom and grandparents and Brandy are on my side. I don’t know what’s going to happen with my dad. But I do know that my grandparents and sister adore you. That I love you more than anyone I’ve ever loved.”

“Don’t let your grandparents hear you say that,” I muttered against his chest.

He rubbed my arms and then said, “Let’s get inside and talk.”

“I’d like that.”

He gently took my wrist and led me inside. I slipped off my sandals in the foyer and followed him to the living room with the vaulted ceiling and romantic arched windows.

The house was dimly lit by candles, a dozen large and small colorful flames casting shadows across the elegant simplicity of the black-and-white décor. It wasn’t until now that it fully hit me. My life was finally whole again. I had Daniel and my parents. I had my dream job, and Daniel had built our dream house. My heart couldn’t be any fuller. I couldn’t want anything more, except a hundred lifetimes with Daniel.

“Were you expecting a romantic night, or are you a fan of candles now?” I teased.

He chuckled. “Funny. I was trying to set a mood for us to get some calm going.”

“Because you anticipated some fighting?”

He nodded. “I talked to your dad a bit at the hospital. He told me about what went down between you and your aunts. He asked me to come over to his house and we had a long talk.”

Daniel picked up a remote control and pointed it at the blinds covering the floor-to-ceiling glass that made up the entirety of the back wall. The blinds hummed quietly and stretched open.

“Wait,” I said, turning to him, away from the windows. “Before you tell me what you guys discussed, I need to say something.”

“What is it, Pree?” he asked gently, his gaze flitting to the windows and then back to me as the hum of the motorized blinds stopped.

I swallowed. “I made mistakes, but I learned from them. And I will never hurt you again, will never repeat my mistakes. I’ve loved you for so long that I can’t imagine not loving you. It’s impossible. Not only that; my parents like you. They respect you and admire you.”

He grinned. “I already know. I mean, I am me.”

I laughed and then paused, biting my lip. “I don’t want to lose any more time with you.”

“I don’t, either.”

I took both of his hands in mine and looked down at them. “I used to be scared and nervous in medical school and residency about trying new things, knowing that lives changed in my hands. And the only way I could get over that was to dive in. That helped me to take control. That helped me to take the lead and be confident and sound and assured that what I was doing was the best course of action. I was scared of being chief resident, too, but I dove in, and all these things made me stronger.”

I paused again and searched his dark brown eyes, which twinkled with the reflections of the backyard lights. “So I’m diving into this moment with my all.”

He narrowed his eyes as a smile crept across his face. “What are you saying?”

“Daniel?” My heart was spasming and my hands were getting clammy, but I kept my voice composed.

“Yes?”

“Do you really, truly forgive me?”

“I do. You know I do,” he replied in a guttural voice, peering down at me with the moon and stars sparkling in those chestnut eyes.

“Daniel?”

He closed the small expanse between us and leaned into my ear. “Yes?” he whispered before pulling back.

My breath came out in short, fast bursts. “Will you marry me?”

His eyes went wide and I didn’t think I’d ever heard him stutter before. “Are—are you proposing?”

I gasped for air. “You want me to get on one knee? I’ll romance the crap out of you, Daniel.”

He laughed, grinning so hard his cheeks had to hurt. He swept me into a hug and cast a hundred gentle kisses all over my face.

“Is that a yesh?” I asked, smooshed against him.

“Yes. Of course! Nothing would make me happier than to be Mr. Dr. Patel,” he said in that low, sultry voice that made his chest rumble.

I laughed. “The name suits you.”

“But you have an extraordinary way of ruining surprises,” he added.

“What surprise is that?”

“This,” he whispered in my ear, his hands on my hips as he turned me around.

I gasped. The bright patio lights and strings upon strings of large fairy lights created a bright canopy around pillars of pink and white peony and rose bouquets.

My breath hitched at some very familiar and smiling faces beneath that canopy. Brandy and Jackson, Daniel’s grandparents, Reema and Rohan, Liya and Jay, Sana, and in front of them all, my parents. Everyone was dressed to the nines, with Mummie and Papa still wearing their Indian best.

Daniel took my hand and walked to the opened doors. “It’s pretty standard across most cultures to ask a woman’s father before proposing. I wanted your parents to be a part of this, and I thought you’d want them to be as well.”

“What?” I pushed out.

“I’d been thinking about this since grad school. I didn’t take my chance then. And when I got into the fight with my parents at the gala, I asked Brandy to help me make this happen, because I wasn’t going to let this chance fall through the cracks again. No one can put together an elegant event faster than my little sister. But you beat me to the question.”

My breath caught in my throat as he walked around me.

Daniel got down on one knee, between me and our loved ones. He looked up at me with a faithful twinkle in his eyes as the lights glimmered all around like some magical fairy tale. Behind our friends and family, beneath the canopy of fairy lights, stretched a long table set with floral arrangements and plates and flutes on a shimmering gold tablecloth.

Daniel took my hand as Liya, Reema, Sana, and Brandy whipped out their phones to take pictures and videos. And my dad. He was probably WhatsApping this entire thing.

“Oh my god,” I whispered. Even though we had technically already been engaged for all of three minutes, I somehow felt more nervous now than I had been a moment ago asking him for his hand. I looked a hot mess. My eyes were swollen, my hair barely combed, my outfit stained with salsa.

I smiled down at Daniel as he took his turn to speak. “I knew that you were someone extraordinary and special and imperfectly perfect for me when I pulled you out of that party in college. I’d never met someone who was so incredibly brilliant and wonderful. Someone who makes my heart pound with just one thought. Someone who makes everything feel better with just one touch. Someone who understands and accepts me for me and not what the business insiders or elite social circuit say.

“I’d lived years before you and things were fine. But then I met you and every facet of the world opened up and came to life. So, when we went through a time without each other, part of me died, stayed dead until I saw you again.” His eyes glistened, and crap if I wasn’t about to cry in front of everyone.

“You are the breath that I need to live. You are the blood in my veins. The glimmer of radiance that my day so desperately needs. I built this house for you, for us, for our future. There is no living here without you.”

He held up a red-and-gold box. “This is my eternal devotion to you, a promise made in front of you, your parents, my family, and our friends that I will always love you and cherish you and take care of you. I will always be here to protect you and save you, even when you’re saving yourself. Your parents call you their princess. With their blessing, you’d be my queen.”

He flipped open the box and I almost passed out upon seeing a very familiar ring. “Oh my god! Daniel…”

He grinned sheepishly as I shot a look to Brandy and Liya, who each gave me a thumbs-up. Oh! Those plotting women!

Daniel pulled out a platinum ring with a large diamond and smaller sapphires down the sides, which perfectly matched the drop Y necklace he’d given me at the gala.

“Dr. Patel…”

I laughed. “Oh my lord.”

“Will you do me the exceptional honor of marrying me?”

I could barely breathe, could barely string together a coherent sentence. I glanced beyond him at my parents, the lights of my life. In the ethereal glow, they beamed with happiness and approval and nodded with joy as Mummie wiped her tears.

“Yes! Oh my lord, yes!” I exclaimed.

He slipped the ring onto my finger.

Everyone erupted into a cacophony of applause and cheers as Daniel sprang up, picked me up off my feet in a giant embrace, and spun me. He laughed against my neck as everyone rushed us.

When my parents came to congratulate us, Mummie held an aarti tray for a shortened version of an engagement ceremony/blessing. And that was when I lost it. I hugged her so tight and wept into her rose-scented hair.

We cried for a good couple of minutes as Papa patted my head, his own eyes glistening. Then Grandma and Grandpa Thompson took their turns, their laughter like music fluttering through the air. Then the girls came over, screaming and ambushing me with unadulterated joy while the guys congratulated us both. My heart was full, brimming. I had everyone I needed right here.

After an exciting dinner complete with decadent desserts and drinks, Daniel and I sat on the top steps of the back patio, my head against his shoulder, our fingers intertwined as we watched everyone eat and drink and fill the night with laughter at the table before us. My parents chatted and laughed up a storm with Daniel’s grandparents as if they were already one family.

Daniel kissed my head. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m completely in love with this moment. But don’t forget that I proposed first.”

He chuckled. “You’re so modern.”

“Is this the ring from the gala shopping trip with Brandy? When she told me to try on rings while I was there because she wanted to give Jackson an idea for her engagement ring?”

“Yep.”

“Think you’re slick, huh?”

“Yep.”

I bit my lip. “I wish that I hadn’t wasted so many years without you.”

“We don’t live in the past, Pree.”

I stood and pulled him up with me. I draped my arms over his shoulders and moved in a side-to-side sway. Soft music played through the speakers. The breeze tossed petals through the air; the candle flames flickered; the canopy of strung lights shimmered overhead.

“Huh,” he said.

“What?”

He brushed my wayward hair aside. “Just thinking that you’re glowing like an angel, hair flowing, clothes glimmering. You’re absolutely the most beautiful woman in existence. I would trade all the riches in the world for you. We made mistakes, and we fought through them. But now? We chose right.”