new apartment in Los Angeles. Since Madison had gotten into UCLA to continue law school, Emery had transferred schools and moved with her. Jensen waited for the phone to ring before switching it over to speaker. The phone rang about five times before we heard Madison's voice. My stomach was swimming with butterflies.
"Hey, Madison, it's Jensen and Mia. How are you?"
"Oh, hey you two!” Madison sounded surprised. She spoke away from the phone, “Em, Jensen and Mia are on the phone!" We heard a muffled voice in the background and then Madison answered as clear as a bell, "I don't know, Emery, come and ask them yourself." She then said to us, "Em wants to know why you're both calling."
"Damn, he's on to us," Jensen chuckled nervously. Jensen nervous? This sure is a rare occurrence!
"Actually,” he said,” go ahead and put us on speaker phone if you have one so you can both hear why we're calling."
"Ok, just a sec." I could almost hear Madison's eyebrow rise as she put us on speaker.
"Hey guys, what's up, or do you want us to guess? I figure there's only one reason you're calling us together."
"Hey, Emery, no guessing needed. We won't keep you in suspense," I answered.
"Alright, I'm waiting for a confirmation that you're going to be my sister-in-law." My jaw dropped and I silently accused Jensen with my eyes of already telling him the news, but he shook his head no.
"Damn, Emery, you're good," Jensen chuckled. "Yes, I asked Mia to marry me, and yes, it will be a long engagement seeing as she's still in high school." Jensen must have known what his brother would say. The phone suddenly erupted in squeals from Madison and congratulations from them both. Her comments quickly turned to playfully chastising Emery for not asking her to get married.
"Hey, why buy the cow when I get the milk for free?” At that point Madison must have punched him because he let out a loud howl. “Ow! Damn, woman.” He recovered quickly and asked, "So, have you told Mom and Dad? How'd they take the news?"
"Not yet. We're going out to dinner tonight and will bring it up then."
"I can't wait to hear how that goes. Our parents are awesome, but this might cause them to turn a corner."
"Shit, Emery,” Jensen laughed, “Mia's nervous enough without you making jokes." I squeezed his hand and he looked at me and smiled.
"Mia, I'm sure it won't be as bad as you're imagining. Our parents love you. But, I would put a strong emphasis on the long engagement part just to be safe."
"So, Emery, you're a good guesser, but I think I can one-up you," I added.
"Oh, yeah? Are you pregnant?" he asked incredulously.
"Oh, hell no!" I yelled and then giggled. "Actually, I was talking about when Jensen asked me. It was last winter."
"Now, that I wouldn't have guessed," Emery said slowly, blowing out a little breath of air. "Wow, you two are good at keeping things quiet. Why didn't you share this news at graduation when I was still in town? Frankly, I'm a little hurt you're doing this to me over the phone."
I couldn't tell if he was joking and I looked worriedly at Jensen, but he only smiled and nodded as if to confirm that Emery was just razzing us. He went on to explain that we never felt the time was right, so this was as good a time as any. Emery fully understood and was about to say something when Madison cut in with what was more important.
"Mia, what does your ring look like?" she asked.
"It's beautiful! It's a round one-carat diamond surrounded by platinum. It sucks I haven't been able to wear it on my finger all these months, although, I do wear it around my neck."
"And no one has caught on? You must be pretty good at hiding it!" Madison commented.
"It's been tough, that's for sure."
"You didn't buy that at our store, did you?" Emery wanted to know.
"Shit. Buying it there would have been a dead giveaway, not to mention Aunt Donna and her big mouth. She totally would have told Mom. Instead, I ordered it direct from the supplier they use. This was one of those rare times where it paid to have the job of inventory."
"Good thinking. Does anyone else know?"
"Just Alicia."
"Oh, I see … you told her first, huh?"
"Actually,” I said, “she found the ring. She's a little snooper, that one." I giggled slightly.
"Nice. She always was. No one could hide Christmas presents from her for very long. I'm really excited for you both. Jensen, call me later and tell me how the 'rents take the news. I'm dying to know."
"I will. They'll have to be on somewhat good behavior since Karl will be there with Jessica." Jensen looked at me, grinned, and told his brother and Madison that we’d talk to them later. They congratulated us once more and hung up the phone.
"Well, that went well," Jensen said, encasing me in his arms. I pulled away slightly so I could look at his face.
"Are you sure you didn't tell him already?"
"Scouts honor," Jensen said with a serious look on his face. "The two of us never call at the same time, and we’re not bummed, so he just put two-and-two together. He's good like that."
I snuggled deeper into Jensen's embrace. "Do you think Madison is upset that we're beating them to the altar, so to speak?"
"Nah, they'll probably get engaged and be married before we do. Somehow I doubt Emery or Madison are into long engagements."
2. Dinner of Fate
While we were at dinner and about to order, I fidgeted under the table so much that Jensen had to put his hand on my knee to calm me down. Alicia was sitting at the end of the table to my left and I knew she could tell something big was in the air because she kept looking from Jensen to me and back to Jensen again. I nodded slightly and her eyes lit up. She then began to fidget as well, which only made things worse.
As Jessica and Karl were ordering, Jensen took that time to whisper into my ear. "Babe, calm down. Your nervousness is catching; Alicia has it now." He kissed my temple softly.
"Sorry. I can't help it," I whispered back. My stomach was churning so much so that I didn't know if I could eat. When it was Alicia’s turn to order she went with a salad, which told me someone else besides me was too nervous to eat anything heavy. I ordered the same. If Jensen was nervous, he wasn't showing it and ordered what he normally would eat at dinner—a large steak and vegetables.
Karl started the conversation while we waited for our food. "Thanks for taking us out to dinner. We really enjoy spending time with everyone."
"Yes, thanks, hon," Ashlyn added as she absently brushed something off of the arm of her blue cashmere sweater. As always, Jensen’s mother looked like she stepped out of a catalogue.
"Yeah, why did you want to take us all out, anyway?" Jessica eyed us tentatively.
My hand fluttered up to my neck, feeling for the absent ring that Jensen replaced with
