The Kitchen Surprise, Confrontational Lasagna, Pacification and Some Cabin Magic.
*****
The final days of their vacation were placid and relaxed. For a few minutes, Madison had felt a little awkward around Daniel because somehow he divined her secret submission and bondage desires. What else did he know about her? Did he know her secret shame? How could he love her if he knew her secrets and the dirty thoughts and desires in her mind? Madison struggled with the clouds of uncertainty and doubt in her mind. Daniel must have sensed Madison's discomfort, became he became extra touchy and cuddled her a lot, which was exactly what she wanted and needed. In short order Madison glowed under his attention and her uncertainty left her, replaced by a feeling of warm togetherness. Daniel knew her secrets and clandestine desires, and he loved her anyway. He had even serviced those dark desires in his patient and gentle manner and she was safe and cared for even as he made one of her dirtiest fantasies come true.
Madison fell more deeply in love with Daniel than she thought possible and boss bitch Madison took the rest of their vacation off. For the time that remained they shared smiles and touches and giggles and quiet. Madison contentedly lounged by the pool or on the beach with Daniel by her side and they spent the last few days of their vacation within arm's length of one another. Sometimes they talked, but most of the time they simply relaxed in each other's presence. From time to time, Daniel would take Madison by the hand, and they would quietly walk the beach and look for seashells.
Madison, to her delight, enjoyed real intimacy with Daniel in those last days, even though they did not have sex again. Hugs and touches and kind words in quiet moments brought them closer while the tide gradually went out on their vacation. The sound of Daniel's name on her lips tasted like honey and Madison decided there was nothing in the world more intimate than eye contact. She basked in the sensation of deep looks into Daniel's dark eyes.
On the last day, Madison got up early and asked Daniel to forego his morning run and watch the sunrise with her. Daniel agreed with his characteristic smirk, and they sat out on the patio in the morning stillness to wait for the sun. While they waited, they held each other warm against the breeze and faced the dawn together. When the sun vaulted into the morning sky, Madison kissed Daniel and enjoyed the fact that the light of a new day shined on their love.
Madison was so content that she didn't even remember that she did not have an engagement ring yet. Her girlfriends and their expectations were thousands of miles away and that gave Madison the space to be just Madison with Daniel. All she needed was Daniel's body within reach, his hand entwined in hers and those dark eyes to lose herself in. On their final night at the resort, they snuggled in a hammock to bid the tropical sun good night one last time.
"I love you, Madison," Daniel whispered as the sun sank into the ocean.
"I love you, too," Madison whispered back over the night waves on the beach.
And all was right with the world.
The next day they held hands and spoke to each other in soft, private tones as they flew back to the United States. After the flight, they climbed into the old pickup truck and drove home to the lake house where Daniel unlocked the door, swept her into his arms and carried her over the threshold. Gandalf the cat looked on curiously as Daniel whirled around with Madison cradled in his arms, and she threw her head back to let her hair spill carelessly behind her in a joyful shared laugh. Madison was glad to be at home; at home with Daniel. Their home.
Strangely Madison felt fulfilled, even though she hadn't received a ring. She had found something more precious and intimate on their vacation. Madison had found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and a ring didn't seem as necessary as it had before. Before the vacation she had thought of Daniel as a character in her story. An important character, to be sure, but a character in the pretty life that she would show to the world on her Instagram feed. Now Madison viewed him as her co-stars in a new private story they would co-author. She didn't want to flaunt her love for her girlfriends or the world, and as the kitchen ceiling in their home whirled above her, Madison wanted to enjoy that story with Daniel alone. A few whirls later Daniel set a slightly dizzy Madison on her feet again and scooped up Gandalf.
"Hey buddy!" he cooed to his cat. "How is my Gandalf? I missed you."
Daniel held Gandalf up to his face so Gandalf could give him their familiar "noser" and Gandalf rubbed his face on Daniel's. Gandalf purred and gave a happy "mrrrrrrp" in response.
"What's that?" Daniel asked his cat conspiratorially as he smirked in Madison's direction. "Well, no, I haven't asked her yet. I waited until we were all together."
Madison heart stopped and all her attention focused on Daniel. Gandalf gave Daniel another "noser" and chirped happily.
"OK, then, I'll ask her," Daniel replied to Gandalf as he set the cat on the counter.
Madison's heart fluttered to life and then began to race.
"Ask me what?" she heard herself gasp.
She didn't see where the ring came from, but it was everything Madison had hoped it would be. Colored sunset lights caught in the facets of the emerald cut diamond set in a plain white gold setting. It was large, at least three carats and as Daniel held it out to her, it looked like a headlight. Madison's hands flew up to cover her gasp of surprise and delight. Had the moment finally arrived? Daniel reached out and softly took her left hand from over her mouth and slipped the ring on her ring finger.
"Madison, will you marry me?"
In Madison's world, everything spun around the fixed point of the diamond on her finger. Her cheeks went flushed and moist, and she tittered nervously while she stared in shock at the ring on her finger. It looked huge, and the band was a little too big and would have to be sized to fit her more exactly, but it couldn't have been more perfect. Her eyes looked up into Daniel's and she couldn't contain herself anymore.
"Ooooooooooooooooooooh!" she bawled and flapped her right hand uselessly. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn't hear Daniel anymore even though his lips moved. Madison was tired from the trip, dressed in a tracksuit in a kitchen, and she was sure her makeup wasn't up to snuff. This wasn't how she had pictured the moment, but somehow, Daniel's proposal was even better than her sunset on the beach fantasy because somehow it all just fit perfectly. She sobbed and pressed her hands to her mouth again to stifle an incoherent babble of words that wanted to tumble out of her mouth. Daniel hugged her and stroked her hair soothingly and gave her a smirk. Warmth washed through Madison's body, and it calmed her enough to hear again.
"Is that a "yes?" Daniel asked, and now Madison knew what he had said while she was hysterically deaf.
Madison beamed and nodded.
"Yes, Daniel. A thousand times."
Daniel turned to Gandalf.
"Did you hear that, Gandalf? She said "yes"! I'm the luckiest guy in the world."
Two weeks ago, Madison would have riposted "You're damn right you are" but in the warm afterglow of their vacation she no longer had that thought. Instead, all she could think was how lucky she was to have this man in her life and how good he made her feel. When he turned his eyes to her and smirked again, Madison's composure fled, and she shook like a leaf with a sudden chill. Could this be real? Again, Daniel read her mind.
"It's real, Madison" he assured her in a whisper as kissed her forehead. "I want to share moments like this with you for the rest of my life. You are the magic I have waited my whole life for."
Madison's knees buckled and she tried to tell Daniel how much it meant to be his wife, but the emotional lump in her through reduced it to another whimper.
"I love you," he told her with another soft smirk.
"Oh, Daniel I love you too!" Madison blubbered, and then what was left of Madison's composure melted into a mess of tears, loose strands of hair and runny eye makeup.
*****
The next day, with the ring properly sized, Daniel and Madison began a week long victory lap of their friends and families to officially announce their engagement. Madison was in her glory as everyone jealously admired her new ring. It was everything she had hoped for in an engagement announcement tour
Madison's family couldn't have been happier for them, especially Madison's mother who was so enamored of Daniel that she was all too glad to tell him to call her "mom". Daniel politely begged off with the compliment that she wasn't old enough to be his mother. To Madison it was a glorious week of attention full of the all the envious glances and well wishes she craved.
However, in private moments, Madison had to confess that she was nervous about the end of the week when they would visit Daniel's parents. While Daniel and Madison were dating, Daniel's parents were always cordial and polite, but there was no enthusiasm in their attitude towards her. Madison couldn't be sure, but it seemed that Daniel's parents either couldn't decide what to make of her, or, perhaps more disconcertingly, didn't particularly like her. Specifically, this emanated from his mother, Rosalina.
Daniel's father Tony was always nice to Madison. He smiled and nodded when she spoke to him. He didn't talk much and what he did say was thick with an Italian accent and usually was about sports. His eyes were dark, like Daniel's eyes, but his gaze lacked the Daniel's subtle intelligence. He was a blue-collar guy and a touch intimidated by pretty women. As such, Madison took his reticence as a kind of compliment and even enjoyed the way he blushed faintly when she kissed him on the cheek. She was pretty sure that he would be happy for them.
Daniel's sister Diane was a sprightly, petite woman with bobbed black hair and shiny dark eyes. She was married with three children, all of whom adored Daniel but seemed a little reserved around Madison. Daniel's sister obviously loved her bother, and she welcomed Madison well enough. Yet every so often Diane would stare at Madison the way a gambler might evaluate a horse before a big race. Madison was sure Diane would say the right things but wasn't sure she would mean them.
In the end, Madison knew that Daniel's mother, Rosalina, was the key to the whole situation. Rosalina was the matriarchal cornerstone of Daniel's family and her will dictated the ebb and flow of the family attitude. As far as Madison was concerned, Rosalina remained cool and aloof, and any time Madison had attempted to bond with her, Rosalina had simply looked her off. Originally Madison put Rosalina's stand-offish attitude down to the belief that some people just took time to warm up, but as time went by, Rosalina had never really warmed up to Madison. In fact, if anything her attitude towards Madison seemed to solidify into indistinct disapproval and that left Madison completely unsure if Rosalina would be happy about their engagement.
That was the crux of Madison's concerns, really. If Rosalina was happy with the engagement, then everyone else in the room would relax and give it their approval. If Rosalina wasn't happy, well Madison did not even want to consider the possible consequences of Rosalina's disapproval. Certainly if Rosalina didn't get behind their engagement, none of Daniel's family would and Madison was frightened by the prospect of Daniel's reaction to general disapproval of their engagement from his family.
This concern made Madison very nervous and by the time they pulled up the driveway to Daniel's parents' home that Friday evening, Madison had worried herself sick enough that she hadn't really eaten anything all day. Nerves and hunger combined to make Madison lightheaded and a bit touchy, although she dared not let that show to anyone, including Daniel. As she reached for the door handle to let herself out of the old pickup truck, Madison swallowed a trace of nervous bile in her throat, took a deep breath to calm her jangled nerves and summoned her brightest smile. This was to be a happy occasion after all and she would lead with her brightest attitude.
But in spite of Madison's efforts to set a joyful mood, the whole encounter was off kilter from the start. While Daniel's nieces and nephews danced around him in the kitchen as he bestowed a mood ring on each of them and Daniel's sister cooed politely over the ring, the mood in the kitchen was decidedly somber. Daniel's father sat at the table with his son-in-law and a melancholy cup of espresso and pointedly did not meet Madison's eyes. Even when she walked over and kissed him on the cheek, he did not smile or flush. He only nodded and muttered "hello" while Daniel's brother-in-law, Mark, congratulated her with a formality so crisp that it had creases ironed into it. After this staid and formal greeting, a thick air of expectant dread hung in the kitchen like the acrid smoke from a burnt cake.
