Was it the house? Was this the 'big surprise'? As she stood in the front garden and took note of the peeling paint on the sidings she heard a soft cough behind her. And Ambrose looked a little sheepish as he approached.
"Um, sweetie," he began, his hands were behind his back, and she heard the distinctive rustle of paper.
"Don't tell me you've been spending more money Brosie," Ginny groaned, "you know we're on a tight budget here.... and by the looks of things, it's going to get tighter thanks to all those repairs that need doing so badly here."
He grinned sheepishly before producing a bunch of pink asters that had seen better days. Already their petals were beginning to droop and wilt, the paper crushed as if something had been stored on top of them.
"Ta daaa!" he exclaimed.
"Oh Brosie!" she couldn't be cross with him as he stood there with an expectant look on his face.
She poked her nose into the flowers, inhaling deeply, pretending that there was a strong aroma, when in fact, asters didn't have a perfume to them.
"They're beautiful," she gave him a sly sideways look, "and just how long have you been hiding those?"
"Hours," came the reply, "you have no idea how long I've been itching to give them to you."
"Is this a sweetener Brosie?"
"Sort of."
"Compensation for buying this ramshackle place?"
He winced slightly, realising that he should really have viewed the property first before going to auction and buying it on a whim.
"Um, no." he replied cautiously, "it's for this....."
With that, he dropped down on one knee and pulled a large ring box out of his pocket. Ginny held her breath. Surely not? They'd been putting this off for the longest time, from as far back as they could remember. There was always something that got in the way. Some expense, some emergency....
"Will you marry me?"
She eyed the dazzling solitaire diamond.
"That's got to have cost a fortune," she gasped.
"But you're so worth it," came the reply, "so how about it huh? Brand new house, brand new start.... and hopefully a wedding to look forward to. .... marry me? ..... please?"
It took Ginny a lot of restraint not to dance up and down on the spot and giggle like a little girl. Instead, she hopped just a little bit.
"Yes!!!" she blurted out, "yes oh yes oh YES!!!!"
He slipped the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit.
"How did you know ....?"
"Lucky guess."
The sun shone down causing the diamond to shimmer and sparkle brightly. Ginny's hand trembled slightly as she flexed her fingers and gazed at the flawless illumination. Then launched herself bodily at Ambrose, who caught her in a bear hug.
"Oh god Brosie," she gasped, giggling, "I love you soooo much."
"And I love you too sweetie."
