Picture This

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Ian

It had been almost two weeks since the accident and I hadn’t left Charlie’s side for more than ten minutes, and that was just because I had to clean myself up.  I was practically living at the hospital.  I didn’t want to go home because I didn’t know if that would be the last time I’d see Charlie again. 

Every time the doctor came in he assured me that she was recovering beautifully.  But with her eyes not open, I was having a tough time believing that. 

Everyone came to visit almost every day.  Even Julia and Cam had come two days after the accident.  Julia started crying when she saw Charlie and Cam had to calm her down as she cried into his shoulder. 

Before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve.  My family had cancelled their plans to go to my grandparents’ house in Arizona so we were all staying at home. 

Charlie’s parents and Freddie came to visit for a little while.  Todd walked over to the other side of her bed and put his hand on the top of her head. 

He looked over at me and down at her left hand, which I was holding. 

“So you never got to ask her,” he said.  “I meant to ask the other day.”

I shook my head and kissed her fingers.  “No, I didn’t,” I said.  “But I’m not going to be asking her.”

“What do you mean?” Liz asked, looking at me with a confused look on her face. 

I laughed, gripping her hand in mine.  “I’m not giving her the option of saying no.”

I heard Freddie laugh from behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.  “I don’t think you would have let her say no anyway,” he said.

I smiled sadly as I looked at her face.  She did look a lot better, except for the breathing tube going into her mouth. 

They left about an hour later after we sat there and talked.  After they left, a nurse came in carrying a tray of food.

“They’re serving Christmas dinner and we’re giving them to everyone,” she said, smiling as she put the tray down on the table next to me. 

“Thanks,” I said, but made no move toward it. 

Once she left, my eyes wandered across the room to where a little black box containing Charlie’s birthday present sat on the window ledge.  It hadn’t moved since I’d put it there right after the accident. 

The ring that I was going to give to her when I asked her to marry me.

I’d asked her dad before I’d even bought it and he seemed more excited than I was.  When I asked him, I thought he was going to say that we were too young and hadn’t been together for long to start thinking about getting married.  But he didn’t say any of that.  What he did say, though, surprised me. 

“You know, her mom always knew that you two were going to get married someday,” he said after giving me a hug.  “She always thought it was going to be when you were young so she didn’t care.”

“So you don’t think we’re too young?” I asked him. 

“Maybe a little but I know you love my daughter more than anything and I’d be proud to call you my son.”

So I took that as a ‘yes, you can marry my daughter’. 

That ‘walk in the park’ thing that we were going to do on her birthday was where I was going to ask her.  But then everything happened…

I stood up from my chair at the side of Charlie’s bed and went to grab the little box.  I didn’t open it until I was sitting back beside her, my gaze switching between her left hand and the ring that was nestled into the box. 

I looked down at the ring.  The two carat diamond was set into a silver band that had three other diamonds that went down in size on both sides of it.  It had taken me hours just to find the right one for her and when I saw this one, I knew that this was the one that was perfect for her. 

I reached for the ring and held it up so it sparkled in the florescent lights in the room.  I picked up her left hand then and slipped the ring onto her ring finger. 

“Sorry, Charlie, but I’m not giving you the option to say no to me,” I said, and kissed the ring on her finger.  “That thing’s going to stay on your hand for the rest of your life.”

Leaning up, I kissed her cheek and brushed her hair away from her face, whispering into her ear.  “I love you, Charlie.”