Carlisle's Diary

The Proposal (Charlie's POV)

Dear Diary: December 27, 2013

I wish there was some sort of manual on how to do this. I mean when I was younger and asked Renee for her hand in marriage, I was just a young kid; what the hell did I know? Now I'm in my 40s and who would ever believe it that I'm in love again. But it's not the same as with Renee. Sue Clearwater is like a breath of fresh air. There isn't any pretense with her; what you see is what you get. We didn't have any kids to raise; as they were all grown and had their own lives as weird as they were. Who would have thought that both Sue and I would be the parents and me now the grandfather to wolves, vampires, and a hybrid? Where on planet earth does that even make any sense?

Sometimes I miss my old world where I was oblivious to all of this; that's on the one hand. On the other, I would have had to give up Bella and perhaps even Sue eventually as she was well aware of this whole business; and that's just not good enough. So now I get to have my daughter and granddaughter—I feel so weird being called 'grandpa'; I'm not that old dammit! How the hell Carlisle handles it when he looks like he's 30 something is beyond me!—and Sue remains in my life.

Now for the real reason I wrote in this girly book; I want to spend the rest of my life—the better half of it—with Sue. So that of course means I have to do the whole getting down on one knee with a ring and actually saying the words thing. I already have the ring; the fact that I'm the mayor of Forks gave me a bigger salary and I have been saving up a bit over the last few months so I could buy the ring I spotted in a store in Port Angeles. I didn't want to buy a ring in Forks because considering how small the town was, rumors would fly. I didn't want her finding out before I got a chance to ask her.

So I got the ring and picked the perfect day; Christmas Eve. I had preplanned spending it with her at La Push and thankfully the Gods were smiling on us that day as it was crystal clear and sunny though freezing. I got the run of the mill presents ready as well and early that morning went over to her place. I knocked on the door and she opened with a smile.

"Good morning Charlie! My you're looking rather dapper today? What's the occasion?" She said looking at my duds.

I had decided there was no way in hell I was going to propose looking like a bum or a lumberjack so I actually dusted off a suit from the very back of my closet and put it on and what do you know, it still fits. Smelled a bit like mothballs so I used a bit of the cologne Bella and Edward sent me for my birthday; Nautical or Nautica something or other. Whatever. It smelled good and I figured it was better than smelling like fish or moth. Hey, I know how to put myself together!

"Eh it's nothing special. Merry Christmas!" I tried to sound as nonchalant as I could.
"Merry Christmas to you too and come on in! Food is ready!" She gave me a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.
"Good I'm starving." Like that was new. I walked into her living room and put the presents under the tree I helped her set up a few days before.
"I wonder if Billy will stop by." She said thoughtfully as she piled food onto my plate.
"He uh, said he was going to be having his daughter and son in law over. I always get them confused; Rebecca or Rachel. He said he may pop over later though; I dropped his gift off yesterday." I said trying to make sense of what I was saying.

Well I wasn't lying, entirely. Billy was actually being visited by his kids but they weren't staying long and Billy would have popped over if I hadn't sworn him to secrecy on my plan. So we made this excuse up in order for me to do what I planned and planned and planned again for months now. It had to work or well I may have a stroke! I've been worrying so much about her answer. She nodded her head and joined me at the table to eat. We sat there in comfortable silence for a while. I was doing everything in my power to keep my best poker cop face on. Meanwhile, my heart was sprinting a marathon out of my chest and I hadn't even gotten to the big cahoona yet! Lord have mercy.