The Clinch

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One: Gabriel's POV

"Sir I-" I stutter, unsure how to say this without fucking throwing up. Already my gut is clenched tight in anxiety and sweat is beading on my brow. And her dad is looking at me curiously with his arms bound over his chest as he waits me out. Shit. I can't do this...

But then I remember why I'm doing this; for her. I want her, and bad, and I'm doing what I can do to make sure I can be with her. It might be a bit late, but I want to do the right thing; I wanna do right by Darryl and freaking watch her walk down the aisle. I wanna put my ring on her left hand and proudly call her mine. Gosh, this day might be a long time coming, but colour me old fashioned, I want to at least ask her daddy first.

"Sir I want- no... Sorry, sir, I would like permission to uhm..." I mumble and scratch awkwardly at the back of my neck, hot Damn is it hot in here? "I uh... Mr Kallahan I'd like to ask for your daughters hand in marriage, but first I want to be able to do it with your permission. I would move mountains for your daughter, and I know this is probably coming a bit late, but I love her. And I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make her smile. She's my all, and I, I want to be her husband and she my wife, and I know I'm not articulating myself very well but I am real nervous. So would you think about it please, Mr Kallahan?"

It's quiet for a moment, and I feel like getting out the spade, ready to dig myself an early grave, when he booms out in loud laughter that has me snapping to attention and regarding him with an awkward expression.

"Ain't no thinking need to be done, Gabriel. You're a good man and you've proved yourself to not only her and me, but to the whole of my clan, and that's saying a lot. You're right, boy, you did leave it a bit late seeing as you already got her up the duff, but we always knew you'd swallow your pride in the end."

So is that a yes or a no?

As if answering my unspoken question, Mr Kallahan laughs again and pats me on the back. "You've got my permission, lad."

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Despite the fact that my job requires me to have steady hands, and that I can down over ten units of alcohol and still walk in a straight line, in this moment I am shaking. I tell myself to man up, but honestly, I'm buzzing.

My head is knocking around several scenarios that make me nervous; 'what if she says no', 'what if she thinks I'm only doing this for the babies sake' and my favourite 'what if she doesn't love me like I love her'?

Okay the latter one was stupid, because honestly it's impossible for her to love me more than I love her. She's just...

"She's coming!" Reagan calls as he comes jogging into the work out room. He's wearing a huge grin. In fact, everybody here is wearing big grins in anticipation of the moment, and if they don't smother them in time, then Darryl is going to know that something is up.

Hopping onto a treadmill, I quickly vamp up the volume and get into position.

All the other boys quickly do as they're instructed; hop on a machine and work out like normal. And we all fall into the usual rhythm of the gym.

It took me hours this morning to set everything up, and I can not have anything going wrong. Everything has to happen as I planned it; I'm meticulous like that.

As anticipated, Darryl hops straight onto the treadmill next to mine and bumps elbows with me. I smile down at her before getting back to my jog, trying to act like normal despite the fact that I am surreptitiously watching her from the corner of my eye.

She jumps when not only her treadmill belt starts to turn, but the four to her left do too. With a quirked brow, she stands on the rim of the treadmill and gasps when white writting appears on the first treadmill. "What the- 'Will'?" She reads it with a confused expression, before writing appears on the second treadmill belt in sequence "'you'" the writing disappears as the third treadmill belt reveals the next part of the sentence "'marry'", and just as the closest treadmill reveals the last of the question, she slaps a hand over her mouth "me?"