Shy Smiles, Warm Cocoa

|Tres|

2 years later

Time just seemed to glide by.

The minutes turning to days, the days to weeks, the weeks to months and those coming down to years.

Jasper and Raven though continued to grow closer and closer together forming quite a beautiful bond in that little town and soon a full two years had passed.

It was a bright August day and Jasper just knew this beautiful Monday he had to ask her to be his.

To be his wife.

He loved and appreciated her so much it made his heart ache a little just thinking about it.

But today he would finally ask her to be his forever.

He'd been debating it for weeks now, becoming so anxious it was starting to concern his Raven, even holding internal conversations with himself trying to come up with the best possible way to propose.

He knew she absolutely adored nature or anything to do with it, she liked simple things nothing too fancy or showy just wasn't her at all.

Alas after much deliberation he knew how he was going to do it.

Quite eager for her reaction yet a bit nervous for her response he sends a quick text telling her to come to his favorite picnic spot which was rather a private area as well, along with a location to get there.

It was perfect.

He proceeded to finish preparing a picnic basket filled with some baked goods and red wine. One of those baked goods he had specifically made for her.

When he finally arrived he quickly set up everything for her arrival, after looking it over he smiled giving himself a small nod at his efforts.

He hoped she'd like it.

And so with all preparations complete all he had to do was wait, he sat on the plush dark red blanket, shaded by a large flame amur maple tree looking on eagerly for her.

...

As I drive to meet Jasper I'm a bit baffled as to what he could be doing all the way out here, but I don't mind.

The gravel crunches under my tires as the scenery goes by in a blur of varying colours and deep earth tones.

I finally reach where Jasper is and sure enough I cannot miss the large bright coloured tree he is under. I smile as he immediately notices me.

He pushes himself to his feet and practically rushes over to my vehicle, reaching out tentatively to open the door all with twinkling eyes and a warm smile.

After taking a moment to study me he takes my hand which still rests on the steering wheel and gently pulls me into a hug.

Sometime passes and we break apart walking hand in hand to the big tree.

The air here is crisp and clean practically undisturbed from any kind of pollution, the grass under our feet is a vibrant green rustling softly as we go, birds chirping merrily they too enjoying the environment and warm sun.

We finally come up to the tree and I notice Jasper has a picnic set up, I wonder if the blanket is as soft as it looks, I then turn my gaze to the tree and stare open mouthed at it.

It looked stunning before but it certanlainy looks so much more stunning up close, with its different shades of red and splashes of yellow mixed in throughout the leaves, they sway in the wind as if to say hello, this all comes down to a thick bark with much texture and different grooves and dips.