A few months later
"Drew?" I shouted. No answer. The house was empty. I sighed and looked around for my car keys when something caught my eye on the kitchen table. On the kitchen table wrapped in a piece of purple ribbon with a lavender flower next to it was a white envelope.
Scribbled on the envelope in handwriting I would recognise anywhere was one word.
"Eloise"
I opened the envelope with a feeling of giddy anticipation. What in the world was Drew up to now? After living with Drew these last few months I've learned that he loves surprises. Particularly to surprise me. Every now and then Drew would have a new surprise for me up his sleeve. Sometimes it was a small thing such as a flower on my pillow and other times it was a romantic weekend getaway up in the mountains. Drew's surprises always made my day and I had a feeling this one would be no different.
I pulled a piece of paper out of the envelope. My eyes moved over his handwriting. "Eloise, I know how much you love my surprises and I think you'll love this one the most. It is something you'll have to work for a bit. I figured there was nothing better to build up anticipation than a scavenger hunt. The surprise will be revealed when you find me, so use that beautiful mind of yours to follow my clues. Here is the first one,
"Only when unfurled, it will greet the fairest in the world."
Good luck, darling
Huh. This was new. Drew doesn't usually do riddles. I wrapped my head around what it could mean. Unfurled was a strange choice of word. The only things I could think of that unfurled were roses and then it hit me. Roses! Of course! I grabbed my handbag and just as I was about to step out of the house my eyes snagged on my car keys that were on the small table near the front door. I smiled and shook my head. Drew probably knew I was going to have an all-out search mission to find them and he put them in a place where I wouldn't miss them. Gosh, I would kiss him if he were here right now.
I grabbed my keys, quickly locked up the house and practically ran to my car. It was a short drive to the flower shop. Once I got there I quickly climbed out of the car and made my way to Rose, the owner of Bloomed Delicates. Rose was standing outside of her shop arranging the flowers that stood on display in front of her shop. She smiled as she noticed me walking up to her. "Good afternoon, Rose." I greeted her.
"Hello, my darling. I assume you are here for this." Rose said with a smile as she handed me an envelope. I took the envelope and thanked her. She watched me eagerly as I tore open the envelope. I pulled out what looked like a postcard. I frowned as I stared at it. Rose tried to take a peek at what I pulled out of the postcard. Small-town people sure were nosy, but I loved them nonetheless. On the postcard was a picture of horses galloping in a field. The next clue was something about horses then. I decided to go to the only place I knew had horses in this town; The Blue Haven Inn. I pulled up to the Owen's Inn a few minutes later. I opened the door of the inn and walked right in. The smell of home-cooked food immediately hit my nostrils as soon as I stepped inside. I breathed it in with a smile. Whatever it was it smelled divine.
I was just about to make my way to the kitchen when someone in a cowboy hat came running down the stairs. Only one person had such light wavy brown hair and had an obsession with cowboy hats. "Hey, Nash." I smiled. Nash yelped as he saw me. "Hey, Eloise. What brings you here." Nash said strangely. Almost as if he was caught in the act. It was then that I noticed that his hands were clasped behind his back. There was a small bit of sweat right by his eyebrows. Oh, he was definitely hiding something. One thing I knew about Nash was that he was terrible at keeping secrets. "What you got back there?" My eyes narrowed and I nodded to his hands that were behind his back. His eyes widened. "Nothing. Nothing at all." Nash said and he ran past me. I caught a glimpse of a small box all wrapped up. I laughed and shook my head. Something was up I could feel it.
I continued to make my way to the kitchen as I wanted to before I saw Nash. Nora was standing in front of the stove as I entered the kitchen. She turned around just in time to see me enter the kitchen. "Oh, hello honey. You're early." Drew's mother said as she stared at her watch. "Early for what?" I frowned. "Early for your next clue." She smiled. Nora walked up the the kitchen table and picked up the envelope that was lying on it. "I'm sure you'll figure out this one quite easily." She said as she handed me the envelope. I stared at her in shock. "You know what's inside of them?"
Nora laughed in response. "Of course I do, honey. I helped Drew make them."
My heart gave a small leap. Drew worked with his mother on this. Wow, it really must be some surprise then. I tore open the envelope and pulled out... a flower? It was a lavender flower, my favourite. I looked to see if there was anything else in the envelope, but it was empty. My only clue was this flower. I mindlessly fiddled with the lavender necklace Drew gave me on Christmas. Once I realised what I was doing I stilled and looked at my necklace. Drew gave me this necklace at a place that was so close to both our hearts. The lavender field. That was where my next destination was.
I hugged Nora and bid her goodbye. I left the inn in a hurry and jumped into my car. It was almost sunset so this game had to be coming to an end. As I drove to the lavender field it felt as if my nerves were eating me alive. For some reason, I was so nervous but also excited to see Drew. He disappeared early in the morning and I assumed it had something to do with work, but now I'm not so sure. Drew was good at surprises so I did not know what he had in store for me. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel as I pulled up to the woods surrounding the field.
I locked my car and walked up to the tall oak trees. I laid my one hand against one of the oak trees and took a deep breath, for what I didn't know. Nerves maybe?
I took another deep breath and started walking to the field. The field was in the middle of the woods. After a few minutes, I could see the field in the distance. I hurried my steps slightly. Drew was waiting for me as I stepped into the field of lavender flowers. He smiled at me. "You made it."
"All thanks to my beautiful mind." I joked. Drew chuckled and I stepped closer to him. He eyed me from top to bottom, taking me in. "I see you are wearing the dress I laid out for you."
I played with the fabric of my mini white dress. It was a gorgeous white dress that ended just above my knees. "I assumed you put it there for a reason." I smirked. "That I did." Drew said as he kneeled down and pulled out a small box.
My eyes widened. "Drew, what are you-"
Drew smiled. "Eloise, we've known each other for a while now and I've known since that night at my family's cabin that I never want to live a single day without you. You mean so much to me Eloise and I hope you know that I love you so much. I love you so much that I want to live the rest of my life with you. I hope you want to spend the rest of your life with me as well because I can't imagine a better life without you in it. So I'm asking you this and I'm praying to God that you won't say no. Eloise Somerset, will you marry me?"
Tears streamed down my face as I nodded. "Yes, yes, yes!" I held my hand out for Drew to put the ring on. As soon as the ring was on my finger I jumped into Drew's arms and kissed him senseless. Drew kissed me back eagerly. I pulled away and smiled. Drew had a full-on grin on his face. "I love you." He said as he rested his forehead against mine. "I love you too, more than anything." I kissed him again just to show him how much I loved him. We didn't always need words to express our feelings for each other and I loved that.
"Not that I wouldn't like to keep doing this for the rest of the day, but I'm afraid we're late for dinner." Drew said pulled back slightly and took my hand in his. I frowned. "Dinner?"
"My family made me promise that we'd join them for dinner to celebrate our engagement." Drew chuckled. I laughed. Gosh, that was so like them. "Well, that explains why Nash was acting so suspicious. I think he was carrying our engagement present when I caught him running down the stairs."
Drew snorted. "Sounds like Nash." We walked back to my car hand in hand. When we reached my car I turned to look at Drew. "Wait your car is not here so how did you get here?"
Drew shook his head and smiled. "Blake dropped me off earlier." My brows rose. "So basically everyone was in on it."
"Yes, Lexi had a hard time keeping this quiet."
Everything that happened these last few weeks suddenly clicked. "That explains why she has been avoiding me at work this whole week. I thought it was because of Easton, but this makes more sense."
"It was hard keeping it quiet, but it was all worth it for that glowing smile on your face when I proposed." I blushed at his words.
My stomach unexpectedly growled. "O my gosh." I put my hands over my blood-red face in embarrassment. Drew lifted my hands away from my face and held my chin. "You never have to be shy around me, Eloise." I smiled shyly and nodded. "Now, let's go get my stunning fiancé some food." Drew said with a cheeky smile.
I couldn't stop admiring the delicate ring Drew got me as we drove to his parents' inn. It was a small silver ring with purple amethyst in the centre with small diamonds around it. It was the most perfect thing I've ever seen. I grinned up at Drew as we pulled to a stop at his parent's inn.
As soon as we entered the inn I was engulfed in a hug. I'd recognize these dark brown locks of hair anywhere. "I'm so happy for you! You don't know how hard it was to keep this from you." Lexi squealed in excitement. "I bet." I laughed as I pulled away. Lexi was grinning from ear to ear. It made me happy to see a smile on her face.
The rest of the Owens stood in the dining room as well and all took turns congratulating Drew and me.
I smiled at all the lovely faces in the room. I couldn't have asked for a better family than the Owens. They have always been there for me and my mother and I wouldn't forget it.
I smiled at the thought that this was my family now. Not the one I was born with, but the one that found me and was my anchor during all the ups and downs. Family wasn't always blood and I couldn't be more grateful for that.
I found myself in this town, with these people. The Owens gave me a piece of myself back. Thanks to them I get to live my life with an amazing soon-to-be husband and I couldn't wait to see what life has in store for us.
The end.