Sharing the News

When I woke up in the morning, my first thought was, "Where the hell am I?"  My second thought, once the events of the night before came rushing back to me, was, "Holy shit, I have a fiancé."  My early morning thoughts are not classy.

I laid still, not wanting to ruin my own early morning enjoyment of knowing that the man that was sleeping pressed against me was now my fiancé.  I could feel Brody's chest rising and falling as he breathed deeply and evenly.  When he shifted in his sleep, I lightly stroked his forearm, which was draped across my stomach.  His arm immediately tightened around me and he pressed his face into my hair before brushing it out of the way and kissing my shoulder.

"Good morning, fiancée," he mumbled sleepily, his lips moving against my skin.

I laughed softly.  "Good morning," I replied.

He yawned, then he asked, "Yesterday really happened, right?"

"You tell me, you're the one that did it," I teased him.

"I was nervous you'd say no," he confessed.

I wiggled out of his grip and rolled over to face him.  I frowned and said, "Really?"

He laughed.  "Yes, really.  Liv, 3 months ago you ran out of my house and crashed your car because I suggested you move in with me."  Oh, right.  "Things have all changed really fast and I was worried that maybe we weren't where I thought we were after all.  I'm honestly not sure what changed so quickly. Not that I'm not happy about it, of course," he added hastily.

I shrugged, which is a difficult thing to do when you're laying on your side.  "I'm not entirely sure either," I admitted.  "My feelings about everything really started to change when everything with your dad happened.  I mean, not my feelings about you, because even that day that I freaked out about moving in, I still knew I wanted to marry you....someday.  But I guess something about everything that happened helped my anxiety about the situation go away.  And helped me realize I was probably a lot more ready than I rationally thought I should be.  So I stopped trying to logic my way out of it."  I finished with another half shrug.

He pushed a piece of hair out of my face and smiled when it immediately fell back in front of my eyes.  He pushed it back again, tucking it carefully behind my ear.  "Well I'm glad you put your logic away, then," he said.  He kissed me, then rolled onto his back, pulling me towards him.  I settled in next to him with my head on his chest and we laid there until we had to get up to check out.

Once we were in the car on the way back, much less tired than we had been last night, he said, "What's the plan for telling people?"

"We're having dinner with your mom tonight, right?" I asked.  He nodded.  "So we can obviously tell her then.  We can call my parents.  Should we call your sister before dinner?  It'll be late there by the time we're done."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to hold off on telling people for a little bit so we can tell your parents in person?"

I shook my head.  "No, we can call them.  I'd rather tell them over the phone than in person.  My mom doesn't do surprises well.  I mean, I'm assuming they don't know...?"

"They don't," he confirmed.  "I thought about calling them, but then I realized that asking your dad's permission or blessing is probably something you actually wouldn't be a fan of, so I decided not to."

I smiled.  "Well, now I can definitely marry you.  You know me well.  I suppose you also planned this trip to Wisconsin to coincide with this whole proposal thing, huh?"

He chuckled.  "Busted," he said.  "I miscounted your Fridays off though, and I didn't think we'd have an entire two weeks to wait.  So I really am okay with it if you want to wait."

"Seriously, I'd prefer to tell them on the phone.  You'll see."  He shrugged.  I tilted my hand so the diamond in the ring caught the sunlight shining through the window.  I grinned and wiggled my finger, watching the pretty stone sparkle.  "I feel like an idiot, and I don't even care," I said, experimentally turning my hand and watching the dozens of tiny reflections glint along the ceiling of the car.  Brody glanced at me briefly and laughed.

I amused myself with admiring my ring most of the rest of the way home.  Once we got home, put away the stuff from yesterday's outing, and settled in a little, we called my parents.  My mom answered and I asked her to have my dad pick up the other phone.  Once they were both on, I put them on speaker and shared our news.  "Mom, Dad, Brody proposed to me yesterday.  We're engaged!"

"Are you pregnant?" my mom blurted out immediately.  Brody's eyes widened and he looked at the phone like, "what the hell?"  I smirked and gave him my best "told ya so" look.

"Karen!" my dad exclaimed.

"What?  It's a legitimate question," my mom retorted.

"No, Mom, I'm not pregnant," I said patiently.

"Well, then I don't understand why you're engaged already.  We've only known about him since December.  He seems really great, but you don't need to rush.  Have you set a date?  Will you be getting married back home?  You should have a long engagement, so you can make sure this is what you want.  Are you happy?  This isn't about money, is it?  Do you need some money?"

"Karen!" my dad said again.  "The poor girl has been engaged for less than 24 hours, ease up on her.  Sweetie, we're really happy for you.  Congratulations!  Is Brody there?"

"I'm here," he said, and I pressed my lips together to hold back a giggle, imagining my mom's horrified facial expression as she realized that he probably heard everything she had just said.

"Congratulations," my dad said, this time directing it to Brody.  "We're just a little surprised, and I apologize for my wife's, um, lack of tact."

"It's no problem," Brody replied smoothly.  "I understand that this seems really fast, and a little surprising, but I promise you that there is nothing I care about more than your daughter's happiness."  I rolled my eyes, he was really laying it on thick.  He frowned and mouthed, "It's true!"

"Of course," my mom said, seeming to have finally gathered her wits.  "I'm so sorry, I say ridiculous things when I'm caught off guard.  We're thrilled!  Oh!  And we'll get to celebrate with you when you come home, that's great!"  I snorted.  Brody was apparently a master parent manipulator.  He gave me a smug grin and I just shook my head.  I talked to my parents for a couple more minutes and then told them we had some more phone calls to make and I'd call them tomorrow.

"See?" I said to Brody once we'd hung up.  "She needs some time to process stuff like that.  I hope she didn't upset you.  I promise it would have been worse in person."

"It takes more than a surprised mother to hurt my feelings," Brody assured me.  We decided we'd call his sister, then we'd wait and tell our friends in person.  I was bummed I wouldn't get to tell Lynn in person, but the news wouldn't hold until I made it home.  I'd call her after I'd told Lauren.

"What about your brother?" I asked tentatively, as Brody was scrolling through his contacts to find Jen.

"I'll call him tomorrow," Brody said dismissively.  "It will probably go even better than telling your mom.  Ready to call Jen?"  I nodded, cringing as I remembered the way Ken had talked to me at Thanksgiving.  He put his phone on speaker mid-ring, and it rang 3 times, then 4.  "Of all the times to not--"

"My favorite brother!" came Jen's voice, finally.

"And his new fiancée," Brody answered.

"What?" Jen said, confused.  "Wait, what?!"  Then she shrieked, and her words became completely unintelligible.  "Oh my god," she was saying, as she calmed down again.  "Liv?"

"Hi," I answered, feeling a little shy.  Her reaction was so opposite from my mom's.

"Is he kidding?" she asked.

"No," I replied.  "He proposed yesterday."

She shrieked again, then said, "Congrats!  Tell me everything!  How'd he do it?  He didn't cheap out on the ring, did he?  He better not have, I will kill him!  I'm so excited, oh my god!"

I laughed and now it was Brody's turn to roll his eyes.  I told her the condensed version of how he'd proposed then said, "He definitely didn't cheap out on the ring, it's amazing.  And thank you, I'm so happy that you're so excited about this."

"Liv, you have to send me a picture of the ring," she said excitedly.  "Do you still have my number?"
I started to say no, then remembered that she had given it to me in Miami.  "I think so," I replied, scrolling through my phone.  I found it and confirmed that I had it.  "I'll try to get a good picture of it for you."

"Meanwhile, everyone's forgotten about me," Brody said.

"Shhhh, I'm trying to talk to your fiancée," Jen said.  "We told you, we like her better than you."

"I don't blame you, to be honest," he replied.

Jen laughed.  "Seriously, Brody, congratulations.  I'm so excited for you guys!  Have you told mom yet?"

"Not yet. We're having dinner with her tonight, so we'll get to tell her in person."

"She's going to be over the moon," Jen assured us.

I was still nervous as we drove into town to meet Brody's mom at the restaurant she'd chosen.  "Are you okay?" Brody asked, looking over at me.

I nodded, even though his eyes were already back on the road.  "Just a little nervous," I admitted.

"I don't know why," he replied, reaching for my hand.  "My mom likes you better than she likes me.  She's going to be really happy."  He squeezed my hand.

Even after Jen's reaction, I still wasn't prepared for Thalia's.  After Brody and I both hugged her hello outside the restaurant, Brody lifted my left hand up, drawing his mom's attention to it.  She looked at my hand for several seconds, then looked up at him, then to me.  Then she looked back down at my hand, and when she looked up again, I could see tears in her eyes.  "We're getting married, Mom," Brody said softly.

Her face split into a wide grin and she hugged Brody first, then me.  When she had her arms wrapped tightly around me, she whispered, "Congratulations sweetheart, my son is so lucky to have you, and I'm so happy that you're going to officially be a part of our family."

"Thank you," I said back quietly.  "I'm pretty lucky too, and I can't wait to be part of your family."  I felt my own tears pricking the backs of my eyes and I squeezed them shut, hoping to avoid ruining my eye makeup.  I felt Brody's hand find my lower back, and it rested there reassuringly.  By the time Thalia had let me go, she was full on crying, and she promptly scolded Brody for making her cry before dinner.

"See?" he said to me.  "You get a 'welcome to the family,' and I get in trouble for making her cry.  You had nothing to worry about."

"You were worried?" Thalia asked me in surprise.

"No," I said, blushing.  "Just a little nervous to tell you, that's all."

She smiled.  "I'm just so happy for you both," she said sincerely.  "Should we eat?"  We nodded and followed her into the restaurant.  Brody slid an arm around my waist and pulled me close to him, kissing me on the cheek as we waited to be seated.

Thalia was clearly excited and every once in awhile she'd said something like, "I'm so happy."  It was a little overwhelming, but I was incredibly touched at how happy she and Jen were for me to be a part of their family.  I wondered briefly how Brody's dad would have responded, and I felt inexplicably sad, even though I knew his response would have been less than favorable.

When Thalia got up to go to the bathroom, Brody squeezed my leg and said, "Hanging in there?  She's a little over the top tonight."

"She's wonderful," I replied.  "I feel so welcomed into your family."  Brody smiled and kissed me on the cheek again.  Then he pulled out his phone and frowned at it.

"Alex wants to know if we want to go out tonight," Brody said.  I made a face and he chuckled.  "I'll take that as a no?  I don't really want to either.  Maybe we can talk them into brunch tomorrow."  I agreed to that plan, and Brody texted back.  Tonight, I just wanted to go home and relax and enjoy my fiancé.