Away From the Spotlight (49 page)

“Can u w8 til tomorrow?  I promise u’ll get
2
do.”

“I better.”

“Trust me.  I can’t w8 either.  C u tomorrow. 
ILY
.”

“
ILY
2.”

On our final day, Pam and I visited the historic fishing village of Volendam, feeling like we’d stepped back in time several hundred years.  We did silly things like have our picture taken in traditional Dutch
c
ostumes.  I was not planning on showing th
at
photo to Will.  It would remain well-
hidden in a scrapbook.

Before we knew it, we were scrambling to get our bags in Amsterdam and get to the airport to meet our plane for London.

As
Pam and I
exited
the plane
at Gatwick
, it seemed like it had been weeks since I had seen Will instead of the
ten
days
it had actual
ly been.
I was anxious about what I had to look forward to in my few remaining days in London.  I didn't know what to expect.  Will always managed to go overboard for me and, as this was a very important moment in our live
s, I wondered what he would do.

Once I saw Will there waiting for me at the back of the crowd, all my thoughts and anxiousness disappeared.  All I could see was him.  He had a huge smile and open arms waiting for me as I walked as quickly as I could with my bags to
ward
him.  He kissed me like we hadn't seen each other for ages.  When he finally let go, he gave Pam a kiss on the cheek
in greeting
.

As we drove Pam to
Jane
's
place
,
which was
not
all
that far from
Gatwick
,
Will was smiling the entire way
,
lost in thought.

Finally, he spoke.  "Pam,
will
you and
Jane
keep Friday evening open
?
  I have somewhere for you to be.  I'll
ring
you later with the details."

I interrupted, "What are we doing?"

"You'll have to wait and see."

He looked back at Pam.  "
Will
you?"

"Of course."  She smiled like she had a pretty good idea what it was about.

Actually, I did too.  It ha
d
something to do with our engagement
,
and
I was dying to know what we were doing and when.  I was a planner and never really good with surprises, especially when they were this important.
Unfortunately, d
uring th
e trip from
Jane
’s place to Will’s flat
,
I was unable to pry any fu
rther information out of Will.

When w
e
arrived in
Hampstead
that evening
,
there were no paparazzi.  They must have realized that I had gone.

Will and I
had the opportunity to be alone and took advantage of it as we always did.

"It's nice to have you home with me again," Will said as
he
led me into the bedroom,
pulled
us both down
onto the bed,
and
cuddled into me.

"I missed you.  I'm excited to be back
in more ways than one."

"So then, what do you want to do?"

"What do
you
think?" I made my thinking
crystal
clear to him.

"I think that's a
n excellent
idea."

As we lay together afterward, I started to think again about what the week had in store for us.

"So what's on the agenda for us this week?"

"You
’re going to
have to wait and see."  He kissed me.

"You're not going to tell me anything?"

"No."

"Can you at least tell me what we're doing to
night
?"

"We're doing what we're doing to
night
."

"Oh."

"Don't sound so disappointed."

"I'm not.  This is my favorite thing to do with you."

"Mine too
, b
ut you're not happy."

"I am."

"You don't sound it.  What's wrong
?
"

"Well, we kind of have this thing sort of hanging out there."

"
This thing
.  You mean that question I haven't asked you yet
?
"

"Yes."  I looked down nervously.

"Don't worry.  I haven't forgotten.  I'm just not quite ready yet.  I promise that when I am, you'll be the first to know."

"Does th
at
mean we're waiting until we get back to L.A.?"
  I must have sounded disappointed.

"No."

I relaxed a little. 
"Okay."  I perked up.  "I'm sorry.  I'm not trying to ruin your surprise.  I'm just anxious that's all."

"So am I."

We rolled over and continued with th
e
evening
's planned activity.

The next morning, I dug through my bags and gave Will the souvenirs I had bought for him.  Of course, they were nowhere near as nice as the things he
had
bought for me, but he was appreciative, n
ever
having received gifts from me before.  I gave him a Murano glass picture frame
from Venice
to be used for one of the pictures of us from this trip
, an
intricate beer stein I had bought for him in Munich that I figured would look nice on one of his bookshelves in the living room of the flat
, and
an intricately carved small scale model of a Viking Ship
from Oslo
also for his bookshelves.

"What is it with you and boats?" he
joked
as I gave it to him.

I ignored his little joke and went on,
"The last thing is a present for you, but I'm the one who has to use it.  I'll be right back.
”

I
scurried
into the bathroom and changed into
the
black
French
lingerie
from Paris
that did
n
’
t leave much to the imagination, having opaque fabric only where it wasn't needed.  I returned to the bedroom and
Will’s
eyes went wide.

"I think I like this present best
,
”
he said as he grinned like a kid in a candy shop.

I managed to keep
Will’s present
on for a
little
while
anyway
since
it was missing fabric
in
certain
important places.

We finally got
up and got
going
a little while later
a
fter
Will told me we had somewhere
to be
. 
I realized,
when he told me
we would be taking my suitcase, today m
ight
be the day.

We drove west out of London beyond Heathrow to the Berkshire countryside and arrived at a private Tudor-style cottage on the estate of a large manor house hotel.
  I was a little shocked to find that we had a
B
utler waiting to attend to us
- a
s if this wasn’t way out of my league already.

As we ate the lunch that was waiting for us when we arrived, I asked, “How long are we here?”

“Until Saturday.  I’m taking you to the
All Castles are Grey
wrap party on Saturday night in London so we have until then.”

“It’s beautiful here.  You went overboard as usual.”

“I only promised that we would be alone.  And we will be for a while.”

“What do you mean we’ll be alone
‘
for a while
’
?  What have you got up your sleeve?”

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

After lunch,
Will and I
took
a cruise on one of the vintage launches moored near the cottage. 
The day was
somewhat
grey, but the weather was fairly warm.

I
noticed
then that
the cottage was
situated
near
the Thames River.  I was nervous
thinking
that this m
ight
be
time for the proposal
.  When we
boarded
the launch
,
I realized that, with the skipper there, we would have no privacy and
that
this
could
n
’
t
be
the time
. 
I relaxed.

“Not as private as our last cruise on the Thames, but I thought you’d like it.  I know how you like boats.”
  Will winked.

I rolled my eyes. 
“I told you.  It’s not the boats per se.  It’s being
with
you
on them
.  You have no idea how much I wanted you there in Venice and Stockholm.  I’m glad that I finally get to be on one with you again.”

Will
placed
his arm around me.  He turned to kiss me and continued to do so on and off
while
the skipper of the launch was facing away from us, piloting us west through breathtaking views of the estate and
beyond
the bridges at Maidenhead. 
The skipper
provided
a running commentary as we passed by the sights. 
We went about an hour
down
stream before turning back toward our cottage.

The
B
utler wasn’t there when we returned to the cottage
. 
I was glad that we had our privacy
since
I was a little revved up
from
all the kissing on the launch.  So, apparently, was Will.

“We’re alone,” I commented as we entered the cottage.

“Yes.  I made sure of it.  I remember how boats turn you on.”

“I told you
.
. .
”

“Just kiss me, will you?”

A long while later,
Will
looked over
at
the clock
and
told me it was time to dress for dinner.  I realized that I was going to have to wear the same dress I wore
for my birthday lunch
.  At least it was evening this time.  As I started to get dressed, Will stopped me.

“I have something for you.  Wait.”

He pulled a garment
bag
and some shoes out of his hanging bag.

“What did you
do
?” I asked as he
handed
the garment bag to me.

“I did nothing.  I asked my sister
,
Emma
,
to
ring
your sister
and
find out what you liked. 
Emma
did the shopping for me.”

“What did she tell
Kelly
?”

“Not a lot.  Just that we were going somewhere special and I wanted to surprise you.  I figured you would want to be the one to break the news
,
a
lthough Emma tells me that
Kelly
was suspicious.”

“Hmm.”
 
Leave it to
Kelly
to be nosy.

I
pulled
the dress out of the bag.  It was a
gorgeous
midnight
blue cocktail dress and had
a designer label.  It was form-
fitting at the top and
billowed out a little from under the bust.  It was also fairly short.  I was really hoping it would fit.  The shoes had high heels, were strappy
,
and
were
designer as well and there was a matching evening purse
to go along
with them.