DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN (41 page)

Daniel and Val were leaning against Daniel’s
Jaguar when Nikki came out of that building.
 
Daniel was wearing shades and was casually dressed for a change, in
jeans and a polo shirt.
 
Val wore a
warm-up suit.
 
It was a nice, sunshiny
day.
 
One of the few in Nikki’s recent
memory.
 
And they were all upbeat.

Especially Nikki, who ran across the street
as if she didn’t realize they were waiting on her, and she jumped into Daniel’s
arms.
 
Daniel’s shades nearly flew from
his face as he was forced to twirl Nikki around.
 
Val shook his head.

“Just kill the man, Nikki.
 
Just give him a coronary right here, right
now.”

But Nikki felt happy, and free.
 
“I’ll give you one, how about that?” she said
with a laugh.

When Daniel placed her back on her two feet,
he paused, and then right there, on Saint Germaine Parkway, with the Gazette in
their foreground and a salvage yard at their back, he pulled out a ring.

Val and Nikki both thought they were going to
have coronaries when they saw that box come out of Daniel’s pocket.
 
Val, his mouth gaped open, looked at
Nikki.
 

Nikki, however, was staring at Daniel.

Daniel opened his ring box, revealing a
diamond so big and brilliant that Val had to hold onto his heart.
  

“Nikki?” Daniel asked.

Nikki’s bright brown eyes were so filled with
so many emotions, from shock, to elation, to just being touched by his gesture
alone, that they looked as if they’d been dabbed with gold.
 
“Yes?” she responded.

Daniel had to fight back tears.
 
“Will you marry me, Nikki?” he asked
her.
 
“Will you trust this old man with
your heart, and marry me?”

Nikki felt as if she was living a dream.
 
It felt like a dream.
 
A dream that she wasn’t about to let go.
 
“Yes,” she said as tears began to fill her
eyes.

Daniel literally sighed relief, put the ring
on her small finger, and then he looked up at her again.
 
“And now Nikki?” he asked again.

She looked from the ring, to him.
 
“Yes?” she asked, great anticipation in her
voice.

“Will you help me up?” he asked jokingly.

Nikki and Val both laughed.
 
And Nikki didn’t just help him up, she got
down there with him.
 

“Just kill the man, Nikki,” Val was saying
again, as Nikki fell, like the carefree wildcat Daniel loved, into his big,
warm, protective arms.