Chapter 17 - A Ticket Bought Without Fear
“This is not where I planned to do this.”
Camille covered her mouth.
Her mother whispered, “Oh my God.”
Max woke.
“What?”
Nobody answered.
Ethan held the ring box but did not open it yet.
Camille stared.
“You were going to propose tonight?”
“At the hotel.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
“You had a plan.”
“Obviously.”
Despite the emotion, she laughed.
Ethan looked around the hospital waiting area.
“This has almost none of the planned features.”
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“Open the box.”
He did.
Camille’s eyes filled immediately.
The ring was simple.
Oval diamond.
Thin gold band.
Elegant.
Warm.
Exactly her.
Ethan did not kneel yet.
He looked at her.
“There’s something I need to say first.”
Camille laughed through tears.
“You still have a speech?”
“I edited it.”
“Of course you did.”
Solange whispered to Max, “He is perfect for her.”
Camille turned.
“Mom.”
“I said nothing.”
Ethan smiled.
Then became serious.
“When I met you, I thought changing my flight was the first irrational thing I had done in years.”
Camille listened.
“But it wasn’t irrational.”
He looked at her.
“It was the first decision I made because I wanted something before I knew whether it would work.”
Her eyes overflowed.
“You taught me something I should have learned a long time ago.”
He took her hand.
“A good life isn’t the one where nothing surprises you.”
Camille squeezed his fingers.
“It’s the one where you know who you want beside you when it does.”
Then Ethan knelt.
Camille began crying harder.
“Camille Baptiste.”
She laughed.
“That’s Elise’s last name.”
Ethan froze.
Solange gasped.
Camille stared at him.
Then burst into laughter.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Oh no.”
“My last name is Desrosiers.”
“I know.”
“You just called me Camille Baptiste.”
“I met you at the Baptiste wedding.”
“You’ve known me over a year.”
“I’m having a stressful moment.”
Max was laughing uncontrollably.
Solange said, “This is better than television.”
Ethan looked at Camille.
“Can I start over?”
“No.”
She wiped her eyes.
“This version stays forever.”
“Fair.”
He took a breath.
“Camille Desrosiers.”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
She looked at him for exactly two seconds.
“Yes.”
Ethan stood.
Camille wrapped her arms around him.
The room erupted.
Not many people.
Just family.
Enough.
Solange cried.
Max filmed the final ten seconds and immediately sent the video to Elise.
Within two minutes, Camille’s phone began exploding with messages.
At 2:17 a.m., she wore the ring.
At 2:23, André texted from his wedding suite.
HE USED THE WRONG LAST NAME????
Camille showed Ethan.
He groaned.
“How does he already know?”
“My family is an intelligence agency.”
A second message arrived.
Congratulations. Tell Seattle I said legendary performance.
Ethan typed from Camille’s phone:
Go enjoy your marriage.
André replied:
I am. This is also enjoyable.
Camille laughed.
Three months later, Ethan and Camille bought a house in Atlanta.
Not because marriage required it.
Because both wanted it.
Two bathrooms.
Camille won.
The wedding planning began.
Ethan suggested Key Largo.
Camille stared.
“No.”
“Why?”
“We have attended enough emotionally significant Florida weddings.”
“Fair.”
They chose Atlanta.
Small ceremony.
Outdoor garden.
Haitian food.
Korean food.
A Kompa band.
Ethan’s mother cried when they told her.
Solange immediately attempted to take over catering.
Elise appointed herself peace negotiator.
André and Naomi were invited.
Rebecca received an invitation too.
Camille asked before Ethan sent it.
“You want her there?”
“She was important to me.”
Camille smiled.
“Then invite her.”
Rebecca declined because of a hospital commitment, but sent a note.
Congratulations. Please tell Camille she accomplished what modern medicine could not: getting Ethan Park to move voluntarily.
Camille framed it.
The night before the wedding, Ethan could not sleep.
At 1:08 a.m., he found Camille sitting alone on the hotel terrace.
“You’re not supposed to see me.”
“That’s tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
He sat.
Nervous silence.
Camille looked at him.
“Thinking?”
“Yes.”
“About?”
“Everything that can go wrong.”
She smiled.
“Of course.”
“Rain.”
“We have a tent.”
“Band cancellation.”
“Backup playlist.”
“Food poisoning.”
“Ethan.”
“Yes?”
“Stop watching the floor.”
He smiled.
She took his hand.
“I’m scared too.”
“You are?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why?”
“Because forever is a ridiculous concept.”
“Strong wedding-eve statement.”
She laughed.
Then leaned against him.
“But I know something.”
“What?”
“I’m not waiting anymore.”
Ethan kissed her hair.
“Neither am I.”
The following afternoon, thunderstorms appeared in the forecast.
Ethan checked weather radar twelve times.
At the thirteenth, Camille took his phone.
“No.”
“There is a severe cell northwest—”
“No.”
“Camille.”
“Today you dance.”
He smiled.
Then his phone rang in her hand.
Unknown number.
Camille answered playfully.
“Ethan Park’s anxiety management department.”
Her expression changed.
“Who is this?”
Ethan stood.
Camille listened.
Then looked at him.
“It’s the airline.”
“What airline?”
“The one from Key Largo.”
He frowned.
“That flight was a year ago.”
Camille started laughing.
Apparently a system error had generated a travel credit related to the original four-hundred-eighty-seven-dollar change fee.
The amount:
Four hundred and eighty-seven dollars.
Exactly.
Camille stared at Ethan.
He stared back.
Then both began laughing.
May you like
The universe, apparently, had decided to refund the best mistake of his life.
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