Loving Mr. Daniels(82)

His fingers landed on my lips. “You’re rambling.”
I nodded. “I’m nervous.”
He stepped in close, our noses brushing. His fingers combed through my hair and he stared into my eyes. “There was never another woman, Ashlyn. There can never be another woman.” Putter. Putter. Heart. Heart. I watched his eyes smile. “Come inside.”
When I stepped into his apartment, I smiled. It was very much Daniel’s apartment. He had musical instruments in his living room and bookshelves packed to the corners with books.
I wandered over to the bookshelf, laying my fingers against it, feeling the covers of the books. So many Shakespeare plays. So much history.
“I have green tea and chai tea. And this weird boxed tea that one of my students’ Mom gave me for Christmas last year. What can I get you?” he asked, moving to his kitchen.
No words came to mind. Because right between Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing was my novel.
To Find Juliet.
Not just one copy, but two.
“Daniel,” I whispered.
He looked up and walked over to me. “It’s brilliant,” he said, crossing his arms across his body. “I mean, the lead hero could be a bit of an * sometimes, but everything about it is perfect. I loved it.” He cleared his throat and picked up both copies of it. “I loved it so much that I bought two. Just in case something happened to the first copy.”
A tear fell down my cheek and I nodded in understanding. “A double problem?”
He moved in and kissed my tears away. “We need to set up a signing for them.” He moved over to his living room coffee table and tossed everything onto the floor. Grabbing my arm, he led me to sit down on the couch. I giggled as he placed a pen in my hand and walked up to the table as if he were my biggest fan.
Which he might have been.
He placed the first book down on the table. I opened it and gasped. “Daniel…”
Inside the book cover was the promise ring Bentley had given to Gabby. And the book had already been signed. It read the words, “Will you marry me, Ms. Jennings?” signed by Mr. Daniels himself.
The tears fell down my cheeks and I smiled up at him. He nudged me gently. “You have to write your answer and sign your name.”
Of course I wrote the word yes.
And then I autographed it with who I would be for the rest of my life.
Mrs. Daniels.






We love.
~ Romeo’s Quest


Ashlyn went back to school, finishing off the last two years of her college degree. We made it our job to visit each other as often as possible, and when she came back to Edgewood, Wisconsin she moved into my big kid’s apartment. We spent the next year falling more in love, finding out more facts about one another. She kept writing, only growing stronger at her craft and decided she wanted to get a Master’s degree—but she stayed a lot closer to home for that program.
Home.
That’s what we were… We were home.
And today I wasn’t nervous. My hands were just sweaty and the damn bowtie wouldn’t tie. “Breathe, Daniel…” Where the hell was my best man? Wasn’t he the one in charge of the damn bowties that wouldn’t tie? Of course not. Jace wouldn’t know how to do it either.
My hands rubbed against the back of my neck before giving up on the tie and moving to the cuffs on my shirt.
“How are ya doing?”
I looked up to see Henry standing in the doorway, his tuxedo fully put together, his tie perfectly crafted.
There was a slight hesitation when I looked at him, my fingers shaking from some weird feeling—but it wasn’t nerves!
Well, maybe it was nerves.
“This damn bowtie is killing me and Jace is nowhere to be found.”
“Let me,” he said, walking over to me. His began helping me out and I sighed. Now I was extremely nervous. Henry always made me feel that way. “She’s something else, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, she is.”
His hands worked as if he had been a professional bowtie expert in a past life. “If you hurt her, I will kill you and make it look like an accident.”
I laughed out loud until I looked into his scary, stern eyes on me. Swallowing hard, I felt him tightening the bowtie. “Henry,” I coughed.
“Dan.”
“You’re choking me.”
A sly smile found his lips and he loosened the bowtie. He stepped back and nodded toward me before he held out an envelope to me. “Be good to her, son.”
The word son hit my ears and I nodded, taking the letter from him. He turned to walk away and I called after him. When he looked back, I smiled. “Thanks for your help.”
“I just tied a bowtie. No big deal.”
But we both knew he had done so much more than that.
He left me alone with the envelope and I opened it, finding two letters inside. I pulled out the first one and began reading Ashlyn’s words.
Mr. Daniels,
The answer to where I want to be in five years? Simple.
With you.
P.S. I saved a letter from the fire.
Forever Forever,
Ashlyn.
I’d never known it was possible to love someone so much. My hand reached into the envelope and pulled out the second letter, and I pounded my fist against my lips, taking it all in.
To Whom It May Concern,
Hi there. I’m not sure if we have met, but since today is the day you’re marrying my sister, I thought I would say hello. Since I can’t stand up in front of everyone to give my maid 0f honor speech, I’ll give it to you.
When Ashlyn and I were seven, she found a spider in our room, and instead of smashing it, she wanted to take it outside so it could live a nice spider life. It later crawled on her and she killed it by mistake. She cried for three days straight.