𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑳𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 | ✔

Chapter 31

*Jay's POV*

"I would like to buy a ring." It wasn't that hard to guess because I was in a jewelry store and I was unlikely to buy earrings.
"So you're looking for a ring for yourself or more like an engagement ring?" The lady behind the counter asked.
"Engagement ring." Even when Erin asked me if I wanted to marry her, I still wanted to give her a ring.
She gave me a couple of rings to choose from and I opted for a rather simple ring, because normaly she wore not so much flashy jewelry.
"Alright. Here you go." The lady gave me the ring in Erin's size and I took it with me right after paying for it.
Then I drove to a shop that was selling flowers and got a bouquet of red roses.
I drove back home and started preparing the apartment.
Erin would be home in about an hour, so I had to hurry up.
The first thing I did was set up a little path made of candles that led from the door to the table. Then I prepared the table. A short time later came the food that I had ordered because I lacked cooking skills.
When I was done with everything I heard the key in the door.
"Close your eyes for a second." I took her bag from her and then I took her in my arms, gave her a kiss and lit the candles.
"Now you can open your eyes." She opened her eyes and looked at me in shock.
"You did all that?" Her eyes shimmered with tears.
"Yes. I hadn't been able to propose to you so this is the least I can do." She pulled my head down and kissed me.
"You're amazing." I guided her to the table and put the food on the table.
We ate and talked for a while and after we finished I cleaned up the table.
After I did that I took the ring out of my pocket and knelt in front of her.
"I know. We're technically engaged already. But I wanted to do it again.
Erin Lindsay. You are the love of my life and that will never change. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If this job is going to kill me and I don't say goodbye to you, be assured that the last thing I thought of was you. Will you accept this ring?" She just nodded and held out her hand to me.
"The ring is so beautiful." Tears ran down her face and I wiped them away.
"Just like you." I leaned forward and kissed her passionately.

*Erin's POV*

The first thing I looked at when I woke up in the morning was my hand because I wanted to make sure that it hadn't just been a dream. Apparently it was real because there was Jay's ring on my finger.
"Morning, handsome." I kissed him awake.
"Morning, beautiful." He stretched and then put his arms around me.
"You won't believe what happened to me last night." I put my head on his bare chest.
"Tell me about it." He ran his finger through my hair.
"Some crazy guy actually gave me a ring and asked me if I wanted to marry him." I turned my head a little so I could kiss him.
"Well. I happen to know this crazy guy and I can tell you he thinks that it was the best decision he has ever made in his life." He looked at me with love and I melted under his gaze.
"Glad that you think so." I put my arms around him too and we stayed like that in bed, because today I didn't need to go to work.
I couldn't believe how my life had changed. From problem child with a drug addict mother to Detective at Intelligence and also engaged to someone like Jay Halstead.
"My life wasn't always sunshine." Jay started talking like he could read my mind because I knew I hadn't spoken out loud.
"My father always wanted Will and I to succeed. In everything we did, he was mad when we didn't get first place in competitions. But I could live with that. That was his way. One day Will had written a bad exam and my father had been drinking, which was why he was particularly pissed off that day. He ran after Will with a vase and I'm pretty sure he wanted to kill him with it. Since I'm the older brother, I of course took care of him and lured my father away from him by dropping a plate on the floor, which of course broke. He hit me and yelled at me, but I took it and didn't cry because I wanted to be strong for Will. In retrospect, I often thought that he just wanted me to cry. That would have given him a certain satisfaction and he would have hit me less." Jay's face was blank, but I knew he was only suppressing his emotions because he didn't want to come across as weak.
"For me it was my mother. I don't know my father and I'm pretty sure that my mother doesn't know either, because, as she has often given me to understand, I was just an accident that she noticed too late. I can't remember a day that she wasn't drunk or high. She was never really a mother to me. Or did not act like one. Whenever my teachers asked me why I had been wearing the same clothes for a week or why I was late again, I always came up with a new excuse to protect my mother. But at some point DCFS came over to us because a teacher had told them that something was wrong with us. Of course, my mother wasn't able to talk to them, so I locked her in her room and mixed sleeping pills into the wine for her beforehand so that they couldn't see how she looked. Since I knew when the people would be coming, I put all her pills and bottles away and tidied up the apartment as well as I could when I was eleven. I told them that unfortunately she was sleeping because she was working two jobs to take care of me. I was good at lying and so they believed me and my life went on as it was. At some point Hank took me out of there and let me live with him. You know the rest of the story." By now I knew I could trust Jay with something like that and he wouldn't run away.
"I'm so sorry for what you been through." He gave me another kiss.
"That's my past. Now i have you and I haven't heard from my mother in a long time and she won't destroy my life any more." I snuggled closer to him and was immensely happy that Jay was in my life.