Hope

Chapter Twenty

His eyes brightened and he grabbed my hand, "Close your eyes, babe. I want you to get the full affect all at once." I closed my eyes and he led me out of the room and down the hall to the living room. He sat me down on the couch, "Alright, you can open your eyes."

As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw dozens of red roses crowding every open surface in the living room and Danny was kneeling in front of me. I started to get nervous at what he was doing. This was a moment that I had dreamed about ever since I was a little kid. It wasn't exactly what I had dreamed of, but it was better because of the fact that Danny had put so much effort into it, even asking his sister for help. But still, if he was doing what I thought he was doing, it was too soon. I still didn't know who I was.

Danny reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Whatever he had grabbed, he closed his fist around it and took a deep breath. Voice shaking, he said, "I love you so much, Rose."

I knew what was going on, but I was desperately trying not to let him know that I knew. Although, he knows I'm not stupid, so I bet he already knew. I placed a hand on his cheek and whispered, "I know you do. You say it every night as I fall asleep." His eyes widened as he realized what I was saying, "And you know what Danny, I love you too. I have for a while now. I really wish that I had told you sooner."

Tears shone in his eyes and his voice was rough, "I had this all planned out, but you're making me lose my train of thought." I smiled an apology, "Let me start over." He cleared his throat, "I love you, my little Rose. You have been the brightest and best part of my life these past few months. I knew for certain that I loved you when you made the lasagna for me, or rather, when you tried to make the lasagna for me." We both laughed, "I'm the happiest I've been in years and it's all because of you."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring, "This was my grandmother's ring. Before she died, she gave this to me and told me that when I found the perfect girl, to give this to her and it would keep us together forever. She and my grandfather were together for over fifty years." He grabbed my left hand and placed the ring on my finger, "Babe, I love you so much. Without you, my life isn't worth anything. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?"

By the time he actually asked me to marry him, tears were streaming down my face. They were both happy and sad tears. Happy, because the man that I loved had asked me to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. Sad, because I couldn't say yes straight out for one main reason, I still didn't know who I was. I couldn't marry him without being able to lay all my baggage to rest.

I must have been taking too long to respond because his fingers tightened around my hand and doubt started to creep into his eyes, "I'm sorry babe, maybe it was too soon to be doing this."

I wiped a tear off his cheek and placed a finger under his chin, lifting it so he was looking at me, "Danny, I love you so much. There is nothing I would like more than to become your wife." He smiled brightly, "But, I have to caveat my yes."

"You have to what? Caveat your yes?" he looked at me like he couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Exactly. My answer is this, I want to marry you and have your babies and stay with you forever. But, until I regain my memories of who I am, I can't in good conscience say yes to you."

Crestfallen, Danny stood up and turned his back to me so I wouldn't see him cry but I could hear it in his voice, "What if you never regain your memory? Are we just going to be stuck in this same place for the rest of our lives?"

Pain blossomed in my heart and I stood, walked over to Danny and wrapped my arms around him from behind. I placed a soft kiss to one of his shoulders, "Danny, I love you, you have to know that. It's just not fair to you to pretend to be something that I'm not."