Help Me God Pick The Right One!!

Submitted into Contest #73 in response to: Write about someone who gets proposed to five times on Christmas Eve.... view prompt

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Christian Christmas Romance

Tomorrow was Christmas Day and she was still shopping for the perfect gift for one special man in her life, her Dad. Since mom passed on two years before from a heart issue, he needed something in his life; he would just go out to buy it. Her parents had always been on the soft side of easy street, so her dad was well off and didn’t have to work one day more in his golden years.  She always chuckled as she watched the look of greed come over hopefully young woman that saw a man with one foot in the grave and then watched as that look of greed turned to confusion and hurt as her dad told them he had the perfect woman in his life and didn’t want to waste time on some bimbo that had thoughts of spending his hard earn money. Sometimes, her dad didn’t know the easy way to say anything to anyone plus mom had always been the jealous type when it came to woman around her man. She was probably up in Heaven watching and ready to throw a lightning rod at poor old dad when he took a wrong step by become involved with someone else.

Susie was only hours from going to her dad’s house for one of the Christmas parties she had to attend tonight to celebrate Jesus’ birthday and the man in the red suit. Coming from a lawyer and an accountant, she never really believes in the man in the red suit, but God was another story since they were devoted Lutheran Nazarene which meant they went each Sunday to Church. Since Church had been cancelled due to the virus restriction, she watched it on YouTube.com which was fine with her especially when the days were getting on the bad side with snow and ice. The cold didn’t really bother her since her parents gave her a fur lined parka to wear on days when the Mother Nature was having fun with the human race and making the weather on the bad side. She would bundle up with scarf, gloves, and a hat plus the coat buttoned up to her chin, she was always super warm. Her heavy’s pants plus the boots that she bought lately made her always feel super warm and dry as a bug in a rug. Anyone that would pass her on the street always saw her brown eyes staring back at them from a face that was covered by a mask that said “Merry Christmas to One And All!”

Grabbing something off the shelf, she paid for it and dashed to her dad’s house to wrap it. She passed several Santa Claus as they rang their bells and begged for money for one charity or another, she was always afraid to give them money since she heard how sometimes all the money doesn’t get to the people in need. How one Santa Claus had taken half the money to spend on his drinking problem and when the parents sat a little girl on his lap, he would pinch their butts until one dad decide to take matters into his own hands and punched him completely out. The police arrested both for different charges and dear old Santa went to prison for indecent charges while dear old dad spent two weeks in jail plus five hundred hours probation time which the whole family served with him telling everyone how proud they were of him. 

At the party, she went into a quiet room to wrap her present for her dad when she discovered she had picked up a training bra that had been on sale. Slapping her forehead, she turned several shades of red as she tried to figure out how she was going to solve this problem and stuffed the bra into the coat that she thought was hers. What was she going to give her dad for Christmas and what was she going to do with that training bra? She was way past that time in her life to wear a training bra and she asked God to help her with this situation plus anything else that would happen this evening. 

As she sat on the bed, wondering how she was going to get out of this situation, Mike came strolling into the bedroom where she was. Mike was a decent man that had rovering eyes that always seemed to be everywhere else except where they needed to be which was on her when he was speaking to her. He cleared his throat and whispered “Sue, I need to talk to you in private. I have something to ask you. As you know, we have been dating off and on for two years now and I think we are ready for the next step in our relationship.”

Her mouth was hanging open as she said “Next Step. Our relationship! What are you talking about?” Sitting on the bed, she watched as he got down on one knee to softly say, “I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”  Before she could answer, her dad came into the room to announce that it was time to open presents and she practically knocked her father over to get out of answering the question with a resounding “NO!”   As she sat there wondering how she was going to be nice to Mike and not hurt his feeling plus wondering how she was going to tell her dad that she got a training bra for a present. Her dad was going to laugh at her for years and probably put the training bra on display for everyone to see.

Mike was staring at her from across the room and she knew that she had to say something to him before she left for her next party with friends. “Why is Mike staring at you?” glancing over to see Stuart sitting beside her with a big smile on his lips and a hopefully look in his blue eyes. Stuart was more of the type that she would marry than Mike was because he had a nice job, nice personality, handsome looks, and a nice car. What most women would like about Stuart is the nice checking and saving accounts he had in the same bank she used. One day, he dropped his deposit slip and she picked it up to see the amount that was in his accounts which made her eyes bugged out as she “983.00 for a checking account”. I guess at the age of 30 and living with your parents, there was nothing to spend his money on.

As the afternoon wore on, she had explained to her dad that his present was still coming and he said that was fine with him. That had gone better than she thought it would because her dad loved to put her on the spot sometimes and she had it all planned that if he put on the spot, she was going to hand him the training bra and tell him that was his present. Two could play that game, as she looked around the room, she noticed that Mike was coming her way to continue their conservation from before and she turned to go in the opposite direction when she crashed full force into Stuart who was holding a full plate of food. “Did I do something to get you angry with me?”

Going to the restroom with Stuart gave her the opportunity to lose Mike in the rush to get the stain off Stuart’s shirt before it sit. Laughing as they scrub his shirt while he stood there bare chested, the situation took a serious side when Stuart said, “I like this. Women that know how to take care of my mistakes, I know will you marry me?” Pausing as he watched the horror cross her face before he continued by saying, “Wait. I was just joking; you know a little humor to take the tension out of the situation. Please don’t scream or cry. I don’t what I would do. I like you, but as a cousin and friend. Are you ok? You aren’t going to scream or cry or accept, are you? My mother always said I have the wrong timing for everything.”

Stuart was standing in front of her watching the color drain out of her face and go back to normal as she listened to what he was saying. “You were joking?” Pausing to watch him nod in a positive way before continued by saying, “Thank God! No, wait let me explain. Mike has already asked me to marry him today and my dad came in to the bedroom saying it was present time. I don’t know how to tell him I don’t want to marry him because he never keeps his eyes on just one lady at a time. I would be foolish to marry him.” He nodded in the direction of the door where Mike stood listening to the conversation and back to Sue who wasn’t too sure what to do.

“I think you two need to talk and I will guard the door.” Pushing Mike into the room and slamming the door behind him, he stood there while a hushed conservation went on behind him. It was quiet for a while before a soft knock came on the door behind him and he let it be open to a twosome that was smiling. “Everything fine with you two?” He watched as Sue nodded in agreement and Mike said, “Yes, Sue explained that she wanted to be friends instead of husband and wife.” He slowly went out of the room and re-joined the party going on. “Here I will get you a shirt from my dad’s closet and put yours through the washer and dryer.”

As the party was breaking up and Sue was helping to pass coats out, she handed Mark and Paula, his coat while congratulations them on the marriage. She was embarrassed as the training bra fall out of his coat. She quickly picked it up and stammered, “I can explain. Please give me a chance to explain it.”

Her dad walked up beside her and said, “Before Paula kills Mark, I think you better.”  They all stood in a circle facing her and waited for her to continue which she did by saying, “Actually, it is for dad. You see I went Christmas shopping before I came because I have been looking for the perfect present for him, the time came to go and I just grabbed something which was a training bra. Here Dad. Sorry Mark and Paula, I thought I stuffed it in my coat pocket, but it was Mark’s. Today has not been my day with 2 proposals and I decided not to accept either. Are you guys mad at me?” Paula hugged Sue and said, “No, its blackmail materials on Mr. Perfect. Thanks!” 

“A training bra is something I wouldn’t buy for myself, but thanks I don’t need one. You can have it.” Sue explained that she would help for a while before heading out to her next party she had to go to. Her dad insisted that they get together soon, so he could hear about the two proposals and for her to head to the next party. The mess would give him something to do tonight instead of plopping down in front of the television to watch some boring show that is farfetched from reality. He kissed his daughter good bye and lightly shoved her on the way to the next party she had to go to.

Sue arrived at the next party just as a couple was getting greeted by the host and she gave them both a hug before continuing on into the party which was full of Christmas food, Christmas music was blaring from the corner speakers, and lots of laughter.  Joe walked up to her and greeted her with a big smile before saying, “I hear you have had two proposals today. “ He watched her face get a confused look before she said, “Where are Mark and Paula?” Laughingly, he pointed over to the corner before he continued by saying, “Well, here is number three just to keep it going. My pregnant wife will probably kill us both, but will you marry me?” 

A surprised look came over her face as Sue pulled Joe into a hug saying, “You are going to be a dad. Where is Lisa? I want to hug her too.” She spotted Mark waving at her and beside him was Lisa, they were all laughing at a private training bra joke and they went over to join the group.  Sue pushed Joe out of the way and gave Lisa a hug told her that she was going to a great mother. Joe said, “Someone owes me five dollars because she didn’t reaction to me asking her to marry me.” They stood in the small group most of the night making sure that Lisa was feeling fine until she complained that they were suffocating her and they needed to mingle with other people. Sue gave her one final kiss before she continued to move around the room wondering about the three proposals that she had received in one day. One that was meant to be proposal of marriage, one that was meant to release the stain of the other, and one was meant as a joke. Would she ever get any that she was accept and would they be serious?

As she looked around the room, she noticed that there was one man in the room that she didn’t know and all the women were crowded around to get his attention. He was very handsome with blond hair, blue eyes, a straight nose, and the most kissable lips that any woman had ever had the pleasure of being kissed by.   His arms looked strong enough to hold her tightly against his body while they were drowning in a deep passionate kiss. “Stop drooling about him. His name is Tyler James Michael and he is our new neighbor. We invited our neighbors, so they wouldn’t complain about the noise and fun. Actually, our neighbors are cool and wouldn’t have complained in the first place.” 

As the night wore on, everyone was teasing her about getting “Joke” proposal and the count was up to twelve now, the latest had been an old boyfriend that was here with his new finance. He was another jerk that she had found something wrong with him and now, he had scored high by asking a wealthy lady to marry him. She was bragging that he would never have to work again because she earned enough for both of them to live comfortably on her wages. Sue was happy for the both of them and wondered how long it would take before she got tired of his lazy ways. He would try to get the most of her riches before she sent him packing. The room was getting warm and all Sue wanted to do was find a cozy bed to sleep in.

Standing out on the balcony, Sue was letting the cool breeze wash over her face when she heard the balcony doors sliding open and shut. She knew her private little break from the party was going to be interrupted. Turning slightly to see the stranger coming out to stand by her, they glanced in each other’s eyes as a soft music slowly crept its way out to sit the background into a romantically scene between them. His hand went below her chin to lift it up slightly as his lips went down to meet hers with a soft kiss. They stood there in the moonlight feeling the sexual tension that was growing between the two of them.  He smiled and said, “My name is Tyler and you are the most beautiful lady at this party. I am trying to just get some cool air and leave those other ladies behind at the party. I heard about your joke proposed and want to put mine on the list. Will you marry me? This one is a joke, but one day I will proposal for real. You have stolen my heart forever.” He smiled and Sue was lost to temptation of trying to fight him off.

She softly replied, “I have lost count of how many proposals I have got today, so we will say yours is number six. We laughed about it, but one day I might just yes when you pop the question for real.”

December 25, 2020 22:03

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5 comments

Sue Marsh
15:40 Mar 18, 2021

I like your storyline it is well written. Keep on writing. Sue

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Judith Buskohl
19:29 Feb 06, 2021

Thank you Sue and your story was my pleasure to read. Keep up the good work.

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Sue Marsh
20:12 Jan 27, 2021

Judith very good read! Thank you for the complement about my story The Merry Christmas Bird,

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Bonnie Clarkson
03:06 Jan 01, 2021

I liked the idea of the story about everyone coming on board to continue the joke. I appreciate that there was no hint at living together with any of them. Thank You she had standards for who she married. Who is your audience? You had a few rather long sentences. I think it may be appropriate for teens or young adults. My main problem is seeing how the bad Santas moved the plot forward.

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Judith Buskohl
21:31 Jan 05, 2021

Thank you Bonnie for the positive remarks. I try to make God number one in my stories because I think with all going on in the world, we need to remember that God is there for us. Thank you again.

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