Say Yes

Everything had been planned down to the last detail, but even so, he felt his nerves starting to get the best of him.  Louise wouldn’t say no, right?

He had gotten her favorite flowers and arranged them in a vase, but also purchased a bouquet for her as well. Sunflowers, because they represented the first summer they spent together as they began to fall in love.  The bright yellow leaves framing the bounty of seeds in the middle circling around and around like eternity.

The mood was further set with music playing in the background: Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” because she loved the song and who knows how many times they had danced to it by now.  He closed his eyes and pictured his head resting on top of her silky brown hair and swore he could smell the fragrance of her shampoo.

He had gone back and forth about the food.  Should he make a picnic lunch and take her on a hike before proposing?  No, too much left to chance with the weather, the location, the privacy.  Louise would suspect something, anyway.  Better to do it here, where nothing could be left to chance.  And if for some reason she said no, he wouldn’t be in the middle of nowhere trying to pull himself together.  A life without her was unimaginable and he could only imagine falling to pieces without her in his life.

They were a perfect match for each other yet he couldn’t squash this little voice in his head that told him that this was a bad idea.  He had a small pit in his stomach, but couldn’t quite place what was eating away at him.  It was normal to get the jitters before proposing, right?

He was well aware that her father did not completely approve of him, but Louise had assured him that it didn’t matter to her.  Her father would come around, she promised.  Once he understood how perfect they were for each other, she said.  He believed her, but even he doubted everyday that he was good enough for her.  She was an angel and he would spend the rest of his life trying to make himself worthy of being her husband.

A brief glance at the clock told him she would be arriving in a few minutes.  She was always on time, never kept him waiting.  He looked around the room and was comforted by the flowers in the vase, the bouquet ready to be handed to her, the modest ring that almost looked like it was from a gumball machine tied onto the strings of the flowers.  He heard the soft refrains of “da da dee da da” playing low.  The music seemed off just a bit, but he couldn’t place what was wrong with it.  It sounded almost too clear?  He breathed in with delight the smell of chicken Parmesan and tried to get his hands to stop shaking. The suspense was the worst, but either way, it would be over soon.

Then, he heard a small bump and the sound of a cabinet closing that piqued his curiosity.  Was Louise already here?  Had she somehow gotten past him and ruined the whole surprise?  Now he noticed his hand shaking even harder.  He walked toward the kitchen but was deterred when he heard a knock on the door.  She was here.

With tremendous relief, he grabbed the bouquet of flowers and swung open the door to greet his future wife.  “Hello beautiful!” he cried out as he faced the young woman standing on the other side of the door.  But his smile faltered and his eyebrows squinted together as his head leaned to the side.  The bouquet fell limply against his right leg as he processed the face looking at him curiously from the hallway.  Did Louise have a sister?  This gorgeous woman looking at him with sympathy looked so much like her, but at the same time, he could not figure out who she was.

“Are those flowers for me?” she asked as she walked through the door before he had regained his composure.  

“Um,” he managed to get out as he panicked thinking about Louise would think when she got here and her lookalike was sitting on his couch perfectly at ease.

Another sound from the kitchen drew his attention, but the girl on the couch bounded up easily and sashayed her way over exclaiming, “It smells great in here!” He heard an appreciative chuckle in response and for the first time began to question his sanity.  It appeared as if there were now two unknown people in his kitchen.  All his planning would be for nothing if Louise arrived now.  How could he explain this to her? He couldn’t understand it himself.  This needed to end, and now.  What was happening?

He made his way to the kitchen, fighting the shaking in his hands even more.  As he passed the hallway, he caught a glimpse in the mirror and was horrified by what he saw.  Instead of two unknown people in his apartment, there were three.  He turned his head behind him to confront the strange man he saw in the mirror but instead lost time.

When he awoke, an indiscernible time later on the couch, the Louise lookalike was kneeling next to him on the floor with her hand on his forehead.

“He’s back,” she called out to someone, likely the man from the mirror.  Was he in danger?  Were they robbing him, had they knocked him out?  What were they going to do to him now?

“Who are you?  What do you want from me?” he demanded.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s okay.  Settle down,” the woman murmured, making him feel like a child, and definitely not settling him down.

Another knock at the door.  No!  Not Louise, not now.  It wasn’t safe, she shouldn’t walk into this mess. The young girl stood and walked to the door.  He tried to move his head to see the door as he heard the handle turn and a new person walk through.  What was happening?  All of these strangers needed to leave!  He tried to jump up and off the couch but felt so heavy and tired.  What had that young woman done to him?

Suddenly she was on her knees in front of him holding out a glass of water and a white pill.  A cuff was being placed around his arm and fastened with Velcro as another stranger said something about taking his vitals.  He locked eyes with the young woman who looked so much like his Louise as she said, “Take this please, Grandpa.  Oh, and happy anniversary.”