She walked out of that building without looking back.
Daniel and Val were leaning against Daniel’s Jaguar when Nikki came out of that building. Daniel was wearing shades and was casually dressed for a change, in jeans and a polo shirt. Val wore a warm-up suit. It was a nice, sunshiny day. One of the few in Nikki’s recent memory. And they were all upbeat.
Especially Nikki, who ran across the street as if she didn’t realize they were waiting on her, and she jumped into Daniel’s arms. Daniel’s shades nearly flew from his face as he was forced to twirl Nikki around. Val shook his head.
“Just kill the man, Nikki. Just give him a coronary right here, right now.”
But Nikki felt happy, and free. “I’ll give you one, how about that?” she said with a laugh.
When Daniel placed her back on her two feet, he paused, and then right there, on Saint Germaine Parkway, with the Gazette in their foreground and a salvage yard at their back, he pulled out a ring.
Val and Nikki both thought they were going to have coronaries when they saw that box come out of Daniel’s pocket. Val, his mouth gaped open, looked at Nikki.
Nikki, however, was staring at Daniel.
Daniel opened his ring box, revealing a diamond so big and brilliant that Val had to hold onto his heart.
“Nikki?” Daniel asked.
Nikki’s bright brown eyes were so filled with so many emotions, from shock, to elation, to just being touched by his gesture alone, that they looked as if they’d been dabbed with gold. “Yes?” she responded.
Daniel had to fight back tears. “Will you marry me, Nikki?” he asked her. “Will you trust this old man with your heart, and marry me?”
Nikki felt as if she was living a dream. It felt like a dream. A dream that she wasn’t about to let go. “Yes,” she said as tears began to fill her eyes.
Daniel literally sighed relief, put the ring on her small finger, and then he looked up at her again. “And now Nikki?” he asked again.
She looked from the ring, to him. “Yes?” she asked, great anticipation in her voice.
“Will you help me up?” he asked jokingly.
Nikki and Val both laughed. And Nikki didn’t just help him up, she got down there with him.
“Just kill the man, Nikki,” Val was saying again, as Nikki fell, like the carefree wildcat Daniel loved, into his big, warm, protective arms.
DANIEL'S GIRL: ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN Page 28