Cisney scanned the onlookers for Hunter. Guests nodded toward her, whispered, and searched their ranks, obviously distracted by the maid of honor short her escort.
Please, Lord, send Hunter. Don’t allow Hunter and me to ruin this dance for Angela and Tom. Take eyes off me and turn them to the bride and groom.
Her prayer went unanswered. No red-faced Hunter fought his way through the stirred-up spectators.
What should she do? Fill in the open spot on the floor and tango with an imaginary partner? Wait out the dance in the ladies’ room?
The first strains of Zade’s “Tango” invited the couples to take their stances.
Cisney’s heart raced. Lord, tell me what to do?
Through a break in the crowd, she glimpsed the black coat sleeve of a man progressing toward the dance floor. She let out a heavy sigh. Hunter was on his way. Her heart calmed as she turned and located a vacant spot on the floor. She spun back to Hunter.
Nick!
Nick stood tall and handsome in his black suit. He stood on the sideline of the crowd, one arm extended in her direction, his expression contrite, but expectant.
She inhaled a joyous breath. Everything in her wanted to run into his arms. But this was Angela’s moment, not hers. Staying put, she waited for Nick to cover the distance. Or did he not know how to tango?
Nick made no move toward her, yet his gaze beckoned her.
She sidestepped Amy and her dance partner in mid-promenade and glided to Nick, her hot pink dress fluttering against her ankles.
He took her into his open embrace and guided her flawlessly into a gap among the striding couples. An audible sigh of relief oozed from the crowd. Glimpsing Nick’s handsome face, Cisney’s heart beat like a teen’s on a date with the class hunk.
Nick promenaded her between two couples, and then initiated her into a turn. She snapped her head and rotated to face him. Their staccato steps moved in unison. Slow…slow…quick, quick…slow.
Angela caught Cisney’s attention and grinned. She lifted her hand from Tom’s shoulder and pointed at his head.
Tom held his bride in a rigid embrace while he walked her through the steps. His gaze remained on his patent leather shoes while his lips mouthed T … A … N, G … O.
Angela rolled her eyes.
Cisney stifled a giggle.
Angela shifted her gaze back to her man.
Cisney made her turn and snapped her head. She tried to maintain the aloof expression that added to the tango’s drama, but Nick’s presence, God’s faithfulness, and the forever-love a wedding promised weakened her resolve. She couldn’t stop smiling.
Lord, Your part is awesome!
Nick leaned in close. “Don’t look now, but according to people’s stares, I think we’re upstaging the bride and groom.”
“We should stop.”
Nick aimed for a narrow opening in their audience and promenaded Cisney to the alcove off the lobby, where the restrooms and coatroom were located. He brought her hand to his side and captured her gaze.
If she shifted her eyes away from his, would he disappear as suddenly as he had materialized? Was he one of her fairy-princess dreams?
A waiter exited the men’s room, giving them a knowing look. Nick pulled her closer to the unoccupied coatroom, where the lighting shone less bright.
Always pulling her. With the tingles his warm hand sent through her, she’d forgive him this time. “What sent you to my rescue?”
“When I arrived in the parking lot, a young man in a tux was absorbed in tying aluminum cans to Tom’s car, while a couple of teenage girls wrote just married and other sentiments on the windows. I wondered if the tango would be performed minus the young groomsman.”
“Why didn’t you ask Hunter about his tango duty, or send him inside?”
Nick’s sheepish grin, coming from a diehard actuary who strived never to err, gave her goose bumps.
“It’s a long story, but I think Hunter’s preoccupation was the Lord’s second ambush.”
“Ambush?”
He fingered one of her curls. “Do you remember the story where God tells King Jehoshaphat that the battle against the king’s enemies is His alone?”
“God’s people were only to take up their positions and watch God win the battle.”
“Yep. God set up ambushes against Jehoshaphat’s enemies.”
“So, if you had sent Hunter inside you would have ruined God’s ambush?”
He nodded.
“You said Hunter in the parking lot was God’s second ambush. What was the first?”
“I thought God planned to go to battle for me after I returned from Charlotte, but as usual, it’s futile to second guess the Lord. I was a half hour into my trip, when the traffic came to a stop. I sat for fifteen minutes with nothing more than the bumper sticker on the truck in front of me for entertainment.”
“I imagine you were listening to your doo-wop tunes.”
He chuckled. “We need to have a talk about the definition of doo-wop music another time.”
“OK. Back to the bumper sticker.”
“You know the sticker that says, God Allows U-turns?”
“Yes.”
“This sticker said God Expects U-turns. So at my first opportunity, I turned around and headed for home to change into this get-up.” He flicked his lapel. “Then I waited on the fringe of the dance floor, hoping God had won your forgiveness for how coolly I treated you last night.” He took both her hands in his. “Cisney, will you forgive me? I know you looked back at Jason last night, but I don’t care—”
“I looked back to make sure he wasn’t coming after you to pulverize you.”
“What?”
“On another embarrassing occasion, Jason gave a guy a black eye on my behalf.”
“Oh.”
His glazed-over stare said he was processing all her moves last night with this new information. She waited. For the first time, she was comfortable giving him time to think.
Over the coatroom’s half door, she surveyed the coats. Where’d the woman who owned the black and white checkered designer jacket, cinched at the waist with a red patent leather belt, shop?
He cleared his throat.
Her gaze zipped to his.
“I am so sorry, Cisney.”
“I forgive you. But you could have saved me a lot of work last night, if you had allowed me to explain, instead of walking away.”
“What work?”
“I have a bag full of résumés addressed to companies in Charlotte.”
“To prove you would leave Jason?” He moved closer. “You don’t have to leave your job or your parents. I don’t mind making weekend trips.”
Her smile took an elevator from her heart to her lips. “Some physical distance from Daddy might be a good idea.”
“Look.” He stepped back and reached into his suit coat pocket.
He held up a ring.
Cisney’s heart stopped.
Nick’s hand lay in the shadows of the alcove’s poor lighting. She shifted her shoulder to allow the ceiling light behind her to illumine the ring.
Where a gem might sit on the wide gold band—split on the underside, so one size could fit all—was a round plastic disk. Etched in the disk’s gold center was a symbol for the planet. Five circles lined the top arc of the disk. She made out what looked like a leaf inside one circle and three lightning bolts in a second. The other symbols were lost on her. Embossed in capital letters under the world emblem was: Captain Planet.
Her virtual romantic-memories scrapbook snapped shut. She raised her gaze to his.
His eyes were wide with excitement. “When I was eight years old, I esteemed Captain Planet more than anyone. Who wouldn’t? Captain Planet did everything to save the earth. Because of him, I wanted to grow up to be a scientist in the EPA.”
“Was this before or after you planned to raise Siberian Huskies?”
He captured her chin between his thumb and finger. “This is a serious mo
ment, Cisney.”
She snapped her satin heels together and brought her shoulders to attention. Maybe this moment could still end up in her scrapbook memory.
He lifted her left hand. “This is my most prized possession in all the world. I want you to have it.”
He moved her pearl solitaire to her right hand and slid the Captain Planet monstrosity—which she would cherish forever—onto her left ring finger. “God won the battle to open my heart again by placing you in my life. I think I can take some credit for falling in love with you, though. Will you accept this token of my love?”
She rotated the plastic ring on her finger, her heart bolting like the lightning bars on the ring. She raised her face to his, grinning. “Yes. I will. I like it so much better than a hockey stick.”
****
Cisney gathered what she needed for her presentation to the executive staff.
Angela strolled in and sat in Cisney’s side chair. “Hi.” She set her presentation packet on the end of Cisney’s desk. “Are you ready?”
Angela’s tan from lying on sunny beaches in Aruba had long faded, but her newlywed glow still gleamed.
“Yes. We’ll dazzle the VPs like we did with our presentation before Christmas.”
Angela nodded at Cisney’s hand. “Are you going to wear that in the meeting?”
Cisney wiggled her left ring finger. “Of course.” The VPs hadn’t discounted her last proposal because she’d worn Nick’s Captain Planet ring.
“I hope Nick appreciates how you wear that hunk of plastic everywhere. Is he coming again this weekend?”
“No. I’m driving down to Cornelius this time.”
“Those four-hour trips have got to get old. I don’t know how you guys do it.”
“Well, you know Nick. He misses his Captain Planet ring.”
But Angela was right. A long-distance relationship was hard. The trip both ways cut into their weekend hours together. Except for time at Christmas, they seemed to spend more time talking over the phone than being with each other. She couldn’t enjoy much of Sundays because she dreaded Nick’s late afternoon departures, when it felt like part of her heart ripped from her chest and drove away with him.
They stayed at Mom and Daddy’s house when Nick was in Richmond, which meant she had to share him with them—mostly with Daddy. The men had worked out a relationship.
Daddy’s jabs at Nick were less frequent and more benign. Every weekend, he sat by the window and kept an eye out for Nick’s arrival.
Mom adored Nick. She hummed as she made him cookies for the weekend and his trip home.
“Cisney?”
“Hmm?”
“You were off gathering wool.”
“I hate long-distance relationships.”
****
Nick paced between the Steinway and a sofa in the front room, keeping his eye on the window.
Mom came in from the kitchen. “No sign, yet?”
He stopped pacing. No need to incite Mom into worrying. “Not yet.”
“Nancy has Grandma Thelma on the phone. She and Grandpa want to see Cisney. Do you want them to come up for lunch Saturday or Sunday?”
“It’d be nice if we could have a family lunch here tomorrow.”
Mom nodded and went back to the kitchen. He heard her relay his message to Nancy.
Dad said something about a Chinese checkers tournament.
Where was Cisney? She was now twenty minutes overdue and she didn’t answer—his cell rang.
Cisney.
He took a relieved breath. “Hi.”
“I’m just turning into the neighborhood. I thought I could make up time to hide my slip up, but I couldn’t.”
“What slip up?”
“I stopped for my mid-trip milkshake and, in talking to the server—remember the one with the huge ponytail, at the place you accused me of trying to appear engaged with my pearl ring?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes. But I didn’t accuse you of anything.”
“Anyway, I left my cellphone there and had to go back to get it.”
“How’d you manage to forget it?” He walked out onto the front porch, hunching against February’s cold. Her headlights should appear at any moment.
“I put it down to show Sally my Captain Planet ring. And, you know, with all her gushing at how beautiful it is, I forgot to pick my cell up when my shake came.”
He chuckled at her little dig about the ring, his breath forming a cloud. He couldn’t believe she wore his ring everywhere she went. He liked that.
Headlights appeared.
As soon as she parked, he opened the passenger door, tossed her handbag into the backseat, and climbed inside. He wrapped her in his arms and drew in her exotic scent, the one that stayed on his clothes after he left her each week and made him miss her all the way to Charlotte.
He pulled away. “I wanted to talk to you before the family pounces on you.”
“Should I leave the car running for heat?”
“Yeah.”
She looked so beautiful in the glow from the garage floodlight as she turned in her seat to more fully face him. Nerves rattled in his stomach.
He took her hand and toyed with the Captain Planet ring. “Cisney, I know we’ve been together—sort of—for only a few months, but even before we started dating I admired how hard you worked, how creative your ideas were, and how you never used worldly, dishonest tactics in your marketing strategies.”
“You…admired…me?”
“Yes. Then. Now, I love you.”
She swallowed. “Back then, I pretty much thought you were an arrogant actuary who looked for ways to judge my strategies too risky. By the way, Julie is doing a great job in supporting my area.”
He touched his finger to her full lips and grinned. “Are you going to let me talk?”
She caressed his jaw. “I love you, Nick.”
“In that case,” he said, “do you still have those résumés you prepared?”
Her beautiful eyes widened. She nodded.
He leaned to the side and wrangled a black velvet box from his jeans’ pocket, and then looked into her eyes. “Will you marry me?” He opened the box.
She stared at the diamond twinkling up at her. Tears let loose and flowed.
He’d give it a ninety-five percent chance they were tears of joy. He held the box poised in front of her. “Well?”
She swiped away tears, but more replaced them. “Do I have to give the Captain Planet ring back?”
He lifted her chin with his free hand and kissed her. “Yes.”
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Calculated Risk Page 22