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“Good morning, baby,” Toni greets her girlfriend, as she walks into their room with a tray full of Shelby’s favourite food. She loves to surprise her with a little breakfast in bed.
“Mhm,” Shelby hums, still half asleep. She turns around to face Toni and pouts her lips, without even opening her eyes just yet.
“Babe, I would love to kiss you, but my hands are pretty full,” Toni says with a giggle, and smiling fondly at her girl.
Shelby then opens her eyes, first only half and then fully. “My love!”, she then calls out, with a sentimental tone, followed by teasing her. “What is it, our anniversary?”
“Hey! I don’t only surprise you on our anniversaries. I’m the big romantic here, even if I say so myself,” Toni says defensively, but smiling, as Shelby sits up.
“I know, I know, I can’t say anything against that,” Shelby admits, laughing, “Even though I would’ve never expected that from you when we first met, but well, you were a big softie all along, just hiding it.”
Toni blushes and gently puts down the tray onto Shelby’s crossed legs, covered under their soft blanket. Their blanket and pillow covers say “Mrs. And Mrs.” Don’t be fooled though, they’re not even married, just huge softies and cliché’s. “I hate to say you’re right.”
Shelby takes a look at all the food on the tray and her face instantly softens. Toni baked her fresh croissants, a bun with sesame seeds – her favorite – and next to them, she put different mini packages of butter and spreads like jelly and peanut butter. To complete this, she also made her scrambled eggs and fresh orange juice. “What did I do to deserve you? Come to me.”
Toni leans in for a kiss, beaming, and pets her cheek and then sits down next to her. They enjoy their meals together and as the sun starts to shine into their room, it perfectly lands on Shelby’s golden hair.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” Toni sings while petting Shelby’s hair, who bursts out laughing.
“Oh my god, who have we became? We are like an old married couple, we’re so bad,” Shelby says.
Toni giggles, and it’s with a pleased tone that she replies: “I know. I know.”
The day before, Shelby decided wanting to spring clean their little house. It’s been a little over a year since they moved in together. Their house is between small and average – a bed room, a small guest room, a living room and a kitchen – but it’s just enough for them, for now, and it has what they both wished for: an adorable little garden. Even though they have some bad memories about being in the midst of nature – the deserted island – they also made some of their best memories there. If they never had ended up on the deserted island, they would have probably never met. Fate would’ve maybe played a part, but still.
They had their first kiss there, their first time having sex, and it just holds such a special place in their heart. The trees, the leaves, the smell of them. It reminds them of their special, secret, intimate moments together. And it turns out they both always loved nature, it always brought them peace, before they even knew eachother. These are only some of the reasons why they for sure wanted to have a garden together and why they spend so much time together – like an old married couple — taking care of it, and often having cute lunch or dinner dates there whenever the weather allows it. Sometimes they would also just lay there, stargazing, or just holding hands, or both. It’s their special place.
Toni offered to help Shelby with her spring clean, but - as expected - she refused to let her, in a sweet way, though. They have learned many things about eachother since they live together, and one of those things is that Shelby prefers to clean on her own. She wants everything to look spotless and she usually doesn’t want any help with this. And she actually enjoys doing it, it bings peace to her mind, she always says. So naturally, when Toni asked if she should go and hang out with Martha on the cleaning day, Shelby immediately agreed and found it a good idea and told her “go and have fun, my honey, I will be fine”.
What she didn’t know though, is that this fitted perfectly into Toni’s scheme of plans. She called up Martha as soon as she was alone, and the next day they both arrived at the same time, both with almost as excited smiles, at the jewelry store.
“Martha, hi, oh my god,” Toni screamed and leaned in for a hug to greet her.
“I’m so excited, I’m gonna cry!” Martha exclaimed, “Do you have anything in mind?”
“No,” Toni said, “Or well, I want something as delicate as her, but that also perfectly captures her glory. But at the same time, this might sound cliché but fuck it, I just want to look at all of the rings and then seeing which one captures my heart because I’ll know, that’ll be the one.”
Martha’s eyes filled up with tears. “I’m so happy for you, I can’t even describe.”
Toni giggled. “Girl, save your tears for the wedding.”
They both looked around, and Toni kept getting distracted by Martha calling out “Oh my god, no, but this one! It’s so pretty!” She would agree every time, but it wouldn’t be the one just yet.
“Can I help you, miss?”, a worker from behind the desk asked Toni.
“Um, yeah, I- I’m looking for a wedding ring”, she replied, a little nervous. “I haven’t found the one yet.”
The guy smiled. “Not to assume, but which gender may it be for?”
Toni’s heart fluttered by the inclusiveness of this lovely guy. “It’s for my girlfriend.”
He then asked her some questions, which kinds she likes and all that, he showed her some and even though Toni loved them, she wasn’t happy enough with any of them. She ended up thanking the guy greatly, and then leaving the store with Martha to go to a different one. As they arrived there, Martha already immediately saw Toni’s face lighting up by the sight of one. “This. This is the one, Marty.”
After their lovely breakfast in bed, Shelby goes showering and Toni finds the perfect opportunity to start preparing. She checks in the drawer of the nightstand in the guest room, to make sure the ring is still there. This is the perfect spot to hide because it’s the only place where Shelby never, ever checks since it’s always empty anyways. She opens the package and she’s still as amazed by the beauty of it as the first time she saw it. She gets dressed. High waisted dark blue jeans, and a green cropped top. She puts on her favourite necklace, a long rose gold one with a moon shaped hanger. She got this from Shelby on their one year anniversary – almost a year ago.
One hour later, they’re both sat in their sweet little garden - full of flowers like primroses and magnolias - talking about everything and nothing. Shelby is so unaware of what’s about to happen, if I wouldn’t be so nervous I would actually find it funny, Toni thinks. Shelby starts to have a bit of a suspicious expression, though, when Toni goes inside to grab her professional camera.
“I want to take pictures of you, you just look so pretty, baby. And I just love how golden the sun makes your hair look today,” Toni says when she sees Shelby’s raised eyebrow, and she’s not even lying.
“Thanks, love,” she replies, flattered but still a little suspicious, and she lets Toni take several pictures of her, followed by some cute selfies of them kissing.
“I also would love some professional pictures of us together, from a distance, you know? We don’t have enough of those,” Toni says as an excuse when she places her camera on a tripod, smiling and trying her best to hide the fact that she’s planning something. “And it’s such a beautiful, sunny day. Let’s take advantage of that.”
Shelby shakes her head and gives her a kiss on her nose, and then on her lips. “You’re so cute.”
“Now close your eyes, I have a plan for a special picture,” Toni says, after a minute or two.
At this point Shelby doesn’t even question her anymore, and just does as she says. “Okay, babe.”
Toni hurries inside quick to get the ring, thankfully the guest room is only a few seconds walk away from their garden. As she walks back into the garden she makes sure like, a hundred times, that Shelby’s eyes stay closed. Shelby promises and keeps her hands in front of her eyes. “Do you have a little present for me, is that what this is? You know you don’t have to, honey! You surprise me so much already!”
“Just a few seconds, baby,” Toni says, her heart beating so fast now, as she gets down on her knees. She puts her camera on filming mode before doing so. She closes her eyes and prepares her speech, prepares for the look on the love of her life her face. I’m so nervous, fuck, she thinks.
But the moment, it feels more than perfect. The primroses in the background perfectly emphasize how enchanting this view looks, two girls loving eachother with their whole heart and one about to propose, both the nerves and the happiness very visible on her face.
“Okay,” Toni says, her voice trembling, “Open your eyes, honey.”
And so she does. Her eyes instantly widen, and she puts her hand in front of her mouth.
“Toni, oh- oh my god…”, she says, her eyes already tearing up, not believing what she’s seeing. Speechless.
Toni opens the package, the ring beaming in the sunlight, emphasizing just how beautiful and dazzling it is. It’s gold and it has a circle on top, with some delicate, some sparkly little symbols: a little moon, an emerald gemstone – the birthstone of May, Shelby’s birth month –, two pastel pink tiny pearls and an even tinier white pearl. Nothing could describe the beauty of nature, and of Shelby, more than this ring could.
“Baby, I have been dreaming about this day, ever since I fell in love with you,” Toni starts her speech, voice trembling, trying to hold back her tears. “Fuck, you are the love of my life and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you what a treasure you are. You are the best gift life has ever given me and I cannot wait to spend every second of my entire life loving you. Baby, Shelby Goodkind, will you marry me?”
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Shelby cries, “Are you serious? Are you for real? Baby, oh my god, yes! Yes!”
Toni gets up, relieved and beaming, and Shelby jumps into her arms. They hug so tight it almost hurts. Both heir tears fall onto eachother’s shoulders, bare skin with the sunshine radiating onto them. After the hug, Toni slides the ring on Shelby’s finger. “Well, that’s hot. l I cannot believe i just did that. I’m so, so fucking happy. I love you so much. You are my dream.”
“I’m the luckiest girl ever,” Shelby says, still crying, and showering her with kisses. “I’m so in love with you, oh my god. Loving you is my favourite thing to do. I can’t wait to marry you. Oh my god, this sentence doesn’t even sound real! We are getting MARRIED, baby!”
“I love you more, my beauty,” Toni replies lovingly, not managing to stop her tears either. She has never sounded happier. “I can’t wait to wife you up, babe. It’s gonna be the most wonderful day of our lives.”
“You are such a softie,” Shelby giggles, teasing her and giving her kisses in her neck. “Almost as soft and delicate as the ring looks, I’m so in love with it. It’s perfect.”
“Shh,” Toni says, smiling her biggest smile. “I’m only a softie for you.”
They hug and kiss – hair full of golden sunshine rays and faces full of sparkling love, flowers blooming in the background – for what feels like a lifetime, and nothing has ever, ever felt more magical.