...I came home from school for the weekend a little earlier than planned and surprised Dean. When I first got to town, I stopped by to see my mom and told her my plan to be waiting for Dean when he got home. She seemed a little too concerned that it wasn't a good plan but I went up to his house anyway. About 20 or so minutes later, I heard his car coming up the road. When he rounded the corner and saw me there his jaw dropped. His first words were, "You're not supposed to be here." (Gee thanks, how about it's great to see you!?). He then said that he had a meeting later and I couldn't come to which I said no big deal because I have some errands to run and I needed to get my rings cleaned.
As I left, I had a thought that it would be a great weekend for him to propose and he should call the jeweler to have them keep my promise ring. When I got to the jeweler her told me that the diamond in the promise ring looked a little loose so he was going to keep it to get it fixed and I could pick it up the next day. I remember thinking how weird was that! A little later, my dad called me and asked me to come down to his office. When I told him that I was waiting for Dean he said that he would call Dean and have him come pick me up at the office. (Yet another person behaving oddly). I was very surprised when Dean actually showed up at the office.
As we headed out, Dean said that he was hungry and suggested that we get some Chinese food and have a picnic. I asked him to run me by my house first so that I could say goodbye to my mom who was leaving for the weekend. He insisted that he was really hungry and needed to get some food. I insisted that we could get food right after I said goodbye to my mom.
He gave in.
As we drove along I mentioned how weird it felt not to have my promise ring on. After the second time that I mentioned it he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box, handed it to me and said, "Well, try this one on."
Oh. My. Goodness!
I was a little scared to open it because I was worried it wasn't THE ring. I remember looking at him and he said, "Open it." And of course it was THE ring. At the next stop sign he officially asked me to marry him and helped me put the ring on.
Thankfully he did ask me in the car because when we pulled up to my parents' house my mom came out in a flash and asked if I had something to show her. I then found out that Dean's afternoon meeting was with my dad to ask for his blessing which helped explain the odd behavior of my parents that day. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, Dean HAD called the jeweler to ask him to keep my promise ring.