The Wine

all she needs to do is sip the wine, see the ring and Tony would go to his knees.

 

Chapter 3.

The second waiter emerged from the dirty doors that concealed the huge five stars kitchen. He was an inch or two taller than the first one with an athletic body. So cute. He joined the couple with two wine glasses held on a silver tray. A white towel hung from his arm. He filled the first glass with red wine. He flashed smile at Lynn. He bowed while he handed her the glass. His colleague joined in the bowing.

‘Thank you’ Lynn said taking the glass

‘At your service ma’am’ he said with a sincere smile. He repeated the same to Tony. He said ‘thank you’ and the waiter responded ‘you’re welcomed sir’ and leaned towards him.

‘…and good luck sir’ he added with a wink which Lynn never caught. The two waiters bowed again and left.

It was now dark outside and brighter inside than it had been when Lynn came in. Nearly all the small candles had burnt out and the big ones that remained did not give enough light. So the enforcement bulbs decorated in the pendants had come on and Tony felt that the mood was fading away. But still he was going to do it. He would propose.

‘To the two of us…to our love so pure and true…to Valentine’s Day. Cheers honey’ Tony said jovially.

‘To us and unending love sweetheart. To Valentine ’s Day. Cheers!’ Lynn echoed and glasses clicked. Tony sipped his wine first and looked at Lynn above the rim of his glass expectantly. The wine in both their glasses was so little that it could be emptied in one mouthful. One sip and she would hear it. Tony watched and waited.

His gut started shaking the more he watched Lynn. The closeness to the moment terrified him and he became jittery like a toddler caught red handed with his hands in the cookie jar. It was just a single sip then it would be over even before he knew it, but Lynn was taking her time with the wine.

He started feeling that this would be a long night to him. At that rate, it would take eternity before Lynn saw the ring in her glass. Maybe she would drink it and almost swallow it. Maybe choke and he would have to save her life before going to his knees. The idea made him smile and panic at the same time, and then he thought it would be so cool. Lynn would not forget this day, exactly the idea behind the setting. If he was correct, the golden ring was at the bottom of her glass. All she had to do was to see it then he would take it, put it in her finger and ask her to marry him.

The words were well rehearsed and memorized. Tony did not want to mess up, not in a day like this. That was the reason he even never told William about the date and his plan. William would know it later. John-his parent’s lawyer-knew, but he never approved and he needed not to. He thought that it was so unreasonable to marry a girlfriend of three weeks, but Tony said it was love. When it strike you have no choice but to love whomever the heart desires and his had desired to rest with Lynn. It was life and choice after all. John was in Tanzania at the moment, taking care of some matters on behalf of Tony, but before he left he washed his hands of him. ‘It’s your problem, deal with it but your mother wouldn’t have liked it either’ he had said and that was it. Tony was on his own, unless he failed but never saw that as a possibility.

Tony breathed hard that Lynn realized it. She looked at him. Tony smiled, ignored the gaze and took another sip. Lynn had not yet done anything with her wine while Tony was half way done with his.

‘This is good wine’ he said ‘what did the waiter say it was manufactured?’ he asked. Lynn seemed to be thinking.

‘1943…France, I think’ she said and sounded unsure. Tony looked into his glass, smacked his lips and said.

‘It’s the best I’ve tasted all my life’

‘Oh, really!’ Lynn smiled. Maybe it was time she sipped it too to feel whether he agreed with Tony or not. She raised her glass and Tony watched every move as the glass approached her lips. He became more excited than edgy.

Do it honey…do it.