|
|
|
| Marriage Proposal at Manito Park |
| |
Don felt the lining in his stomach turn to ice the moment he walked up her front porch steps and knocked on Melissa’s door.
She was wearing the pink summer dress she had gotten on their last vacation to Hawaii, the one with the large orchid print. Her hair was pulled back into a low pony tail, and her camera was slung across one shoulder, her bag of lenses on the other. She looked stunning, but Don was too nervous to say anything, he was afraid his voice would crack and she’d get suspicious.
“Hi,” she said, locking the door behind her and skipping down the steps ahead of him. She tossed her keys into the side pocket of the lens bag and stopped short when she reached the car in the driveway. “What’s this?”
Don scrambled to open the convertible Mustang’s passenger door. “My car’s in the shop. This is a rental,” he said, and this was half true. It was a rental.
“Sweet!” Melissa glided into the car and noted the wide brimmed straw hat in the back seat. “That for me?”
“It is,” Don said, closing the door and walking around the car. “I figured, after Manito Park, we could drive to the coast.”
“Really?” Melissa turned her head with an impish grin and Don felt his head swim. This was going to be harder than he thought, keeping his composure. “You sure?”
“Absolutely,” Don said, “It’s a gorgeous day.”
Melissa’s smiled broadened and she put on the hat.
Despite the seventy degree weather, Don trembled as he turned the keys to the car to start the engine. His only relief was that Melissa had been looking the other way, and seemed not to notice.
Melissa took pictures at Manito Park for about an hour. Don was relinquished to his usual duties of holding her bags, but today he didn’t mind at all. She spent a great deal of time in the Rose Hill Garden and then went to the Nishinomiya Japanese Garden. Don knew she liked to leave the fountain in Duncan Gardens to last, and this is what he was counting on.
When they had finally made the rounds and arrived at the fountain, Don slipped the bags behind a bush while Melissa’s back was turned and fumbled in his pocket for the box.
It had taken him weeks to pick it out, but he had begged Melissa’s best friend, Carol, to go with him to help, and she had helped tremendously.
Just as Melissa was snapping a shot of the gazebo, Don ran to the fountain and assumed the position.
Melissa nearly dropped her camera when she turned and saw him. Don was on one knee, an opened engagement ring box in his hand, he looked like he was about to fall over from all the shaking his hands were doing.
“Melissa, will you marry me?”
Melissa’s hands went to her mouth and her vision blurred from the sudden rush of tears. She got down on her knees and muttered, “Yes,” before she kissed him, in front of the fountain in Duncan Gardens in Manito Park; and she didn’t even care that her hat at fallen off and was blowing away in the breeze.
|
| |
| LS Tibbets |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Get the latest park news and conditions at the ManitoPark.org News page. |
| |
|
|
| Looking for answers to questions about ManitoPark.org? Look no further... |
| |
|
|
| Local Photographers share their skills with the Manito Park community. |
| |
|
|
More Info