Chapter 9 - THE PROPOSAL AT THE WRONG PIANO
Two years after the wedding that never happened, Rosa completed her master's degree.
Not the original PhD.
Not yet.
Enough.
Lily was five.
She could now play an entire simple version of Ethan's mother's favorite song.
At graduation, Ethan sat beside Mrs. Porter and cried openly.
Lily announced:
"Daddy cries a lot."
He denied it.
Everyone saw.
Afterward, Ethan took Rosa to dinner.
She knew something was wrong immediately.
He was too quiet.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You look like you're about to negotiate a hostage release."
"Romantic."
"Ethan."
He drove them not to the Caldwell estate.
To Columbia.
The old fundraiser hall.
The place they met.
Inside stood a piano.
Not valuable.
Not historic.
A standard university grand.
Rosa stared.
"You didn't buy this building, did you?"
"No."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"Good."
He walked to the piano bench.
Then stopped.
Four years earlier, Rosa had loved a man who disappeared.
Two years earlier, Lily had been pushed from another piano bench and exposed everything.
Now Ethan did not kneel immediately.
He spoke first.
"I loved you when I was younger."
Rosa smiled.
"You're thirty-eight."
"Ancient."
"Continue."
"I loved the way you made me feel normal."
He shook his head.
"That was selfish."
Rosa listened.
"Now I love the person you are when I'm not in the room."
That hit deeper.
"The scientist."
"The mother."
"The woman who argues with me about everything."
"Necessary."
"Debatable."
She laughed.
Then Ethan said:
"I don't want to rescue you."
Good.
"I don't want Lily to make us a family."
Better.
"We already are one in some ways."
His voice softened.
"But I want to choose you separately from all of that."
He finally knelt.
Rosa covered her mouth.
Then immediately pointed.
"Do not say you belong to me."
He laughed.
"Wrong story."
He opened the ring box.
Small ring.
Beautiful.
Not absurdly enormous.
He had learned.
"Rosa Martinez, will you marry me?"
She stared at him.
Then:
"One condition."
His face fell.
"Of course."
"We do not get married at the estate."
"Done."
"That easy?"
"Yes."
"And Victoria's old wedding planner never comes within fifty miles."
"Already blocked."
Rosa laughed.
Then:
"Yes."
Ethan stood.
She kissed him.
Somewhere behind them:
"FINALLY!"
They turned.
Lily emerged from behind a curtain with Mrs. Porter.
Rosa stared.
"You brought our child?"
Ethan looked guilty.
"Lily insisted."
Lily ran toward them.
"Are we married now?"
"No," Rosa said.
"Why?"
"Paperwork."
Lily sighed.
"Adults make everything slow."
Correct.
They married six months later in a botanical garden.
Small.
Warm.
No society magazine exclusives.
No ten-foot cake.
Lily carried flowers.
Then abandoned the basket halfway down the aisle because she saw a butterfly.
Nobody stopped her.
Rosa loved that.
At the reception, a piano stood near the dance floor.
Lily climbed onto the bench.
This time, no one told her to know her place.
She played Ethan's mother's song.
Ethan held Rosa's hand.
May you like
And the room filled with music.
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