"All right," he agreed before kissing her goodbye and
heading down the hall.
As soon as she was safely out of the building Derek pulled out his cell phone and began making calls. He paused only long enough to speak with the receptionist and be pointed to chair. Then later when he was called back. He continued to make his calls while they took his blood and ran the appropriate tests on them and was still on it when he was allowed to sign and pick up the certificate.
And as soon as she was safely away
she first went to go find that shawl. She could only hope that the
specialty Shoppe had one on hand -- which, thankfully, they did.
Then it was on to the next
item...
He left the building through a side door and walked a few
blocks to one of his favorite stores, where they were waiting for
him. He selected the item in question, paid for it and thanked his old
friend, Charles, for helping him out on such short notice.
She had almost given up hope and
was chewing her bottom lip when.. she saw it.
"Yes!" she whispered to herself and
headed toward the small dark green older building that specialized in
'gentlemen's jewelry and entered.
There was an older man there and
Julia couldn't help but smile at the Victorian image he made standing behind an
old fashioned jeweler table. He looked up from the piece he was working on
and smiled in return, greeting her.
She approached the cabinet and
explained what it was she wanted. Minutes later he was showing her a rare
antique set.
"It's beautiful." she breathed,
barely tracing her finger over the inlay and crafted marksmanship.
"Yes, it is. I take it this
is for a very special someone in your life?" he asked. No one would spend
the kind of money that these items ran for, for just anyone.
Julia's smile grew and became
warmer as she informed him "My soon to be husband. How long.. do you think
it would take to engrave them?"
"Congratulations," the jeweler
chuckled before asking "Well usually it takes forty eight hours."
"Rats."
"When are you getting married,
love?"
She looked at him sheepishly and
admitted, her smile undiminished but a small glimmer of disappointment that it
wouldn't be done by then in her gaze "Sunset."
The jeweler regarded her for a
moment and then grinned "I tell you what. You give me the address of your
house or where it is you'll be getting ready, and I'll have it ready for you
within two hours."
Sunset was in about
four.
"Really?" Julia couldn't help but
brighten even more at that "Are you sure?"
"The others will understand.
Love and marriage and romance and all." the jeweler answered with a wink "What
would you like the pieces inscribed with?"
Julia accepted a pen and piece of
paper and wrote down two inscriptions and then handed it to him before pulling
out her credit card "Thank you so much."
Moments later and she was exiting
the Shoppe and walking down the sidewalk toward the courtyard, stopping at
another jewelers to peek into the window just out of curiosity...
It was then that she heard someone calling
out to someone, using the term ma'am and turned in curiosity, not seeing
anyone.
Then he headed to the courtyard to wait for Julia.
Taking a seat on a bench, he looked around. A photographer was taking
pictures nearby and that made him think of their wedding. Surely the would
want pictures someday, and ones with heads on them, which Nick's never seemed to
have. Pulling out his phone again, he called Jonathan and asked for the
name of a good photographer. Once he had the number, he called one Bryce
Markham.
She shrugged and turned, seeing Derek
sitting nearby, and headed toward him, grinning and enjoying the
sunshine.
