I was sitting at my desk this rainy Friday afternoon going
through some e-mails when my cell phone rang.
Glancing at it as I flipped it open I noticed the name Kevinn.
Kevinn is my daughter Romy’s boy friend. My mind whirling at warp speed, several
thoughts came to mind. He needed to know
what Romy might want for her birthday.
Her birthday is 4 months away so that’s out. He needed a loan. Not likely, he is a Captain with the Fire
Department so I doubt he is short of cash.
Something was wrong with Romy. I
instantly knew by the tone of his voice that was not the case.
There were a couple of other options but before I could
think further Kevinn asked “What are you guys doing?” I explained that Terry was out previewing
some homes and I was working in my office.
Then we spent an exorbitantly long time discussing the weather, a sure
sign something was up. Don’t quote me on
this because what was said next was kind of a blur but after an exorbitantly
long pause, Kevinn said something that sounded like “I was just wondering what
you would think if I asked Romy to marry me?”
I went into a stammer before I answered “I think it’s
fantastic.”
Kevinn said all the right things. His kids, Kody and Jordin adored Romy. He had felt everything was perfect from the
first but wanted to be patient. All the
things that make a Dad misty eyed. I
told him how special Romy was to me and Terry and that we had never seen her
happier. I also told him that, being old
fashioned, it meant a great deal to me that he asked what we thought of his
proposing to Romy. Does that even happen
anymore?
I said “I’ll pass the word to everyone on our end.” Kevinn said “Not yet, I haven’t asked her yet. I will soon but you can’t say anything now”. I’m thinking to myself, what is soon? Like tonight, next week? I promised him I wouldn’t say a word to
anyone.
If you Google the United States Census Bureau you see the
current estimate of the world’s population is 7.012 billion. If you ranked the ability of everyone in the
world to keep a secret, my wife Terry would rank 7.012. So here I am the bearer of earth shaking
family news and I can’t tell anyone. Not
Romy’s Mom, not her sisters, both of whom I talked to on the phone that evening
and not her brother, whom I had exchanged several e-mails with that day.
Terry came home that evening and, as she always does, asks “What’s
new?” I would rather be water boarded
than go through that again. “Soon” could
not come soon enough.
Some 31 excruciating hours later I’m thinking Kevinn better
get off his ass and do something because I don’t know if I can keep quiet much
longer. We are having dinner with Romy’s
sister Molly, her man friend Marc and watching a Jeff Foxworthy “You Know You Are
A Redneck” Special when my cell phone
rings. It’s Romy but she is sobbing so
hard I can’t understand most of what she said except “I said yes”.
Kevinn had asked Romy to go for a little Saturday evening
drive to her favorite beach called Wood’s Cove.
Sitting on the sand they watched the waves crash against the rocks on a
beautiful, moon lit night. Romy got up to leave but Kevinn hesitated for
a moment and then, while on one knee, held out a ring and asked Romy if she
would marry him. What happened next is a
little fuzzy but eventually I got The Call.
They came by our house, Romy still sobbing, and we all
hugged and kissed. Phone calls, photos
and texts went back and forth to those not there. One of Kevinn’s brothers (reportedly a
jokester) texted “Does she know you are gay?”
Terry and I stood on our porch waving goodbye to all of them.
It was, at the same time, the end to a very, very special day and an enormous
relief that I no longer had to look my family in the eye and keep a secret from
them. 
