Patience and Presence

Gerald, a smartly dressed man with half rimmed glasses, a gold watch on his right wrist, and a brief case full of documents had just left his office at 321 Hemming Drive, a ten-minute walk from the corner of Jefferson Street and Jackson Way. After a long day at work, his tired eyes had a glimmer of hope while he tapped his foot on the concrete waiting for his beloved, Reign. Gerald is an inpatient man. He hemmed and hawed for at least fifteen minutes. The cars kept rolling, the people continued to cross the street in their winter wear, closely huddled together to keep warm. Gerald stared off into the distance hoping that beyond the buildings, Reign would finally appear. Another fifteen minutes went by. Gerald looks at his watch and looks back up. It’s 6:45pm. No sign of Reign. He looks back down at his watch and it begins to snow. At this point, Gerald is concerned.

Where could she be? He thought. In the inner left pocket of his trench coat, Gerald reached for his iPhone 12 Pro.

727-555-6789. The call was brief. It went straight to voicemail. He called again. 727-555-6789.

Ring. Ring.

“Hello. Reign? Where are you darling?” Gerald switched the phone to his left ear to hear her response.

“Hi. Baby. I’m leaving work right now. I’m sorry for the delay. I am on my way to you now.”

“Okay. You remember where to meet me right? I have something I really have to tell you.”

“Yes Gerald. I remember our conversation.” Reign giggled. “I’ll be there shortly.”

The call ended. Gerald put his phone back in the inner pocket of his trench coat. The trees lined with snow, dripped from the branches, lightly patting the concrete around where he stood.

Another five minutes and I would have been a popsicle. I can’t do this cold for much longer.

He proceeded to pull out a box from his left pocket. In it, a diamond ring with emerald encrusted accents. He stared intently at the ring for a few seconds and closed the box. He looked around to make sure Reign wasn’t close by. Reign is five minutes from Jefferson Street and Jackson Way on 456 Lowkey Road. Gerald checked the time, 7:15pm. The streetlights turned on as planned by the city of Dodson. The bright lights cast a shadow on Gerald when he noticed something strange at the top of the light. In Dodson, sightings of night owls have been recently reported on the news. The surrounding forests were burned from mysterious fires. Firefighter personnel could not determine the reason for the singed forests. But seeing these creatures was definitely a treat.

As he looked up, Reign’s perfume wafted to his nose. It smelled of blossoms and sandalwood. Gerald turned towards Reign forgetting about the owl for a second. Reign, dawning a powder blue trench coat over a navy pant suit and nude booties needed a few more steps to get to Gerald. Reign’s beige knit scarf was hanging halfway from her neck when the owl swooped down, grabbed the scarf with its talons pulling her closer to Gerald. Reign tried to whisk the scarf from the owl’s grip but to no avail. The owl managed to wrap Reign and Gerald with the scarf and immediately flew away. The couple watched its white wings soar into the sky while enveloped in each other’s arms. Gerald looked into Reign’s dark brown eyes grinning.

“The owl knows all. I needed to have you in my arms.” He said.

“Oh really? I’m glad you lasted this long out here.” She said.

Gerald readjusts the scarf around Reign’s neck, then placed her coils around her shoulders.

“I wanted to wait until we were inside the restaurant, but I can’t wait anymore.” Gerald pulled the box out of his pocket, got on bended knee and said “Reign, Will you marry me?”

Reign grinned and got him back to his feet.

“Yes!”

Gerald opened the box and placed that ring on her finger. In the distance, the owl’s woot could be heard as they walked into the restaurant hand in hand.