Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 230: Proposal

Chapter 230: Proposal

To Neil’s surprised pleasure, the people at the amusement park adhered to the announcement made awhile ago, and Neil had the best and most relaxing day in a public place that he could ever remember having in twenty years. Nobody pestered him despite their curious glance at him and Mia. Nor was he immune to the mood of festival going on around him. He knew the special announcement had been made on his behalf because his company had invested a huge sum in building the amusement park and they wanted him to have the best experience on his first visit with Mia.

The children were still in another part of the park, riding the roller coaster and other rides that Mia had seemed eager to try but he’d stopped her because of her condition. She often forgot that pregnant women shouldn’t ride things like that until he reminded her.

As the day drifted into evening, Neil had an amazingly enjoyable time doing simple things like visiting booths where homemade items, from cakes to crocheted linens, were on sale, devouring hot dogs slathered with mustard, and joking with the kids about whether all the games in the booths were fixed or just the ones they’d tried to win. But then, he was with Mia, and as he’d already discovered before, she had a gift for making even the smallest thing seem like the most wonderful thing to him.

She was also a great favorite of the children, and their affection for her seemed to tentatively include him too. They treated him like they’d known him before and he’d never known children to be this fun until today. Especially the boy, Mitchell, who made him seem like some kind of a big hero. Neil had never laughed nor played as much as he did today in the park.

And now that he was at the amusement park with her and the children, and the children seemed to like him for her as they kept asking when they’d be getting married, Neil was dying to prove to the world and to them by sliding the ring he’d chosen this morning on his way to the orphanage onto her finger. But he was waiting for the right moment.

After Rayne had told him what Mia had always wanted—a special proposal—he was adamantly determined that his proposal would be joyous, memorable, and special.

Now, as he walked with her through the noisy, brightly lit carnival grounds at sunset, he was well aware of the seven-carat radiant-cut diamond in his pocket as well as the smiling, curious glances of the hundreds of Mirage Mesa citizens who were enjoying the carnival rides and booths and all of whom were undoubtedly trying to hold back from approaching them after the announcement had been made. Occasionally, he noticed people taking pictures of them, but they were discreet about it.

"Want to ride the Ferris wheel?" Neil asked her, when Mia paused to look up at it. He’d not allowed her on the roller coaster ride but the Ferris wheel looked more safer.

"Only if you promise you won’t make the seat rock like you did earlier when we rode the train," she said, pulling off a piece of her pink cotton candy and subconsciously feeding it to him when he opened his mouth to her to feed him.

"I wouldn’t dream of it," Neil lied, chewing it. "Mia, that stuff tastes terrible. How can you eat it? Give me another bite." He said, shamelessly opening his mouth to her again.

She laughed and pulled off another sticky pink glob and fed it to him while chuckling even harder when he playfully bit her finger, "Ouch!" She smacked his shoulder and licked the finger he bit. Then she glared up at him. "I meant what I said about rocking the seat, Neil," she warned when he pulled her forward to get a ticket for their ride. "I’m...well... a little edgy about Ferris wheels."

"You?" he said in disbelief. "The woman who nearly got me killed a few minutes ago in that flying rocket capsule thing when you made it spin us around."

"That was different. We were enclosed in a cage. Ferris wheels," she said as she tipped her head back looking at the very high Ferris wheel, "are open and a little scary."

Neil was about to walk up to the ticket booth when he heard a barker called out from behind them, "Step right up and win a genuine gold-filled ring set with simulated jewels! Shoot five ducks and win your girl a ring, shoot ten, and win a giant teddy bear for her to cuddle."

Neil stopped in his tracks, turned around and glanced at the mechanical ducks moving in an endless row, at the fake shotguns propped in the booth, and the tray of rings with huge glittering fake jewels in every color from egg-yolk yellow to ruby red. And inspiration struck him. His gray eyes brightened up immediately.

"I thought you wanted to ride the Ferris wheel," Mia said, as he took her arm and turned her firmly around towards the booth of the shotguns.

"First," he announced mischievously, "I want to win you a genuine gold-filled ring with a simulated jewel."

"How many chances do you... want?" the man in the booth said, his voice trailing off as he stared at Neil’s face with narrowed eyes. "You sure look familiar, buddy." He took Neil’s money and handed him the gun without taking his eyes off his face, then he turned to Mia, who was still munching on her cotton candy and staring at the large teddy bears.

"Your boyfriend looks just like...you know...what his name... the man on television everywhere. You know—" he prompted her when Neil ignored him and raised the gun, testing the sight. "You know who I mean, don’t you, Miss?"

Mia met Neil’s sideways smile with a provocative one from beneath her lashes. "The good-looking guy?" she clarified, talking to the man in the booth. "Cold? Handsome? Dark haired?"

"Yeah, him! What’s his name?!" The man exclaimed, tapping his jaw.

"Jason Wallace!" she joked, and Neil missed his shot, cursing under his breath. Lowering the gun, he gave her an indignant look and raised it again to shoot the duck.

"Nah, not him," said the man. "This guy’s taller, a little older than Wallace, better looking and more successful." He’d recently just seen the news about the man yesterday but the name he couldn’t remember no matter how hard he tried.

Neil gave her a smug smile as he dared her to mislead the man again.

"Liam Thompson!" Mia cried, and he missed his second shot again.

"Querida," he warned out of the side of his mouth, his shoulders shaking with laughter, "do you want a ring or not?"

"Not," she said smugly. "I want a teddy bear."

"Then stop drooling over other men and let me shoot these damned ducks before we draw a bigger crowd."

She glanced around and saw that despite their obvious desire to adhere to the announcement and leave Neil alone, a large group of people had stopped to watch, drawn to the amazing spectacle of the real-life Neil Wayner shooting a gun, like all the stories they’d heard about him when he was still in the military, except the targets were metal ducks, not Mafia hit men, spies, or bad guys.

Neil hit eight out of ten ducks and someone clapped, then hastily stopped when he glared at them.

"Turn around, honey," Neil said to Mia.

"Why?" She asked, but he turned her around when she didn’t move. He then reached out into his pocket, winked at the man behind the booth and quickly put the diamond ring in the tray with the glass ones, then he fired twice more and deliberately missed so he’d win her a ring and not a teddy bear.

"Okay," he told Mia, picking up the tray, "turn around and pick out a ring."

Mia pouted and turned around. "What? But I wanted a teddy bear." she complained, oblivious to the gaping carnival barker who was staring openmouthed at the diamond ring on the tray.

"Sorry, I missed the last two shots. Which ring do you like?" He asked, presenting the tray of rings to her.

Mia glanced down at the rainbow of large yellow, pink, red, and dark blue stones glittering atop cheap gold settings. And she saw the diamond. Larger by far than all the glass stones, it sparkled and glowed, reflecting the revolving lights on the Ferris wheel. She recognized the cut because it matched a diamond wedding ring she’d seen in a movie she’d watched with Neil a day ago, and when she looked up at him, she recognized the somber, tender look in his eyes. Before she knew it, he went down on one knee and looked up at her, "Will you marry me, Mia Harrison?" he asked.

The people who had watched him shoot sensed that something was happening, or perhaps it was the gaping stare of the man in the booth that drew them forward to get a closer look at what was happening. Then they got the shock of their life seeing Neil Wayner on one knee in front of his girlfriend. Everyone began to quickly prepare their cameras.

Mia was speechless for awhile. Never in a million dreams had she expected Neil was going to propose. She cupped her palm against her mouth to hold her sob as she nodded her head, "Yes, I will." She said softly, shakily.

Neil grinned and slipped the ring onto her finger, then leaned down and kissed it. Standing up, he pulled her into his embrace, and she melted into him like liquid, laughing and crying.

"Shall we go and ride the Ferris wheel now?" he asked, kissing her forehead and wiping her tears.

She nodded wordlessly. He took her hand, and when they turned, the large crowd of onlookers began to take pictures. He didn’t glare at them and allowed them to take as many as they wanted.

Neil pulled her toward the ticket booth at the Ferris wheel, laughing as the man in the booth where he’d proposed called to the crowd in a loud, stunned voice, "That guy—the one who looks like the famous soldier—just took the biggest damned diamond ring you’ve ever seen out of his pocket and gave it to her!"

Almost the entire crowd at the park began to run towards the booth to take a look.

"Where are they?" one of the paparazzi who’d been tracking Neil’s and Mia’s movements all day asked, angling his camera.

The man pointed to the Ferris wheel, which was now stopped, with a crowd cheering uproariously at the base of it.

"They’re up there," Mitchell said, as they arrived with the other kids, smiling at the uppermost chair, "on top of the world!"

As the crowd gathered around the Ferris wheel, looking up at the couple, they began to chant, "Kiss her, Neil! Kiss her!" The photographers from the park and the reporters aimed their cameras at the couple in the topmost chair and lent their voices to the effort.

With his arm around her, Neil tipped Mia’s chin up with his free hand. "They aren’t going to let us down until they see us kiss."

She bit her lip, her cheeks flushed with color, her eyes bright with love, her palm protectively covering the diamond ring he’d slipped on her finger. "I can’t believe you did this here—in front of everyone. You hate publicity."

Neil tightened his arm, pulling her closer. "Not this publicity, I don’t. The whole damned world," he whispered, lowering his head, "has witnessed our misery. Let them see what happens when a hardened escaped convict meets an angel who believed in him. Kiss me, Mia."

In the midst of the cheers that went up from below at the sight of the couple locked in an embrace, a woman hidden among the crowds with her face covered by a mask clenched her fists as she looked up at them. Her eyes were red from holding back tears, and she clenched her fists so tightly that her nails broke the skin in her palms.

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