Taken: Day 17

Word Count: 102,022

Summary of Events:

Mitchell and Dolly were invited by Walton to attend his family's Thanksgiving gathering, which Mitchell enjoyed to some extent, although it did make him feel sad that his own family had rejected him, and Dolly's enamour with a week-and-a-half old great-grandchild of Walton's also left Mitchell feeling a little strange. Nonetheless, the following Monday, Mitchell went to a jewelry store and picked out an engagement ring to give to Dolly at Christmas . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

The jeweller put the ring into a special velvet-covered ring box and took Mitchell over to the register, where he tallied up the bill. Mitchell paid the money and, with trembling hands, took hold of the box.

“Thank you,” Mitchell said.

“You’re welcome,” the jeweller said. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” Mitchell only just remembered to reply.

He clutched the ring box in his hand tightly all the way back to the hotel. Only once he’d closed and locked the door did Mitchell dare crack the lid of the box open and look at the ring, which sparkled prettily against the black velvet lining.

Mitchell removed the ring and tested to see if it fit on any of his fingers. He found it only got about halfway down his littlest finger. Looking at his whole hand with the ring seated in its somewhat awkward position, Mitchell had to admit that it looked rather small, and suggested that his hands were rather large in comparison to Dolly’s.

Hearing footsteps in the hallway, Mitchell quickly removed the ring and shoved it back into the box before hiding the box in the dresser drawer with his few spare clothes.

He doubted anyone from the hallway would be able to see inside and tell that he had a ring box, he also doubted anyone would think that a person staying in the cheapest hotel in town would be able to afford any exceedingly expensive jewelry, but yet the ring still felt special and precious to him, as it symbolised just how much — in two months — he had grown to love Dolly and desperately hoped that she would be willing to become his wife.

Admittedly, Mitchell felt some fear within himself that Dolly wouldn’t accept the ring and wouldn’t want to be his wife, but he hoped that his fears were unreasonable, after all, when he’d asked Dolly on Friday if she ever wanted to have a baby she’d said she did, although he hadn’t asked her again what she thought about marrying him, considering that the last time he’d asked she’d suggested that she would be too much of a burden for him.

Mitchell hoped he would be able to convince Dolly otherwise and would be met with a ‘yes’ when he asked if she would marry him. If she refused him at Christmas, then he would ask again toward the end of January, then the end of February, and so on, until she finally told him she would marry him, even if it was so that he would stop asking her.

Until then he was leaving the ring in the drawer with his clothes, where it would be safe from any and all prying eyes that might think it would be a good idea to take from him the greatest symbol of affection he’d ever desired to give to anyone, in spite of the fact that it wasn’t as expensive as other pieces of jewelry.