CHAPTER 226: HOMECOMING WITH A DIAMOND [I]

The cool night air kissed my cheeks as I stepped out of the car driven by Adrien’s driver — no, my Fiancé’s driver as MY FIANCÉ had something important to see through so he couldn’t bring me home by himself, but the warmth blooming in my chest chased away any chill. My left hand felt heavy, wonderfully so, a sparkling secret glinting under the streetlights. I’m engaged!! Every heartbeat felt like a drumroll, leading me to this moment. I pushed open the front door to our family home.

Before I could even blink, a blur of hair in neat buns and loose sweatshirt and pants launched itself at me. "GIRL!!" Aria, a whirlwind of energy, her arms wrapping around me in a crushing embrace.

"GIRL!" I shrieked back, the sound bubbling up from a wellspring of pure joy. We bounced on the balls of our feet, a ridiculous, giddy dance that only we understood. She was dragging me into a gentle spin, both of us shrieking like teenagers. My cheeks hurt from smiling, my lungs burned from laughing, but my heart—it was glowing.

"Ahh—stop! My ears!" Leo’s voice groaned from inside the living room. "Why are you two giggling like you just robbed a bank? Oh God—did you actually rob a bank?" He dramatically slapped his hands over his face and staggered toward us like a vampire meeting sunlight. "What is that blinding light? My poor, innocent retinas—gone, burned forever by... ugh."

Still laughing, I tugged my left hand free from Aria’s grip and held it up high. The diamond rose gold ring caught the sunlight, scattering it in sharp, brilliant rays. "By this," I said, a little breathless. "Your sister’s hand."

Leo dropped his hands just enough to squint, then stumbled back a step as if the ring itself had physically assaulted him. "O—oh my god, sis. What is this?!" He lunged forward, gaping at it. "You—you didn’t steal this, did you?!"

Thwack.

Aria’s hand connected smartly with the back of his head before I could reply. "Don’t be an idiot."

Leo rubbed the back of his head, his dramatic groan quickly morphing into a genuine yelp of pain. "Ow! What was that for? I was merely asking a pertinent question about the potential felony my sister may or may not have committed!" He squinted at the ring again, then at me, then at Aria, as if trying to decipher a complex code.

"She didn’t steal it, you moron. She got proposed to. Keep up."

The silence that followed was thick and sudden. Leo’s expression shifted from awe to something akin to utter devastation, the exact face he’d made when he was seven and I’d accidentally eaten his last piece of Halloween candy.

"What?" he said, his voice small and wounded.

Just then, the back door creaked open, and my dad walked in, a happy whistle on his lips, with Captain and Ivy trotting at his heels.

Ivy, ever the energetic whirlwind, bounded forward, her entire body wiggling as she launched herself at me in a flurry of happy yips and wet-nosed nudges. I crouched down to greet her, burying my face in her soft, honey-colored fur.

"Hi, my sweet girl," I murmured, scratching behind her ears.

Captain ambled over at a lazy pace. He gave my outstretched hand a cursory sniff before deciding my toes were far more interesting, giving them a long, slobbery lick. I laughed, ruffling the fur on his head. "Hey, old man."

"Dad!" Leo blurted before I could even say hello. "Adrien Washington has proposed to sis!"

My dad froze mid-whistle, his eyes darting from Leo’s face to my beaming one, then finally landing on my left hand. His face, usually so crinkled with good humor, softened. "Really?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper, as if he was afraid to break the spell.

I nodded, my throat suddenly tight with a mix of joy and emotion. I slowly got to my feet, Ivy still making happy little snuffles at my ankles. "Yeah, Dad. Really." I held out my hand for him to see, my fingers trembling slightly.

He closed the distance in three slow steps, his work boots silent on the old hardwood floor. He didn’t look at the ring first. His gaze, warm and familiar, searched my eyes as if trying to read the whole story there. I guess he found what he was looking for, because that slow, genuine smile I knew so well spread across his face, crinkling the corners of his eyes.

"Well, I’ll be," he breathed, finally taking my hand. His calloused, warm fingers were a stark contrast to the delicate rose gold band. He turned my hand over, examining the ring with a quiet appreciation. "He did good, pumpkin. He did real good." Then, he let go of my hand and pulled me into a hug. It wasn’t the giddy, shrieking hug from Aria. This was a Dad Hug™—solid, safe, and smelling faintly of home and fresh air.

When he finally pulled back, I saw the unmistakable glint of tears in his eyes.

"My baby is all grown up, and she is getting married" he whispered, his voice thick. And she is pregnant too..

Before I could reply, my hand was snatched away from my dad’s grasp. Leo was examining the ring with the intensity of a jeweler. He held it up, turning the ring this way and that, his eyebrows nearly meeting his hairline. "This... this looks expensive, like it costs hundreds of kingdoms."

He yanked out his phone so fast I swore I heard the case crack. His thumbs flew across the screen. A moment later, he looked up, his eyes bugging out "Nope. Nope, nope, nope. There’s no ring like this anywhere on the internet. None. Which means it’s either a one-of-a-kind or—" He gasped, clutching the phone to his chest like he’d just uncovered a government conspiracy. "Or it’s priceless."

"Leo—"

"Sis." His voice was grave now, dead serious. "Protect that ring with your life. Or better yet—cut off your finger. That way no one can steal it. The finger is replaceable, the ring is not"

Thwack!

Another smack from Aria landed on the back of Leo’s head. "Are you insane? She is not cutting off her finger! What is wrong with you?!"

I was laughing so hard at that point I could barely get the words out. "Actually... there’s something else." I looked between the three of them—Aria still buzzing beside me, Leo looking like he was about to faint, Dad trying to keep it together. "Adrien and I decided. Both families will meet... in two days’ time to pick a date for the wedding and to get everyone formally introduced." And then you’ll get to learn Adrien is Walton and not Washington...

The room went silent. Captain lifted his head, sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere.

"What?!" My dad’s smile vanished.

"What?" Aria’s jaw dropped.

"What the—?!" Leo choked out, his phone clattering to the floor.

The air in the hallway crackled with the aftershock of my announcement. Two days. It sounded so simple, but I knew it was a lit fuse leading to a series of explosions I wasn’t entirely prepared for.

Aria was the first to react, her mouth dropping open before she let out a piercing squeal that made the dogs flinch. "A family meeting?! Oh my god! This is happening! This is really happening! Is it formal? What do I wear? Can I come? I’m practically family!" She was practically vibrating, already pulling out her phone, probably to start a board for "family meeting outfits."

Leo, meanwhile, had gone pale. "The... the Washingtons? Coming here? To our house? Dad, we need to clean! We need to buy new furniture! We need to hire a caterer! We can’t let Adrien Washington’s parents see my trophies from the county fair, they’ll think we’re heathens!" He gestured wildly around the living room, suddenly seeing every imperfection. "What if they don’t like us? What if they think Dad’s jokes are too... Dad-like?"

Dad, however, just chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound that brought a sense of calm to the rising hysteria. He put a reassuring hand on Leo’s shoulder. "Son, relax. They’re just people. And they’re coming to welcome my daughter into their family, not inspect our baseboards." He turned to me, his smile gentle. "Seems like things are moving pretty fast, pumpkin. But you seem happy, and that’s all that matters." He held my gaze, and in his eyes, I saw not just acceptance, but a deep, quiet joy that made my own heart swell. He knew, I realized, even before Adrien had asked. He just knew. Besides, he had always been the one teasing Adrien about marrying me.

"Alright then. All this excitement has made me hungry. Who wants leftover lasagna?" Dad said.