Oh, the ring...

Our dating life was a whirl wind of fun. We went to dances, we went to movies, we went out to eat. (Somehow I managed to stay skinny even though we were eating out every night of the week.) But our favorite past time was to people watch at the mall.

So we went to the mall. We walked in and out of stores, doing a little window shopping at the same time. I have always loved to look at the rings in the mall showcases. I had gone with several different friends to look at rings. Friends who KNEW they would be getting engaged and friends who "knew" (aka assumed) they would be getting engaged.

I knew the kind of ring I wanted. My first ring was, as Oswald would call it, "small". It was three stones, all square cut, set in yellow gold. I wanted something completely different. I wanted round cut and a totally different style. On all of these outings to help my friends find rings, I had seen what kind of ring I wanted. I thought I wanted a ring with lots of diamonds up the band leading to a HUGE center stone. I thought I only wanted one band as the "wedding band". I had all of these criteria for my ring, that was until I went shopping with Oswald.

We walked into the store where "my" ring was, and I showed it to him. He thought it was just about the ugliest thing he had ever seen. He could not believe that I would want something so flashy! He was never one to mince words.

So we left that store and went to another one. I gazed at the engagement rings. Oswald had me try on white gold and we both agreed that yellow gold looks much better on my skin.

"What about this ring?" He said pointing to a beautiful round cut solitaire with a band on both the top and bottom.

"It's pretty." I said. The clerk quickly came over to take the ring out of the case and let me try it on. She pulled the solitaire out of the "jacket" (the band on top and bottom were actually connected by what jewelers call a jacket).

I tried that ring on and fell in love. We had never talked about getting engaged or the ring, but I knew that was the ring I wanted Oswald to buy for me. It would have to be on his own time.

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A few weeks later, I was helping his mom and sisters clean up after Sunday dinner. Oswald was on the phone and as soon as he hung up, he and his dad began whispering. His mom walked over to them and started whispering, too.

The next thing I knew, Oswald came over to me and kissed my cheek.

"I'm going with my dad to talk to some guy about my dad being an umpire for baseball season."

"Ok?" I said quizzically. I had never heard anything about this and I thought it was a little strange how he was just going to leave me there with his mom and sisters for who knows how long.

His dad and he walked out the door. His mom, sisters and I finished cleaning up and sat down to watch some tv.

When Oswald and his dad came back, there was even more whispering going on. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I knew better than to ask.

Comin up: the real story of what Oswald was doing that night...