Page 119 of Off Script
“Oh my god, just open it!” The suspense is killing me, and I know what’s inside.
Pulling off the top, he looks inside. His wide-eyed gaze bounces up to meet my own, a look of concern knitting his brows together. He withdraws the white plastic stick. “Is this… are you… pregnant?”
I nod slowly, anxiety filling my gut while I await his reaction to this life-altering news. “I know we didn’t plan it. Apparently,I wasn’t consistent enough at taking my birth control at the same time every day while we were traveling abroad. I’m sure it comes as a shock—"
“Stop talking, babe. This is the best news—the best gift—that you could have ever given me.” Ben whoops and sweeps me up in a huge hug, lifting my feet from the floor and twirling me around the kitchen. “Oh my god, we’re having a baby!”
My nerves dissipate immediately as I literally feel the happiness radiating through him. Setting me back down on my feet, Ben kneels in front of me, lifting my top and reverently pressing his hands to my still mostly flat stomach. I thread my fingers through his hair, as he looks up at me. His eyes filled awe; I know he is going to be the best father to our child.
“Open your gift now,” he says, his voice thick with emotion.
As my fingers fumble to open the bag. Inside, I find a Tiffany box and I know it’s another charm to add to my bracelet. “We’ll have to add some type of baby charm soon too,” I whisper through my happy tears as I lift the lid.
I assume that the charm he’s giving me tonight will be a little gold statue to commemorate his Oscar win, so when I lift the lid to find a small golden charm of a diamond solitaire ring, I gasp, my hand flying to my mouth.
Continuing to kneel in front of me, Ben says, “Babe, I will never love another person better or greater than I love you. You’re everything to me, my whole world, my best friend, my lover, and now you’re going to be the mother of my child. When I found you, I found my home. Over these past three years, you have made me happier than I ever thought I could be, and I want a lifetime of happiness with you. Carlisle Elizabeth Matthews, will you marry me?”
From the pocket of his sweatpants, he fishes out a ring box and opens it. Inside lies a gorgeous, classic diamond solitaire.
The tears flow down my cheeks, as I sputter ecstatically, “Yes, yes, yes!”
Sometimes things happen in life that tilt your axis and knock you off course, forever changing your destiny. Sometimes these events are monumentally huge, like winning the lottery or receiving a terminal medical diagnosis.
But sometimes the events that change your life the most are so small, so seemingly inconsequential, that you don’t notice their importance in the moment. It’s only in retrospect that you realize how that one tiny decision forever shifted the trajectory of your life.
You know, like answering a wrong number.
