Part 2- The Email, The Proposal, and Gaevin's Birth

The Email
That Sunday (two days later) I went out with my cousins, Faylene and Sherri (the one who set us up and went on our first date). While out with them, I got a call on my cell phone from Jake. Again, he had nothing to say so after a couple minutes of listening to Spongebob in the background, I said "Well, you aren't talking to me, so I'm going to hang up" and I did so. When I got home, I checked my email, and had one from him. To this day, I still remember exactly what it said. And I quote:
"Dear Veronica,

I have really enjoyed getting to know you. I would be extremely grateful if you would Please Please Please do me the honor of allowing me to be your boyfriend.

Jacob."

What could I do? With something so cheesy as that, I had no choice. I was hooked. I laughed, and replied simply. "Yes."

A few days later (the following Thursday) he picked me up at school, after my last class for the day. I was going to go down to meet his friends. What he failed to tell me until we were half way there, was that I'd be meeting his parents that day also. It went well, but the drive went on for what felt like forever, and at one point, after we'd been driving in the woods for a while, I thought to myself "Oh dear Lord... I know nothing about this man. He's going to pull over, kill me, and leave me in these woods here. I bet he lives nowhere near here!" Of course, we were right around the corner from his parents' house when I thought that, hehehe. The night was relatively uneventful, although one of his friends (who he is no longer friends with) did NOT like me, from the very beginning.

The Proposal.
Aug 22. My birthday. We'd already talked about marriage, what we wanted, etc. I was with him at the mall (but not in the jewelry store) in mid-June when he picked out the ring. He was in there for over an hour! Anyway, he never proposed. My birthday rolled around, and I thought to myself "He must be going to propose today. He must have been waiting for this." He sent me a bouquet of tiger lillies, which arrived early in the morning. He got to my house, and gave me my gift, which was the world's ugliest pair of sneakers ever. I took all the paper out of them, thinking maybe he'd hidden the ring in the toe of one of the shoes. Nope, nothing there but paper. So, I thanked him for the beautiful sneakers, and told him to go watch TV in my room while I took a shower. I had forgotten to grab my clothes, so came back into my bedroom dripping wet with a towel wrapped around myself. He stood up, and dropped to one knee in front of me. I thought to myself "Are you KIDDING me? He picks NOW? He can't wait two minutes for me to be dressed before he does this???" I was so busy thinking all of those things, that I didn't hear most of what he said, and didn't have the heart to ask him to repeat himself. I said yes, and then said "Now get out of my room so I can put clothes on!" lol. After I got dressed, I went into the kitchen to show my mother the ring, and she pulled me aside, and said "Do you really think this is a good idea? Shouldn't you sleep around some before you get married? How do you know he's good in bed?" I just stared at her, turned around, and walked away. I really didn't know how to respond to that.

Gaevin's Birth

My cousin Pat had his first baby on Oct 10 that year. We went that day to visit the proud parents in the hospital and bring a gift. While we were there, Jake wouldn't touch Gaevin. When we left, I turned to him and said "What was that? You were really rude back there! They probably think you hate their baby!" He floored me, when he gave his response, which was this "I don't want to hold him. He's not mine. I can't take him home, and so I don't want to touch him. It'll just make me sad." And he kept walking out of the hospital towards the car. We got in, and while we were driving home, he looked at me and said "Let's have a baby." I said "Um... Not today." He said "Why not?" Me: "We need to be married first." Him: "So let's get married." Me: "Um... Not today." Him: "Tomorrow?" Me: "No." Him: "Fine then. But I want to be married before the New Year."

Up Next: Wedding Plans, The Wedding, and The Honeymoon