The diamond on her finger sparkled appealingly in the florescent lights as Evelynne held out her hand for everyone. It was something she had gotten quickly used to in the past three weeks; it never came naturally but there was something flattering about a group of women commenting on how lovely her ring was and what a lucky woman she was.

Not that she needed reminding of how lucky she was; waking up beside Andrew every morning in their tiny Scottish apartment was testament to that. Sitting on the edge of the couch, Evelynne wondered how long she would have to wait before she could go down to the basement where the Andrew and the men were watching football, and quietly convince him that it was time to go home. The clock above the television said that it would be at least another twenty minutes until the match was over, so until then she brightened her smile turning to her best friend.

“It’s lovely, Eve,” the redhead giggled, “I still cannot believe that Drew got around to asking you.”
“It only took, what, four years?” Samantha interjected from near the kitchen.
“Four lovely years of blissful dating, I know,” Jackie smiled, patting Evelynne’s hand, “But we all knew this hand deserved a ring quite a while ago. And let me tell you that if-”
Jackie continued on, but Evelynne’s attention was drawn not to her friend but to the man that had just come up the stairs and slipped into the kitchen. Her emerald eyes trailed his every move, pausing for a quick ogle of his bum as he bent down to grab another pint from the refrigerator. His brown hair fell into his vision and with a swipe of his fingers pushed the fringe back as he leant down on the countertop to catch her eye.

The blue were strikingly clear as he starred at her; still managing to nod and ‘mmhmmm’ in time with Jackie’s comments, Evelynne allowed her the pleasure of loosing herself in Andrew’s gaze before breaking the connection to rake her eyes over his chest in the white collared shirt overtop of which his precious brown leather jacket hung. She wanted to groan as his eyebrows rose in a way that drove her insane and his eyes twinkled sexily.

“Eve, is something wrong?”
“No! Goodness, no, Jackie. Just had a moment there.” she laughed gingerly.

The two women were looking at her with a keen sense of interest, Samantha sipping her wine as her foot bounced and Jackie still holding onto her hand.

“What?”
“Nothing, Evelynne. You’ve just been a bit off lately,” Samantha sighed, “we’re just concerned.”
“I’m fine. Just very tired. I think maybe I should have an early evening.”
“Wedding stress?” Jackie finally asked, letting go of her hand.
“It is hard planning a wedding and working and keeping house and…”
“Say no more, darling. You go home and have a solid night’s sleep. Don’t want to you get sick right before Christmas either, do we?”

Most of the time Evelynne loved Jackie with all her heart; the red head was as kind and selfless as anyone she had known. Other times, the older woman made her want to scream that she wasn’t twelve years old, and no, did not want to hear one more thing about how Jackie and Josh’s perfect wedding and life was so…. perfect.

Standing, Evelynne brushed her pleated pencil skirt down over her knees before stepping down the basement stairs, leaning over the railing. The room was mostly dark, aside from the television that lit up the space with the images of grown men kicking around a white and black ball. Three heads were visible from the couch, and as she padded down onto the carpet one turned around and threw a smile her way.

“Hey Eve. Want to watch the match?” Greg asked.
“No, but thanks. I’m actually pretty knackered. I think I might go home.”
“Home?” Andrew turned around, “Give me a minute and I’ll come with.”
“No, you stay! Finish the rest of your game.”
“Eve,” he paused and looked over the top of his square glasses, “Five minutes and the match’ll be over and we’ll go home, alright, luv?”
“Alright.”

It was the longest five minutes of her life Evelynne felt, heading back up the stairs to collect her purse and jacket. The living room wallpaper made her eyes cross as she buttoned her wool jacket, disliking what she was sure had once been very nice leaf embellished green. Now it just looked tacky, and she couldn’t figure why she had never realized it before, after all, she had spent nearly four years with Jackie as her best friend.

“Ready to go?” a voice in her ear whispered.

A simple nod was all she gave to Andrew as she hugged her friends goodbye and returning promises to come over again as soon as she felt less stressed, took a breath of the fresh air that met her lungs as she stepped out onto the walkway. Holding out a bare had, a smile graced her red lips as she placed her own mitted on into Andrew’s and they began down the block. They could have driven, but for the beginning of December it was a lovely crisp evening, the streetlights guiding their way back towards their apartment.

With little more than the crunch of snow beneath their feet for the first five minutes, Evelynne was left with the thoughts in her head since departing Jackie and Josh’s place. Life had become a whirlwind since the Andrew’s grandparent’s engagement party, and although she loved beginning to plan for the day when she would marry the wonderful man walking beside her, sometimes it just all seemed too much. There where moments when she wanted to say too fast, but they had been together for four years and after four years she couldn’t very well justify things as going too fast, could she?

”Something on your mind?” his voice broke her reprieve.
“Plenty. Nothing dreadful, though.” she smiled.
“But it’s still plenty, Evelynne. You’ve been off lately. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

His eyes stared at her as the rounded the corner onto their block and she let her shoulders shrug softly, lips pursing into a thin line. He was far too good for her and it made her absolutely paranoid sometimes, but the ring on the finger said otherwise as they climbed the apartment steps and she led the way in.

“I should call my mother.”

The wooden door slammed behind her as she hung the wool coat up on a hook, turning to face Andrew who was brushing snow off his shoulders, a perplexed look on his face.

“To tell her we’re engaged? Eve, I thought you already did.”
“I was going to. I just… put it off.”
“It’s sort of an important call to put off, don’t you think?” he asked, rubbing his forehead, “I mean, she’s got to book a flight out here, and probably take time off work, and…. you’re her only daughter, Evie. It’s a big deal.”
“Of course it is, Andrew.”

She strode into the living room and began to put neat the magazines she had left cluttering the coffee table before they had gone out. The conversation needed to be over as far as she was concerned, but Andrew seemingly didn’t understand that as he followed her in and grabbed her hand to pull her to a standing position facing him.

“Evie, talk to me. This is bigger than you’re letting on, and I can’t do anything to help you unless you tell me.”
“Andrew…”
“Eve, you know every person in my entire family. From my alcoholic brother to my nieces to Great Uncle Jack who thinks he’s a matador, you know them all. I don’t even know your mother’s name, do I?”
“Isabella.”

Deep down she knew Andrew was right; sooner or later she was going to be forced to own up to her family, regardless of who they were and she had known that since she left Canada. Yet Evelynne had never thought it would be like this, through Andrew’s eyes pleading with her to let down the final wall and tell him everything she had left behind to find a new life in Ireland. Slowly, she sat down on the couch, pulling her hair out of its ponytail all while looking up at her fiancé.

“You may want to get comfortable, luv. This may take a while.”