Chapter 64: Chapter 64

Blair

" They only returned my cell phone after I put on the dress. You should have seen the look on Dimitri's face when he answered the call and saw me in my wedding dress," I reported to the women of the Voitovich family.

We were all in my mother-in-law's kitchen preparing lunch, or rather, my mother-in-law and Katia prepared lunch while Masha pretended to do something and I was forbidden to go near any food, it seems that the avocado salad story really scared them.

" And how did Dimitri react? " Katia asked as the others laughed.

" To help, he said in front of all my friends that despite my insistence on the subject, he would not marry me," they laughed even harder.

" It's just like my brother to do that," Masha assured, grabbing a pot of fresh mushrooms for her mother.

" He loved to tell everyone I knew that I was trying to convince him to get married. I swear I came close to strangling your son at least four times," I confided to Joanne.

My mother-in-law motioned for me to get up and approach the sink, and I went over to her, receiving a knife.

" Here, cut into strips " she indicated the mushrooms " Dimitri has always been very playful.”

" He loves to laugh at my expense. But he would panic at the possibility of me mentioning this subject around someone he knew " I started to cut the mushrooms carefully.

Katia held her huge belly of almost seven months to laugh, while the others seemed to be equally amused.

" I can imagine the look on his face when he found out about the engagement," my sister-in-law let out without thinking.

For a minute they all stopped what they were doing and looked at us, and I widened my eyes while Masha covered her mouth with her hand.

" What do you mean, he found out about the engagement? " Joanne narrowed her eyes.

" Oh my God, did you guys lie about him proposing and losing the ring? " Katia quickly laughed again.

" What? Dimitri, come here! " My mother-in-law raised her voice, causing everyone to laugh again.

I didn't expect to reveal this story ever, I couldn't believe Masha's slip-up!

Dimitri was quick to answer his mother's call, looking confused by the overall situation.

" What is it? " he frowned.

" Did you lie about the engagement? " My mother-in-law crossed her arms, giving her son a stern look.

" BLAIR!”

" Don't look at me, it was your sister who told her! " I immediately defended myself.

" I can't believe you put out a lie like that for the whole country! They searched the accident site for the ring, what would they do if they found it? " Joanne scolded.

" Now that would be a big surprise," he winked at his mother.

" Dimitri!”

All the commotion in the kitchen made Yuri, Yaroslav and Alexei join us, looking confused.

" Why are you fighting with me? I was literally the last one in the country to know that I was engaged to be married! " he defended himself.

Katia sat up, still laughing and holding her belly. causing her husband to rush over to check on her.

" What's going on? " my father-in-law wanted to know.

" I take responsibility, I made up the story about the engagement to make the nurses feel sorry for Blair so that they wouldn't bar her from the hospital because she wasn't family," Masha explained.

" And she only told me afterwards," I added.

" I just didn't count on this story making national news," she sighed.

For a moment everyone was silent, processing what they had just discovered.

" So Dimitri never asked you to marry him? " Yaroslav looked for confirmation.

" Not exactly, we agreed to stick to the story and get married " Dimitri ended the doubts.

" So, Masha proposed to you? " Yuri teased us.

That remark made Alexei's eyes widen, staring at his fiancée, making my sister-in-law laugh.

" What have I gotten myself into? " the young man asked his brother-in-law.

" No one asked me to marry them," I clarified.

My gaze searched Dimitri's, who seemed quite amused by the general situation.

" So you're not engaged to anyone in this family? " Yuri asked, causing me to turn my attention away from Dimitri.

" Not technically, since he has never made a formal proposal and I don't have a ring, but we are getting married.”

Of course, I would have loved it if he had proposed as he told me he would, but that doesn't take away from the fact that I am going to marry that man.

" I think it's time to correct that.”

I turned to Dimitri once more as I heard his voice, my eyes widening as I found him on his knees.

" Dimitri!”

" My father is right, I never asked.”

My heart was pounding hard in my chest as I looked at Dimitri kneeling there, a silence overcame everyone in his family and I felt my face heat up at seeing me as the center of all the attention.

" Blair, I don't know exactly when I fell in love with you. Maybe it was on our first date, when you couldn't stop talking about weddings, maybe it was during our first kiss in Madrid, or during that play in Zurich, when the actress wouldn't stop sitting on my lap and you pushed her away every time," he began his speech with a half smile on his face.

I bowed my head, covering my eyes with my hands amidst a small laugh. I can't believe he chose just that play to quote in his speech.

" Maybe there wasn't a specific moment and it was a little bit at a time, but I know that the time we spent apart served to show me that I don't want to be a second away from you.”

I looked at him again, feeling my heart grow warm with each word. But one detail kept bothering me. He doesn't have the ring! If he thinks he's going to ask me to marry him without a ring and get a yes, he's dead wrong!

" Blair Ayeleen Ozkan, will you marry me? " he declared a little breathlessly, as he reached for something in the front pocket of his pants.

The position he was kneeling in got in the way a bit, but he soon took the ring from there and held it out to me, after discreetly checking that the jewel was intact.

" Oh my God, was it in your pocket the whole time?”

" I told you you wouldn't find it," he scoffed.

" You got rid of the box just so I wouldn't find it! " I accused him, laughing.

" You said you wanted it to be a surprise," he explained.

" Sorry to interrupt your moment…”

" Masha! " My mother-in-law scolded.

" Mom, she still hasn't answered whether she accepts or not, and the poor guy is about to have a cramp in that position," my sister-in-law defended herself, making me smile.

More than that, I was on the verge of a fit of laughter when I noticed that she was right, I just shook my head affirmatively, extending my hand for him to put the ring on. Dimitri seemed to suffer from the same malady, as I felt him chuckle against the skin of my hand while kissing the ring that fit perfectly on my finger.

My now officially fiancee, stood up, pulling me into a passionate kiss. I was aware of all the people watching us, applauding our little moment, but in my mind, there was only the two of us and all the feelings that united us.

I broke away from him only to admire the ring on my finger. It was rose gold, with a large navette cut topaz gem, flanked by three small diamonds, brilliant cut, drop cut, and square.

" Let me see " Masha pulled me in, and soon I was swept up by all the women of the family, as Dimitri received his father's congratulations.

I looked up at him as they squeezed around my hand, and when our eyes met I felt that despite all the change my life had undergone, everything was in perfect harmony.