Delightful Deception

"You are scaring me," I hesitated, as alarm bells started blaring in my head.

"Don't worry, it's not scary," he assured, "Well maybe a little scary, but hopefully in all the best ways. Trust me. Please." He was holding both of my hands in both of his hands.

"I trust you Derek," I said, but I was freaking out inside.

"The day I met you I was completely turned around," he started, "I had sworn off dating and given up on love entirely. I believed falling in love was a cruel myth I had been told, but could never achieve. And the truth is, I usually get what I want."

Oh really? I thought. There's the confident, maybe a little too smug, man I knew. But where the hell was he going with this?

"I knew the moment I met you I wanted you in my life," he continued, "I also knew I needed to know if you wanted me, without any doubts." I must have looked confused because he continued.

"I love you and I want to make you my wife," he proposed, getting down on one knee. I gasped and clasped my hands over my mouth. He opened the little black box, revealing a beautiful diamond engagement ring. Actually a huge diamond ring. No way it could be real! We couldn't afford rings like that. It was sweet though, and of course I was going to say yes. Derek stood up and I was expecting him to take the ring out of the box to put it on my finger, even though I hadn't said yes yet.

Instead he continued, "But there's more. April Fool's is the one day of the year you can fool everyone around you by telling them lies, or you can simply tell them the truth and leave them to wonder what is true. I have lied to you and I am truly sorry. I swear I never intended to. It just happened and I needed to continue feeling the way you made me feel. I needed to know that this was real. I am telling you all of this on April Fools Day because I am going to reverse the lie I told you. This is the day that I can start over and hope that you understand."

"Wait," I said finally. I was trying to wrap my head around all of this but I felt pain in my chest. "What are you saying right now? You lied to me? All this time? About what? I fucking knew you were too good to be true. Let go of me!" I ripped my hand from his and sank my fingers in my hair shaking my head. No, no, no I was screaming in my head. Why do this? Why declare your wish to spend the rest of your life with me and then reveal you've been lying. Was this the cruelest April Fools joke ever? I wanted to yell, to run, to hit something or someone. But I stood there.

"Please, you promised me you'd hear me out," he pleaded, "just listen."

"Fine, Fucking fine," I huffed and crossed my arms. I had no hope that there was anything he could possibly say at this point to fix any of this, but I had to at least find out.

"I'm rich," he revealed, "I don't work for my company, I own the company. I inherited it from my dad. I worked alongside him for a few years after college to learn the ropes. But when he died, I had to take over. It wasn't easy and I have taken a lot of shit, but I did it. And I have done it well. So my mom will be well taken care of, and I will never need to worry about money."

My mind went racing, searching for evidence that this could be true. Yes, I knew his dad had passed and his mom was living comfortably. I definitely noticed his clothes were fancy, although I wouldn't know a designer name to save my life. He was never worried about money, which I thought was weird, but passed it off as his laid back attitude. When I met his mom over the holidays she seemed like any other mom, except she dressed fancy too. So I guess what I thought were inexpensive costume pearls and jewels, were the real deal. His friends liked to tease him and call him boss. Ohhhhh, he was their boss. Looking back it did make sense. But why lie? I let him continue before speaking as I had promised to do.

"I have had many girls use me for my money over the years," he admitted, "I just wanted to find real love and I did with you. If I told you the day I met you that I had money, I might never know how you really felt about me."

Oh really, I thought to myself. So he underestimated me from the beginning. He chose to lie and now how could I ever trust him fully? Oh and other people were in on it too! His mother, his friends, and other coworkers I guess too. So he had made me a fool. Exactly what I had always feared and told him specifically to never do to me.

"Please know that all I've ever wanted is you," he explained, "I didn't want to keep anything from you, but I just wanted to be me and for that to be enough. That doesn't mean you can't trust every other thing about me. I know people have lied to you before but they were the fools, not you. You are good, sweet, kind, smart, intuitive and generous. The truth is you are a person that most people only hope to be. Even me. I'm sorry I doubted you. That was wrong, but if you let me, I promise I will spend the rest of my life making it up to. Please don't throw this away because I'm a fool."

Sure he lied to me because he didn't trust me to be able to see the real him beyond his money. But hadn't I doubted him? I often wondered when the next shoe was going to drop. Now it had, but he just wanted me to see him, without money being part of the equation. It didn't matter to me if he made a lot of money or none, he was still the same person I fell in love with.

I reached out again for his hand that wasn't holding the ring box and told him, "I love you. I am sad that you felt you had to lie to me, but I know I wasn't the one who made you feel that way. You didn't do that to hurt me; you did that to heal you. By doing that, you have healed me too. You have shown me love I didn't know existed and I trust you wholeheartedly. I'd be a fool not to."

Derek started laughing until he was crying.

"See what I did there?" I said with tears streaming down my face too.

"Yes, thank you. So?" he asked, looking down at the ring.

"Yes Derek, I will be your fool, today and every day for the rest of our lives," I vowed, accepting his proposal as he put the ring on my finger.

I looked up at him and declared, "You did it."

"Did what?" he asked.

"You changed my mind about April Fools Day," I confirmed in the privacy of the alleyway. Our alleyway, where we could consummate yet another milestone in our lives. Hell, he was rich, he could buy the building and we could continue using the alleyway any time we wanted!