Falling for Fran Pt. 02

Despite how late it was and how long of a day it had been, we still experienced a few more orgasms in the sitting room before we even headed to the bedroom. I had her keep the stockings and suspenders on until we were ready to go to bed because I found them incredibly erotic. Once we'd done our nightly ablutions and had crawled into bed, though, we were out pretty quickly. We both slept well and late but started the day pretty much the same way we'd ended the previous one. We stayed in bed for a good part of that day, leaving only when necessary but always returning. It wasn't all sex, though; we spent a lot of time talking, mainly about what our next step was going to be. We were both on the same page that this visit had confirmed that we both felt that we were meant to be together. By the time we got up and got showered and dressed, we had a pretty solid plan in place.

Since I knew that my family wouldn't even flinch at the idea of me moving to England, we came to an agreement that we'd start looking into how I could make that transition. It took a little bit of convincing for Fran to realize that I was more interested in spending my time with her than around my indifferent family. I started looking into the industry that had kept me employed since graduating from college and their presence around London. I also touched base with a few people I'd met at Fran's big night who had been nice enough to give me their business cards. Fran reached out to the producers of the television program I'd seen her on to see if they could use another commentator but was also checking on what steps we'd need to take for me to relocate to England from the perspective of immigration.

Of course we didn't spend the rest of my visit focused on such things, continuing to have a lot of orgasms as well as visiting more of Fran's favorite places, though without as much urgency now that we knew I'd be back. We didn't think that, even if I had a job lined up, I'd be able to just go back to the U.S. and pack up and be back in a matter of weeks. We were expecting it to be a few months at least but that was a short stretch when compared against what we were anticipating to be the rest of our lives together. We weren't necessarily talking about getting married at that point but we did feel very strongly that we'd been given a second chance and we planned to take it. The rest of my visit could have ended up being overshadowed by my impending departure but, since we knew it would only be a relatively brief separation this time, we weren't the least bit sad about it.

When I did board that plane back home, I don't think either of us shed a tear because we knew that our future held so much promise. We did share those same three words that she'd whispered into my ear when she'd left New Jersey all those years ago but not for the first time during that visit. When I was back home, I first gathered my closest friends together and shared how the trip had gone and what our plans were. Everyone was really supportive and happy for both of us. The next person I had a chat with was my boss. I had a great deal of respect for him and didn't want to leave him in a lurch so we talked about an exit plan that worked for both of us. He was also very happy for us and promised to help me find work in England in any way he could. Once that was all organized, I got together with my family and shared my plans. They weren't exactly indifferent and did express happiness for us but no one said, "Please stay!" or "You can't go!" or even "When will you be back?" I emailed Fran to let her know this because she still felt some guilt about taking me away from my family and just couldn't fathom their indifference. Hearing their reaction, as well as what wasn't said, most definitely helped.

Among the many things that I needed to get done before I could move, there was a little task that Fran didn't know about. In much the same way that I had surprised her with the tuxedo, which I'd ended up leaving there in her closet, I wanted to have an engagement ring with me when I returned to England. I didn't know anyone in that industry but I reached out to the people who had created the tuxedo for me to let them know how well things had gone. After promising to stop in with some photos when I could, I asked if they knew where I could support another small business that created jewelry. They hooked me up again and I soon had a one-of-a-kind ring that I knew Fran was going to love. I wasn't 100% certain of her ring size though I was fairly confident because we'd goofed around about the prospect of getting married even though we'd never had a serious conversation about it. I'd managed to get a good idea of her ring size a few different ways while we'd been goofing around but the designer was able to provide some flexibility in the ring so that the size could be adjusted if necessary.

When I went to pick up the ring, I stopped by where I'd bought the tuxedo and not only shared the photos from the big event when I'd worn it but also showed off the ring. The woman who had predicted that I'd be wearing the tux they'd made to marry Fran initially just nodded sagely but then also offered her congratulations even though I hadn't popped the question yet. I took that as a good sign based on her track record. They made me promise that, if we were ever back in New York, that I'd bring her by so they could meet her. I assumed we'd be back in the U.S. at some point during our lives and, since our relationship had really started in New York City, it made sense that we'd be back there, too.

When I wasn't working, I was going through everything in my apartment and figuring out what to keep and what to do with the things I was not keeping. Since I couldn't just load up a truck and drive it to Fran's flat, I had to really consider what I would be bringing back to England with me. The furniture obviously was out so I sold that, most of it to some friends who insisted that I hang onto it until I was closer to moving, which was really nice. Some things I donated or gave to friends but I didn't even want to ship too much stuff to Fran's flat because it was so small. We were planning to get a bigger place once I was out there but I didn't want her place filled up with boxes until then.

I did end up lining up a job before I moved back with a company that thought I could provide a unique perspective being from The States. Since I knew what my salary would be and where I'd be working, this gave Fran an idea of where to start looking for new accommodations though she insisted on waiting until I was there to look at anything so that we could pick out someplace together. I appreciated that but I also wanted to spend more time with her in her flat before we found someplace else anyway, assuming it wouldn't be too overrun with my boxes.

We did splurge occasionally and pay the exorbitant rate for overseas calls so we could hear each other's voices once in a while. It was on one of these calls that Fran surprised me with the idea of flying out for my last week before I moved. She was thinking that, not only could she then help me with all of the last minute things, but we could also make time to revisit some of the places from her first visit. I knew she wouldn't just lob this out there if she hadn't already given it plenty of thought and already looked into airfare so, not that I would have, I knew there would be no point in arguing.

"You've already got your flight booked, haven't you," I asked.

"Of course," she replied, "I've been watching for a good deal since you left and booked it as soon as the date was set."

"Well I think it's a great idea," I replied, "I think we should go ahead and do it."

She laughed since she hadn't really given me a choice but she also knew that I never would have said no. I might have argued half-heartedly about not spending the money but the bottom line was that getting to see her a week earlier made me even happier than I was already feeling knowing I'd be seeing her soon. She ended up being a big help with getting the last things wrapped up, was great at packing and helped me stay organized but also made sure that we took time to pay some last visits to places I liked and met up with people I liked and was going to miss. She didn't need to make sure that we had plenty of sex because that almost distracted us too much from getting things done but neither of us minded if it put us a little behind.

We planned for just one day in New York City and started out up at Columbia. I'd had to be extremely careful that she didn't accidentally discover the ring while we were getting things packed up and sorted through but that morning I'd managed to get it into a pocket and planned on having her wear it for most of the day. This time, after passing through the gates and heading onto campus along College Walk, she led me immediately up to the top of the Low Library steps where we'd had our first kiss.

"Kissing you here on that day was the best decision I ever made," she said as she stood on the top step, just above me, looking into my eyes.

"Hopefully, after today, you'll think of it as the second best decision you ever made," I replied.

"What?" she asked then realized that I was dropping to one knee. She brought both hands up to cover her mouth as she realized what was happening. The box would have been too cumbersome and conspicuous so I just had the ring, which I held up.

"Fran, we've taken a lot of big steps already this year," I said, "and where better to take one more big step than on the top of the steps where it all started. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she replied, barely audibly but I heard her as if she'd yelled it to the entire campus. I slipped the ring onto her finger and was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to fit perfectly. I stood and we kissed then hugged then kissed some more then hugged some more. Finally, we moved off to the side and sat so that we could continue to savor the moment and she could take a closer look at the ring. She loved it, of course, and she was thrilled when she got to meet the creator later that day, as well as the team that had made the tux for me. It ended up being the newest best day in our lives together, soon to be supplanted by our wedding day, of course.

One final aside that still amuses me to no end. Fran's mum of course invited Katrina, who was back living in England, to our wedding along with the rest of her family. She apparently never asked who Fran was even marrying so you can imagine her surprise on our big day when she realized it was me.