Page 93 of Plane Passion

Ernie led her over to a bench and knelt before her.

Her eyes widened.

“Let me,” he said, carefully unbuttoning her pristine boots and sliding them off her silk-stockinged foot. Tenderly, he placed her foot into an old beat-up skate and laced her up, taking time to caress her ankle and calf as he went.

She giggled as he repeated the treatment on her other foot. “So gallant, good Sir Pritchard. If you keep this up, I might grant you a kiss.”

I’m hoping for a better prize by far than a kiss.

He finished tying her laces and hurried to put on his own skates. They wobbled to the rink, laughing the whole way.

“You know how to skate, right?” he asked.

“Barely, but I think I can at least stay upright.”

“My God, have I finally found something you aren’t good at?”

She laughed. “There are lots of things I’m not good at.”

They stepped onto the ice and joined the crowd skating in circles. He skated backwards so that he could hold her hands as she wobbled along.

“Like what?”

“You already know I can’t decorate a cake to save my life.”

He steered them around a family of small children.

“I’ll grant you that. What else?”

“I’m not very good at keeping my temper.”

She wobbled, and he caught her before she fell.

“I’ve learned that the hard way,” he said with a laugh. “Your temper is a part of who you are, and I love every part of you.”

“Why are we going into the middle? Shouldn’t we stay by the sides where I can grab the wall if I need it?”

“You’ll see.”

He pulled her away from the crowd and into the center of the ice, where several talented ice dancers graciously gave way, and he brought them to a halt, bending down on one knee.

The ice was cold and hard beneath him, and his knee was quickly getting soaked. But he didn’t care. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his grandmother’s engagement ring.

Looking up into Millie’s eyes, he asked, “Millie Aldrich, will you marry me?”

Most of the movement around the rink paused as everyone stopped to watch. Even the band paused their music.

For a long moment, she didn’t answer. Had he miscalculated? Was it too soon?

Panic gripped him as he knelt before her on the increasingly uncomfortable ice, ring held aloft.

“Please, Millie,” he murmured, trying to read the complex emotions playing over her face.

“Yes,” she whispered at last, eyes wide. “Yes,” she said more loudly, a smile breaking across her face.

The crowd burst into applause as he took off her glove and slid on the ring before sliding the glove back over it.

Standing up carefully, he pulled her into a kiss, and the band struck up with the wedding march as hoots and hollers surrounded them.