CONGRATULATIONS

      When Dolores Floyd came to the office on Monday, as she walked down the reception to the elevator and all the way up, she kept getting glances and her employees kept smiling and greeting her cheerfully, her husband's brothers kept giving her hard stares and she wondered why all of them were giving her those stares. She went into the elevator wondering what was going on. When she got to her floor, Tyler was waiting for her in front of the elevator. 

     "What is everyone behaving funny?" she asked walking towards her office. 

      "Em...they are happy," Tyler replied and ran up to catch up with her. 

       She got to her door and pushed it. She had fired her incompetent assistant a few weeks ago and had doubled Tyler's salary to work as her assistant as well as Ethan's assistant. She had always wondered why Ethan and Tyler had been so close when Ethan was around. Tyler was a dedicated worker and was soft-hearted. Working with him over the past few weeks had given her less stress. 

       She walked into her office, took off her coat and hung it on the hanger, she went over to her desk and lowered herself in her seat, Tyler came in immediately and placed a tablet in front of her.

      "There is a news you should see...you will like to see," he said slowly. 

     She looked down at the tablet and at first glance, she saw a man proposing to a woman in a beach outfit. She looked at the headline and screamed when she saw Ethan Floyd. She looked closer at the picture and was surprised to see Ethan proposing to Faith. She clutched her mouth and looked at Tyler. 

      "When did this happen?" 

Tyler was beaming with smiles. "It happened on Saturday after you have retired and asked not to be disturbed." 

      Dolores stood up and picked up the tablet.  "That's right, I felt a little under the weather since Friday. Oh, my God, was that why everyone was looking at me?" 

       "I guess so." 

      "I can't contain my happiness right now. I can now retire in peace. I want to go and rub it in. You know me, I can't keep calm. Before that, put Ethan on the phone for me, please." 

       "Right away." Tyler dialled Ethan. It rang three times before he answered. 

     "Tyler, did you check the time you called me on a Monday morning?" Ethan's drowsy voice asked from the other end. 

      "It's past nine now and your mother wants to speak with you." 

      Ethan glanced at the wall clock and exhaled deeply, Faith was still curled beside him. She snuggled closer as he shook his body. "Let her have the phone." 

       "Hey, pumpkin!" his mother's cheerful voice called from the other end. 

       "Hi, mom, did you sleep well?" 

       "I didn't, but now that I heard the news, I feel a lot better. When is the wedding? When are you coming home? Where would the wedding take place?..." 

    "Mom." 

     "Yes, my son." 

     "Which do you want me to answer first?" 

       "All of them! You should see how excited I am right now." 

        "It's all over your voice mom," Ethan said with a smile.  "We want to go and spend two days in Miami at my beach house." 

       "Oh, I thought there would have served for honeymoon?" 

       "I am planning our honeymoon in Paris." 

        "Oh, my world. When is the engagement party? You should hold it here Ethan. No one knows you there, you should come back and run your company." 

        "I will do that and I want us to build another branch here in LA," 

        "Isn't that a good idea?" his mother asked. But you have to come here first. 

       "I will mom, I will ask Faith what she thinks of our engagement party I would like it to hold in San Francisco though, so my uncles can see I am progressing." 

      His mother guffawed.  "I am going to rub it in once I hang up." 

      "I trust you, mom." 

    Faith stirred and turned to back him. 

     "How is the bride to be?" his mother asked. 

      "She is alright. She is sleeping beside me." 

    "I will talk to her when she wakes then. Take care, have a nice day." 

       "You too." 

  Ethan hung up and hugged Faith, who shifted back to lean into him. 

      "Is that mom?" she asked. 

      "Yeah, she is so excited. Did you listen in on our conversation?" 

        "I just woke a few seconds ago." 

       "She is asking us to come home to San Francisco." 

   Faith turned to him.  "What? I don't know, San Francisco?" 

       "Yeah, is there any problem?" 

        "Ethan, I have a job here. I can't just move from LA to San Francisco. My work isn't like yours that you can delegate to people." 

       "I know, that's why I and putting up this new project. I want to build a branch here, maybe I can run it from here. I just want us to go and have our engagement party and wedding in San Francisco."

       "What of our friends here?" 

       "Oh, come on Faith. How long does it take to fly to San Francisco from LA? Certainly not a couple of years. We have enough rooms at my family house, it can contain all the wedding guests." 

       Faith turned to face Ethan.  "Speaking of friends. What about Axel and Camelia?" 

       "They went to China, they would be back in a couple of weeks. Axel's is gonna be my best man." 

      "I am not very acquainted with Camelia though, I don't know if she would agree with being my chief bridesmaid." 

       "Well, she is as sweet as Charlotte. You probably haven't spent time with her." 

       "Maybe." 

       "So, what's our plan for today?" 

       "We should go to Dr Adriana. Wait! Do you think I should use doctor Adriana?" 

       "I'm not sure she would agree to that.  She is a professional and they don't usually have that relationship with their patients." 

        "She is my friend. We should go and ask her. If none of them works out, I will fall back to Nora." 

     A few hours later, they sat across from Dr Adriana in her office. Faith raised her finger and showed her the engagement ring. 

        "Look what I got myself," she said cheerfully. 

Dr Adriana was genuinely surprised. She had been so busy for the past couple of days that she barely had time for herself. If she finds any free time, she uses it to sleep. So she couldn't have gotten the news in any way. 

      "Oh, my God! That's an engagement ring you have there," Dr Adriana said. 

       "Yeah." Faith beamed with smiles.  

       "Congrats to you, girl." 

       "Thank you." 

Dr Adriana turned to Ethan.  "Wow, you shocked us all after all." 

       Ethan smiled and looked at Faith who was smiling but had a quizzical look on her face. 

       "Congrats to both of you. I used to know Ethan's family back then in San Francisco, I helped his dad manage stress." 

       "What?!" Faith exclaimed, chuckled and looked from the doctor to Ethan. Ethan remained calm. 

        "When you came with him the first day, I recognized him, but he didn't even have a clue of who I was. I guess that is what you get when you have thousands of employees and a lot of families on your shoulders. A man like him cannot recognise all his employees talk much of a young doctor. "

       "Wow, this is new. You...never said anything to me, Dr Adriana," Faith said. 

       "Didn't think it was necessary, had nothing to do with our sessions. I brought it now because I know he really loves you and no, he is not paying me to say that. I know because I was once matched with him by his deceased father."

      "Oh, my God." Faith clutched her mouth and looked at Ethan who was smiling.  She chuckled.  "Ethan, your dad matchmade you with Dr Adriana and you didn't even recognise her?" 

       Ethan turned to her with a smirk.  "I hope you heard what she said earlier about having thousands of employees that I can't recognise. In essence, she is saying that I love you," Ethan said and turned to look at her. 

      "In essence, I'm saying you two love each other and I didn't have the right impression of Ethan until I met him again with Faith. Congrats to both of you. I hope you fixed the wedding on a day I would be free." 

      Faith glanced at Ethan.  "That's actually why we are here. You know you are automatically invited," Faith chuckled.  "I don't know if you are going to do me the honour of becoming my chief bridesmaid?" 

       "Oh, Faith. I would love to, but you see. I am very busy with clients and I am not very sure. When is the wedding date again?" 

        "We have not fixed it yet, but I would send you an invitation when we do." 

       "I just hope it doesn't clash with my schedules. I would advise that you look for someone else though, don't hope on me. If I would come for the wedding, I will just stay a few minutes and that's it." 

    "I understand. Thank yo u for everything and thank you for not giving up on me. I really appreciate it." 

         "You are very much welcome," Dr Ad said and smiled at the couple.