The drive

He was leaving me. I knew it. I just knew it. It was the only
explanation my mind would allow

me to come up with. He was about to tell me he'd made the drastic
decision to end it all. To

call it a day. He was about to throw all the efforts of our four year
relationship into the recycle

bin so that all our dreams could be passed onto some other couple in
the hope they could

attempt a relationship. Well I hope they have more luck than I've
had!

My mind went over and over things. His recent behaviour said it all.
When a normal stable

relationship somehow seems different and under false pretences then you
just know there is a

problem. You can feel it. Call me paranoid but I'm sure Rob was
avoiding me. He had even

asked me if I was happy, something he never asked me. He never needed
to. Being with Rob

had made me happier than I ever could have imagined. He knew this. At
least I thought he did.

Oh, and there's no way I could forget the receipt. Yes, you read
right, the receipt. My

suspicious mind had unsuccessfully tried to think of a harmless
explanation for it. I'd better

explain. A few days ago I found a receipt hidden away in Rob's drawer.
It was from the

jewellery section of a local expensive department store. Now this
receipt was dated from two

weeks ago and I certainly hadn't received any jewellery. Anyway it was
nowhere near my

birthday so the chances of me getting a gift were almost non existent.
It seemed obvious to me

that he had already given this gift to someone else. Some other woman.
I remember feeling a

lump form in my throat. I was scared and confused but vowed myself not
to mention it to Rob

until I had my facts straight. Jumping in at the deep end is not a good
idea if you're not

prepared.

Now here we both were. On 'the drive'. The dreaded drive. Fifteen
minutes earlier Rob had

told me to put my coat on as we needed to go out somewhere quiet to
talk. So now we were

heading along through narrow country roads. I had no idea where we were
heading but the

only time we went on quiet drives was when we had a problem.

We sat in silence. I stared out of my side window, occasionally
glancing at Rob out of the

corner of my eye. The radio was off so all we could hear was each other
breathing. The sun

was beating down, glaring boastfully at me through the windscreen. I
opened the window and

at last we had another presence. The wind. The feel of it blowing
against my cheeks made me

calm down. My hands stopped trembling so much but I couldn't stop my
heart from pounding

so fast with worry.

I glanced over at Rob. There he was. The man I loved. The man I was
about to lose. His

smooth dark wavy hair was tucked scruffily behind his ears. His
unshaven skin was rugged,

manly and appealing. I wasn't ready to lose him. I wasn't even aware
that we'd been having

problems. I must have been clinging onto false hopes. Let's face it, we
had never even

discussed a proper future together. Maybe I should have taken the hint
a long time ago.

It felt like we had been in the car for hours even though it had only
really been thirty

minutes. Neither of us had spoken a word. I just wished I knew where we
were going.

Suddenly, he pulled over at the side of the road, right next to a
fresh green field.

' Follow me ' he said softly as he stepped out of the car. I got out
of the car, clambered over

a fence and followed him curiously across the grass.

' There's something I want to show you ' he told me, taking hold of my
hand and drawing it

towards his chest before continuing to trek across the field.

Now I was confused. My head started conjuring up all sorts of
thoughts. Was there going to

be another woman here? Had he ever really loved me? As we walked
towards some trees I

could see two teenagers sitting on the grass with a picnic laid out in
front of them. I

recognised them straight away. They were Rob's nieces.

' Here we are Abbi. This is all for you. Thanks girls for looking
after things here for me. I

owe you one. ' Rob smiled at me, waiting for my reaction.

The girls left with big grins on their faces. I looked at Rob. '
What's going on? This all looks

so wonderful! ' I said still confused.

' Sit down Abbi. Have a glass of champagne. ' Rob started to pour me
some in a crystal cut

glass. My eyes wandered around the mouth watering picnic. All my
favourite food was there

even strawberries and cream.. Some effort had gone into all this. He
couldn't be leaving me. It

seemed so unlikely now.

The sky was perfect blue. The sun was strong and dominant. Rob looked
nervous sitting

opposite me.

' Abbi, ' he said with a shaky voice, ' I can't wait any longer. I
want you to look at this.'

He was grinning as he handed me something wrapped in a serviette. It
was a dainty blue box.

My heart nearly stopped and my mind went into overload. As I opened the
box he leaned

across and gently tucked my hair behind my ear, then softly whispered
into it.

' Marry me,' he said, 'I love you.'

The moment was perfect. Rob was perfect.

'Yes,' I whispered back in his ear, 'Yes I'll marry you.'

Then he kissed me the same soft but passionate way he always did and I
knew life couldn't get

much better than this.