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“Hit all the targets to win the grand prize! 5 bucks to play! Only one seat left!” an announcer for one of the attractions at Santa Monica Pier called, catching Peggy’s attention.
“Oh Daniel, let's do that one. I can win you something.”
“Isn’t it me who is supposed to be playing and winning you the prize,” Daniel teased, a grin stretching across his face as she dragged him along behind her.
“Not if we want to win the grand prize,” Peggy retorted, looking back, a teasing smile on her face. She wove quickly through the crowd, tugging him along, their hands clasped. When they finally made it up to the front they saw that the last seat had already been taken.
“Looks like I’ll have to wait for my prize,” Daniel said.
Just then the game started, the targets moving back and forth, the participants starting to fire. Daniel leaned back on his good leg and cane to watch the shoot out unfold. “Seat number 6 is holding his gun too tightly,” Peggy commented from beside him.
Daniel glanced over at her and saw that she had her arms crossed and was leaning back on one foot looking exactly like she did when she was supervising new recruits. “Peggy…” he said, admonishing tone betrayed by the smile he was fighting to keep off of his face.
“What? It's true.”
“We aren’t at the range and these aren’t even real guns, love.”
“Still if he ever wants to hit something he shouldn’t be so rigid. It’ll just make the gun jerk around even more.” Suddenly a loud cheer went up from the group standing next to them, the young woman sitting in seat number 3 had just knocked down her fourth target out of the total six.
“Ooh, this young lady’s getting close!” The announcer called, voice booming over the noise from the crowd. “With 20 seconds to go, will she get her targets? Oh my goodness, I think she might just do it!” he exclaimed as she hit another target. “One more and five seconds to go! Four! Three! Two! One! Time's up!” The crowd groaned, the woman hadn’t managed to hit the last target. People dispersed, off to do other things, the man at seat 6 walking away in defeat, having hit none of the targets while the woman stayed in her seat, ready for another round. Peggy and Daniel slid onto two seats next to each other, handing the man their money.
“Alrighty folks, the rules are pretty simple,” he said once all the seats were taken. “You are trying to hit all of the targets in your lane. The more targets you hit, the bigger your prize. If you manage to hit all six you win the Grand Prize.” He pointed over his head to a giant purple stuffed monkey that was hanging from the ceiling. “Now, no sabotaging the other players or interfering with their game in any way. Got it?” he asked. “Alright then, let's. Get. Started!”
And the targets were off. Daniel waited a few moments, tracking the patterns they followed, where and when they changed direction before starting to shoot. Peggy on the other hand dove right in, carefully lining up her shots and firing, accurate as ever.
Within minutes Peggy was down to one target and Daniel had two. The woman in seat three had two to go as well and was starting to look frustrated. “Fuck,” Peggy swore when her fifth attempt missed the target again and she looked over and saw that Daniel had managed to knock one of his down, leaving him tied with her.
“What Peg?” he asked, shooting her a cheeky grin. “Can’t stand to lose?”
She scoffed, “like you could beat me.”
“We’ll see,” he said and they both turned back to their targets grinning. With renewed determination Peggy focused on her last target, taking a deep breath and then letting it out, pulling the trigger as she did so. The final target fell over.
“And we have a winner! Congratulations miss…?”
“Carter,” Peggy said, simultaneously sticking her tongue out at Daniel.
“Congratulations Miss Carter!” The announcer said, reaching up and unhooking the purple monkey.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling graciously as he handed it to her. “See, there was no way that you could have beaten me,” she said, smirking at Daniel as he stood, the animal tucked under her arm.
“I know.” Smiling fondly he leaned over and pressed a kiss into her temple. “You’re a much better shot than I.”
“Mmm, and don’t you forget it,” she joked, leaning into his side. He wrapped an arm around her waist and they stood there for a couple of moments, leaning on each other, letting the crowd flow around them. After a moment Peggy broke their silence asking, “what should I name it?”
“What about… Edgar?”
“That’s horrible. I love it,” she announced.
Daniel looked over at her smiling besottedly. He opened his mouth to say something before something over her shoulder caught his eye. “Let’s go get some cotton candy,” he ended up saying.
Peggy turned, catching sight of the vendor he was talking about. “Okay.”
They wandered over, weaving in between other people. Once they were in the line Daniel asked “you want to get your own or split with me?”
“Why don’t we split one,” Peggy replied.
“Sour apple?”
“Of course.” As they waited in the line Peggy let her eyes wander the pier. Eventually they landed on another one of the vendors who was selling many things, among which were ring rops. Peggy smiled, memories of her childhood floating back. Suddenly she was broken out of her thoughts by Daniel’s voice ordering the cotton candy.
After they had gotten their treat Peggy suggested they take a walk down the pier to see the ocean to which Daniel readily agreed to. They walked slowly, savoring this quiet time together, passing the cotton candy back and forth until it was gone, chatting contentedly. When they finally reached the end of the pier Peggy put Edgar down and slipped her hand into his, squeezing gently.
They stood like this for a few moments before the people around then started shouting and pointing out at the ocean.
“Peggy! Look at the dolphins!” Daniel called, spotting what everyone was yelling about, excitement lighting up his face. “Aren’t they pretty?” Peggy only took a brief glance at the dolphins, arching beautifully across the water before looking at her boyfriend.
“Beautiful,” she said, but she wasn’t really talking about the dolphins. She was talking about his awe and love for nature, about how confident he was even after losing so much, she was talking about him.
Suddenly Peggy knew for certain that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this man. But she wasn’t prepared! The ring she had bought when she first started thinking about marriage was still in the box at home. Just then she remembered the vendor she had seen with ring pops. Exactly what she needed.
She squeezed Daniel’s hand quickly, leaning over to him saying “I’ll be right back, I need to go get something.”
“Everything ok?” Daniel asked, glancing at her, concerned.
“Everything’s perfect.” She turned and started to walk away. “Just make sure Edgar doesn’t escape!” she called over her shoulder. Daniel looked down at the giant purple stuffed monkey sitting at his feet.
“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” he chuckled.
Peggy strode through the crowd, heels clicking on the boardwalk. Finally she found who she was looking for. As she stood in the line and waited, the nerves started to build up. What if he said no or laughed her off? No, he wouldn’t do that, this was Daniel, he loved her, she knew that.
Reaching the front of the line Peggy said “one cherry ring pop please,” pushing the money over the counter.
As the man handed her the ring she snatched it up, turning and striding quickly, almost running down the pier. Hands suddenly clumsy, she fumbled with the packaging, finally managing to tear it open on the third try.
As she approached him from behind she felt her mouth go dry. Pausing for a moment to collect herself, she smiled when she saw one of his hands resting on top of Edgar’s head. Gathering up all her courage she finally spoke, holding out the ring in front of her as she did.
“Daniel,” Peggy said, hand that was holding the ring shaking slightly.
“Peggy,” he replied, turning to face her, a smile on his face.
”Marry me.”
Stunned Daniel’s mouth hung open. “I- that’s a ring pop, Pegs.”
Looking down at the ring Peggy grinned shakily. “I know, I know. It’s just that I left the ring that I was going to use at home and when you saw the dolphin you were so excited and I realized again just how much I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you and I didn’t want to have to wait to ask you so,” Peggy took a deep breath, calming her nerves before she started again. “Daniel Sousa, will you marry-”
She didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence before Daniel pulled her into a kiss, taking her breath away with his enthusiasm. As they pulled away, both breathing hard, Peggy said cheekily, “I take it that's a yes then.”
“Of course it's a yes. How could I say anything else? Though you are stealing my thunder a bit.” Peggy stepped back a bit, arching a brow in question. In response Daniel reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a ring box.
“Daniel…”
He flipped open the box, showing her a beautiful ring with a single diamond set into a simple band of silver. “It was my Avó’s. Pai gave it to me the last time he came to visit. I’ve been carrying it around for a while” He looked up at her, a goofy grin spreading across his face. “It never occurred to me that you would beat me to it.”
Peggy kissed him sweet and slow until their smiles grew too big and they were forced to stop. “Now, I believe you have something for me?” Daniel said, wiggling his left hand at her playfully. Peggy laughed a bright, joyful sound, grabbing his hand and slipping the ring pop on his ring finger. She then lifted his hand to her face, smirking at him as she took a quick lick off the pop.
“My turn,” she said, letting his hand fall back to his side, regally presenting him her hand. Daniel’s wide grin softened and he looked at her with pure adoration as he took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger. He too raised her hand to his face, but instead of licking the ring he planted a kiss on her knuckle, right underneath the ring.
Wrapping her other hand around the back of his neck she pulled him up and into another kiss marveling at the new weight of the ring on her finger.
-
Later when they told the story Howard burst out laughing. “Only you, only you would propose with a ring pop Peggy.”