We're Getting Married !!!

Every summer when we travel to France, we make it a point to explore a new destination as a side trip. This past year, we chose Sicily, and through my trip planning, I discovered a little island off the coast called Favignana. Fast forward to landing in Italy: we took a ferry to the island, rented a moped scooter, and headed to our hotel. Arthur casually mentioned that he had made a reservation for drinks at 6 pm at a place he had found. This wasn’t unusual because he always chooses our food and drinks, and it turned out that the place he picked was one I had discovered and mentioned to him a few weeks earlier. Being together for nine years, I was hoping the proposal would happen on this trip...but after all our travels and seeing his relaxed mood, I wasn't so sure. I hadn’t noticed anything suspicious when he packed, and he wasn’t being overly protective of his bag or anything. After we arrived at the hotel, we didn’t have much time before the reservation. While getting ready, I asked Arthur which dress I should wear, and he suggested the white cotton one since it would be more comfortable and we would match - a typical joking comment from him that didn’t raise any red flags. The cotton dress was wrinkled, which of course I was stressed about, but Arthur reassured me, saying, “It’s not a big deal - It's not like we’re getting professional photos taken or anything.” This is another typical joking comment from him, and didn’t throw me off because I never imagined he could arrange an international photographer on a tiny island. Before riding into town, we walked down to the beach at our hotel, and the thought of an engagement did pop into my head, but after it didn't happen on the beach, I thought to myself "it's not happening today". We scootered into town, and walked around while waiting for the place to open. Throughout our walk, I had my phone plugged into a portable charger, and the cord was hanging out of my purse. Arthur kept asking me to put it away, saying it looked bad...which to be fair, I understood. We arrived at the place for our reservation a bit early, so I suggested walking to the tuna factory at the end of the road first, thinking it was a good spot to turn around afterward. On the way there, we stopped to take a selfie, and I got annoyed with him and said, “Stop texting your friends; you don’t need to update them on everything we’re doing at every second.” Little did I know, he was actually texting the photographer to let him know we were on our way - because the building I pointed out was where the proposal was going to happen! When we reached the tuna factory, Arthur wanted to take another selfie, which was unusual for him. I even asked, “What’s up with you and the selfies today?” After the selfie, I turned around to take another picture of the water and then put my phone away. When I turned back around Arthur was down on one knee. As I looked up after the proposal, I noticed a crowd of people clapping, and there were two men with cameras. At first, I thought they were just tourists who happened to be there, but then they came up to us, and Arthur shook their hands! We spent the next two hours walking around the island taking photos with the photographers. Afterward, we enjoyed dinner and drinks at the place Arthur mentioned earlier, which was actually reserved for 9 pm, never 6 pm!