As soon as the rear door swung open, they could hear low chatter from the disgruntled dinner guests in the other room.
"By heavens, someone get the lights back on!" An old cranky voice lifted above the crowd. "Someone, please, I believe I spilled my drink."
Michael led Kat down the dimly lit hallway. The blindfold was still wrapped tightly around her eyes. When Michael finally made it to the end of the corridor, he stood in front of the large oak door. The voices were louder. He could hear constant bickering among the guests. Only two people in that room knew what was about to happen. The others thought they were there for a simple dinner party of sorts. They assumed they had been invited to eat finger foods, exchange information, and flaunt their wealth to one another. A room of individuals who only showed up to show the others that they had been invited.
Kat squirmed as she felt Michael squeezing her shoulders a bit too hard. “I can’t do this,” he said. He took a few steps down the hallway towards the door.
Kat pulled the blindfold down to her chin. "Don't you dare," she lifted a finger as she stared at Michael. Her eyes were bulging from their sockets. She hustled to Michael, grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back to the door. She slid the blindfold back over her eyes, took a breath, and pushed open the door.
They stepped through the corridor into the vast living room. The guests let out gasps as fake candles suddenly sparked across the room. A soft string symphony played a slow tune over the speakers. The gas fireplace behind Michael and Kat lit up to everyone's delight.
"What on earth is going on?" Someone barked from the crowd. The man was met with shushes from the audience that was now staring at Michael and his blindfolded partner. He smiled nervously as Kat squeezed his wrist hard.
"Thank you all for coming tonight." His voice was shaking as sweat dripped down his forehead.
Kat leaned her head to the left away from the crowd, "Take off my blindfold, you idiot!" She whispered through clenched teeth, just quiet enough that only Michael could hear.
Michael reached up and removed Kat's blindfold. As soon as the blindfold was removed, she smiled widely. She looked at the rose petals beneath her feet and the fireplace behind her. Her face lit up with a giant smile as tears swelled in her eyes.
"Michael! Michael! What's going on?" Kat's voice was higher than usual. She placed her hands on the side of her face in faked shock. Her eyes were no longer bulging, but instead sparkling with the reflection of the hundred fake candles.
"Not many of you here tonight know me, but if you're a friend of the Bissett's, you are a friend of mine. Tonight's a special night, and I wanted Katiella to be surrounded with people that mattered to her most to celebrate this occasion." Michael looked around nervously at the room.
"Who is that young man?" He heard someone whisper in the back.
"Michael, are you…is this?" Kat continued to play the surprised woman she wasn't.
"Katiella Bissett, from the first time I lay eyes on you, I told myself, this is the most beautiful woman I have seen in my entire life." Kat blushed appropriately, smiling as the adoring crowd began to understand what was happening.
"Then, when I met you, I said to myself, 'this is the most intelligent woman I have ever met in my life.' I fell in love instantly and thought it couldn't be real." Michael paused for a moment. He looked off in the distance, which made a good effect but was, in actuality, an attempt to remember his lines. Kat giggled to fill the silence. "…but as time has gone on," Michael finally continued, "I have found that my love for you has grown stronger each and every day." Michael took his hands from his sides and placed them on Kat's hips, and she gracefully placed her hands on his shoulders.
"I cannot imagine life without you, and after tonight I hope I never need to." Kat turned her head towards the living room so the audience could see the tears that had swollen in her eyes. She looked at the white-haired man in the back of the room that gave her a wink, she smiled in return.
Michael took his hands from Kat's waist, grabbed her wrists, and slowly knelt down to a knee. The audience was loving it. This was so much better than the conversations they'd been faking all night.
"Katiella Renee Bissett," Michael reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tiny blue box. "In front of all these beautiful witnesses," Michael gestured to the crowd. "Would you make me the happiest man in the world and become my wife?" Michael watched as Kat's tears trickled down her cheeks.
The guests sighed as Kat nodded her head. "Yes, yes!" Her voice was shaking as Michael pulled the large diamond ring from the box and slid it onto Kat's finger. He stood to his feet and pulled Kat in for a kiss. The fireplace swelled behind them as streamers popped around the perimeter of the room met with gasps from the viewers.
"I love you, Katiella Bissett," Michael whispered.
"I love you, Michael Robinson," Kat whispered back, just loud enough that everyone could hear.
Michael lifted his fiancé's hand, showing off the ring. "Well, what are we waiting for?" He paused, "Let's eat!" The kitchen doors swung open, and three hired helps entered the room with trays of food. The guests began to clap in approval.
Michael smiled at Kat, who smiled at the man in the back of the room.
Everything was going just as they planned.