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Why was it so hard to get two dozen goats? For God’s sake he was a very good Jill, had stolen a Vermeer at fifteen, he had helped steal the Cleopatra Emerald at sixteen, and had also broken into the Henley at sixteen. And yet getting two dozen goats was a problem. Probably because you’re doing it alone. Hale thought to himself. But this was just one thing he had to do alone. It had taken a while to get them legally, but this just felt like one thing he shouldn’t steal. Then he had to get both Uncle Eddie and Bobby Bishop out to the field in New Jersey to give Bobby the goddamn goats.
“Thanks for coming.”
“Well you said that we had to, so it better be good.” Uncle Eddie said.
“Well I didn’t want Kat to see it yet, so.”
“And what exactly, don’t you want Kat to see?” Bobby asked him. As they kept walking, they finally set their eyes on the two dozen goats in the field. “I see.”
“I wanted to ask for both of your blessings?” Hale asked them. They stood there quietly for a minute or so, no one speaking, and Hale was starting to get nervous.
“I thought you knew you already had it?” Bobby finally said with a laugh, as Hale let out a breath of relief.
“I kind of figured but it felt right to ask, plus the goats were hard enough to get. I do have one other question for you, though.”
“And that is?” Uncle Eddie asked.
“Do you think Kat would rather her ring bought or stolen?” Hale asked with a grin.
4 DAYS AFTER GIVING BOBBY THE GOATS PARIS, FRANCE
“Gabs, I need your help.”
“Of course you do, sweetie. What would it be this time?”
“I need your help picking which ring to steal.” Hale had successfully, left Gabrielle speechless. For about one minute, then when it registered, she squealed and rushed to hug him.
“My mom is so going to be so mad and so happy at the same time, she always says how sad she is that I didn’t see you first.”
“Yes, lucky Kat called dibs.” Hale laughed. “ Don’t worry, I already gave Bobby his two dozen goats.”
“You know it’s one, right?”
“Yes, but Bobby said two one time and I remembered. Anyways, I can’t decide which one Kat would like more. Plus, I also need your help stealing it and also keeping this from Kat. You think Simon could keep this from Kat for long enough, he could be useful?”
“Simon’s gotten much better at keeping secrets from the family,” with a smirk that made Hale question the meaning behind that statement. “Where is Kat anyway?”
“Really? Well, currently Kat’s working a job with the Bagshaws’ in Germany, and then after she’s going to Brazil, to join the family and we said we would meet up there,” Hale trailed off. He got out his phone and called Simon, and then the closest Hale jet to Brazil to pick him up. “He’ll be here tomorrow at the latest. So, which one?”
“This one.” Gabrielle said with a grin.
6 DAYS BEFORE POPPING THE QUESTION LONDON, ENGLAND
It wasn’t a very hard job, though they did have very nice cameras and decent enough firewalls, thus Simon. And it was always much easier if you had someone pretty for everyone to look at, thus Gabrielle. Also, it didn’t hurt the Gabrielle was the same ring size as Kat. “Simon, how’s it going?”
“The records claim that the ring was never here, it’ll take them a lot of digging to even realize its missing.” Gabrielle and Hale walked out of the building less then five minutes later.
“Simon?”
“We were never here.”
“See you two in Brazil. I’ve got business to attend to. Oh, and Simon?”
“Yes?”
“Keep your mouth shut around Kat.”
3 DAYS BEFORE POPPING THE QUESTION BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Hale knew he had one more thing to do before going to Brazil. “Hello, Nadia. It’s nice to finally meet you.” He paused, its not like it was awkward talking to a piece of stone, its just that this made him realize how big of a thing he was doing. “I plan on marrying your daughter. She’s beautiful and brilliant, best grease man I’ve yet to meet. She tells me that she dragged me into your world, well our world, the same way you dragged in Bobby. I thinks she’s worried that when I turn 25 and I have control of the company that I’ll leave her and this world. But no way I’m leaving her, she’s the best thing that happened to me. And after she left the first time, I don’t think there’s any way anyone could pull her out of this world. I found some very trustworthy people to help run parts of the company, enough that I’ll have a small enough role to keep doing what I love, which is following Kat around the world. Turns out that you give enough people responsibility, you can work from a plane.” Hale finally realized that he was still holding the flowers in his hands and set them down. “Well, thank you Nadia, for raising your girl to find me. I don’t know where I would be without her.”
1 DAY BEFORE POPPING THE QUESTION RIO, BRAZIL
He was walking down the street, after telling Marcus that he was 23 and would be fine by himself, thank you very much. “So, how’s it going?” he asked, as he sat down next to a very beautiful woman.
“Oh good, I thought you were going to miss it. They just started.” Kat said as she grabbed for his hand.
“You know, it’s always fun when the whole family gets together. Sorry I couldn’t be here sooner, Marianne wanted to talk about some stuff, you know how it goes.”
“Yeah, two more years and its all yours.” Kat sighed.
“Not that it matters, but Hale turns 24 in two months so, more like a year.” Gabrielle said as she sat down with them at their table.
“Thank you, cousin for that wonderful reminder.”
“You need to worry less about the company,” Hale said as he kissed her forehead, “its not going to impact you in the slightest.”
“You say that now.” Suddenly, the was a boom and a column of smoke rising. “Well, that’s our cue.”
THE DAY OF WYNDHAM MANOR, ENGLAND
The whole family had decided that it was as great a time as any to gather, and Hale was quick to offer up the manor in England, seeing as getting the whole family in Uncle Eddies brownstone was a bit of a challenge. He had decided that it was easiest way to tell the family after Kat said yes. The gathering of the family turned into more of a party, especially when they broke out the alcohol. Music was playing and Gabrielle and Simon were dancing. It’s time. Hale thought to himself. He grabbed Kat and the walked out into the gardens.
“Hey Kat, do you remember one of the first things you taught me when we first meet?”
“That the Monet was a fake?” Kat asked.
“No,” Hale laughed, “well, yes you did teach me that too. No, I was talking about how you never ask a question when you know the answer is no.”
“Yes, I remember that. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I have something to ask you.” Before he could ask though, he noticed that yet again Kat was cold, and yet again she didn’t have a coat. So, he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. “You know you really should bring jackets.”
“Now why would I do that when you always give me yours. Anyways you were going to ask me something you knew the answer to.” She said as she turned back around to face him, and instead of finding herself looking up to him, she was looking down.
“Kat, almost 9 years ago, you pulled me into your world. At the time I just thought that it would be a fun adventure, maybe something that would end up pissing off my parents. But I fell head over heels in love with you. You showed me what a family actually looks like and how I could have that too. I know that I’ve been part of the family for years, but I was wondering if you would do me the pleasure of making it legal, unlike certain things in our life. Marry me?” And with that he pulled out a ring from his front pocket. Kat just stood there for a second complete shock on her face.
“Yes, of course.” Kat breathed out. Hale slipped the ring on her finger and pulled her tight to him, his lips already on hers. When they finally pulled apart, Kat asked, “So, stolen or bought?”
“Well, I had to buy your dad two dozen goats, so I figured that I had to steal something."
"You know it's one, right?"