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Chapter 7

The door to the den opened and two men in suits were escorted in looking slightly harrassed. Rossalyn turned to watch them make their way over to the chairs set up across from the loveseat that had a table between. Josiah gestured toward the loveseat and she took her cue and went over and sat down at the very edge of the seat since it seemed she'd have to view whatever they were setting up on the table.

"Good morning to you both. I'm Vernon and this is my assistant, John." Vernon said and held his hand out first to Josiah then Rossalyn who shook hands in turn. "We brought a variety of rings for you both to choose from, we also have a book to browse through should you not find anything to your liking we brought with us."

"Thank you." Josiah said as he sat back on the loveseat. He wrapped an arm around Rossalyn's middle tugged Rossalyn back to sit in the crook of his arm and kept his hand around her middle.

Rossalyn gasped a little as she instantly tried to get away from him, but was locked in place by his hand at her abdomen. She gave him a questioning look and was met with a shrug and a slight shake of his head. She looked around desperately for a moment but quickly realized there would be no helping her escape his hold. She turned her attention back to Vernon who was holding out a tray of rings for her to take that was probably worth more money than she'd ever earned in her entire life. Her hands shook a little as she took it from him.

Josiah watched as she looked at the tray, looking completely lost on what she should do with them. Vernon sat another three trays of rings on the couch next to her for her to look at as well. There were rings of every type, cut, with stones of varying sizes. Josiah was used to such excess and the choices were even a little overwhelming for him. Expesnse wasn't an issue, but he had a feeling he'd have the opposite problem with her. Everyone would expect him to buy a large, expensive ring for his bride and he predicted that she would be drawn to the most conservative of the rings on display for her. He'd given explicite instructions of what rings to bring to choose from, he hoped she didn't put up as much of a fight about this as she did the wedding dress. As if she was reading his mind, he heard her clear her throat and turn her head to look at him.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll let you choose whatever dress you want, if you let me just have a band." Rossalyn said, her voice trembling.

"I've already conceded the dress to you. No take backs. Choose a set from here or I will." Josiah said gesturing to the trays around her.

"Don't be afraid to try them on dear." Vernon suggested gently.

Rossalyn gave a defeated sigh and picked up and wedding set that had an emerald cut diamond ring and a wedding band with it that fit nicely with the engagement ring. The wedding band also had diamonds all the way around the band and knew that her fingers would be very abused by the band over time. But she couldn't find any other ring sets that she even remotely liked. She slipped the bands onto her finger and looked down at it, trying to decide if she liked it or not.

"Those look very nice on her hand." Josiah told her, reassuringly.

"You think?" She asked him glancing at him, unsure if she was looking for reassurance or irriation.

"Yes, I like them a lot." Josiah told her honestly.

"Good, then these will be the rings then." She said and took them back off her hand and offered them to Vernon who simply wrapped them in her palm with her fingers.

"Keep them, Mr. Roja will receive our bill." Vernon assured her.

"Oh, okay." She said, though she looked uncertainly at Josiah. "Can I have a box for them, then?"

"Absolutely." Vernon said, though he raised an eyebrow at Josiah.

"Surely you don't expect me to leave the wedding band just on the dresser until the ceremony?" She scoffed.

"Yes, you're quite right." Vernon said quickly, blushing slightly.

Vernon and John packed up the rest of the rings they'd put on display for her and presented several choices to Josiah next. It took him much less time to choose his ring. The ring he chose was complimentary to her rings but over all much more simple. She was a little jealous that he was able to choose something that was so simple and would probably be much more comfortable while she had to go for something so much more eccentric. She didn't say anything, though. Her protests would be ignored anyway, so there wasn't really any point.

The rest of the day was filled with caterers coming to present menus, florists, and wedding coordinators interviewing for the chance to organize the whole wedding. Those decisions were made largely by Josiah since she honestly couldn't care less about them. Whatever he chose she simply agreed with. Outside of the ring and the dress, nothing else personally affected her anyway. The menu was the only place they'd hit a little snag since he was wanting a menu consisting almost completely of items she'd never even heard of. She gently suggested an alternate menu then refused to budge which he eventually gave in since he seemed to like the items on the menu.

She was exhausted by the time the last of the lineup had taken their leave, both physically and mentally. Josiah stood and offered his hand to her then leaned down to pick up the box she had placed both rings inside after that meeting had concluded.

"You're forgetting something." He told her turning the box over in his hands a few times.

"What am I forgetting?" She asked blankly.

"Your engagement ring." He said then opened the box and pulled out the engagement ring. He slipped the box into his pocket then took her left hand in his. He slid the ring onto her finger as he looked down into her eyes. "I'd like for you to wear this from now on."

"By the way, I have a question." She said and waited for his inquisitive eyebrow raise before continuing, "when is the wedding?" She should have already asked that question well before that point, but she'd been caught up in everything and somehow finding out the date of the wedding had slipped her mind.

"July first." He responded letting her hand fall from his grasp.

"That is next week!" She gasped, shocked. She had figured she'd have at least a couple weeks or even a month to get adjusted to this idea.

"Indeed. I told you, I don't see any sense in waiting." Josiah said with a shrug. He pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket and frowned at the screen. "I've got to take this. Be ready for dinner in an hour. Wear something nice."

Rossalyn was speechless as Josiah turned and walked out of the room answering his cell phone with a curt greeting. She watched the man that was almost constantly with him separate from the wall and follow him while her ever present escort stood, seemingly patiently waiting for her to exit. She looked around the room for inspiration but found none. She failed to see how she was going to be wearing anything nice since her clothes had all consisted of jeans and t-shirts and pajamas. She left the room and led the way up the stairs. She remembered how to get back to her bedroom at the very least. She went inside the room as the man took the seat next to the bedroom door to wait for her reappearance.

She shut the bedroom door then turned and froze in surprise. There was Abigail coming out of the bathroom who also appeared to be startled since she was carrying several empty sacks and hadn't noticed Rossalyn come in.

"Er...excuse me. I didn't mean to startle you, ma'am." Abigail said breathlessly.

"What were you doing?" Rossalyn asked curiously as she looked around. There didn't seem to be anything else out of place, or anything out where she had left it to begin with.

"I was putting away the deliveries that came for you while you were occupied. Please let me know if anything is not to your liking and I will remedy the situation." Abigail said with a smile.

"I will....thanks." Rossalyn said, though she was confused.

Abigail left the room to give Rossalyn some privacy. Rossalyn went into the bathroom and turned the light on and glanced around. On the vanity table there were new packages of make-up that she hadn't previously had there. There were new hair styling equipment and several different adornments that she never had before. Rossalyn felt very in over her head looking at everything. She then had a suspicious feeling that these new additions were not the only ones. She went back out into the bedroom and opened the closet and flipped on the light in there. Every rack and shelf was full of clothes, shoes, and accessories. She froze, shocked completely. There had to be thousands of dollars in merchandise in the closet alone.

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